Experience what it’s like to dig into a poetry experience based around the features of Agate Fossil National Monument with Agate Rangers, Writing Project teachers, Nebraska State Poet- Matt Mason, and writers of all ages.
Experience what it’s like to dig into a poetry experience based around the features of Agate Fossil National Monument with Agate Rangers, Writing Project teachers, Nebraska State Poet- Matt Mason, and writers of all ages.
Join us Saturday, October 16, 2021
9:00 – 11:00 AM CST on ZOOM
Join Agate Fossil Beds Virtual Writing Marathon Zoom Meeting
https://unl.zoom.us/j/96076720362?pwd=ajRLRE9ucUd6dXJIWTR5TTFJYm9JUT09
Meeting ID: 960 7672 0362
Passcode: 301397
One tap mobile
+12532158782,,96076720362# US (Tacoma)
+13462487799,,96076720362# US (Houston)
This event is free, but registration is encouraged to help the presenters prepare.
Register for this event here: https://forms.gle/taRoZfGMnRNg24q98
What is a writing marathon?
The quick answer is that a writing marathon is an opportunity for writers to gather, write, walk, talk, explore, and grow through shared experience. Writers gather at a central location, and from there, smaller groups form and break off from the whole. As these groups wander, talk, and explore the landscape, they take time to stop and write silently for a given amount of time. Once this time is up, all writing is shared without comment or evaluation. The group then moves on to a new location together to continue the process. At a designated time, all groups meet together again for a final round of sharing.
What Makes a Virtual Writing Marathon Different? 
Although the feel and experience of a Virtual Writing Marathon will be different from physically walking around a place and experiencing its sights, sounds, and the emotions those things evoke, a VWM still stays to the overall purpose of a writing marathon: writers writing in community. Writing is upheld as a key element, the community of writers flourishes, and the sharing of writing is enriched.
Writing in Community:
Writing remains central in a VWM. While small communities of writers experiencing a VWM do not physically walk around from place to place and the marathon does not end at a local gathering place, the use of Zoom breakouts for small groups of writers and a culminating virtual sharing event help to retain this key aspect of the writing marathon.
The workshop will start with a session with Nebraska State Poet, Matt Mason; then, the writers will have the opportunities to join the following breakout sessions highlighting well known spaces at Agate such as: the Bone Cabin, Daemonelix Trail, Running Water Winter Count, and the Agate Tipis.
