UMF senior writes stories publicly as part of Arts Nights celebration

FARMINGTON – As part of the University of Maine at Farmington’s annual Arts Night celebration, one exhibit shined a spotlight on the profession of writing by typing short stories for a full eight hours on Monday.

Zack Peercy, a senior at UMF, was inspired by the work of Harlan Ellison, an American writer who wrote in bookstore windows in the 1970s. Harlan believed that by working on his writing in public he could show the country that it is a real profession, not just a daydream.

“I do it because I think particularly in this country people are so distanced from literature, the way it’s taught in schools, that they think that people who write are magicians on a mountaintop somewhere,” he told NBC in 1981. “And I think that’s one of the reasons why there’s so much illiteracy in this country. So by doing it in public, I show people it’s a job…like being a plumber or an electrician.”

For Peercy, this philosophy hit home.

“There are a lot of perceptions that a creative writing degree is a waste of time,” Peercy said.

With a dual major in Creative Writing and Theater, Peercy plans to head to Chicago after graduating in two weeks to make a go of play writing. Equipped with sealed prompts written by his professors, visiting writers and UMF’s president, Peercy tapped out short stories at his borrowed type writer.

“I felt like it was necessary to use a typewriter instead of my laptop. It forces me to really take my time and think about what I am doing,” he said.

Peercy has already been published 12 times by various websites and literary magazines, including The Sandy River Review, and plans to submit his finished day’s work as well.

“People just think books are books. They don’t really think about how they are made. They aren’t engaged with the writing,” he said.

Original drafts of Peercy’s stories will hang at the Emery Community Arts Center throughout the Arts Nights celebration on Monday, April 24 and Tuesday, April 25. The event is free and open to the public and will include a wide range of artistic work from students.