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But first, the three stages of temperature adjustment

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Teaching notes. But first, the three stages of temperature adjustment:

a) It’s 36F out, of course I’m going to wear a cardigan (under my giant sleeping bag coat and scarf) and I’m going to button it too
b) Two minutes into teaching: it’s a little warm in this classroom, let me unbutton this
c) Five minutes into teaching: Who decided the classrooms needed to be sweltering hothouses in winter??? Sweater begone!

In related news, I do like this newly-shortened dress better with a black cardigan, tights, and boots. There’s a touch of blue you can’t see with sapphire stud earrings; I’m happy with this outfit. It’s kind of giving me “night woodland elf warrior” vibes.

This short does mean bend at the knees, not at the waist, to pick something up off the floor. Luckily, I grew up as a Catholic schoolgirl, so my reflexes are pretty well trained for short skirts. 🙂

It required incredibly minimal sewing — if you can cut a straight line, and sew a straight line and use an iron, you can do this kind of shortening adjustment for hems, even without a sewing machine. With a sewing machine, it’s a 10-15 minute task.

Teaching two classes this semester: advanced fiction writing and a 200-level intro to speculative literature (SF/F, ghost stories, fairy tales, etc. and so on)

For fiction writing, we’re taking the first 2-3 weeks for generative exercises, and then it’s pretty straightforward for the rest of the semester — they each write two stories and have them critiqued. If there’s slow time at any point, we’ll read some good fiction and do some more exercises.

This week, most of the goal is to get them to know and trust each other, but also to help them get past their internal editor and help them learn to start writing fiction at the drop of a hat. I set a timer, tell them to try to keep the pen (or fingers) moving the whole ten minutes, that it’s okay to just write ‘I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know’ until your subconscious comes up with something else, and put on rain sounds in the background to help them focus.

a) first day, I broke them into small groups and had them play Storymatic (fun generative story game / ice breaker) — they did about ten minutes of writing once they’d collaboratively generated some characters and plot.

b) Wednesday, I brought in the first chapter of Le Guin’s Steering the Craft; we read it together (it’s just a few pages), student volunteers read the examples out loud (love the Twain piece!), and had them do the first exercise, on playing with language. I also gave them Le Guin’s powerful anti-capitalist National Book Award speech, and my essay on how Le Guin is brilliant at revision:

https://www.ursulakleguin.com/nbf-medal
https://reactormag.com/write-critique-revise-repeat-on…/

c) today, we’re starting with a discussion of memory and dream and immediacy, using Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones and the idea of ‘first thoughts.’

Then I’m going to start them working on a collaborative Charted Worlds RPG project that we’ll be working on all next week; they’ll be mostly character-building today. More anon — I’m thinking of developing this into a free teaching / writing resource at the SLF. Connor, add to my todo list for Portolan Project, please. Shaun Duke, once I have this drafted, would love your thoughts on it.

In the lit class, here’s the first week syllabus, in case you want to follow along — I’m following a historical approach, and all of these texts can also be found in the VanderMeers’ Big Book of Science Fiction, which I recommend to you.

Week 1:

Mon 1/13: In class: Workshop: plot generation, begin “The Star,” H.G. Wells (1897), practice journal.

Homework for Wednesday:

  • OBTAIN: the recommended books (The Big Book of Classic Fantasy and The Big Book of Science Fiction, Ann and Jeff Vandermeer)
  • READ: Finish reading “The Star,” H.G. Wells and read “Sultana’s Dream,” Rokheya Shekhawat Hossain (1905)
  • https://digital.library.upenn.edu/…/dream/dream.html
  • WRITE: a journal entry on one of the two stories (Wells, Hossain) and post to Blackboard in the Reading Journals forum
  • WRITE: a paragraph of introduction, and post to Blackboard in the Intros forum

Wed 1/15: In class: workshop: contemporary SF/F we love, discuss readings

Homework for Friday:

Fri 1/17: In class: discuss readings, sign up for passage presentations, round 1.

Homework for Monday:

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