Big Sky Writer’s Workshop; BSWW 150 Poetry Infusion: Lessons in Writing Vibrant, Imaginative Poems

Wondering how to get the dazzle into your poems?  How to give them depth, mystery, and resonance?  In this class, we will tap into your creative imagination through a variety of innovative exercises.  This is a very hand-on class, so come prepared to read and write each week.  We will also be workshopping each other's poems-in-progress, but don't worry, you never have to share if you don't wat to!  This workshop stresses the importance of freedom, experiment, surprise, and offers a fun, supportive atmosphere where creativity can flourish.  Appropriate for beginner as well as advanced students.  Dr. Jones will respond to poems workshopped in class; she is also available for private one-on-one consultation.  Poetry Infusion: a wonderful opportunity to read great poems and fire your imagination.  Certificate of Participation for OPI Renewal is available if requested upon registration.

Instructor: Danell Jones
Tuesdays, February 19 – April 9, 2013; 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

MSU Billings SUB, Bridger Room
Non-credit course; Certificate of Participation available on request
$129.00

Call 406-896-5890 to register, or go to http://msu-billings.augusoft.net/

---

Big Sky Writers’ Workshop: Poetry Infusion: Lessons in Writing Vibrant, Imaginative Poems

Instructor: Danell Jones

Course Description:  Wondering how to get the dazzle into your poems? How to give them depth, mystery, and resonance? In this class, we will tap into your creative imagination through a variety of innovative exercises. This is a very hands-on class, so come prepared to read and write each week. We will also be workshopping each other’s poems-in-progress—but don’t worry, you never have to share if you don’t want to! This workshop stresses the importance of freedom, experiment, surprise, and offers a fun, supportive atmosphere where creativity can flourish. Appropriate for beginner as well as advanced students.  Dr. Jones will respond to poems workshopped in class; she is also available for private one-on-one consultation. Poetry Infusion: a wonderful opportunity to read great poems and fire your imagination.

Required book:  Sleeping on the Wing: An Anthology of Modern Poetry with Essays on Reading and Writing by Kenneth Koch & Kate.

Dates / Times: Tuesday evenings Feb. 19, 26, March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 2, 9; 7 – 8:30 PM

Syllabus:

February 19: Taking the Leap into Poetry
February 26:  Poetry of the Ordinary
March 5: Eccentric Sounds
March 12: Impersonations
March 19: Making the World New
March 26: What it’s like to be Alive
April 2:  Singing of Myself
April 9:  Sharing our Poems

Instructor Biography: Danell Jones’s poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in various publications including the Denver Quarterly, Beyond Baroque, Red River Review, Gingko Tree Review, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Tonopah Review, and The Virginia Woolf Miscellany.  She is the winner of the Jovanovich prize for poetry and has been a finalist for the Breadloaf Poetry Prize and the PEN/Nelson Algren in Fiction. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University and is the author of The Virginia Woolf Writers’ Workshop: Seven Lessons to Inspire Great Writing.

Big Sky Writer’s Workshop; BSWW 151: The Craft of Writing

Every good work of art, whether it is writing, music, or visual arts, touches its audience in a way that is ultimately emotional.  That is what we're striving to do when we create.  This class will explore how it is that we can tell our stories in a way that most effectively makes an emotional connection with the people who read it.  We will explore how to incorporate description, character development, plot, and themes to enhance our storytelling.  We will also discuss the business end of writing....submitting, looking for an agent, and preparing a manuscript to make it most effectively marketable.  Certificate of Participation for OPI Renewal is available if requested upon registration.

Instructor: Russell Rowland

Wednesdays, February 20 – April 24, 2013; 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
MSU Billings SUB, Bridger Room

Non-credit course; Certificate of Participation available on request
$245.00

Call 406-896-5890 to register, or go to http://msu-billings.augusoft.net/

---

Big Sky Writer’s Workshop: The Craft of Writing

 Instructor: Russell Rowland

Course Description: Every good work of art, whether it's writing, music, or visual arts, touches the audience in a way that is ultimately emotional. That's what we're striving to do when we create. This class will explore how it is that we can tell our stories in a way that most effectively makes an emotional connection with the people who read it. We will explore how to incorporate description, character development, plot, and themes to enhance our storytelling. We will also discuss the business end of writing...submitting, looking for an agent, and preparing a manuscript to make it most effectively marketable.

Dates / Times: Wednesdays February 20 – April 24; 7:00 – 9:00

Course Syllabus:  We will be reading and discussing works from the great writers in history. But the main focus of this class will be on writing your own stories. We will do in-class writing exercises that will help strengthen certain areas of your writing, and each student will also have the opportunity to submit several pieces of their own work for feedback from their classmates and from the instructor. The class will be ten weeks long.

Instructor Biography:  Russell Rowland has an MA in Creative Writing from Boston University. He has published two novels, IN OPEN SPACES and THE WATERSHED YEARS. He also co-edited the anthology WEST OF 98: LIVING AND WRITING THE NEW AMERICAN WEST. His third novel, HIGH AND INSIDE, will be released in the summer of 2013. Rowland has taught at Boston University, St. Mary’s College, where he was writer-in-residence, and MSU-Billings, as well as with Gotham Writing Workshops and The Loft.