We are in the Berger Forum, Room 227 My # is 917 346-5223, if you need to text or call.
If you arrive before 10, the guard at the 42nd St. entrance will have your name. After 10, just enter with the public.
Other writing spaces: Rooms 111 and 121 (you need to show a library card--you can get one on the spot if you don't have one) Room 108 (no library card needed) The Rose Reading Room (no library card needed) and the room directly across from it.
Schedule: 10 AM: Meet in the Berger Forum--Room 227. 10:15: Short introductions (many of you already know each other), and explain briefly what you might be working on today. 10:20: Write! 11:30: Optional writing activity in the Library’s Treasures exhibit. 1:30 PM: Lunch. Please BYOB or go out enough before 1:30 to get something at one of the many holiday food stalls in Bryant Park and bring it back to our room. We’ll be breaking bread together, Leaf and Pen style. 2:00: Write! 3:45: Wrap-up. Share a sentence or line or passage from anything you wrote today. (You can choose not to.) If you're writing poetry, please consider reading us an entire poem. 4:00: Please humor me by talking briefly about the relationship between your writing and your teaching practice. Please, please do this for me. 4:30 PM: We’re outtie.
Brainstorming/just for fun/if you need a break:
Use Ceilings, floors, windows, gates, doors Paintings, photos, sculptures, reliefs Card catalogues, dictionaries, text on the walls Artifacts, curios, maps, more
Random Choose three random library items/elements. Don't think about them first. Jot down what they are. Write the beginning of a piece using one, two or three of them. Use them as literally or loosely as you'd like.
Character Study Portraits, names on the walls, actual people in the library! Choose one. Imagine everything you can about that character: background, daily habits, family members, skeletons, desires, problems, etc. Keep your hand moving/keep scribbling. Don't stop until the well is dry. Go back into it and find the pearl.
Dialogue Use Character Study. Select two. Craft a dialogue.
What's in a Word? Dive into a randomly chosen word in a dictionary. (There's one--a lovely print dictionary--in Room 108.)
Card Catalogue There's a real card catalogue in Room 108, too. Select a card. Write from it loosely or literally.
Take a walk Every few minutes, stop. Take in everything around you, jot down whatever comes to mind first. Once back at your desk, prune for good seedlings.
Line/sentence Grab a line or sentence from the wealth of material in this building. Walk it in an unexpected direction. Use it to jumpstart a piece.
Line/sentence 2 Take two compelling lines (see above). Start with one and head toward the second. Keep your pen moving or the keys clicking. Give yourself a time limit (and make it short). Don't judge. See what you want to salvage and what you want to toss.
If you're in the revision stage, a handful of games to loosen up:
Translate your prose piece into poetry or dramatic writing Remove all punctuation and paragraphing. Re-do Change tenses Switch up POVs Change tone (serious to comedic, for example) Change genre/type of writing Reduce a selection by 50%. Then increase it by 50%