That being said, I’m not done yet, I have a couple panels worth of recordings I haven’t put up yet, some follow-up interviews promised, and I have even figured out what the deal is with the mannequins if you guys missed it and wondered about it.

I found I’m behind this week in school work, and don’t get started with taxes, but look for some more content from me this weekend.

Best,

Todd

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

Participants in the panel were, Jeff Streeby, JV Brummels, Donald Williams, Thea Gavin, David Romtvelt, and Joshua Dolezal.

Cowboy poetry is a fantastic and complex genre. Poems of work, poems of oral history, poems of landscape. I must admit, as someone who comes from Philadelphia and Vermont; I am totally not a cowboy. There is still so much in the genre I find to identify with. I felt like I’d done enough ‘work’ panels at this conference, and thus I’d treat myself, and this panel was indeed a treat.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I also do have a brief video of David Romtvedt playing the accordion for us. You can hear it in his performance. I don’t have the bandwith at the moment to upload it but if anyone wants to see it, drop me an e-mail at toddbstevens at gmail and it shall be yours.

Thank you to all the participants, and much thanks to Rattle for a panel that was vibrant, varied, and overall fantastic.

(See the following 6 posts for each of the panelist discussions)

Abby Beckel, Randall Brown, Kim Chinquee, Sherrie Flick, Robert Shapard, and Lex Williford participated in the panel.

Given the high attendance, many of you might have missed it. The room was standing room only. It was certainly worth it, for those  that arrived early enough to get in!

Flash is a fascinating emerging form. As Lex Williford said it ”makes sense of contemporary chaos in short bursts of insight.” Or as Kim Chinquee said is a form of “sound, rhythm, image, and conflict.”

But I’ll let the author’s own words speak for them… The first part of the panel consisted of the panelists’ answers to a series of roundtable questions.

1)      What draws you to Flash Fiction?

Answers to Question 1

2)      How do you decide when you have an idea, if it is going to be flash length or longer?

Answers to Question 2

3)      How do you feel crafting flash is different than crafting a longer story? What tools do you use?

Answers to Question 3.

4)      What do you think makes Flash a particularly relevant form today?

Answers to Question 4

5)      As editors, readers, and teachers of flash, what makes a piece stand out for you?

Answers to Question 5

Each of the panelists then presented a writing exercise from their portion of the Rose Metal Media Flash Guide, and read a flash that was written from it.

Lex Williford

Robert Shapard

Kim Chinquee

Sherrie Flick

Randall Brown

There was a brief Q&A period.

AWPFFQnA

Thanks to everyone for a great panel. Thanks as well to the folks at Rose Metal Press, for providing a fascinating panel for those of us interested in Flash Fiction.

Two readings that stood out were Susan Briande’s and a joint reading by Maxine Chernoff and Paul Hoover.

All of these poets are signing at E 24-25-26 on Friday, 1PM, and please visit Ahsante at K23.