I hate Sundays.

When I was a kid, they meant scurrying to finish homework, having to go to bed early, dreading the school day.  Now, they mean a pile of laundry, unanswered emails, a garden with weeds and drooping tomato plants.

A few Sundays ago also marked the end of the Reynolds Young Writers’ Workshop—and though I’m grateful for my own bed, my own food, no morning announcements and no cheerleaders, the week stretches out before me: long and empty.  Lonely.

I will miss my students, my teaching assistants and fellow faculty.  I will miss your enthusiasm, your energy, your ideas, and your joy.  I will miss you—and your love of writing, which is contagious.

This week, there are no exercises, no anthology deadlines, no readings, no other writers around.  No one’s sprawled on the yard with a book in her hand.  No one’s writing on a napkin in the kitchen.  My neighbor’s chain-sawing a felled tree into bits.  The other neighbor’s target practicing again.

The loneliness—the new loneliness around here—reminds me of a correspondence I had with a staffer at a writing workshop I attended, many summers ago.  He wrote of the summer workshop “as a booster that gets us through the year, isolated, often wondering what and why we are doing what we do.”

Yet more than once during our week together, I heard people say: I only write when I’m sad and it’s so hard to write when things are good. I want to try to clear something up about that.  For one thing, you need to write every day—and I certainly hope you aren’t sad every single day.  For another, it’s not sadness that fuels your writing—at least it isn’t for me—it’s memory.

We write about where we’ve been, not where we are.  We write about the people we’ve left, not the ones we live with.  We write about mistakes because they haunt us.  We write about love because it haunts us too.  We write about the past—when maybe we happened to be unhappy or lost or in another place—because the present is too close.  We’re still in it, and we don’t know what to say about it.  Not yet.

Maybe this might comfort you after the workshop, as we are going our separate ways: You will write about this place where you learned about prose poems and dialogue and memoir and heat, where you figured out how to read on a stage, where you walked up and down a hundred stairs. You will come back to it, if only in your work—and it will be there for you.

Have a wonderful life.  Don’t forget–when you’re ready–to look back.

Earlier this week, a 2011 Reynolds student posted on her year’s Facebook group: “Knowing that Reynolds is happening right now and we don’t get to be there makes me so sad. I feel sort of homesick, and we were only there for a week!”

Someone who never has been a part of Reynolds may puzzle: Is it possible to be homesick for a place where you have lived for only a few days’ time? Let’s look at this week, Reynolds 2012. Today: Friday, Day 5. The students know this hill–sun on their backs, honeybees in the clover, deer loping the grassy stretch between the gym and East Quad. They know Ebaugh Pond slicked with algae under the cover of nightfall. The flicker of lightning bugs. Whit’s Frozen Custard. They’ve journaled on bricks and stone. Played cards on a dorm room carpet. They’ve read poems and heard stories placed in such distinct settings as a Louisiana swamp, a Midwestern grain mill, an Iraqi war zone, and a small town in Kentucky where kids play in abandoned fields and football is king.

As Denison instructor Mike Croley stated during his workshop on Wednesday, “Don’t be afraid to set things in the places you know best.” These are the places that stick with us long after we leave. Nestle in our hearts. Get under our skin. These places, for better or for worse, make us see the world in different ways.

To answer the question posed earlier: Yes, it is in fact possible to be homesick for a place where you have only lived for a few days’ time. Reynolds always manages to do that to a person, year after year, because, even for such a brief time, it always feels like home.

Arriving at Reynolds is like entering a time warp. The days here are so jam-packed full of good things that they feel—on the one hand—very long. On the other hand, they can also feel too short—there’s never enough time to squeeze everything in!

Monday was our first full day of writing goodness! Fortified by a well-balanced breakfast (and coffee) in Curtis Dining Hall, we headed over to Barney-Davis for morning announcements and broke into our genre classes—poetry, fiction, and fiction/creative nonfiction. These classes are perhaps as exciting for the TAs as the students. Ali Stine shared lots of really wonderful poems, and gave us an assignment to write some of our own–using the tabloids for inspiration. Pretty rad!

In the afternoon, we broke into our cross-writing sessions, and so poets got a chance to try to write some prose, and prose writers had an opportunity to try their hand at nonfiction.

After cross-writing, we had the awesome opportunity to try out translation in an awesome workshop led by Peter Grandbois, Denison professor and author of The Gravedigger, The Arsenic Lobster: A Hybrid Memoir, and Nahoonkara.

Grandbois helped us get down to the nitty-gritty nuances of language–we got a chance to see how important and crucial words and their connotations can be, and how different words have different weights and registers and emotional effects and implications. We discussed how, when working with translation, all those meanings are within the realm of possibility. We talked about how to negotiate between sound and sense: as translators, how can we remain truthful to the meaning of the original work, while at the same time not having to sacrifice lyricism, or the way things sound?

Grandbois asked us to think about how, in both prose and poetry, “each word educates the next word; each line educates the next line; each sentence the next sentence; each stanza the next stanza.”

Grandbois also asked us to think about how, as writers, we are all about specific, vivid, concrete imagery/ Sometimes, that imagery isn’t built of the first words that come to mind. As Grandbois said, “The first word that comes to mind often is not the best one. Usually it’s the sixth or seventh or eighth word; the first word is usually a cliché.” Trial and error, as well as persistence, are necessary both in translation and in writing original work.

And, as if that was not enough for one day, we had the wonderful opportunity to hear Margot Singer read to us as the sun set over the treetops visible from the Barney-Davis Board Room.

After an inspirational reading, writers had an opportunity to ask Dr. Singer questions. Here are just a few words of wisdom Dr. Singer shared with us:

“Read widely and hungrily; read like a writer.”

“Reading is the way to get out of a writing rut.”

“A Zen archers look a little off target, not right at the target. Writing is a little like that.”

“An ending should not be wrapped up with a big bow. If it does, it often feels contrived.”

“End with an image.”

“Reynolds is our Christmas,” head TA Anne Barngrover shared this evening with a packed lounge of 34 young writers. And the woman speaks the truth…for us teaching associates, this week rivals the winter holiday in jubilation and good company. We return year after year to share the energy each cohort brings up the hill’s winding driveway.

And this week promises to be a fantastic one. Today was move-in, with writers driving and flying to Granville from 16 states. We convened for dinner and shared introductions, both in workshop groups and as a big ole group afterward. As I write this now on a lounge computer, a handful of students are also clicking away, already writing and being writers.

But enough from me. Below are several first impressions and comments from the writers themselves:

“I’m connecting with people who actually like what I do for once. They  understand where you’re coming from, and what it means to write because you want to.” –Amber Jurgensen

“We saw a deer, that’s one thing.” –Emily Carnevale

“I’m looking forward to spending time with people who like writing as much as I do.” –Katherine Rothe

“So far it’s a lot more welcoming than other camps I’ve been to. I like it when you come to a place and people freak out over sharing their favorite books.” –Sam Goldsmith

“I love the campus.” –Nathan Altman

“I’m looking forward to reading other people’s poetry. I love to read people’s work and read my work to other people.” –Jackie Knight

“Well, my roommate seems really cool. We just spent a half-hour talking about our favorite bands.” –Sarah Demarest

“After what I’ve seen today, I can’t wait for the rest of the week.” –Allie Vananam

“It’s just super rad.” –Audrey Metzger

“[I'm looking forward to] spending time with people who are fun to be with. I like how trusting and welcoming you TA’s are.” –Micah Heaney

There you have it. Let the Workshop begin!

Well, the sun is shining, the campus is peaceful, and everyone here in Granville is getting excited for a wonderful workshop week! We have an amazing lineup of visiting writers, including Denison’s own David Baker, Peter Grandbois, and Mike Croley. And I know our incredible Teaching Associate Staff – which includes Anne Barngrover, Abby Current, Jen Luebbers, Lauren Mallett, Matt Miller, and Dan Sweatt! – have lots of surprise and fun in store. So sharpen your pencils, turn on your creative juices, and get ready to write!

These Reynolds alums! More congratulations are due to Amanda Tangredi (2007), whose poem, “Pinned” has been accepted for publication in the 30th anniversary issue of the Allegheny Review! And to Elisa Gonzalez (2006), whose essay, “Digital Leftovers, All The Words I Knew, Family History” has won the super-prestigious 2011 Norman Mailer College Writing Award for nonfiction. (Click on the link and scroll down to read her essay online.) Wow!!!

A big shout-out to Ezer Smith (Reynolds ’11), whose short play was one of ten accepted for MadLab’s Young Writers Short Play Festival! His play will be produced in Columbus this summer. We can’t wait!

Look whose face is on Denison’s webpage this week – our very own Peter Grandbois, talking about fiction writing, magical realism, and his latest novel, Nahoonkara! (Reynolds participants from 2011 will remember the reading he gave from the book as well as his wonderful workshop on writing fiction.) Check it out – and read the book!

Happy New Year, Reynolds friends!

We are now accepting applications for the June 2012 session – the deadline is March 9th. Please help us spread the word!

Here are a few recent highlights from Reynolds faculty and staff – send me more news if you have it!

• Dan Sweatt and Amanda Tangredi GET ENGAGED!

• Anne Barngrover publishes new poems in Hayden’s Ferry Review and Juked and is nominated for a Pushcart Prize!

• Jen Luebbers takes over as Associate Editor of The Indiana Review!

• Margot Singer’s and Peter Grandbois’ essays are listed as Notables in the 2011 Best American Essays anthology!

• Four of Lauren Mallet’s high school students place in a district poetry contest and read their work at a San Francisco City Council meeting!

Wishing all of you a happy, healthy, and productive New Year!

This arrived in my in-box today – what a wonderful opportunity! Please help spread the word!

MadLab Theatre presents:  Young Writers Short Play Festival

When: Submissions due: December 15, 2011

Description:

MadLab Theatre is extending its outreach to young playwrights in local and regional high schools in Central Ohio.  The goal is to produce a group of 15 minute short plays written by high school students for its Young Writers Short Play Festival in MadLab’s 2012 theatre season.  Playwrights can submit their short play to MadLab any time between now and December 1, 2011.  Scripts will be selected in January 2012.  After this, playwrights will work with adult mentors who are known and published playwrights to workshop, stage read, and revise scripts as needed.  This learning environment will provide education and creativity for young playwrights work to be produced for the very first time.  MadLab will then produce all chosen scripts in end of July/ Early August 2012.

Details and Deadlines:

Submissions:

1. PDF or MSWord format.
2. 15 minutes in length max or at most 15-20 pages.
3. Play should be able to be produced on a theatre stage.  Your stage directions and needs should be geared toward stage rather than film.
4. Content is open to what playwright wants to write.
5. All submissions should have Title page, character description, brief synopsis, and set and prop needs.
6. Submissions should have name, address, phone number, email address, school and teacher listed. (We will not accept a submission if we do not know where it is from).
7. All submissions are due to MadLab Theatre by 5pm Thursday, December 15^st.
8. Submissions should have subject line reading “Young Writers Short Play Festival” and should be sent to michelleb@madlab.net.

Other Important information:

• Submission Deadline December 15, 2012
• Plays will be chosen in  January 15, 2012
• Playwright workshops with local playwrights in Febuary/March 2012 (specific dates TBD).
• Final revised play to be completed by end of March 2012.
• Auditions for Young Writers Short Play Festival will be April 2012 (specific dates TBD).
• All Directors and Actors for Young Writers Short Play Festival will be chosen by MadLab.  Playwrights will be invited to attend and work with their designated Director.
• Young Writers Short Play Festival to be produced in July 27,28 and August 3,4, 10, and 11^th 2012.