Teaching at Vermont College, one year in.

I've been teaching at Vermont College of Fine Arts for a year now. I began teaching wondering what it would be like to share some of what I've learned over my years as a writer. I was eager to be involved in an academic community. I mean, let's face it. To be a writer is to be a shut-in. Long hours alone, which I cherish, but sometimes I want to be out there, connecting with other writers.

I've learned to be a better teacher, and better editor of students' work. No big surprise there. Do anything intensely and you get better at it. What I didn't expect is how much I've learned about my own writing process. There are incredible lectures by smart, well-prepared writers, visiting authors who add their amazing lectures, and late nights in the faculty room, which veer between industry gossip, swapping of writing and teaching tips, and a heady, exhausted exhilaration as we make it through the intensity of the ten day residency.

We have a lovely graduation each residency. Here I am beeing the "hooder" for the ceremony, as Mandy Robbins gets her diploma. Thanks to Shelby Hogan for the photo.

Marla Frazee and Libba Bray were our visiting authors this last residency. Both of them were spectacular. Libba whipped up an awesome blog post about her time with us. Here's Libba post, On Gratitude.

We've also got a faculty blog going, Write at Your Own Risk. Here's my most recent post, Tough Love From an Old Poet, on Mary Oliver.

Procrastination, fear and celebration of poetry

It's amazing how easy it is to rationalize procrastinating. I just popped into the market to buy some milk, and met Mrs. Ellis. She got me to throw trash into the barrel and reset the top, all the while telling me about how she was from Russia, and practiced medicine in Germany during WWII. She finished up by commanding me to go inside and get a broom and sweep up all the fallen flower petals, as the staff clearly wasn't taking care of the place.

1) What a character.
2) When I'm old, I want to be as annoying and charming and opinionated and independent as she is. Forget just wearing purple. I'm going for the full Monte.

We've started a blog with the Vermont College faculty. Here's my first post on fear (and inspiration) of poetry. I know if Lee Bennett Hopkins sees this post I'm going to catch hell, but he's busy with his own wicked facebook postings.....

Vermont College

My first few days home from Vermont were catch-up days. Lots of sleeping, letting things I learned percolate, walks in the hills with my beloved husband and dog, and long, leisurely meals with family and friends. Finally unpacked my suitcase, washed my clothes, and put everything away. Now I'm back to work on my own projects, feeling the press of deadlines, the excitement of using what I learned from other faculty.

We had a terrific ten days at Vermont College. Nonstop learning and laughing. Very little sleep. Somehow Coe Booth talked us into doing a flash mob rendition of Michael Jackson's thriller at the 80's party. I kept my sanity with walks every evening through the neighborhoods. Here's a photo of the old brick armory at dusk. I think someone lives there now.

And a few of my favorite remarks (somewhat paraphrased) from various speakers.

Walter Dean Myers: "We're building America, one child at a time."

Martine Leavitt: "I hope we'll be able to read in heaven, but just in case, make sure you read Cormac McCarthy's The Road before you die." And: "Take your main character's emotional desire and make it plotty."

Marc Aronson: "Illustration is its own story."

Franny Billingsley: "Abstract things are telling. Concrete things are showing."

Until next time, Montpelier, when the snow falls and the trudging outdoors is treacherous and beautiful.

Why people moved to the city

I'm a city dweller, with all the amenities of modern life. We also have a cabin deep in the California redwoods, a mile up a dirt road. Quiet. Peaceful. No city services. So on several of the hottest days of July, we were out gathering firewood for next winter, loading up for the wood burning stove. Even with Tom on a modern, gas powered splitter (and Felix with a sledgehammer and a maul), it took all three generations of us. Sasha and my 93 year old dad pitched wood from the loose pile to the stack, Felix and I made a tidy, geometric pile to over-winter. Penny supervised. Think that looks hard? Here's my father's father, 90 years old, on the woodpile he just split and stacked on his farm in Graton, about 50 miles from our cabin.

Summertime, interview with Author Turf

I am loving summer. In a week I take off for Vermont College where I'm teaching. It's incredibly fun. Challenging, exhausting, rewarding... all rolled up into ten days. Not only do I get to be with terrific students who are working their hearts out to get better at writing, but I also get to listen to inspiring lectures from the other faculty.

Before I leave I had to make it out to the Pacific Ocean with my friend Andrea to hold me through the Vermont heat.


Why does the ocean look like it should pour through the gap? I've never understood this optical illusion.

We watched a pre-teen girl and her dad play in the waves, and then brush off the sand and get their shoes and socks back on and head out with their backpacks. On the return walk we spotted them again....


See them? Curled up in the high grass, reading?

Summertime and the living is easy.

And here's an interview with me that Brittney Breakey posted on her fantastic blog, Author Turf.

Road Tripping with my dad: Santa Barbara or bust

It's always an adventure hitting the road with my dad.
There are coffee and tea stops. Old friends to visit. Interesting things to photograph. "You see all these plastic bags blowing around? It makes a statement. You gotta have two things to make a good photograph. A field, and garbage. That's it." My cousni, Reeve Woolpert (on left) and his photo opening. "Best show I've ever seen." Great Mexican food, a crappy hotel, and home at the end of two long, wonderful days.

IRA and Research Trip to the Big Kahuna

International Reading Assoc. meeting was wonderful, as always. Our panel was a great range -- from Loreen Leedy's process to the hilarity of Jon Scieszka, with his underlying serious message about reading and computer literacy.

The URL's I referred to in my talk are up on my Facebook page for anyone who wants to check them out. I couldn't get them to upload here.

Then I went on to Washington DC to do some research on the newest nonfiction book I have in the works.... You want to know how much of a nerd I am? Here's the bedroom where I slept. I was very, very happy.

I managed to make it to the National Archives I (records) and II (photos), the Archives of American Art, and the Library of Congress. Going to research in Washington DC is like going to Mecca. I did figure out, however, that I need to really buff up my research skills. These places have so much material it is amazing.


There are an incredible number of rules, as well. Once you jettison all your stuff except a few items (computer, camera) you sit at a table and can only write on your computer or on specially identified paper with a pencil. Makes for a clean desk!