The IWC is happy to feature Lylanne Musselman in conversation about her writing life and her upcoming course with us, “Making Poems of Our Lives”
Instructor: Lylanne Musselman
New Dates: 4 Saturdays: July 20; August 24; September 21; October 19
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Cost: Nonmember: $250; Writer/Reader Members & IPC Members: $178; Senior, Teacher, Student, Military/Veteran, Librarian: $162
*The cost of this class includes a $50 critiquing fee, to be remitted by IWC directly to the instructor, for work critiqued outside of class time.
About the Class
This poetry workshop will focus on generating first drafts of at least four memoir poems, if not more. The sessions will include plenty of time for writing, introductions of prompts and sample poems geared to each workshop’s theme. Students will have the opportunity to have their work critiqued in a classroom setting as well as outside of class. There will be activities to help you delve into your memories, some will be individualized and others will be group exercises to help mine your life experiences for memories that you want to explore more or that you may even have forgotten about…until now.
Talking with Lylanne
Lylanne Musselman is an award-winning poet, playwright, and visual artist. Her work has appeared in Pank, The New Verse News, Flying Island, Rose Quartz Magazine, Last Stanza Poetry Journal and The Ekphrastic Review, among others. Recently, one of her poems was selected as the featured poem in Tipton Poetry Journal, Issue # 48 Spring 2021. Musselman’s work has appeared in many anthologies, including The Indianapolis Anthology (Belt Publishing, 2021). She is the author of six chapbooks, including Paparazzi for the Birds (Red Mare 16, 2018) and is the co-author of Company of Women: New and Selected Poems (Chatter House Press, 2013), and is author of the full-length poetry collection, It’s Not Love, Unfortunately (Chatter House Press, 2018). Musselman is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and her poems are included in the Inverse Poetry Archive, a collection of Hoosier poets, housed at the Indiana State Library. Musselman is currently working on several chapbooks and a new manuscript.
What writing accomplishment are you most proud of?
I’ve been blessed with many writing achievements after dropping out of college many years ago because of English Composition! I thought I was an awful writer and was going to flunk the class, so I baled on college. So, don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t write. After going back to Ball State, 20 years after dropping out, and actually majoring in English…I have my seventh poetry chapbook coming out in May, I have a full-length poetry book out in the world, and one published that I co-authored with two dear friends who are poets. I’ve got poems archived at the Indiana State Library through INverse…and that’s just a few accomplishments. I’m most proud of my writing tenacity.
What is your personal motto, or something like a proverb that you live by (writing related or not)?
Keep writing! I tell myself that…as well as the many students I’ve taught or have worked with over the years. If you write…even a sentence a day…you’re not being idle.
What’s your favorite thing about the IWC?
I like so much about the IWC – but the class offerings are wonderful, and I never miss the Gathering of Writers – all that the IWC does is so inspirational.When it comes to writing, what is your greatest challenge? On occasion, I get in a rut where I feel like I’m saying the same things over and over – the same subjects, the same ole, the same ole…but I find if I give myself space to keep exploring those subjects, I make new discoveries and then I’m off and running again. So, that may be a long way of saying…my inner critic strikes again!
What’s your favorite thing about this class/what do you want your students to walk away from it with?
I love teaching the Making Poems of Our Lives class because I see the students get that “spark” when they remember something about their lives that they’d forgotten…and how they get energized from writing about it. I want my students to walk away feeling like they can write those poems they felt they couldn’t…plus, I’ve had a few that have had their work published since taking this class…students who didn’t think they could even write poetry. So, that makes me happy…to hear of their successes.
Who is your favorite poet and/or what is your favorite poem?
Frank O’Hara is one of my all-time favorites. I love his “I do this/I do that” poems. I feel he’s had an influence on my poems and how I construct them.