A friend, the father of a 12-year-old, asked me about this year’s writing workshops. He wanted to make sure they weren’t happening in early summer. “We travel then,” he said.

“They start in mid-July,” I said, “and continue through August.”

He grinned.

“Ahh, the dead season,” he said.

Hot, humid, dead or alive, whatever choice of words you use to refer to summer’s dog days, make sure and give the young writers in your family an opportunity to keep their pens and pencils moving across the page (or their fingers plugging along the keys, if that’s their preferred mode of expression).

If you’ve landed here by accident, hop over to the Young Writers Workshop page to learn about two separate camps, one at the Attic in SE Portland, and the other at Opal Creek. You can also also download a registration form for the workshop at the Attic, and get in touch over on the Inquire page.

Believe me, the kids have plenty to write about. Give them the space and time they want to put the words in motion.

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Hello friends and neighbors,

At the end of February I was the featured reader/interviewee at the monthly Show and Tell Gallery’s monthly Working Artists Assembly. You can download and listen to the interview and reading here.

Thanks for reading and listening.

Dave

Greetings friends and neighborhs,

I’m delighted to be the featured presenter at the next Young Willamette Writers meeting, set for Jan 3, 2012 at the Old Church in downtown Portland. You can find out more about the Young Willamette Writers here.

We’ll be doing an hour of poetry, starting at 7 p.m. The Old Church is located at SW 11th and Clay, and the event is FREE. It’s a great way for young writers to start the new year off with some new words.

I’ve been periodically adding live tracks to Archive.org to give people a chance to download things. New ones include a live version of Let’s Sell America, plus a Banjo Fiction number called War on War, both from a summer 2010 gig at Common Grounds Coffee in SE Portland.

Enjoy!

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Shawna Harch, a local writer and member of the Reading Local community, and she was kind enough to share our conversation on the Reading Local site. Here’s a little bit of it:

RL) Can you talk about process vs. content? What’s the significance of cultivating a process?

DJ) I think we live in a highly content-driven society and it starts affecting us at a very young age. The focus is on the product, the final grade. When I teach at public schools, I tell students that it’s okay to make a mess. Rather than dictating a word count or a due date or a structure, I emphasize the drafting process. When I work with adults, I tell them they need to write 1,000 words to get 100 good ones.

I had a dream once that Hilary Clinton and I were at a conference and had to write a haiku. She insisted on writing the perfect haiku, and I was trying to convince her to write a mess. We went back and forth with battling philosophies.

I maintain you have to trust the mess and trust that you will work your way out of it. Most people become gifted writers over time, with practice. I think of Malcolm Gladwell’s “ten-thousand hour” rule. You have to put in those ten thousand hours. The more you trust process and the mess that comes, the faster you will arrive at the “right words,” if they even exist.

And here’s a link to the interview in its entirety.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

I’ll be facilitating two new workshops at the Attic starting in July and continuing through August: another rendition of the ever-popular “Time to Write,” and a one-day (three-hour) “No Strings Attached” poetry session for the workshop-curious.

Take a look at the Workshops page for more info, or jump to the Attic’s Classes page to register.

AND: there are still a few seats available for the upcoming YOUTH WRITING CAMP, a four-week (eight-session) workshop for writers ages 11-15. We’ll meet Tuesdays/Thursdays, starting July 12 and continuing through August 4. You can find more info about the Writing Camp on the Workshops page as well.

FINALLY: the “Turning Up the Heat” poetry workshop (eight-weeks) starts tonight at Writers’ Dojo in St. Johns. Thanks to everyone who expressed interest and helped share the word. We’ll have a full table of wonderful poets cracking the whip on their work.

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Howdy and hello – I’m in the process of dusting the blow off of DaveJarecki.com and thought I’d start by highlighting a few new things you can listen to.

If you head over to ye olde listen page, you’ll find six poems added to the online radio. These are audio clips from a recent appearance on “Talking Earth,” the twice-monthly poetry program on Portland’s KBOO radio. The poems, in alphabetical order are:

• The Distance Between Here and Montana
• Feeding Emu
• Marital Affair
• Sand
• Seeds
• Why Men Fly Into Buildings

Wait, there’s more . . .

You can also find some other clips from “Talking Earth” as well as a few Caffeinated Art performances over at Archive.org.

There’s still more . . .

Finally, I’m pleased and honored to be included on Oregon Poetic Voices, a site that provides a “comprehensive digital archive of poetry readings that will complement existing print collections of poetry across the state”. Stop by and have a listen to more than a 100 different voices from across Oregon.

Thanks for reading and for listening. It’s good to be back.

I’m pleased to be sharing the bill tomorrow night with Peter Sears at the Press Club (2621 SE Clinton St., Portland). It’s part of the Mountain Writers reading series. The reading starts at 8 p.m. Stop in for a cocktail and enjoy some poetry in the process.

For more info, check out the Mountain Writers site.

Thanks –

I’ve had the pleasure of getting know some really wonderful poets and writers, many of whom have been gracious enough to sit for an interview and share their work here on DaveJarecki.com. In commemorating National Poetry Month, I’d like to turn the site over to them. Some have already appeared as Guest Writers; others will shortly. In the meantime, starting April 1, look for at least one new poem from a different poet each morning.

Thanks –

I’m pleased to be partnering with the Attic in SE Portland to offer three exciting literary enrichment opportunities for middle, junior and senior-high students. Please feel free to share with any colleagues, family or friends who may be interested.

• SPRING BREAK WRITING CAMP – a week of writing and creative expression.

  From March 22- 26, coinciding with Portland Public’s spring break, Writing Camp offers multiple opportunities for middle school and junior high students to express themselves. During morning sessions, students will work with guest poets, including Sage Cohen, Pam Steele and Peter Sears. In the afternoon, writers will explore various fundamentals of creative and expository writing, including narrative structure, character development, dialogue, setting, and place, as they launch new pieces of writing and work on existing ones.

• FUNDAMENTALS OF FICTION, FANTASY & PERSONAL JOURNAL

  Saturdays from April 10th – May 15th, junior and senior high writers will work toward moving their ideas and stories beyond their first lines, first paragraphs and first pages toward completion. In so doing, they’ll focus on the fundamentals of good storytelling, including narrative arch, characters, plot development and more, with the goal of finishing their stories.

• WEAVING EXPERIENCES INTO WRITING

  Also on Saturdays from April 10th – May 15th, junior and senior high writers will uncover the steps it takes to turn their personal experiences into stories, poetry, essays, fiction and more. This workshop will be especially helpful for students preparing for college entrance essays, who want to write a book, and who are interested in exploring personal narratives.

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER at the Attic’s classes page, or email me at info(at)davejarecki(dot)com.

ABOUT THE ATTIC

Founded in 1999, the Attic Writers’ Workshop is widely regarded as a literary gem–a place that encourages & develops your talent, helps you focus on your writing, & invites you into the camaraderie & community of other writers. In addition to individualized consultations for writers at all levels, the heart of the Attic is the workshop: small, supportive, innovative, & intensive. Students receive generous attention, geared to their present & future writing.



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