Writing and Yoga: A Mindful Combination

IMG_1906Yoga instructor, adjunct Butler professor, and recent Butler MFA graduate, Emma Hudelson, conducted the first 2016 conversations@efryomson event: Wordbending: The Yoga of Writing. Emma admitted she usually does not condone pairing yoga with something else. However, yoga and creative writing seemed like a natural fit.

“Writing, done mindfully, can be part of a yoga practice just like asanas are,” Emma wrote on her blog. “Writing is the process of quieting and focusing the mind enough that meaningful language can be produced. According to Yoga Sutra 1.2-1.3, ‘Yoga is the mastery of the activities of the mind. Then the seer rests in its true nature.’ Sounds similar, no?”

The participants in the workshop agreed. “My event last week was more of an experiment than a workshop,” Emma wrote. “What happens if you do a little light asana (Surya Namaskar A and the three closing lotuses) to help writers focus, then give them some prompts? They write. And, unless they were lying to me, they write usefully.”

If you were unable to attend the workshop, Emma was kind enough to explain the workshop on The Buddhi Blog so you can try it yourself. Happy wordbending!

CNF MFA Student Wins Contest

Andrea%20Boucher_headshot2Creative non-fiction candidate Andrea Boucher, who writes under the pen name A. Lyn Carol, won the inaugural blurred genre contest at Redivider.

Boucher emerged from over three hundred entries with her flash nonfiction piece “Eleven Signs My Bipolar Moods are Cycling.” Contest judge Jerald Walker writes, “the writer so deftly builds her character on the page that you root for her as you would a relative or good friend, hoping against all evidence that she will suddenly, miraculously, break free of her disease.”

Enjoy a teaser from her winning essay which will be published later this summer:

#1: I’m productive and smart, gregarious and charming, a regular Miss Slyboots with my zingy repartee. I can’t imagine ever being sad, and I’m convinced I’ve finally beaten bipolar.

Then the UPS man teases me about how many packages he’s been delivering, and shame tingles through me. This is the first sign, when I realize I’ve been fooled yet again. But I can’t stop buying vixen boots I’ll never wear and bejeweled bauble rings I hate. Sweaty and compulsive, I lie to cashiers about why I’m buying the same sweater in red, purple, blue, and green. My good mood sours. I’m irritable. No one moves, drives, or talks fast enough.

Boucher is not the only Butler MFA who is already celebrating in 2016. CNF Alumnus Gerry Justice has a personal essay on Linked in, and Fiction Alumnus Earl Carrender was recently published at 101 Words.

CNF candidate Susan Lerner’s essay, “What you Need to Feed Your Baby“,  was nominated for a Pushcart by Front Porch Journal. Poetry candidate Tracy Misken’s poem, “After the Mayo Clinic”, was nominated for a Pushcart by Parody Poetry Journal. Congratulations and best of luck!

February Events

Butler Events

 2/2 – Daisy Fried Q & A
ECCW, 2:25 PM

“There is no such thing as women’s poetry. There are only poems.” – Daisy Fried.

Meet one of Butler’s favorite visiting poetry professors, Daisy Fried, at a Q & A for students. Be sure to take advantage of this amazing opportunity to learn from one of the best.

2/2 – Daisy Fried
Krannert Room, 7:30 PM

Daisy FriedPoet Daisy Fried will speak in the Clowes Memorial Hall Krannert Room as part of Butler University’s spring 2016 Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series. Admission is free and open to the public. Fried is the author of three books of poetry: Women’s Poetry: Poems and Advice(2013), named by Library Journal one of the five best poetry books of 2013; My Brother Is Getting Arrested Again (2006), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and She Didn’t Mean to Do It (2000), which won the Agnes Lynch Starrett Award. For her poetry, she’s received Guggenheim, Hodder, and Pew fellowships, as well as a Pushcart Prize and the Cohen Award from Ploughshares. 

2/3 – Wednesday Writing Club
ECCW, 11:30 AM

The writing club is a few hours devoted to writing with other MFA students to hold you accountable. Coffee and tea will be served. Bring a snack if you wish. This event repeats every Wednesday.

2/12 – Poetry Lunch Hour
ECCW, 12:30 PM

You are invited to partake in a lively discussion of poetry. All perspectives are welcome! Lunch will be provided with RSVP 24 hours in advance, and a selection of poems will be emailed so no book purchase is necessary. RSVP to mdunn1@butler.edu. All Butler students, faculty, and staff are invited, along with MFA alumni.

2/17 – Lev Grossman
Atherton Union, Reilly Room, 7:30 PM

Lev-Grossman

Best-selling novelist and book critic will present a free public reading on Butler’s campus.

Grossman’s Magicians trilogy, a New York Times #1 best seller, has been published in 25 countries. It was recently acquired by NBC/Universal for a television series, with a pilot episode officially ordered for the SyFy channel. For the past decade, Grossman has been both the book critic and the lead technology writer at Time, covering virtually every cultural and technological revolution of the new millennium. (A graduate of both Harvard and Yale, he was the first journalist to make a call on the iPhone!)

2/18 – Lev Grossman Q & A
ECCW, 9:30 AM

After hearing his public reading on February 17th, join Grossman around the fire at the ECCW to pick his brain at a student Q & A. Grossman will answer all of your questions about his work and craft.

2/19 – Dialogue IV, A New Hope
ECCW, 6:00 PM

The student-run workshop/unwinding session meets again! Share your work in an encouraging, casual atmosphere or just come for the laughs. Something delicious to eat will be served. Bring your own drinks.   Email Tristan with questions.

2/23 – conversations@efryomson event: From Fire to Form: The Sanity of Writing
ECCW, 6:00 PM

In the trenches of writing and revising we often take the cathartic nature of writing for granted, but interest in poetry and story therapy is on the rise. In wellness groups across the city MFAs are igniting the passion for writing; this is your opportunity to feel some of that heat. MFAs Kim Carey and Bailey Merlin will briefly talk about their work on writing for well-being, then spark our creativity with prompts that give form to fire and may be the start of your next big project. Led by MFAs Kim Carey and Bailey Merlin.

2/29 – Benjamin Percy Reading
Schrott Center for the Arts, 7:30 PM

Percy is the author of three novels. The Dead Lands is a post-apocalyptic reimagining of the Lewis and Clark saga (2015), about which Stephen King declared, “You will not come across a finer work of sustained imagination this year. Good God, what a tale. Don’t miss it.” Percy’s Red Moon (2013) was an IndieNext pick and Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection; his The Wilding (2010) won the Society of Midland Authors Award for Fiction. Percy’s Q & A will be March 1st at 9:30 AM in the ECCW.

Indy Events

2/5- Mythic Indy Release Party
Well Done Marketing, 5:00PM

Celebrate the launch of Mythic Indy, an anthology of weird tales set all around Indianapolis, edited by MFA alumnus Corey Michael Dalton. Hobnob with the writers, speculate about which ones are really undead alien ghost monsters, and buy a book! All proceeds go to support the kids’ creative writing programs of Second Story. Many Butler MFAs were selected for the anthology including professor Ben Winters and MFA graduates Eliza Tudor, Annie Sullivan, Alex Mattingly, Zach Roth, Maggie Wheeler, Maria Cook, Matt Jager, Caroline Divish, Jay Lesandrini, and Traci Cumbay.

2/20- Devon James Reading
Indy Reads Books, 5:00PM

“Inside Ferguson – A Voice for the Voiceless” gives a step by step walk-through of what happened while diversity expert Devin S. James attempted to bridge the racial divide between Missouri Government, Ferguson’s all-white City officials, and the enraged Black community after Michael Brown’s death. The book deals with issues surrounding institutional and systemic racism, cultural competence, micro-aggression, privilege and how various forms of discrimination blind community leaders from being able to see how public policies oppress low-income/disadvantaged and/or minority communities.