… when I’ve got so much to do elsewhere? Because it makes sense. I’m a writer, genre of preference: creative nonfiction. Creative nonfiction is the telling of dramatic, true stories, using scenes, dialog, detailed descriptions, and other artistic techniques employed by poets and fiction writers. I recently attended the 2007 Southern Creative Nonfiction Institute in Oxford, Mississippi, led by Lee Gutkind, the Godfather of the genre, a charismatic man with tousled white hair, white scruffy beard, black-framed glasses, and a tiny round turquoise earring in his left lobe. Lee mentioned that blogging is creative nonfiction, and that set me to thinking. CNF has personal presence, self-exploration, and self-discovery. It is true, it is artful, and it strikes a universal chord. Blogging, a perfect venue! I’ve wanted to do a blog for a long time, but my cup runneth over already with other things, so what does one do when her days are already filled? She adds one more thing! Voila. FIRST DRAFT…Laying Down the Words. Oh yeah, I’m into this. So in addition to work, plus writing an essay each week, plus editing a journal, plus penning the Great American Southern novel, I hope to also lay down words across the page, lay out lines that turn into warm, witty, or wise pieces that will make you laugh, make you cry, but most of all, let you identify.
Tags: Creative Nonfiction, Lee Gutkind
