Emerging Writers

Today’s presenter was Audrey Smith, a local teacher and writer. She went to the University of Iowa where she studied creative writing, but since then she has come to love and pursue a career in creative nonfiction writing. This genre allows her to sample different styles of writing like poetry, spoken word, comics, and podcasts. When asked why she wanted to be a writer, she said that it came from her love of storytelling, and that came from her father, a Methodist minister. From a young age she began making little books and crafting her own stories. She now has a couple of her written works published in literary magazines and is hoping to continue her education towards an MFA in creative nonfiction writing. After sharing about her path through writing, she led the campers in an exercise. In this exercise she asked the campers to write three things they wanted their readers to feel after hearing or reading their writing. She then asked for a few to share. At the end, she noted that in order to ensure the reader does feel these things, the campers should think about what they emphasize as they read their excerpts on Friday.

Once the presentation concluded, the campers divided up and went to their classrooms. Once there, they set to work finishing their writing, editing and putting finishing touches on their online publication. As their deadline approaches quickly, tomorrow, many campers felt the stress of finishing, but instructors, writing coaches and volunteers were there to make sure they could get as close to reaching their goal.

The afternoon sessions, feeling similar stress, worked hard to finish editing their writing and put together their presentation for tomorrow. The fiction class wrapped up their small group peer editing and spent the rest of the day allowing the feedback to guide their revisions. The podcasting group worked to record and edit all their sound bites into their final podcast. The spoken word group practiced their poems they have memorized, getting the rhythm right and making sure to annunciate all their words.

​As the campers left for the day, many were feeling ready to present to their classmates and parents tomorrow.