Look back on what you’ve done in the first half of the program and write yourself a narrative assessment, focusing on the positive and on what you can build on. My example is below.
Prep + Mise en Place (Pre-writing)
- In the month of June 2020, I made five lists of 30 Things I Love Right Now:
- I wrote down my creative preoccupations for June and then revisited them mid-month.
- I made a list of places where I’ve never been and places where I have been.
- I did five focused free-writes using some of the material above as touchstones. I was pleasantly surprised to find that one or two of the free-writes seem like embryonic drafts of something more formed, so I might think about revising them at some point.
Prompts (Generative Writing)
I drafted five short personal essays based on the prompts. I like some of the drafts more than others, but all of them are probably worth revising later on in the “semester.”
- 750-Word Autobiography: Pilgrimage
- Fan Letter: Dear John Prine
- Explanatory Essay: How to Read a Poem During a Pandemic
- Experiential Essay: Weeding
- Food Essay: Last Supper
It’s worth noting patterns in the writing. There are a couple that stick out with these short essays. Four of the five are about the concept of home. Not a shock, I suppose, given the fact that I was spending a lot of time at home with my family due to the pandemic. Also not surprising: three of the five are about me being away from home, and they end with me returning home with a renewed sense of purpose and connection. If these were to eventually find their way into the same collection of short essays, that similarity in endings would probably be something to tweak in revision. From a mindfulness standpoint, it’s useful to know that I was perseverating over that idea — that need to return home, that (almost paradoxical) need to get away and return renewed.
Summary (Self-Assessment)
Very proud of myself, frankly. June 2020 was a hard month for the planet, for everyone, for quite a few reasons (global, local, personal) — and, as an earthling on Planet Earth, that certainly included me. And yet I made it through the first five weeks of this program only using one extension, which I quickly made good on. And I really like a lot of the writing I did. I’m also really encouraged that this is an approach to the creative process that feels like it can work for me, especially as I try to re-imagine what my creative process is, why I’m doing it, and what I want to make from it. Onward, upward, and gold stars all around.