Saturday, July 9, 2016

posting all of the halftime 366 discussion up until now for reference

366 half time discussions Dear all, As foreshadowed, I think now we're past the half way mark it's an appropriate moment to pause and reflect on a number of issues about the future of our collaboration. May I suggest a number of topics to deal with, and take them one at a time, possibly over a period of a few weeks? Topic 1 Who are we and to whom are we addressing ourselves? Halfway through Project 366, we have had around seventy participants, more than 3,500 posts and more than 110,000 page visits. I think that makes us a happening thang, as they say. However, it concerns me that many people who could be/would be interested in participating, or even just watching, do not know of our existence. I would personally like to see more of a range of voices, more languages (though with English as the centre), people from more different places. I've done what I can to invite people from as diverse backgrounds as possible. But can we collectively be doing more to get more voices and languages in the picture? And can we raise our profile in some way and get more people to notice what we're doing? I think this project should potentially be of great interest to Creative Writing teachers and students in all corners of the globe. So, can people make suggestions about how we might be better known? To some extent this might simply be about re-posting to the right places. Your thoughts, all?
Anna
I think it's growing on its own and we don't have to force it actually.
Sarah
I have asked a number of people and many can't commit but then some are just - yes - or yes soon.
Rae
Might send a note to some email friends in the US - & elsewhere ..
Andrew
Do we just supply would-be participants the blog address?
participants need an invitation for which I need their gmail address
Andrew
Okay. I shall ask my merry band of friends.
Anna
Is also good if they have a Facebook page so they can participate in this discussion
I've been telling people about the project but the usual reaction is gobsmacked, how do you do that?
Claine
I can contact people in the UK, Paris and Sweden for you if you like. Just let me know and I will contact them.
Oh in the US also
what kind of people, Claine? maybe it's good if we can see samples of people's work ahead of inviting them?
Claine
Yes that is fine. I will contact them and ask them to email you samples of work. My publisher in the US is a Maxican woman by who lectured at The Univerity of Colorado and has two Masters Degrees and a PHD in Creative Writing. She is a great writer also. Then there are the people I know at Spokenword in Paris, I also came across a couple of female poets who were studying literarture at Oxford, when I was reading at Catweazle in Oxford. They are great poets. I have two friends who I perform with and who live in Sweden and they are connected to a vast group of musicians in Europe. I can ask them if they have friiends who write x
I think it's the poetry or pictures we want to see... never trust anyone with a PhD
Claine
Andrew
Humph.
Mikaela
Sorry I don't know that many poets - with or without PhDs! I was thinking that having got to half way we should have had to go in reverse and start editing our drafts all the way back to the beginning...
Lizz
Thanks Kit. 111000 visits is awesome but I appreciate what u r saying about building on that and targeting etc. I'll give some thought to this.
particularly I think it would be good to get more younger poets and poets from other cultures involved - and artists, photographers, etc - to invite people into a community where they can feel supported and encouraged and hopefully grow in their art practice
Lizz
One thing I wanted to mention was that I really take Kit's point (more than ever) about pasting poem text into FB post. Doesn't seem to be happening much these days. I sometimes use FB page to read when on run but it's just a list with no immediate access to poems and no enticement to click on to blog. Makes FB a non-event methinks. Cheers
Lizz
Pasting text in when there is no image I mean 😀
A great welcome to Irish poet Moyra Donaldson
Sarah
Welcome Moyra!
Topic 2 Project Documentation and Reflection I think it's important that we should have adequate documentation of the project and of how people have felt about participating in it. This will be interesting and useful for people to study along with our draft works (and the ways in which they might relate to later finished works, and also later projects.) I'd like to leave future directions for the project, future possible projects and publication agendas for a later topic, and today just consider how to document people's ideas about the project so far and going forward. There have been really different ideas about how feedback could or should work, about how it is working. So I'm thinking maybe it would be good if we started by formulating a little list of questions people might answer in a free-form way, if they like? I don't think there's enough elbow-room to do this in this thread. So I was thinking it might be good to do this for instance in an additional blog for the purpose, something like a 366 meta-blog? What do people think?
Anna
I think that's a good idea, leaving personal chat out of it.
Sarah
Thanks for bringing this up Kit. I would really like to do this. At the beginning of the project I wanted to record how the inspiration of the other poets poems was working for me, especially the threads, the subtexts, the serendipitous, coincidence, synchroncities. To have another blog space to do that would be really good.To do it while I see it or apprehend it. Of course the desire slipped as the challenge of the poem a day always came first, to get that done. Thanks for articulating this. Sarah.
Susan
I like the idea of writing something reflective. I've been thinking over the shift in my process over the six month period to date. And I feel there has been quite a shift for me, a good one. I've also really enjoyed the community spirit and being introduced to the work of other poets and artists. I like 366 meta-blog. Perhaps a more relaxed time frame for writing and commenting.
Claine
I agree with Susan. I enjoyed bing part of a community of poets and comminting myself to writing a poem a day and sharing that poem created a positive shift in my writing. It would be good to reflect on that.
Sarah
Major shift for me
Claine
Nat
Great idea, Kit. I'm only 8 days in, but am already approaching my work differently and writing far more often than ever before. I've also found the other poets' and artists' work inspiring. A meta-blog would be a good place to post reflections.
Lizz
Good thinking 🙂
You added Kerri Shying.
okay... I'll go ahead and create a Project 366 metablog then ... could I please have a volunteer to help me with it? perhaps it would be good now if people put their thinking caps on to work out what kinds of questions we'd like to discuss ? that said, I think keeping the discussion basically freeform is good... but questions could give us some scaffolding to work with
Kerri
no chance me technically but I am good to pitch to
Anna
I like free form. Questions can be okay but you don't want to be bound by them
Kerri
so do the questions appear on the blog
and do we write to them? Forgive me being ignorant
could people please accept invitations to the 366 metablog when you receive them!
then we'll be able to move some of the discussions there
BĂ©atrice
I do accept the invitation Kit! it's a principle, I do accept quite everything coming from you!!! love to Carol et bise
BĂ©atrice
As for my invitations to people such as the native american authors .. they don't feel commited at the moment ... Indian time you know, but also sooooooo many other priorities to cope with most of the time ...
Kerri
There is an Aboriginal doctor who writes and blogs and I grew up with her, Janelle Trees. She addressed the Un last year and works at Yulara. She may be someone.
we aren't from the same clan but I know her like a sister
please ask her, Kerri!
Kerri
Okiy Dokey.

2 comments:

  1. dear all -- I've just posted all of our halftime discussion till now to the blog -- it looks a bit messy but there you are ... at least it's there... it will take a couple of days I guess before we get everyone wishing to participate onto the metablog, but once we do can we please cleanly separate operational matters discussed here from reflection on the project to be published in the metablog? I think that would make life easier for everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Can the order be reversed somthe latest comments are at the top. It's already pretty long and will soon be unworkable to scroll down each time to see the latest comments.

    ReplyDelete