Author: gccazcrw

Creative Writing Events Imminent!

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Presidents’ Day still affecting your internal clock? Surprised it’s Wednesday already? Wondering what to do this week? Wonder no further. There are a host of creative writing events this week, starting tonight:

Wednesday (2/21): Open Mic at GCC Main, in SU104e. From 7PM to around 8:30PM. Featured reader is GCC’s own Mike MacDee.

Thursday through Saturday (2/22-2/24): Desert Nights, Rising Stars Conference, hosted by the Virginia G. Piper Center at ASU.

Saturday (2/24): Shared Spaces – An Evening of Dance, Music and Poetry at the US/Mex Border, hosted by Cochise College

Open Mic: Featuring Mike MacDee

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It’s taken several years, over thirty open mic readings, the tears of numerous children, an eye of newt, an uprooted and discolored patch of crabgrass, careful deconstruction of the lyrics of Phil Collins, and your credit card numbers, but we have finally achieved what we sought out to achieve with these open mics: a featured reader with the first name Mike. How could we possibly top this? (Incidentally, if you or someone you know goes by the name “Open” and is interested in a featured reader spot at March’s event, please contact us.)

Even if your name is something other than Mike, we still want you to show up, we still want you to share your creative work with us, and we still want you spend an hour or two commiserating with other creatives at GCC. We hope you’ll read, but if you’d rather listen to the works of others, that’s fine too. We don’t restrict content, so these events aren’t normally suited for young humans. Water and snacks with high sodium content might be provided.

  • What: Open Mic Event, Featuring Mike MacDee
  • When: Wednesday, February 21st from 7:00 to 8:30PM
  • Where: GCC Main Campus, SU-104E
  • Why: Open mic events are how Phil Collins got started*

*Editor’s note: This probably isn’t true.

About the Featured Reader: Mike MacDee has been trapped in Arizona for as long as he can remember, not unlike General Zod was trapped in the Phantom Zone in Superman II. He even has a cool beard just like Zod. Unlike Zod, he is a pretty nice guy, and also a published author, cartoonist, comic author, and game designer who works with dogs as his day job. You can check out all of his projects at MikesToyBox.net!

Binational Arts Residency, Desert Nights, & Other Events

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As you head into the weekend and begin making plans for your writing and arts endeavors, remember that February brings a wonderful series of arts events that range from Phoenix to Tucson to the US/Mexico border. View the BNAR press release and head to binationalartsresidency.com for more information about these central and southern Arizona events, and about other opportunities to participate.

Remember, too, that our friends at ASU’s Piper Center are hosting their annual Desert Nights, Rising Stars Conference in two weeks, from February 22nd through February 24th.

And, don’t forget about GCC’s own local workshop tomorrow, February 10th! Jayme Cook will talk about writing endings.

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Traveler Winners for 2017-2018

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Please join the creative writing faculty at GCC in congratulating those selected for publication in the 2017-2018 edition of the Traveler. We received roughly 100 submissions of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. From those submissions, the student literary staff, faculty judges, and community reader identified the pieces below, selecting them for publication. The physical publication of Traveler will be released later this Spring. Another announcement will be made when they are available

To all of the writers who submitted pieces to the Traveler, we humbly thank you for allowing us to read your work. The selection process is long and difficult, and many of the choices for publication this year came down to the slightest of margins. We hope that all of you will submit more of your creative work next year. The new submission period will open up during the Fall 2018 semester.

Here are the selections, as chosen by Traveler staff and our judges:

Fiction

  • First Place: “Merry-Go-Round”, by Sara Steven
  • Second Place: “The Bargain”, by Dawn Gibbs
  • Third Place: “A Trip to Destiny”, by Cynthia Herda
  • Honorable Mention: “Last Call to Ruin Your Life”, by Jordan Johnson

Creative Nonfiction

  • First Place: “The Devil in October”, by Liesl Nichole Meador
  • Second Place: “Memories”, by Liesl Nichole Meador
  • Third Place: “Closed Indefinitely”, by Hannah Walkner
  • Honorable Mention: “A Call to Savor Family”, by Jeanneane Haley

Poetry

  • First Place: “Hello, You”, by Cara Cisero
  • Second Place: “Breathing Space”, by Bryan Swepston
  • Third Place: “I See You”, by Felicia Cole
  • Honorable Mention: “Texas Hillside”, by Felicia Cole
  • Honorable Mention: “I Am”, by Kayla Jensen

Due to a low number of flash fiction submissions, they were instead considered for the broader category of fiction. We chose to publish four pieces of fiction, instead of three, to represent the increased number of candidates. For drama, readers and judges chose not to publish any selections this year. We hope the 2018-2019 Traveler contest will see more candidates and more submissions.

Thank you, again, to everyone who submitted, and congratulations to those selected!

Saturday Workshop: How to Make the Fat Lady Sing

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Goodbyes are always hard, but never as much as when you’re stuck trying to write the perfect ending. Whether a short story, poem, news article, or essay, that satisfying ending can seem ever-elusive. You can’t always kill off your main character, right? Right? Come join us in exploring methods of closing your creative pieces with clever, captivating, and gratifying endings that do not involve character suicide and can easily be adapted to suit your unique writing style. Take home a few writing “hacks” that will help you break through the final chapter jitters and end your piece with panache.

As always, our Saturday workshops are free and open to the public. Entirely unimpressive refreshments might be provided, but you’ll need to serve yourself.

  • What & Who: How to Make the Fat Lady Sing: Strategies for Creative Endings, with Jayme Cook.
  • When: Saturday, February 10th from 9:30AM to 11:30AM
  • Where: GCC Main Campus, Room LA-141
  • Why: Because if the curtain won’t close on its own, sometimes you have to cut the strings.
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Final Week for Traveler Submissions & District Contest Extension

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Now that you’re rested from the fall break, working off carbs and calories, it’s time to get to business and submit your creative work. This is the final week to submit to the Traveler, GCC’s arts and literary journal, with the deadline being this Friday. And, Maricopa’s District Writing Competition has extended its deadline to December 1st as well. If you have trouble submitting, contact Jeff Baker at jeffrey.baker@gccaz.edu.

  • Submit to the District Writing Competition here, by 10:59PM on Friday, December 1st.
  • Submit to the Traveler here, by 11:59PM on Friday, December 1st.

Time is running out. Go be brilliant, go be prompt! Don’t let the bus leave you behind.

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Tonight: Poetry & Prose Slam

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Don’t forget that tonight is our annual Poetry & Prose Slam. It’s a free and open competition to the public. Bring and read any of your short creative work–poems, flash fiction, song lyrics, whatever you have! There are monetary prizes for the top three performers/readers, as determined by a panel of judges. Either print out the registration form from our site, or show up a little early and fill a form out at the event.

  • What: The Annual Poetry & Prose Slam
  • When: Wednesday, November 15th from 7:00 to 9:00PM
  • Where: GCC Main Campus, Room SU-104
  • Why: Money

The Poetry & Prose Slam Looms

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  • What: The Annual Poetry & Prose Slam
  • When: Wednesday, November 15th from 7:00 to 9:00PM
  • Where: GCC Main Campus, Room SU-104
  • Why: Money

The final GCC CRW event for Fall 2017 draws near, and with it comes money. As we do every year, we’re concluding our event schedule with the Poetry & Prose Slam. Unlike our open mic events, the Slam is a competition, and as a competition, there will be prizes. Prizes, as in, money. We do not promise big, floppy checks, but we do promise letter-sized envelopes filled with prize money for the top three performers. Via a highly complex algorithm involving quality of writing and quality of performance, our illustrious judges will select these winners. Competitors can enter short stories, poetry, drama, essays, song lyrics, creative nonfiction, or any other kind of creative writing so long as you can read/perform it in three minutes or fewer! Time permitting, interested parties will be able to enter up to three separate pieces of writing.

In order to participate, you’ll need to fill out a simple entry form that you can download and print right here: Registration Form. Or, pick up a copy on campus from the English Department office in the 05 building. If you forget to grab a form, we’ll have extra entry forms available before the event begins.

So, come read, come perform, come listen, come get paid!

Witness Writing Workshop Tomorrow!

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As Loverboy proudly declared in 1981, “Everybody’s working for the weekend.” Well, with Friday here, the weekend has arrived, so you can officially stop working. It’s true. Stop, right now.

Good.

Now, as all of you get to planning your sleep cycles and recreational activities and Netflix binging, leave room for tomorrow’s free creative writing workshop here at GCC.

Enjoy the weekend, and see you tomorrow!