Writers’ Workshop This Saturday

Published March 14, 2014 by Dr. Tammy Powley

Fort Pierce, Florida March15, 2014:  With the support of the Indian River State College (IRSC) Foundation (The Gladys Williams Wolf Endowed Teaching Chair in Communications) and The Center for Media and Journalism Studies, the English, Communication, and Modern Languages Department will offer a Writer’s Day on March 15th in the Brown Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Room Y-102, on the IRSC Ft. Pierce Campus.  The session will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided.  This program is designed to enhance anyone’s writing and thinking.  Participants may register for a fee of $25.00 per person (payable to the IRSC Foundation). Participation is limited to the first fifty-five registrants.

This year we will focus on poetry and flash fiction. Many of the day’s activities prompt participants to produce short works on the spot that will be shared at the end of the day.

The program will also include multi-media, interactive presentations, and discussions dealing with a variety of writing related topics, such as: dialogue, style, poetic language, cultivating wonder, mystery boxes, characterization, passion, play, creativity, beauty, failure, technology, listening, critical thinking, and so on.

These discussions will improve writing and communication techniques and foster an aesthetic appreciation for written expression.

For further information, contact:

Dr. Matthew Brooks mbrooks@irsc.edu or (772) 462-7842

Writer’s Day at IRSC March 2013

Published February 23, 2013 by Dr. Tammy Powley

The Indian River State College Center for Media and Journalism Studies (CMJS) is sponsoring a Writer’s Day event on March 16, 2013 from 8:45 to 5pm. It will be on the main campus in Ft. Pierce, Florida, in the Brown Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in room Y-102. Participants must register in advance. You can find out all the details on the CMJS website at this link: http://www.thecmjs.org/p/22/writer-s-day

IRSC Writer’s Day, April 14th, 2012

Published April 5, 2012 by Dr. Tammy Powley

Indian River State College is offering a one day writing workshop on April 14th 2012 from 8:45am to 5:00pm on the Ft. Pierce, Florida campus. Writer’s Day will take place in the new Brown Center (located next to the Kight Building) in room Y-102. The cost of this one day event is $25 and includes lunch. It is limited to the first 50 applicants. Participants must first register before coming to the workshop. For more information about the presentations and activities provided at this workshop, go to Indian River State College on-line “Spotlight” page.

Digital Memoir Links

Published October 30, 2011 by Dr. Tammy Powley

Here are some links you might helpful when writing your own digital narrative.

Sample narrative weblogs:

http://tammypowley.com/
http://www.superherojournal.com/
http://www.dooce.com/
http://tappingflamingo.blogspot.com/

Free places to blog:

http://wordpress.com/
http://www.blogger.com
http://blog.com/

How-to Blogging Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWYi4_COZMU (wordpress)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWy4hJgOedU (wordpress)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Of-Shuyu8 (blogger)

Memoir how-to’s:

http://theamericanscholar.org/how-to-write-a-memoir/
http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-a-memoir.html
http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/How-to-Write-Your-Memoir-by-Abigail-Thomas
http://www.rd.com/money/great-tips-on-how-to-write-your-memoir/
http://ashleyanderson.suite101.com/how-to-write-a-memoir-a171259
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5340618
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/memoir/

For some inspiration, go to TED.com and watch this video of Carmen Agra Deedy who tells a funny story about her mother.

Blog Classes

Published May 5, 2011 by Dr. Tammy Powley

I have gotten a number of comments and requests about my blog classes, so this prompted my note here. I am working on a new blog class that will cover blogging as a way to create an electronic journal or digital memoir of sorts. However, this class will not be offered until the fall. If you live in the Treasure Coast area of Florida, keep an eye out here for the exact dates and times. When I know them, I’ll post them as well as more details about what the class will cover.

Links for 3rd Day of Blog Class

Published November 21, 2010 by Dr. Tammy Powley

For our third class, we will consider blog aggregators. Google has a good, easy to use reader: Google Reader. It is free, and if you already have a google account, you just log in and can start adding blogs to your reader right away.

How to track stats is also a topic we will discuss. You can get some free stats counters at these sites:

www.blogpatrol.com/index.php

www.liveblogstats.com/

tracker.icerocket.com/

www.googlerankings.com/

Trends and key words will help you keep track of web trends, which can aid in driving traffic to your blog:

Finally, we’ll end with some brainstorming on what exactly to blog about. I found a really good blog post on that here:

www.ihelpyoublog.com/20070316-101-great-posting-ideas-that-will-make-your-blog-sizzle

Links for 2nd Day of Blog Class

Published November 14, 2010 by Dr. Tammy Powley

We start blogging in our second class, so here are some helpful links.

Joining social networks can help you create weblog traffic. These two are very popular:

It is helpful to have either a photo of yourself or an avatar when creating a weblog or participating in social networks. Some options for photos are to include a head-shot, like movie stars do, or you can edit a photo and just show part of you to make it interesting,  like crop just your eyes and use that.

For an avatar, there are lots of free options on the Web:

Once you have your avatar created, you can take capture it by using the print screen option on your PC (using the Print Screen key), and then paste it into an image editor. Lviewpro has a free trial version you can download and use for this.

First, some A-List bloggers:

Find more at Technorati.

Free blog networks to consider setting up your first blog:

This is an easy to use RSS reader: Bloglines.com