Creative writers are the viral disease of D.C. Most people don’t realize we’re there, but we’re a strong force and our presence often results in a lot of pill popping.
You know, ‘cause writers like to write about drugs.
This metaphor is a work in progress.
Anyway, D.C. was named one of National Geographic’s top ten literary cities for a reason. It’s home to renowned literary havens such as Busboys and Poets, Politics and Prose, Kramerbooks, and Capitol Hill Books. Naturally, writers flock to this bibliophilic city, and several of them choose to hone their skills at American University.
As of now, there are roughly 45 students in the MFA creative writing program and 25 undergrads with a minor in that same subject. The University’s arts and literature magazine, American Literary is currently in the running for a 2012 Pacemaker Award. AU is also host to several other creative outlets, such as the graduate journal Folio and various nonfiction publications like AmWord.
Creative Writing is extremely important to us at the Writing Center, not only because our program represents the way AU approaches writing as a discipline, but also because eight of our consultants are in the MFA program. For this reason, we created Across the Table. We wanted to build a space where those of us who love to scribble away can come to find prompts, read interviews with talented writers, and discover more about their favorite books and genres. We wanted a casual space, a learning environment outside of the classroom, where writers could come to have fun.
The name of our blog comes from a James Patterson quote: “I always pretend that I’m sitting across from somebody. I’m telling them a story, and I don’t want them to get up until it’s finished.” We love this quote for several reasons. Writing isn’t the daunting, torturous task we sometimes build it up to be. Rather, it’s the simple act of telling a story, something each of us does throughout the day. Writing is also a collaborative process between the author and the reader. Across the Table strives to create a sense of community between the writers and readers at AU and beyond.
We’ll be posting multiple times a week, so keep checking back! If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at acrossthetable.au@gmail.com.
Happy writing!
p.s. Best of luck to everyone who was ambitious enough to sign up for NaNoWriMo. I’m fourteen days in and I have 1000 words. Yikes.
Post by Lilly McGee
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