Teaching writing

The semester is over (well, pretty much). Papers are graded and grades have been assigned. That's why I thought it was a perfect time to talk about the benefits of teaching writing. I can personally say, teaching writing has been the most beneficial thing I have ever done to improve my own writing.

But first I should point out that I am one of those who makes the majority of his living as adjunct faculty at two local facilities. I have also served as a substitute teacher, tutor, and a number of other duties in the realm of teaching positive writing techniques. Currently, if you are curious, I am employed at Norfolk State University and Paul D Camp Community College. That means at various times throughout the year I have to grade stacks of paper that look like this:

But here are some of the benefits of teaching writing:

Teaching gives me a chance to go over grammar rules, such as the ever dreaded comma splice, verb tense shifts, fragments, etc.

It also gives me chance to discuss writing forms. Although my students learn the techniques of writing a good essay, it relates to fiction in that both must have a good beginning (it's best to open with a hook), an informative middle, and a satisfying conclusion.

Additionally, it gives me the chance to read essays from other published writers, such as Amy Tan, Maya Angelou, George Orwell, and Isaac Asimov, to name just a few. If these now famous writers once made a part of their living by writing essays for publication, perhaps I can as well.

Third, it gives me chance to see young budding writers honing their craft. Many of my students are starting out rough around the edges, especially when it comes to writing. That's not intended to be a knock on them. Many are first generation, and even first semester college students. After all, even the most beautiful sculptures started out as a hunk of shapeless rock.

Yes, I think teaching others how to write is one of the best things anyone can do for their own writing. If you consider yourself a writer, give it a try. If you can't get into a college, most libraries will allow others to give writing lessons for free. Or find yourself a small studio to rent and charge for the service. Give it a try. It really helps.

Monster Fest photos

Some time ago, I promised to post a few photos of Monster Fest 2017, so here they are:

The first one is of me doing my presentation on Ed Wood, titled "Your Stupid, Stupid Minds," the second is of me in front of the schedule of my presentation, the third is me and a statue of The Fly, fourth is Dr. Madblood, the horror movie host of Hampton Roads, fifth is the winner of the costume contest, and last is the other winners and runners up of the costume contest. Can't wait 'til next year!

So I joined the Horror Writer's Association

I teach at several higher education facilities, that's at one university and one community college to be exact. I do it part time at both schools with the hopes that one day I can do it full time, which is just part of the reason I've been preparing to enter an English PhD program next year. Another piece to that puzzle is that I'm finding that higher education facilities want you to belong to organizations in your field of study. For me that would be literature, or writing, mostly writing. It's best to join the organization that holds the most interest for me, as it is the  area I will do the majority of my research. That's why I decided to join the Horror Writer's Association.

I've been in contact with this organization for last few weeks, and just paid my dues to join earlier today. I'm supposed to receive some correspondence through the mail in the next few weeks or so. According to the organization some of the benefits of membership (besides being able to put it on my CV when applying for jobs) are that I have access to mentoring programs where other writers can help critique my work and help single supporting members (like myself) get published. They also provide exclusive access to some publishers, agents, and publications looking for more horror short stories.

Here's the link to the HWA's website in case anyone is interested in looking them up.

So, we'll see how this goes. I will again keep readers up to date on this endeavor. Hopefully it works out and turns into an investment.

Today's picture is of this year's jack-o-lantern I made at the request of my 11-year-old daughter. Yes, it's supposed to be a bat, in case you couldn't tell.

Writing group no more.

I guess no one stepped up to save the writing group. The lady who said she would step up to be the group leader said she didn't realize there was a $15 / month fee through Meet Up either, so she also declined to become its leader. I am now in the market for a new writer's group. I'd like to start my own, and may look into that come the new year. I still have a huge stack of papers to grade that will last me until the end of the year, so a lot of other projects are waiting right now. So what did I get out of the writer's group? Besides a few new Facebook friends, I did manage to latch onto a Beta reader for my current novel project. That is pretty important.

Meanwhile, I also took the GRE to get into a PhD program at Old Dominion University. I reached my goal for the verbal section, of just over the 70th percentile, but fell short of the required 50th percentile for the quantitative math section. However, I blew the writing section out of the water, and scored in the 90th percentile! Counting that writing score alone would get me into Harvard (I looked it up).

Meanwhile, I received another rejection for a short story in my e-mail this week. Such is the writer's life.

Update on the writing group.

So the group leader of the writing group I joined a few Blogger posts ago, stepped down as leader. We hadn't any meetings in a few months, so I wasn't surprised. Several members (including myself) were sent e-mails to step up as the new leader. I would love to do it, but I would have to pay $15 / month to upgrade my membership. I just can't do that right with all of my other expenses. Time is also a bit of an issue, but since I'm currently teaching college writing courses, I could actually put this on my Curriculum Vitae (which I'm about to update, as a matter of fact).

So anyway, today I received a message from another member offering to step up as group leader, but she has transportation trouble and wants to hold them near her home in Norfolk. So I'll work with that, and replied and said I would try to show up for the group meetings if she held them on Friday afternoons. We'll see how this works out.

In the meantime, here's a picture of me coming out of the grave at a previous year's Monster Fest.

Monster Fest past

Monster Fest has come and gone. I had a great time and made only one purchase, a Bride of Frankenstein action figure. I saw a King Kong action figure I was interested in, but when I returned to purchase it was already gone. Such is the way things work out for collectors. It was only $5 too. It had very few points of articulation though, but I still liked the way it looked.

Mr. Lobo returned to Monster Fest this year. That's me with Mr. Lobo in the picture above, although that picture is from a few Monster Fests ago. I'll try and get a few current Monster Fest pics up soon.

Anyway, I did a presentation on Ed Wood, and that went pretty well. You can read more about this whole event when I write a complete story about it in Wormwood Chronicles. Their website is here.

Oh yes, and I got three short stories published! Whoo hoo! Before anyone gets too congratulatory, it is self published. At some point I'll post my opinions on the whole self-publishing vs. traditional publishing thing. If anyone it is an anthology of several science fiction and horror short stories from a variety of authors, and it can be purchased here.

That's all for now. If you like what you see here, please friend me here on Google+. I promise I won't bite, unless you're into that sort of thing. 😈

Monster Fest

Now that I finally got around to posting about Fantasci, it's time for Monster Fest already! This year, I will be presenting a paper I once wrote about Ed Wood, titled "Your Stupid, Stupid Minds." It should be a lot of fun. I spent all last night watching Ed Wood films in preparation to refresh my memory on those films. The paper takes somewhat of a scholarly look at Ed Wood's life and career. It is very timely with transgender issues being all over the news these days. Ed Wood was not transgender, but he was sympathetic to their rights.

I come on right after Dillzilla is large main room. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. If you live in the Chesapeake, Virginia area feel free to come join us, not just to see me, but to see the whole spectacle of Monster Fest. Many horror hosts will be on hand, including Dr. Madblood, Mr. Lobo, and Karlos Borloff. Here's the link, and be sure to check out the schedule. Wish me luck.

Monster Fest