"The Green Room," critiquing Cat Doty style

During the afternoon, we had another prompt to attempt. We had to write how-to directions for a task or give instructions on how something happens.

As a writer, I struggle with finding my voice. While I appreciate descriptive writing, whenever I attempt it, it feels forced. I'm rarely satisfied with the results either. I consider myself a sarcastic individual, but I can rarely get humor into my writing.

This is the draft that I came up with (this is actually the second draft, although the changes between the first and second draft are minimal). I actually think it captures my voice pretty well:)



During the afternoon session, Cat had us do the "green room" critique technique. This consists of having the poet's work read twice (generally once by the poet and then by someone else). Then, for 15 minutes, the poet is in the imaginary "green room." The rest of the group discusses the poem (likes/dislikes for lack of better words, questions/confusions, suggestions for revision). After 15 minutes, the poet is allowed out of the "green room" and can converse with the rest of the group.

I find the "green room" technique to be helpful. It's interesting to listen to your readers discuss your poem and not be able to immediately jump in and say, "Oh, what I meant is..."

I really liked what I shared with the group because I thought it showed my personality. Sometimes, when I'm writing in a group, I feel censored. I didn't feel censored or uncomfortable at all, which says a lot about our group dynamic on day #1.