writing and teaching

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 6

In this month’s Halloween Spooktacular, we talk about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: the 1818 Text. We discuss science fiction, horror, and organic chemistry as well as Percy Shelley’s gifted heart.

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 5

Radiant Child is a 2016 picture book by author/illustrator Javaka Steptoe.  It is a biography of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) whose work first appeared in NYC in the late 1970s.  In this month’s discussion, we talk about picturebooks as a form and the lives and work of both Basquiat and Steptoe, which overlap in several ways. 

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers & john Paul jaramillo episode 4

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo 

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

John Paul Jaramillo and Deborah Brothers sit for a 40 minute discussion of 2022’s novel Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine. The August “Reading Books Together” podcast discusses young people and reading, historical fiction and Colorado history. 

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in creative writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos–a novel, and Carlos Montoya–a novel.

reading books together:  a podcast with deborah brothers & john paul jaramillo–episode 3 July 2022

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo 

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

Join John Paul Jaramillo and Deborah Brothers for a 30 minute discussion of Peter Wohlleben’s 2016 non-fiction work The Hidden Life of Trees. Our July “Reading Books Together” podcast dives into the mysteries of undisturbed forests and what author, a German forester, claims humans can learn about conservation, climate change, communication, and co-existence. 

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

reading books together:  a podcast with deborah brothers & john paul jaramillo–episode 2 June 2022

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo 

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

For June 2022, Deborah Brothers and John Paul Jaramillo feature the 2015 book by Los Angeles native and columnist Wendy C. Ortiz, Excavation–A Memoir. They discuss memory and the difficulty of writing about trauma.  

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

reading books together:  a podcast with deborah brothers & john paul jaramillo–episode 1 may 2022

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo 

Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears 

For their first foray into book review podcasts, Deborah Brothers and John Paul Jaramillo feature the 2021 novel by Canadian-American author Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness. They discuss aspects of postmodernism metafiction, Buddhism, and bildungsroman.  

–Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in several publications.   

–John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the author of three books: The House of Order, Little Mocos, and Carlos Montoya.

quick review/recommendation–consider this: moments in my writing life after which everything was different (2020)

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Chuck Palahniuk’s new book might be one of the most down to earth texts on the craft of writing. And I’ve long admired Palahniuk and his craft of writing–his fiction and his non-fiction. And back in the day when I started teaching fiction, I started using his lessons from litreactor.net and his compiled 36 Writing Craft Essays by Chuck Palahniuk. I used them in my classes and for my own education on craft. Reading his work in those days led me to Amy Hempel and Tom Spanbauer. (The book is dedicated to Tom Spanbauer by the way.) I very much enjoyed his take on the pretentiousness of heavy lit and how-to workshops and texts. His criticisms made me think of my own thoughts on the Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway text I use in my classes and how I feel the text doesn’t quite communicate with my intro to fiction students. There are so many lit references I don’t think they can swim with–the examples and lessons the text brings seem very heavy. That book seems good on paper for intro to fiction and I used that since my grad school days in courses. Palahniuk’s work on the other hand references films and television in a way I believe the Burroway craft text and others like it do not. And I enjoyed learning more about Palahniuk’s growing up and family life only hinted at in other essays. This may be a book when out in paperback I can bring into my classroom for a more practical way of teaching literary minimalism and writing process.

some informal thoughts on meditation and writing workshop

Over the last six months I feel I am finally back on a consistent writing and reading schedule. Finally taking the time to free write chapters and ideas for short pieces I’ve been carrying around in my head. This working–this practice of writing–has also come to include meditation and free writing. And it’s all because of a workshop I attended while on sabbatical.

This past June I attended a workshop and meditation seminar I’ve been wanting to get to for some time. Natalie Goldberg’s New Mexico retreat and workshop was called Sit, Walk, Write. The focus of the workshop being meditation and writing practice–the practice of sitting and engaging with my notebook.

Where can I begin with how much wisdom and inspiration I brought home. I guess the main lesson from the books–Writing Down the Bones and The True Secret of Writing–is that of equanimity. The workshop focused on writer and artist stability through guided and unguided meditation. We also practiced walking meditation which is a practice I’ve enjoyed since being introduced years ago at a Buddhist seminar. Mostly we worked individually and in small groups writing to different selected prompts and then reading the work aloud.

I’ve been back from the workshop for months now and I still think of the lessons. As a writer who studied in an MFA program I am usually prone to hating prompts or exercise like this–I’m supposed to be beyond it. But the practice–approaching the work as practice–has become so vital and necessary to my creativity. And I’ve blogged here about the importance of free writing and I’ve emphasized with my students the importance of notes and iterations of work. But recently I’ve felt re-invigorated. And I’ve even brought together small groups of friends to sit and meditate and practice. The simple exercise of bringing together focused breathing exercises to calm the mind prior to a deep dive into my notebook has been so productive for me.

One thing we also discussed at the workshop and something I’ve been wrestling with after MFA grad school was how to continue exercises in creativity. We discussed how to discipline one’s self to produce but also to care for one’s self. Natalie Goldberg emphasized taking care outside of and beyond school. To put one’s mental heath before productivity and she stresses the idea of patience and practice. Practice makes practice she would say. She emphasized getting away from computers and the internet and rely on the mind and the notebook to get down thoughts, sitting and spending time with one’s thoughts and notes.

What I perhaps was most impressed with was the message from Goldberg beyond writing. She asserts this practice of meditation and understanding one’s mind goes beyond writing but to broader mental health and mental consistency. Sitting and writing to understand one’s mind is the more meaningful way to develop as a person and not just as a writer.