Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Final Thoughts

Hello Everybody,
So as a sort of final post and closing of the class I would like to open a post for any final thoughts and comments on the course. I know most of us don't want to acknowledge that the end is so close, but the reality of it is we have one day left in the classroom. Most of all I want to say thank you to all of you guys. The ones who talked and discussed the readings we did and had deep and friendly discussions. Despite only seeing all of you once a week or in passing you have all become good friends and I wish you the best in your college career and thereon.

Secondly I want to thank all the authors, even though they won't see this post, they have touched me and took time out of their busy lives to teach us something. I don't think I will ever be able to relive these moments. Authors are in fact really amazing people. Even if I had not particularly read a certain genre, such as mystery (which we seemed to read a lot of), I became more open to reading mystery novels and the people behind the story were the most extraordinary of all. I found that a voice could soothe oceans by listening to V.B. Price. That legacies can go on even if somebody dies from Anne Hillman. That vampires, humans, elves, and werewolves do not in fact have to be confined to their own books from Melinda Snodgrass. That it is okay to write about your past from Kate Horsly. That being an activist and an author go hand in hand from Margret Randall and Demetria Martinez. That writing should never be for oneself but for the reader from Daniel Abraham, he also taught me to never give up and that great things take a long time and hard work. And lastly learned that you do not have to major in Journalism or Creative Writing to become an author from Michael Thomas. In the end I am going to miss you all.

Never stop reading. Never stop dreaming. and Thank you.

7 comments:

  1. P.S. I hope we can keep this blog going even after the class finishes. I don't know if anybody else feels strongly about this but I will try to contribute as much as I can if we do. :D

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  2. That was a great post, Summer, thank you!

    I too feel that I learned a lot more than I had expected from this course. I learned that authors today have a few goals in mind - entertain the reader, make money, write for the sake of writing, educate others, open the minds of your audience, etc. I feel that as a class, we were ultimately responsible for our learning experience and excelled beyond the "usual" class expectations. We learned from each other, taught each other, entertained each other, and pushed ourselves to think of new thoughts and new ways to provoke our classmates into a deeper understanding of various material. I can honestly say I have each one of our classmates, Dr Donovan, and especially the authors for my academic growth this semester!

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  3. We can certainly keep this blog going. The next time I teach this course there will be new perspectives to add to those you all have posted here. So, I will leave it up for whoever wants to continue it.

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  4. I am definitely one of the people who doesn't want to think about this class ending. Meet the Authors has truly been the highlight of this semester. I love being exposed to new ideas and differing perspectives, and the authors who came to our class more than gave that. I loved seeing everyone in class give their presentations, and it felt like we all got along.

    Since my future plans include getting published periodically throughout my life, this class gave me really good tips and encouragement to keep going. I hope all of you get the success you deserve, and look forward to hearing all about your creative projects!

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  5. Everyone I've spoken to about this class is always very impressed by what we have been doing. I just got back from a Thanksgiving family reunion, and my relatives all thought this class sounded very cool. I think it also made my dad happy to hear about these successful authors, especially the UNM professors and graduates--I think before he thought my writing was a waste of time, but he's happy to know that it can go somewhere. I found this class encouraging when it comes to writing. I am so grateful for every author that we got to meet, even if their writing was not the kind of thing that I would write. The best part of all the different authors was all their different takes on writing. Writing is really what you get from it. No one author had an absolutely right way to write. That might sound kind of obvious, but my point is that you don't have to take everything any of the authors said to us as the "correct way" to write. I still definitely listen to what these authors have to say, of course. I have complete respect for every author that we met, and I feel more encouraged than ever to write.

    Thanks, Summer. That was a really beautiful post.

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  6. I think i said this in a post last week, but this has been one of my all time favorite classes ever. I am so sad that it is over. I would love to be on some sort of email notification list for future classes so i can come to the public parts of the lecture. I have learned so much. My ultimate dream would be to come back as an author and present to a future version of this class. That would be epic!

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  7. For me this has been a great experience. I really feel that I have grown not only as a student, but as an individual. I’m so happy that I read all those novels and got a chance to meet with all the authors. I’m especially thankful for my classmates (you guys) that I got to know and the professor that guided us on our educational experience. Like Professor Donovan said before, we didn’t need help finding stuff to talk about on the blog. This class has certainly opened my eyes to writing and the world of publishing and I wish all of you great success and hope you continue to read and write for whatever reason as long as it is your reason.

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