Thermal Energy Meeting #3

Last meeting we discussed different group members work. First I described the project I'm doing and then I did a "mock" interview. The group gave me a couple suggestions for question ideas and I got an idea of how to best conduct the interviews. Next I read a short story about a fish that I wrote. The group used the summarize and the sayback method for giving me feedback. Next Mike talked about the story he is writing. It is a mystery from three different perspectives. Lastly our group decided that we need to get down to business and start bringing in our writing so we can give eachother feedback on the different pieces.

Writing Group Meeting 1/31/08

For the first part of this meeting, we read over the "Pointing and Center of Gravity" exercise and the sample essay about sprinkles. The essay was really stupid, but we were still able to get a grasp of how to "point" and how to find a "center of gravity." Then, we did this exercise for each of own pieces. Most of had just revised our object story, except for Chris, who brought something new in in the form of a script. Doing this helped us to point out the most important phrases in our writing and where you can identify the main ideas. One new addition to our meeting guidelines was that we should read our work as quickly as possible, yet still trying to be thorough, in order to spend more time on discussion and less time on actually reading.

Again,
-Mike E.

Writing Group Meeting 1/23/08

Our first group meeting went really well, and I think we set a really good tone for the rest of the semester. First, we each read our object stories. It was really interesting to hear about which object each person wrote about and the role it plays in their creative process. Then we each shared our different metaphors and what they represent about us as a writer. We then came up with personal goals and discussed how we can support each other throughout the semester. One way we decided to support each other was to look for improvements in specific aspects of our writing, including vocab, fresh ideas, or clarity, depending on whose writing it was.

-Mike E.

(Untitled-Any Suggestions?)

Lauren Gerber
January 31, 2008
Block F-Cultivating Your Voice
Creative Writing Piece

Inspired by an accident of a girl I know:

My eyes aching to open – I felt somebody anxiously squeezing my hand. As I struggled, the pain resurged throughout my entire body. I wanted to scream, but my mouth could not open. It seemed as if it could be surgically glued together. I removed my hand from the person’s grip, bringing it toward my face. I gradually moved it across what I thought would have been my mouth. But rather, it felt as if someone injected me with an overdose of collagen. Whatever it was, it was “blimp-like” to say the least.

I raised my left eyebrow at the person sitting in the chair adjacent to my cot – the same person from whom I had released a tight grip. I pointed at my mouth with the most inquisitive look. My mother stared at me solemnly, carefully reporting, “The doctor says that you’ll be able to talk within the next month. I’m so sorry honey!”

By the strain in her face, I could tell she was trying to hold back a fair amount of tears; nevertheless, they were creating a spherical puddle on her lap. I tried to look down at my body, but I was not in a propped up position for my viewing “pleasure”. But at that moment, I wasn’t sure if “pleasure” was the correct word to describe this situation. In fact, I would have used it to describe its antithesis. Perhaps, I really didn’t want to know what my remainder looked like, and then maybe, just maybe, I could avoid the actual truth for a longer period of what seemed, an interminable moment of horror.