Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Alumni Spotlight on Aaron Wilson ('08)

In the last couple of months, Aaron M. Wilson (class of 2008) has started to succeed in finding a home for a few of his stories. He's placed stories both online and in traditional print media: most notably in Twin Cities: Cifiscape Vol. I (late August 2010) and The Last Man Anthology (which includes stories from Barry N. Malzberg, C.J Cherryh, and Ray Bradbury, and is available to pre-order). He was also awarded the June author spotlight in the third issue of eFiction Magazine that included an interview and publication of three of his stories.

He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he attempts to understand life, others (including his two cats – one good and one bad), himself, and especially his wife – in that order. He writes about books, stories, movies, and his experiences as an adjunct instructor of English, Literature, and Environmental Science on his blog: Soulless Machine.

Here is what Aaron has been up since April 2010:

So what have you been up to lately?  We'd love to hear about it!  Just email us, and you could be the next person basking in the glow of the GLaaS alumni spotlight . . .

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Gatsby Lawn Party August 25th at 6

Yes, it's that time: the Gatsby Lawn Party is here again!  West Egg Literati, the GLS student org, is hosting this new student welcome bash once more!  Alumni are quite welcome.

Join us on the GLS House back lawn on Wednesday, August 25 
at about 6:00 (5:30 if you want to help us set up).  

Connect with new students.  Reconnect with alumni of yore.  Play some croquet, write some haiku, and maybe bring some money for West Egg merchandise and their always delightful and artistic lit mag rock, paper, scissors.

If you think you’ll be coming, we’d love an RSVP to help with our planning.  Just email Kelly at kkrebs@hamline.edu.  (In the case of inclement weather, the festivities will be moved to East Hall 5.)

See you there!

These brd members will be there.  Will you?

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Help keep yourself accountable for writing (and have fun doing it)

A friend in the writers' group I'm in recommended the site 750words.com.  If you want to get cracking on being disciplined and really make the writing habit part of your everyday life, there's nothing like signing yourself up to be on a Wall of Shame.  Just kidding. 

There are some great tools here to help you keep track of your goals.  You also get points and badges and some really interesting features, one of which is like a mood ring based on your writing. 

3 pages a day might be how you start getting back into the practice of writing if you've fallen out of it.  You can do 3 pages a day.  And everyone likes penguin badges, right?

Do you use this site?  Any tips or tricks for those who might be interested?

Sunday, August 8, 2010

This Tuesday big meeting (and no WHH)

Tuesday night 
August 10
6:30 
GLS house

We'll be meeting to toss around ideas for the coming year of GLaaS.  We'd love to get your ideas.  We'd love if you would bring your ideas and come yourself because we'd love to see you and have you join the board.  (WHH will not be meeting that night since your faithful blog editor can't be two places at once.  Yet.)

If you can't make it, but you have a suggestion for a great event or want to help us plan future events, please let us know (preferably before the meeting, but we love hearing from you any time).

We hope to see you there!

Love,
GLS Alumni Board/glsbrd/GLaaS board

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Check out David Oppegaard's blog: Deep Thoughts With Blogagaard

Name of your blog: Deep Thoughts With Blogagaard

Link to your blog: www.blogagaard.blogspot.com

What your blog is about: The voice I blog in is a slightly insane version of myself that often refers to itself as “Blogagaard” or “We here at Blogagaard.”  Sometimes I review books or movies, sometimes I talk about writing, but mostly I just post on the world around Blogagaard and the skewed way Blogagaard perceives it, with the occasional posting or plug of my own writing along the way.

Your name (if you're not blogging anonymously): David Oppegaard

Years you were in the program (and year you graduated from Hamline): 2004-2006 ('06 grad)

When you started blogging: August 2005

Why you blog: I started a different blog when I was traveling in Europe to keep my friends updated. By the time I came back, I was already addicted to instant gratification of seeing your words on the web instantly.

Who your intended audience is: My intended audience, at the beginning, was pretty much just my friends. Now that I’m a published author, I try to aim my posts at a more general audience and discuss the craft of writing more than I used to. Hopefully my blog amuses as many people as possible.

What blogs you like to read: I used to read a lot of blogs, but then many of my friends stopped blogging, and I drifted away from blog reading in general. In some ways I see blogging as a big fad that reached its height in the ought’s, but there are obviously many hardcore bloggers still going strong and new blogs popping up every day.

Advice to or question for bloggers: I suppose my only advice is that blogging is a marathon, not a race, so if you’re just starting a blog, don’t pour your whole soul/life story into it in the first couple of months, because you’ll burn yourself out pretty fast and suddenly you won’t feel like blogging anymore.

P.S. from GLaaS: Be sure to check out David's blog because he's also experimenting with publishing some of his best blogging moments over the years.  All hail drunken blogging, indeed.  If you're new to blogging, there's a lot of material to laugh about here.  In a good way.