Here you'll find our discussion from Jan. 19 on the workload and protocol for the semester. Spring, 2021, SFCC

1. ENGL 2780
Creative Writing Portfolio
Our work this semester

2. Thecourse
 A capstone course for the creative writing certificate
and concentration. This course consists of individual
meetings in creative writing with a focus on the
revision and completion of a manuscript-length project
in poetry, fiction or literary nonfiction. Students are
required to complete a minimum of 50 pages consisting
of five literary essays/short stories or a memoir, novel,
or poetry collection. Students revise work to a finished,
polished draft.

3. Requirements
 Self-written plan describing your course of work for the
semester, including plans for revising prior work and
generating new work.
 • Bi-weekly submission to instructor of five to 10-page
drafts each accompanied by a self-assessment.
 • Attendance at one-on-one virtual meetings bi-weekly
to receive feedback on submissions.
 • Final manuscript due to instructor in advance of
second to last meeting accompanied by author letter

4. Self-written
plan
 1. Describe the contents of your portfolio so far, including: genre,
number of pieces and, if appropriate, collection title. Please be as
specific as possible. For example:
 Short story collection, containing eight pieces so far, which are
named as follows (or if some are un-named, indicate this as well).
 2. Provide a short assessment of what level of revision you hope to
accomplish with the work you have already created for your
portfolio. For instance, you should plan on filing at least five
pieces with me that you will be revising over the course of the
semester. Prioritize so that I am seeing the ones you want the
most time to work on first.
 3. Write a short explanation of the new work you plan to generate
for your portfolio this semester
 4. Self-assess which areas of craft you hope to advance this
semester (craft technique can also include any other areas of
writing, such as grammar, diction etc) on which you'd like to focus

5. Self-written
planandfirst
piecedueby
Jan.26
 By Jan. 26, please file your plan of study with me.
Again, this needs to be a one-pager and is just so I can
understand what the body of work is and we can make
a plan for your revisions
 By Jan. 26, also file the first piece I will be seeing,
along with any notes you would like to give me about
its status and previous revisions/questions etc.
 Upon receipt of your plan and piece, I will schedule
your first one-on-one meeting for the following week.
From then on, we will be in a schedule of meeting bi-
weekly, with you filing pieces for review with me on the
intervening weeks.

6. Contract
 I will be taking your plan of study and drafting it up as
a “contract” of the work we’ll be doing together. Once
we’ve agreed on this, that’s the plan of study.

7. Here’showthat
looks
 Week one: File piece
 Week two: Meet with Julia for notes
 Week three: File second piece
 Week four: Meet with Julia for notes

8. Themeetings
 During our one-on-one meetings, you should come
ready to take notes and ask questions. I will review
your manuscript with you both with questions,
comments and suggestions.
 Our main work will be focused on craft and literary
technique, with some work on sequencing and thematic
issues as needed
 You will not be receiving line-edits or copyedits, but I
will point out if I see chronic grammar issues and am
happy to review any points of grammar as needed or
wanted
 I may also suggest additional craft and other readings
to supplement our discussions of craft and literary
technique

9. Newwork
 Our “midterm” will be one new piece you plan to
include in your portfolio, which we will then review
and revise in the next meeting

10. Final
 Your final will be your completed portfolio,
accompanied by an author’s letter that introduces the
collection and discussions the revisions you made over
the course of the semester. More on this later

11. Manuscript
requirements
 All manuscripts for workshop must be typed and
double-spaced, and pages should be numbered. Cover
sheets are not required. Please check your work for
typographical errors, and correct marked errors when
submitting revised work.

12. Assessment
 A= Completion of all required work, attendance at all
required meetings and submission of final portfolio and
author's letter indicating incorporation of feedback and
revision from the semester
 B= One missed meeting and/or assignment
 C= two missed meetings and/or assignment
 D= more than two missed meetings or assignments
 All work must be submitted on time throughout the
semester. Make-up work will only be allowed on a case-
by-case basis.

13. Canvas
 Please be sure to check email regularly. If I need to
communicate with you, that’s where it will be, and
please be sure to use your SFCC email. I’ll also post
announcements on our Canvas site as needed.