by Jake Rosati, TWC Summer Intern
The second week of the Summer Intensives has begun with a great group of young writers who wasted no time diving in. The expanse of their interests and talents is incredible — from poetry to screenwriting to fiction to sports reporting — all converging in an environment that’s practically buzzing with creative energy.
I know from personal experience how rare it is to find a place where one doesn’t have to be self-conscious or hesitant about creativity, where one can follow every whim of his or her imagination. This week, the kids in the Summer Intensive have found themselves in a nurturing, supportive, intense, difficult, and fun writing micro-universe surrounded by people who share their passions and goals. This is an important and often underrated piece of a young writer’s growth.
It’s easy to give a person a pencil and a piece of paper, sit them down at a desk at school, and say, “write.” It isn’t quite as simple to guide and teach that person to do so willingly. That’s why it’s so inspiring to walk into the room during a morning or afternoon free-write, a time when the kids are ‘free’ to do what they please, and hear nothing but the scratch of pencils and the tap of keyboards.
Throughout the rest of the week, the Summer Intensives will have the kids working with some of TWC’s finest – Judith Lindbergh, Michelle Cameron, Lisa Romeo – sharing their love of writing and reading, and their desire to learn and grow. They’ll explore the town in search of sensory details to integrate into their writing, express themselves through music, work together to edit and curate a literary magazine, help and learn with one another and, above all, hone their craft. I have no doubt that they’ll come away from the experience with a valuable new outlook on the process of creating, and a renewed confidence in their own ability to do so.
