[stylist] Critiquing and editing with JAWS

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Jackie,

Thank you. I try to be helpful and constructive. Just as I want to be
the best writer I can be; so I want the same for others.

I have my bachelors in fine arts in creative writing from the University
of Nebraska Omaha, which is one of the few undergrad programs in the
country offering a creative writing programs in the fine arts department
revolving around the workshop environment.

Iowa has the first writing MA in the country, and continues to be one
of, if not thee, best writing grad program. I actually applied to Iowa,
along with a couple of other schools, for grad programs in writing. I
was accepted to the creative nonfiction MA program, but it's a
residential program, and due to some things, I can't leave Omaha
currently. It's an honor, but my husband gets to pursue grad school
right now, and we have a few reasons keeping us in Omaha for now.

I think it's important for any writer to focus on details. Despite a
disability, you do disservice to yourself, and others, when expectations
are not high, or present at all. My instructors never expected less of
me than my peers, and I wanted to be corrected especially when it came
to grammar and structure.

While in school, the reason we weren't allowed to speak during a
critique of our manuscript was because the point is to learn how others
perceive your work, and to learn what readers thought worked and what
didn't. If readers don't get something or like it, well that holds a lot
of weight. I once turned in this fiction piece and was rather proud of
it, but I had one of the worse workshops of my life. In fact, it was
after this workshop I decided to switch to creative nonfiction. Anyway,
classmates didn't understand the point of the story, and they thought
the characters were flat. I like the story, still do, but at the end of
the day, if readers don't respond, it's back to the drawing board. Our
ideas and thoughts are not the focus of these workshops which is why we
can't speak up and defend or explain. Our part is to listen and learn
when our work is being critiqued so we can revise as best we can.

I learned a lot in a very tough environment, and I survived. Smile. I
hope to bring the lessons I learned to others, except perhaps with a bit
more compassion and kindness. We're constantly growing as writers, and
our collective experiences provide a lot with such diverse backgrounds.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 19
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:54:04 -0700
From: "Jacqueline Williams" <jackieleepoet at cox.net>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Critiquing and editing with JAWS
Message-ID: <3A832C30DCCE429697CC65E0B3459108 at JackiLeePoet>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Bridget,
I have just learned a great deal about critiquing from this. I feel like
jumping up and down and shouting, "New Learning, New Learning." Truly,
not only your method, the sequence is valuable, but the features you
mention that you can turn on or off, and regulate the speed of JAWS. If
you don't mind, I would like to copy this and take it to my poetry
group. Yes, the rule there is that every piece is read twice. Once by
the author, and again by another member. It  would be a good idea not to
talk about one's piece. Some of us do which is probably explaining or
making excuses. Not good. Did you say that you attended the University
of Iowa? I believe that is where they have the best poetry program in
the states during the summer. One of our poets attended it. It is funny
that when I first heard your critique, that I felt  somewhat
overwhelmed. It was a first impression and it took me back to when I
taught learning disabled students, and it was drilled into us  to
encourage, encourage, encourage, and don't look at details very much at
the beginning. I myself like the way you do it when thinking about my
own work. If all the errors of usage, punctuation, etc. are not correct,
it is unpublishable. With poetry, when in every contest there always
many, many entries, something is thrown out automatically if it doesn't
strictly meet the guidelines, and has even one error. 
The fact that you did your work in an hour tells me something about your
level of craftsmanship in writing and skill in using JAWS that might be
very difficult for some of us to attain. My bachelors was in Liberal
Arts and Physical Education, and my Masters was in Education/Special
Education. I went on to get certification as an Elementary Principle, a
Supervision in Special Education but few courses in writing. I miss that
so much for the level of my writing  outside of Educational writing
leaves something to be desired. You  are very good, Bridget, to give so
generously of your time. You have an engine in you that does not seem to
stop or slow down. Jackie

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Bridgit Pollpeter
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011 11:51 AM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] Critiquing and editing with JAWS

Jackie,