November 2003

Greetings from Inkberry! November will be a busy month here, marked by our first online writing workshop in a while (a six-week poetry-generating workshop taught by me), a reading by two terrific writers, and our annual fund/membership drive. Before we lift the veil on the new month, though, here’s a quick recap of October.

Last month brought poets Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Meg Kearney here to teach a master class in revision. I took their one-day workshop and loved it. The workshop was subtitled “Essential (and sometimes radical) Tools Every Poet Should Own,” and I came away with a much clearer sense of what’s in my toolbox, from stethoscope (to help me find the heart of my poems) to bullshit detector (to sniff out lines that don’t ring emotionally true). That evening, Laure-Anne and Meg gave a splendid reading. I continue to admire both of them for their work, their insight, and their obvious and inspiring ability to draw creative sustenance from working together. Thanks, guys!

Also in October, we kicked off our fall season of workshops and classes. Mike Card’s memoir/ autobiography workshop is going strong, as is our “The Bible As…” bookgroup led by Rabbi Jeff Goldwasser and Reverend Rick Spalding (with record enrollment that tops thirty people!). We also hosted our first-ever solo fundraiser, a “literary wine-tasting” we called Drinkberry, which, in spite of first-time jitters, came off beautifully. A thousand thanks to the many volunteers who made the event possible — by preparing tapas, hanging decorations, and designing the programs — and also to the folks who came and made the party such a success.

Behind the scenes, Emily and I have been securing donations to match an anonymous challenge grant that came our way this fall. We’ve raised more than five thousand dollars, which is fantastically exciting, and we continue to hope and plan for when we can hire our first paid staffer. Meanwhile, we’re still accepting applications for the (volunteer, halftime) position of Associate Director. If you’re smart, creative, hardworking, and interested in giving some time to help Inkberry grow, let us know! You can read more about the position here: www.inkberry.org/opportunities.html#staff.

And now, onward and upward! Monday, November 3, I’ll kick off my online poetry-generating workshop, designed for folks who want to be writing more poems. The workshop happens entirely online, on the special section of our website designed for classroom interactions; you can participate from the comfort of your own home at any hour of day or night. We’ll discuss elements of craft, generate new poems and talk about those, and enjoy the chance to learn something about poetry together! You can read up on the workshop at www.inkberry.org/workshops.html#poetry — drop me an email at rachel@inkberry.org if you’d like to opt in. Speaking of online workshops, we’ve been putting a lot of time and energy into planning for 2004. We’ll be unveiling some fantastic new things after the turn of the year, including a radically-expanded Inkberry Online. We plan to offer a range of online writing workshops all the time — plus a whole slew of new online features, like message boards where you can chat about writing and getting published, collaborative online writing projects, and a webpage with the working title of “MFA Straight Dope,” where you’ll be able to read student-written reviews of graduate writing programs. The workshops are open to anyone, as always; but the other online content will be available for Inkberry members only. Stay tuned for more sneak peeks into Inkberry’s future.

Closer in the future than 2004 is our November 22 reading with Genie Zeiger and Jacqueline Sheehan. Jacqueline’s first novel, Truth, was released in August by the Free Press, and tells the story of activist Sojourner Truth from Truth’s point of view. Genie, who read poems at Inkberry last spring in our Crossing Paths reading, is best-known for How I Find Her: A Mother’s Dying and a Daughter’s Life (Sherman Asher Publishing, 2001). Join us for an evening with these two wonderful writers!

I’d hoped to be able to review Neal Stephenson’s latest novel, Quicksilver, in this issue of inkmail — but Inkberry’s kept me so busy lately that I’m taking in the book a couple of scant pages at a time. At this rate, I’ll be lucky if I finish it by Thanksgiving! So instead I’ll hand the microphone over to Melissa, one of our fall interns, to say a few final words. Hope to see some or all of you at Inkberry soon!

—Rachel

Howdy, I am Melissa Williamson (one of three current interns here) from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts by way of the Washington, D.C. area. As an intern, I am just happy helping out this wonderful organization with all the little things I’ve been doing that I hope eventually will turn into big things! Wouldn’t that be exciting?

In my spare time, I am busy writing poetry, short stories and essays, as well as thinking about my huge project I will be undertaking come springtime. Most of my spare time will be spent writing a manual on MLA style research papers. I am undeniably ecstatic. I am in my senior year so come May, I’m going back to D.C. and finding myself there.

Inkberry is an exciting place and if you haven’t been down here before, I suggest y’all check it out. It’s a nice space with big things happening. Downtown North Adams has become a bustling place in the four years I’ve been in this area and I’m sure it has more room to grow.

— Melissa