Thinking Like a Poetry Editor:  How to Be Your Own Best Critic
 
(“The Ossmann Method” Poetry Workshop)

"I am dedicated to teaching creative writers how to be better self-editors. My work as an editor and publisher has taught me to be more objective about editing my poetry, and it’s so enlightening and empowering that I am excited to share it. With that goal in mind, I developed a new teaching method for creative writing workshops which essentially reverses the traditional model, and so far, it has been very successful. I first tried the method when I taught a weekend poetry workshop for MWPA at the 2005 fall writing retreat at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Lately, I have been teaching it at The Writer’s Center in White River Junction, Vermont, and plan to teach regularly there beginning in January.

I can’t say much about the 'Ossmann Method' here, because I’ve written an essay describing it, and it is currently being considered for publication."

--April Ossmann (Maine in Print, September 2008)

Once the essay has been published, I'll post the method here.