The River Update
As UMF’s Fall 2017 semester ends, so does our River editors’ term.
Goodbye
Adios. Au revoir. Sayonara. Adéu. Vaarwel. Hüvastu. Paalam. Hyvästi. Oant sjen. Auf wiedersehen. Orevwa. Aloha. Ban kwana. Viszontlátásra. Selamat tinggal. Slán. Addio. Pamit. Adjö. Hwyl fawr.
A “Farewell” Post
By Richard Southard I’ve been thinking for a long while about what sort of “farewell” post I should make. What constitutes that kind of post? A few inspirational words? Some … Continue Reading A “Farewell” Post
Prompt Your Story
By Meagan Jones
You know how in my disclaimer above I mention writing prompts? Well, whatever happened to those, huh? Here’s the short answer: I didn’t really do them. I’ve given some suggestions on how to write, but no honest-to-god prompts.
Musical Fridays: Albums of the Year
by Richard Southard Since December has arrived, I thought I would go ahead and share my personal favorites of this year. Yes, I know that the year isn’t actually over … Continue Reading Musical Fridays: Albums of the Year
Music & Writing, Very Very Frightening
By Meagan Jones
The notes dance around my ears, filling the room. I don’t usually like to put my music on speakers, but my ears have been hurting from having headphones on all the time. In my tiny dorm room, the sound echoes. The volume is only at a measly amount, yet the music seems to be twice that magnitude, bouncing off all corners.
Musical Fridays: As Weird as It Gets
by Richard Southard
So in these past weeks, I’ve always tried to include one (maybe two) outlandish suggestion in each category. Sometimes, their stranger aspects have been more subtle (such as some of the electronic albums). At other moments, I’ve suggested albums that I know will likely be a turn-off to many people (such as Swans’ To Be Kind). Last week, doing the post about genres has inspired me to further down the rabbit hole and suggest some of the most unusual (but still good) albums I’ve come across.
The Art of Revision
By Meagan Jones
She crosses out a paragraph. It is good writing – she thinks so herself – yet it is unnecessary. It doesn’t fit with the work. It is out of place. It doesn’t sound right.
She peruses over the rest of the manuscript, tapping the pages absentmindedly with her pen. That piece of dialogue on the third page, she realizes, sounds awkward. She writes a note to herself to rewrite it. Then she reads her work out loud.
Musical Fridays: Do We Need Genres?
by Richard Southard You know, after doing these posts for a few weeks, featuring a different genre each time, I’ve started to think about something: why are there genres to begin … Continue Reading Musical Fridays: Do We Need Genres?
Reading by Example
by Meagan Jones
As a writer, you read. You read a lot. Don’t try to get out of it (yes, you)! It’s impossible. You’ll read good things, bad things, crazy things, and generally, (if you study English or Creative Writing), a mish-mash of words spewed forth by some person long since gone from this world (looking at you, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Woolf).
Musical Fridays: Taking It Easy
by Richard Southard Remember last week when I said I would do a more “topical” and “conversational” post? Well, I was in the process of that, and my saved post … Continue Reading Musical Fridays: Taking It Easy
Plot? What of It?
By Meagan Jones
Two people walk into a bar.
One says, “I’ll have a glass of H20, please.”
The second says, “I’ll have a glass of H20, too.”
The second person dies.
Musical Fridays: Maine Artists
by Richard Southard, The River editor Last week, as I was writing the post “Music from WUMF”, I began to think about the great local artists that we have received music from … Continue Reading Musical Fridays: Maine Artists
Self-Critique: The Red Pen in Your Hands
By Meagan Jones
I firmly grip the red pen, but my hand’s shaking, and the pen spills drops of red ink on the freshly printed paper. I think vaguely about how there have been studies about red pens – how they negatively affect the human psyche. Red, scribbled all over a paper, is a student’s worst nightmare.
Musical Fridays: Music From WUMF
by Richard Southard, The River editor Since my first year at UMF, I have been involved with 91.5 WUMF, the campus radio station. Music had remained in my interest out of high-school, … Continue Reading Musical Fridays: Music From WUMF
Workshops and Critiques: All in the Life of A Piece
You sit in a white-walled classroom, fidgeting in your seat. A cluster of tables is in front of you, and fourteen other people sit around them, staring at stapled sheets of paper: your paper. It contains your fiction story.
Two weeks earlier, you had typed away at your keyboard, word after word, feeling like a genius. The story was perfect. A masterpiece. You couldn’t believe how amazing your talent was.