Praise from Students
Comments from Adair’s Students (Unnamed because I have not taken the time to ask them for permission)
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"Find a teacher you like and take EVERYTHING they teach." You would
be her. You got me writing. You and class assignments got me sitting down
to "the place where writing can occur" almost everyday and it's
fucking beautiful and I thank you.
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We just broke out a bottle of champagne. This morning I got a UPS delivery
of galleys for the August issue of The Sun magazine with my little contribution
all set up so I can make corrections. So it looks like I'll be in that issue.
And late this afternoon I got an email from the editor of NurseWeek saying
that my article on the medical mission to Guatemala is in the south central
edition May 14. She'll send me copies. Check is on the way. This is lovely,
just lovely.”
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Now I go through my days thinking about angles and epiphanies, and they make
exact sense to me. I look at previous work in my mind, and notice what has
those elements and what doesn’t.
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My experience of you is that you're able to be kind with people and still
hold them to a high standard of good writing. I give feedback a lot in my
work as a consultant and coach, and I love seeing it so well done. I loved
learning the difference between scene and summary. (I was blind but now can
see!) It gives me hope and a sense of power to be able to recognize which
is which and which works when. I also loved writing (and reading) the lists
of love/hate/always--it helps convince me that I have enough colorful details
to write a readable book.
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During this class, I have produced over 125 pages of new text**************
The first few weeks of class, I didn’t feel that I had the skills to
edit someone else’s piece. I could sense when something wasn’t
working in a piece, but couldn’t articulate it. I feel that I can now
more easily pinpoint what isn’t working in a piece and in turn, I find
it easier to pinpoint what isn’t working in my own essay… although
it’s not always easy to fix!
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The tone exercise you gave us in the form of a rant or riff was especially
helpful. It really supercharged my writing where it may have been only mildly
entertaining. I plan to use it this secret weapon from now on when the situation
calls for it.
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I’ve learned the importance of structure over style. How to focus on
tension and resolution to propel a story forward. How to get rid of details
that may sound nice but have no other purpose. How to move stuff around to
draw out the tension and maintain interest. How, especially, to rely on concrete
actions and observations instead of summary.
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Boy was I pissed at you when you gave us an assignment last Thursday night.
I thought, how could she ruin my vacation? I worked all Friday night on it
so I wouldn’t have to take my computer down to Carmel with me but as
brought it along anyway. All I’ve been doing is writing. I realized
what you have been hoping we will find out, which is that writing is something
you do everyday. It is healing me because it takes my focus and puts it on
a tiny screen where the answers can appear out of nowhere it seems, where
the action and emotion are a half step away and hence can be understood with
more clarity that if I kept them bottled up inside.
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The first night of class, you looked me in the eye and told me you’d
enjoyed my piece on Italy, that you thought I could sell it. You were so direct
and specific that I couldn’t brush it off as your being nice or trying
to make polite conversation. It set the tone for the next nine weeks.
P.S. One of my favorite parts was when Roger called “tone” a bunch
of crap and then a few weeks later came up with that lovely piece about flowers
that was all tone.
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I’ve learned the importance of structure over style. How to focus on
tension and resolution to propel a story forward. How to get rid of details
that may sound nice but have no other purpose. How to move stuff around to
draw out the tension and maintain interest. How, especially, to rely on concrete
actions and observations instead of summary.
**************
The tone exercise you gave us in the form of a rant or riff was especially
helpful. It really supercharged my writing where it may have been only mildly
entertaining. I plan to use it this secret weapon from now on when the situation
calls for it.
**************
You were always able to find something redeeming in our work and communicate
it with enthusiasm. It was often your faith that something coherent and interesting
could be wrested from what seemed like hopeless drivel that gave me the strength
to rewrite a piece.
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I’ll be in Chronicle's H&G section this Saturday, Insight on Sunday
and Food in a couple weeks. I'm also in “The Walker Within", an
anthology published by Walking Magazine (just published last month). I know
you enjoy walking
and might get a kick out that book. It's kind of like a "Chicken Soup
for the Sole". Anyhow, I feel like I owe my accomplishments to you. Your
class helped me more than anything else I've ever done,
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A good class should leave you more addicted to writing than ever. Yours did.
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It was often your faith that something coherent and interesting could be
wrested from what seemed like hopeless drivel that gave me the strength to
rewrite a piece.”
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You foster an atmosphere that is my ideal of what a writing class should be--both
great crits and support. It felt like a family campfire or an ancient storytelling
circle, where everyone shared the stories of their lives.
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Each of the elements you ask about—in-class discussions, critiques,
email partners, on-line critiques—has contributed to a process I think
of as shedding my academic habits of mind. I think my writing has benefited,
and I know that my own teaching of writing will benefit from the experience.
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I think you're REALLY talented at seeing what the (or A) structure can be
in a piece that has even subtle problems. I've picked up some of that ability
just by watching you go (especially in the first class) and by trying to analyze
my own pieces with that in mind (Is this best order I
can think of? What are the other possibilities?).
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Although you dislike the word “literally” I believe you have literally changed my life. You have changed the way I look at situations, at people, at the absurd, at the profound, at the past, at the moment, at memories, at family, and at myself.
I was impressed by how much the writing level in the class improved in a
short time
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Our individual conference was a powerful moment. When I met with you, I was
groping in the dark. The light Switch was on a far wall. You listened to me
talk confusedly about my memoir and got me to see in what direction I needed
to go.
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As I prepare for becoming a mother, I think that the greatest gift you’ve
given me, Adair, is to show me that writing and motherhood can be combined.
I was always afraid that becoming a mother would take me away from writing.
I don’t think so anymore. IN fact I’ve learned in this class that
I can use any life situation, any adversity that comes my way in my writing
because conflict is the genesis of all writing. What a powerful discovery-to
welcome what life gives me and shape it into art/”
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The first night of class, you looked me in the eye and told me
you’d enjoyed my piece on Italy, that you thought I could sell it. You
were so direct and specific that I couldn’t brush it off as your being
nice or trying to make polite conversation. It set the tone for the next nine
weeks.
**************
There's so much stuff out there to read. Books and
books on writing. Bad mags. It goes on an on.
Having you cull and focus and select is worth the price of the session in
itself.
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I’ve learned that I can write crappy stuff and not be embarrassed
by it
**************.
Each week I’ve felt as if every word you said and point you made went
straight inside of me.
**************.
It helped in class when Adair mentioned building the tension first before
going into back story (the guys only talk about their personal lives when
hanging by their fingernails from the ledge of a burning building, etc.).
**************.
No matter how much I cherish part of a story or how good it might be, sometimes
it just has to be chopped for the story to advance, even if raccoons must
be sacrificed.
At other times, it’s worth admitting that something just can’t
get better and abandoning it altogether (no use “polishing dirt”)
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The story recipe Adair provided is like an answer to a long prayer. “I
wanted X, and so I Y, and then that didn’t work, so I… etc.”
It gives me something to hang all of my collateral from and has helped me
get past road blocks.
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Writing partners are a marvelous resource:
Having someone who can objectively and positively review my stuff and provide
feedback is terrific. Suddenly things that were not obvious to me become clear
as day with feedback, and it’s inspiring, and I get to read what they
write, which along with being plain fun, shows me different styles, points
of view, etc. I have also learned that lovers should not be asked to comment
on stories. Rather dangerous and not recommended.
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I came in for a lark and found that I love it so that
it occupies a lot of my thinking during the day. I am
appreciating what people around me are saying so much
more, I examine strangers on the street and wonder
about them rather than seeing them in just a glance
and just as immediately forgetting them. So, bottom
line I have benefited from the class in ways I hadn't
expected and am already looking forward to March.
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Fantastic class! The best I’ve taken!
**************. I appreciate your enthusiasm, candor, & most importantly, your honesty—somehow you pull it off. I have been in classes where the instructors are overly effusive and it does not feel authentic or useful. I have also been barraged with incapacitating criticism that has been minimally helpful, has thwarted my efforts & bruised my tenuous writer’s ego. It is hard to strike the balance (now I also know when I am using a cliché), but you manage it.
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I found the in-class exercises useful, especially the ones that pretty much guaranteed immediate success, i.e., "Add three sentences to this sentence,"
"remove unnecessary adverbs and adjectives." It's cool to see writing improve so quickly like that.
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I dug up stuff I'd put away as crap and found out it wasn't so bad
I also have been reading published work lately with a writer's eye for good
images, dialogue, problem/solution, epiphany, and overall
structure. Reading has become a more active and engaging experience. **************
