Peace Corps Worldwide – Page 386 – promoting Peace Corps writers since 1989

How To Write A Novel

Oct 26 2010

Fifty years ago, when I was going through Training for Peace Corps/Ethiopia at Georgetown University, I heard Katherine Anne Porter was speaking at a creative writing program, also taking place on campus, so I cut my classes and went to hear one of the most famous writers of the South. Katherine Anne was not part of the Agrarian movement, (men like John Crowe Ransom, Robert Penn Warren, etc.) but she was a great short story writer and had that year (1962) published her only novel, Ship of Fools. Talking about her novel, she made two points that I still remember, fifty years after sneaking into the lecture hall. One point was that she had written the last chapter of her novel first, and that was 20 years before she finished writing and publishing the book. She said that she had to write the last chapter first as she needed to know how the novel ended before . . .

Peace Corps Director Delivers Keynote Address At American University School of Public Affairs Tonight

Oct 25 2010

American University’s School of Public Affairs annually grants the Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership. The Award recognizes two public servants in the federal government whose careers are marked by extraordinary effectiveness in organizational development and a strong commitment to training and education managers and executives. This year’s awardees are: Kenneth E. Baker, Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator, Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, National Nuclear Security Administration Margaret A. Focarino, Deputy Commissioner for Patents, Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Department of Commerce Aaron S. Williams, Director of the Peace Corps, will deliver the keynote address. In 2011, the Peace Corps will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding.

Where To Go To Find A Title For Your Novel?

Oct 25 2010

In his introduction to his novel Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1984) Mailer thanked Roger Donoghue [a former boxer who trained Marlon Brando for the movie, “On the Waterfront”] for telling him a story that resulted in a title for Mailer’s novel. It came from a story that Donoghue told Mailer: Frank Costello, the Murder Inc. kingpin, and his beautiful girlfriend greet three champion boxers in the Stork Club. Costello demands that each, in turn, dance with the woman, and each nervously complies. The last Willy Pep, suggests that Mr. Costello dance. The title is the punch line is the title of Mailer’s novel. “Tough Guys Don’t Dance,” answered Costello. So, the next time you’re in the Stork Club…

Good Books To Read On How To Write

Oct 24 2010

The Elements of Style by William Strunk & E.B. White The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear by Ralph Keyes The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging by the editors of the Post. Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction–and Get It Published by Alfred Fortunato and Susan Rabiner The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner The Portable MFA in Creative Writing by The New York Writers Workshop On Writing Well by William Zinsser Also check out: Poets & Writers magazine (www.pw.org) www.awpwriter.org

Another Cook Book from Nancie McDermott

Oct 22 2010

We met Nanci McDermott (Thailand 1975-78) years ago when she was living in California and had published her first book on Thai cooking. She is now ‘back home’ in North Carolina, and doing ‘home coming.’This is an article about Nanci that appeared this last Wednesday in The Charlotte Observer and written by Andrea Weigl: Nancie McDermott wants you to bake pies. But she doesn’t insist on a homemade pie crust. Her recipes don’t assume you own a Kitchen Aid standing mixer. Your pies do not have to turn out as pretty as the pictures in her latest cookbook, “Southern Pies: A Gracious Plenty of Pie Recipes from Lemon Chess to Chocolate Pecan.” “I would like to be the enemy of perfectionism,” McDermott says. “There’s so much of that in food.” Rather, she says, “let the beautiful thing inspire you, not intimidate you.” This is the 10th book from McDermott, 58, . . .

10 Simple Things To Do To Improve Your Prose

Oct 22 2010

Here are a few suggestions to help you write like a writer. 1. Read great books, but also read bad books that will show you how Not to Write! 2. Write about what you know and where you lived and what you did in life. You have a ‘feel’ for that and it will come through in your writing. 3. Write about people and incidents you know. Use the correct names and places to keep it real. Later you can change the names and locations and call it fiction. 4. If you get hung up trying to remember a fact or piece of history, just leave it and move on and get ‘something’ written. You can drown doing research. It’s easy. Writing it hard. 5. Write everyday, even if it is only a few lines. Hemingway, they say, wrote only 50 words a day and then went fishing. (Actually I think he . . .

How To Write A Blog

Oct 20 2010

Want to write a blog? Here is some basic information on writing one that might be useful, (not that I listen to myself!) 10 blogging tips. Keep your blog item short. Like being in the Peace Corps, it’s: “In, Up, and Out”! No more than 750+ words. Make one point in each blog, then get off the page. Try and post 3 times a week. You want readers to know you are out there and thinking of them. Start your items with a news ‘hook’ or with a great story, then make the point you want to make. Write from the heart, and as if you are having a conversation with a close friend. Don’t try an impress the reader with your prose. Talk about yourself, what you know, and what you have experienced. Be personal and honest. Cut open your vein and bleed on the computer. Show passion. Write in simple sentences and . . .

What is a public record?

Oct 20 2010

The history of the Peace Corps can be found in the hearts and minds of people all over the world. It abounds in books and blogs, oral histories, letters, journals, and stories we tell each other and stories told by people in Host Countries about us. Public records are a very small but critical part of this array. I focus on public records because they are the working documents that have been used, through time and space, in the operations of the Peace Corps. They provide a historic framework. How they have been maintained through the last fifty years has varied because of technology as well as the perspective and regulations of the various administrations. This following is based on my understanding of current procedures. So, what is a public record? Public records are created by a government agency to order to conduct the public business. These records could include everything . . .

RPCV Writers Write The World

Oct 19 2010

This article comes from UNLV’s Rebel Yell — American authors travel, write the world October 18, 2010 by Ian Whitaker Fifty years ago on Oct. 14, 1960, President John F. Kennedy laid the foundation for what would eventually become the Peace Corps. In celebration of the occasion, the Black Mountain Institute hosted their latest gathering on Thursday at the Doc Rando Recital Hall in Beam Music Center, with a panel of internationally recognized American writers. The topic for the night was “Writing the World: American Authors Looking Outward.” Headlining the event were writers Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, Peter Hessler, and Paul Theroux. The panelists were all former Peace Corps volunteers, born and raised in the United States, who developed their approach to life and writing through their experiences abroad. Writer and former Peace Corps volunteer Marnie Mueller moderated the discussion. Hessler, who taught English in China during the 1990s and later . . .

RPCV Women Who Write

Oct 19 2010

From time to time I’m asked by women where they might turn for help with getting started writing, places they can publish, classes they might attend. Here are a few suggestions. She Writes is a new marketplace for women who write. This community is worldwide. They declare they are about, “leveraging social media tools and harnessing women’s collaborative power, She Writes is fast becoming the destination for all women who writes.” Check it out at: www.shewrites.com Voices, is a new publishing imprint, fiction and nonfiction. It is an imprint by and for women. Check it out at: www.everywomansvoice.com Looking for a graduate program? Low-residency? Okay, here are two (there are others, of course). Goucher College–MFA in Creative Nonfiction: www.goucher.edu Queens University of Charlotte–Creative Writing: www.queens.edu

The End Of Books. The Beginning Of Reading. How The Peace Corps Could Make A Difference!

Oct 17 2010

Did you see the interview today with CNN’s Howard Kurtz and Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop per child? Negroponte says that the days of the physical book are numbered. As e-book readers and tablet computers become more common, physical books could disappear sooner than expected. “It will be in five years,” said Negroponte. “The physical medium cannot be distributed to enough people. When you go to Africa, half a million people want books … you can’t send the physical thing.” Negroponte emphasized the efficiency of being able to put hundreds of books on the laptops his organization sends to villages. “We put 100 books on a laptop, but we also send 100 laptops. That village now has 10,000 books,” he said. It is for this reason that I have been campaign (without any success) to get the Peace Corps to send PCVs overseas with a Laptop to leave behind, just as we left . . .

Gene Stone (Niger 1974-76) Tells Secrets Of Health

Oct 16 2010

New York Times bestselling author Gene Stone (Niger 1974-76) has a new book, The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick, published by Workman and out this October. Gene’s book tells the stories of twenty-five people who each posses a different secret of excellent health–a secret that makes sense and has a proven scientific underpinning. Three of the twenty-five come from RPCVs. Nate Halsey (Senegal 1996-98) credits cold showers; Sydney Kling (South Africa 2001-03) believes in friendships; and Phil Damon (Ethiopia 1963-65), an old friend of mine and fellow teacher with me at the Commercial School in Addis Ababa, back in the day, swears on detoxification for a long and happy life. In writing this book, Gene underwent dozens of treatments from hypnotherapy to biofeedback, rolfing to Ayurvedic herbal rejuvenation. Gene is the co-author, most recently, of The New York Times bestseller The Engine 2 Diet, and his articles and columns have . . .

Remembering JFK At U-M

Oct 14 2010

[An online magazine for alumni and friends of U-M has a great piece about what is happening at the University of Michigan this week. Check out Joe Serwach story below. He writes for the U-M news service, and also watch the promotional: “The Passing of the Torch” on Youtube.com Thanks to Andy Trincia ( Romania 2002-04) for sending this along to me.] Joe Serwach writes: From John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, presidents have challenged University of Michigan students to change the world. In Kennedy’s case, the transformation was rapid and enduring: The Peace Corps was born. “It was 50 years ago that a young candidate for president came here to Michigan and delivered a speech that inspired one of the most successful service projects in American history,” Obama told U-M graduates May 1. “And as John F. Kennedy described the ideals behind what would become the Peace Corps, he issued a challenge . . .

Tom Hayden speech at University of Michigan

Oct 13 2010

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PEACE CORPS CELEBRATION OCT. 14, 2010 Speech by Tom Hayden It happened here, and it can happen again. The difference between 1960 and 2008 (sic) is that students and young people in the earlier time couldn’t vote. But we could march, and we did in Ann Arbor in support of the southern student sit-in movement. And we could imagine, propose reforms, and believed the politicians might heed the call. Sargeant Shriver called the Peace Corps creation a case of spontaneous combustion. It would have been a stillborn idea were it not “for the affirmative response of those Michigan students and faculty,” and “without a strong popular response he would have concluded that the idea was impractical or premature.” If it was spontaneous combustion, there had to be igniters and inciters. I became the editor of the Daily in the summer of 1960. I hitchhiked and to . . .

My Favorite Mad Man: Harris Wofford, Part Five

Oct 12 2010

Harris Wofford also dropped by our Training program at Georgetown University. Sometimes early in the day, before seven a.m., he would arrive with his oldest son, who was then about 10, and they would do the morning exercises with the ‘guys’ up on the playing field behind the college dorms. In the years since our Training days, that field became the site of the new Georgetown Hospital. Wofford would also come to Georgetown when we were having someone famous speaking to us. Chester Bowles, then the Secretary of State, addressed us, as did the former governor of Michigan, Soapy Williams, who was Kennedy’s Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. I remember Wofford best from small sessions we had with him late in the evening and sitting around a college conference table. For the life of me, I can’t recall how or why those sessions came about, nor why I was in them. Perhaps Harris was having many other small . . .