Mary Johnson- Creative Writing Video Project

Mary Johnson Creative Writing Video Project

Week Seven Hello

Do give the video from three ago year your attention, remembering that you have a final Oral Project and need not write an additional short story or memoir. 



The photographs come from this year's

Plum Creek Literacy Festival Festival; the last photograph comes from the St. Peter's Literature Festival, two years ago; this year's takes place on October 11, and I am one of the presenters.

The Writing Assignments for Week Six discuss your final assignments--two short stories, one Fun With Words and then a short story with a flash back, along with your final Oral Project.

I hope that you all have a lot of fun with this week's writing assignment that you will share on the second discussion thread.

And you will read an interesting selection of short fiction and Jonis

Agee's talk about her craft. The class notes also discuss Chapter Ten in the Creative Writing Guide.

As always, get to the Discussion Threads early and often.

I hope that you enjoy a productive week.

Week Four Hello

Hello Everyone,

You have two short videos this week, the one on this page that I made last fall and the one from a previous class that took place in November (twenty-five minutes.) from two years ago that remains useful.

Give the video from that November class your close attention, for pretty much everything obtains for this year's course. And I might add a couple images to the photography selection.

Look over the reading and the writing assignments carefully, and give the class notes your attention, for they discuss the readings in the context of your Poetry Projects due in two weeks.

Get to the discussion threads early and often, sharing links and ideas with your fellow writers; as I note on the video, the activity on the discussion threads needs to stay energetic, so please take the threads seriously and get to them early and with enthusiasm.

Week Three Hello

We begin Week Three, and I hope that everyone enjoyed a grand Labor Day Weekend.

You will get material back all the week long, and I dive into your writing and offer my comments and suggestions.  To get ready to revise your work, check out student work, including creative endeavors from Week One.

Give if you have the time Week Three Video from Election Night 2008 your attention, after looking over the short (fewer than fifteen minutes) video at the conclusion of this post and while remembering that the class took place few years ago in November and not September.

And see the announcement and the assignment:  the writing

assignment requires from you three and not four poems.


As always, read carefully your reading and writing assignments for the week; give the notes your attention as well.

I wish each of your a week of creative energy.

Go well, Bill

Greeting for Week Two

Hello Everyone and Welcome to Week Two

As always, read with care the Reading and Writing Assignments for the week; the notes are keyed to all the readings, and they discuss here and there the writing assignments for this week.

Remember to turn in the assignments as one document and, of course, share with your fellow writers what you write.

The video I made for Week Two last year covers identical material, so make sure to watch and listen carefully. The video discusses this week's writing assignment and makes suggestions about your participation in the discussion threads: get in early and often.

Experiment in your posts with hyperlinks--I tried to include some in  my own postings on the threads last week and refer you to the link, Creating a Hyperlink, on this blog that discusses how to make a hyperlink. Just click on the images for a larger image.

Enjoy a fun and productive week.

Creative Writing 2013 Week One

Cedar Waxwing

Welcome to Creative Writing for Fall 2013

As always at the beginning of the new week, give the week's video a look; after viewing the short video at the end of this entry, watch the greeting from a previous year if you like.

Most of the videos here come from previous years, but I kept the assignments pretty similar--unlike last year, however, you will not have a proctored final.  That said, you will create by the term's conclusion a video of yourself reading and discussing pieces of your work.

I will talk more over the next weeks about this fun exercise that everyone enjoyed last year.


I made a very short video for this year that will appear here--short because technical problems frustrated the first three attempts.  I will make a new video for you by Sunday evening this week, August 18.


This week's videos address the assignment for this week, the Final Video Project (remember:  we no longer have proctored requirements), and Discussion Threads. I also offer some suggestions about how to begin making your prose all the more emphatic and effective.

If you do not know how to create hyperlinks on the Discussion Threads, the preceding link should help you; just click on the image to enlarge the information.


Again, welcome to Creative Writing and make sure to watch both the videos.

If you have questions, e-mail me right away.

New introduction for Fall 3013:





Introduction from Fall 2011:

Week Eight Greetings and Announcements

Missouri River at Brownville

Congratulations: We reach the term's conclusion.

Give the new video a listen, for I talk about the term's conclusion, which occurs for us on Monday, October 17.

Review the material here about the Short Story and the Final Project. You will get comments back on the Memoir/Creative Nonfiction and, I hope, some of the formal short stories through Sunday.

In addition to Fun with Words and your Short Story, you have a Final Project to complete, another Memoir/Creative Non-Fiction narrative or a Short Story. And then you complete as well your Final Video Project.

Remember that you have, as outlined in the Week Six Writing Assignment, two formal writing projects: the short story and the final project, for which you will write another short story or another work of creative non-fiction.

You must also complete your Final Video Project, which requires that you talk on a video published where I can watch it (and a link you should feel free to share with others) about a couple pieces you have written: suggest something about the genesis of these works and place them as much as possible in the context of what you read and discussed these past weeks.


I go very gentle on the Fun With Words and the short work with which you played last week, Nanofiction and Hyperfiction.


Just reading the stories by your fellow writers will inspire your imagination.

You have worked hard this term, and I appreciate your efforts.

Enjoy a productive week and a most excellent vacation, and I look forward to seeing many of you again in Spring 2012.

You might also enjoy watching and listening to Ellen Klages who visited campus last year at this time. If you want a copy of what Ellen Reads--"Ringing up Baby" and the final pages from White Sands, Red Menace--just let me know, and I will supply you with the material.

Go well, Bill