Interterm- Creative Writing Residency at Amherst College
My writing view!
One of the many great things about Smith is its role in the Five College Consortium. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the FCC is a gaggle of, you guessed it, five colleges, consisting of one large research university (UMass Amherst), one elite coed liberal arts college (Amherst College), one alternative liberal arts college (Hampshire College), and two elite historically-womens’ liberal arts colleges (Mount Holyoke College and, of course, Smith). Not only does this mean students can use resources from other colleges (think libraries or museum collections), but are also able to take courses and join clubs at the other schools.
Given that my schedule is always crazy, fitting a Five College Course and navigating the PVTA (the Pioneer Valley Bus system that moves between the colleges- and is free for FCC students!) during the regular semester can be a pain. Given the freedom and flexibility of J-Term, however, I decided to take the plunge. I enrolled in the Creative Writing Residency through Amherst College. It’s a two week course that’s essentially three hours a day devoted solely to writing and creative development. The flexibility of the day is partially inspired by writer’s colonies such as McDowell and Breadloaf. Today was my last day of the course, and over two weeks I’ve finished two short stories and fifteen pages of poetry- so you could say its been productive! This afternoon is a public reading of our published work, and I’ll admit I’m a bit nervous- but nerves mean you care about doing a quality job! Overall, this has been an amazing opportunity to explore another campus and get some writing done.