10 Book Recommendations for Winter Reads from Dotters Books

Elva Crist

Each year in the quiet period before the rush of the holiday season, Margaret Leonard of Dotters Books in downtown Eau Claire takes time to compile a list of her top book recommendations and share them with the Chippewa Valley community. Read on to discover ten of her favorites.

1. Funny Because It’s True: How the Onion Created Modern News Satire by Christine Wenc

In this book, author and former Onion staff member Christine Wenc recounts the origin of one of Wisconsin’s greatest inventions: The Onion, a revolutionary satirical news publication that has “changed the face of news satire” in the words of Leonard. This nonfiction piece offers a rare look at the humorous side of the media cycle.

2. Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor

One of the most talked about books of 2025, Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor follows a Black artist navigating art and its relationship with race in the American art community.

One of Leonard’s most enthusiastic recommendations, she sees this book becoming a modern classic for its capacity to inspire reflection and critical thought.

“Brandon Taylor is one of the best authors writing today,” says Leonard. “Not only does he do an amazing job of writing a character who is a visual artist, his questions about art, art-making, and identity are necessarily complicated and never quite answered. He expects a lot of his readers and I am delighted to rise to the occasion. And I was surprised and delighted that the book ended in a hopeful way. One of my favorites this year.”

3. Ginseng Roots: A Memoir by Craig Thompson

Written by rural Wisconsin writer Craig Thompson, Ginseng Roots: A Memoir explores global relationships through the story of ginseng farmers in Wisconsin. A graphic novel, the art communicates emotions that words never can and offers a change from the typical text-based memoir. At once personal and sweeping, this new creation from a celebrated memoirist is necessary reading for anyone curious about the webs that globalization and agriculture can create.

“This book weaves his own story with the story of ginseng as a crop, the shift from family agriculture to industrial agriculture, and the role of laborers in our society,” Margaret says.

4. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

In this epistolary classic, Helene Hanff compiles her correspondence with a London bookseller that lasted nearly two decades and contains a vast scope of literary and human experiences.

This book was first recommended to me by a book shop owner in River Falls, WI, and I now read it at least once a year, so I was perfectly delighted when Leonard pulled it out of her stack of recommendations at her annual book recommendation event. It seems that this is a favorite of book lovers everywhere.

5. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

In the novel Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, an actor returns to her home in Palestine’s West Bank, and begins work on a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, all while rediscovering her relationship with her homeland. One of Leonard’s favorite books of this year, she commended its intelligence and beautiful writing.

She described it as “all about freedom of movement and borders and the arbitrary boundaries we place upon ourselves and those around us.”

While this book is beautiful in its specificity of location, its themes and questions that it asks about the world are sure to enrich the mind of any reader.

6. Is a River Alive? by Robert MacFarlane

While this work of creative nonfiction is written by renowned British nature writer Robert MacFarlane, it has a relationship with a regional treasure, the Minneapolis-based publishing house Milkweed Editions - MacFarlane spoke with Milkweed-published author Nicholas Triolo at the house in an event on his book tour, and has collaborated with Robin Wall Kimmerer, the author of the much lauded Braiding Sweetgrass.

In a region defined by its waterways and river valleys, this global text contains local significance. Leonard described the book as asking the following questions:

“What if a river was a living being with legal status and protections? What if it held the same place in human imaginations as other humans or even animals?”

In a time when our rivers and streams are under more threat than ever, texts that ask such questions are critical.

7. Turtle Island: Foods & Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America by Sean Sherman & Kate Nelson & Kristen Donnelly

If one thing is universal, it is the love of food, especially in the cold and dark days of winter in Wisconsin. And nobody knows the recipes of fantastic food grown right here than the Indigenous people who've lived here for millennia.

Leonard says “This is a completely amazing work of food writing and recipes, journalism, cultural study, and record of Indigenous tradition through all of Turtle Island - from the Arctic Circle down to Oaxaca. Really stunning in every way.”

Sean Sherman, the author of The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, is one of the minds behind this creation, which is sure to become a necessity on any food-loving American’s shelf. Lean into your love of your home and continent by exploring the food traditions of the people who have known and stewarded it for ages.

8. Endling by Maria Reva

A unique take on the journey in literature, this tale of an unconventional fellowship of women offers a unique look at life interrupted by catastrophe; in this case, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022.

“This book is so incredibly inventive and smart and funny and entirely heartbreaking,” says Leonard. “Maria Reva is absolutely an author to watch. Amazing.”

9. Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, & Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie by Dave Hage & Josephine Marcotty

Folk in the Upper Midwest are no strangers to the beauty of the biodiversity of prairieland. In this remarkable hybrid of history and science, two Midwestern science journalists transform their passion for this remarkable ecosystem into a call to action to protect this biome with as much biodiversity as a rainforest, and even closer to disappearance.

10. Hope in the Dark: Untold Stories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit

It is no secret that the world seems uncommonly dark and uncertain. In this book Rebecca Solnit recounts the times when people have fought against the darkness – and won.

Leonard describes it as a “balm for troubled times.” Regardless of the time or the opinions of an individual, we all deserve to know that things can in fact change and change for the better.

"American Birkebeiner": Jerome Poling on His New Book, the Birkie, and the Beauty of Skiing

Elva Crist

Every winter, early on a February morning, the highway outside of the small town of Cable, Wisconsin, is unusually crowded with cars. As exhaust rises from the still vehicles, thousands of skiers wait in the cold to start North America’s largest cross-country ski marathon: The American Birkebeiner.

This is the picture that Jerome Poling paints in his new book, American Birkebeiner, which documents the history of this legendary race since its origin to the present day, when the event and the community that has sustained it are stronger than ever.

Poling started reporting on the Birkebeiner (also known as the Birkie) as a journalist in the early 1980s and quickly became enamored with it.

“The more I reported on it, the more I thought, ‘Man, it would sure be fun to be a part of this, because it looks like a really great challenge,’” Poling explained. “I love the event itself. There is so much positive energy around it. I love the sport. It's like a blue-collar sport in the sense that you really have to work for everything you get. If you go down a hill, you've had to climb the hill. It's a sport where you don’t have anything given to you. It’s all you out there.”

The American Birkie is the most difficult cross-country skiing marathon trail in the United States, spanning over 30 miles of trail from Cable to Hayward in the north woods of Wisconsin. The trail is packed with curves and hills, and the challenge of speeding through these obstacles in such a large crowd is a formidable athletic challenge.

Birkie Start, 1973

Poling has raced in twenty-five Birkies, making him a member of an elite group called the Birchleggers. The distinction is given to skiers who have participated in at least twenty races.  Poling has taken this achievement to another level, simultaneously skiing and reporting on the race for many years.

Although the Birkie began only a little over a decade before Poling began participating in it, and thus his experience encompasses much of race history, the origins of the race are much older.

A large portion of the book is focused on the creation of the race by the founder, Tony Wise, a Norwegian American who, in 1973, was inspired to create this race by the Birkebeinerrennet, an internationally significant Norwegian ski race. It began in 1932; however, its roots date back centuries, to 1206, when according to legend two warriors rescued the young heir to the Norwegian throne by skiing over the mountains.

Through extensive research, Poling discovered many other stories of the Birkie. This research included over sixty personal interviews with everyone from Tony Wise’s daughters to a Norwegian academic to the first person to set the track in 1973.

In addition to these invaluable conversations, Poling also spent copious amounts of time delving into the Wisconsin Historical Society and Birkebeiner archives, as well as personal collections.

The information unearthed through this research reflected the years of community and positivity that Poling has experienced as a racer.

“You feel like you are a little part of a brotherhood or a sisterhood part of a community of people who are enjoying not only winter but doing it in a special way.”

— Jerome Poling

“You feel like you are a little part of a brotherhood or a sisterhood part of a community of people who are enjoying not only winter but doing it in a special way,” Poling said.

Another iconic element of the sport is the famous ending on Hayward’s Main Street. Many of the experienced skiers that Poling interviewed called it the best ending in the sport.

It is this finish, coming after the most difficult marathon trail in North America, that helps to foster the competitive nature of the race and draw skiers from well beyond the Upper Midwest. Each year, competitors come from most states and many countries around the globe.

“People like me who are just average skiers, you're never going to see the winner or anything,” Poling said, “but it's cool thinking there’s some Italian or American Olympian up front and they are battling it out to win this thing, and we’re part of it.”

This internationalism, and well as the immigrant culture which built the cross-country skiing community in the Upper Midwest, is celebrated on the International Bridge, which is lined with the flags of numerous nations. It is also one of Poling’s most treasured memories from the race.

“As a skier, when you crest that bridge, you go up that little knob, you get to the top and just for a moment, you take a look at Main Street in front of you feel like ‘Ah, this is it.’ It's a beautiful sight.”

The images of the race play just as much of a role in American Birkebeiner as the written narrative. Much of the book is photographs of the Birkebeiner throughout the years, from classic race pictures to rare archival findings.

A large part of the power of the Birkie is its ability to inspire a great love for skiing, for both its visual beauty and athleticism.

“It gives you time to think,” Poling says. “You’re enjoying nature, but you’re also doing it at your own power.”

The Birkie, and skiing in general, encourages people to embrace the nature of Wisconsin and its fickle weather, which Poling sees as an integral part of the race.

“Too many of us dread winter around here,” he says. “And we shouldn’t. We live here.”

The Birkie has had a strong ripple effect, spreading this love of winter and skiing far beyond the north woods. Many people wanting to train for the Birkie have created networks of ski trails all around the upper Midwest.

The Chippewa Valley is a significant part of this web of American Birkebeiners. Poling described how Karl Andresen, a Norwegian immigrant who taught Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for many years, began the trail system in the Eau Claire County forests, inspired by his experience at the race. Andresen is considered a Birkie Founder, a skier who participated in the first thirty Birkies.

The valley’s legacy does not stop there. Ernie St. Germain, a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire graduate, is the only person to have skied each of the first fifty Birkebeiners. He retired last year after his fiftieth race and is renowned amongst the race community.

Poling and American Birkebeiner will make an invaluable addition to this connection between the Chippewa Valley and the Birkie. He integrated his perspectives as a skier, writer, and historian to create a narrative made great for his contagious passion for the Birkebeiner and the community that it fosters.

“The universe was telling me it’s time and you can do it. I felt that I had the skills and enough love for the race and the background,” Poling said. “I felt it needed to be done.”

Poling was greatly supported by The American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation, as well as the Wisconsin Historical Society, whose press is publishing American Birkebeiner. At the request of the author, a portion of the proceeds will go to the foundation, in order to support the continuation of this great Wisconsin tradition.

Above all, though, Poling remains focused on the core of the Birkebeiner.

“That's the beauty of it,” Poling said. “It's the challenge and the reward at the end. Feeling the accomplishment that you've finished. Put yourself to the test and succeeded.”

Join Jerome Poling in Cable on Saturday, November 29th, for the launch of American Birkebeiner, which can be purchased at Dotters Books. He will also read as part of a CVWG and Waldemar Ager Association co-sponsored reading at the Chippewa Valley Museum on February 10th.

The CVWG Brings the “Joy” This Holiday Season

Chloe Stromberg

It’s a frigid and windy night. The fury of ice whipping into your face cannot be tamed, as you struggle to take another step. You can feel your hands numbing, and your sensations fading. The gloves and hat you’re wearing prove to be useless. Searching for some relief from the cold, you see it; a sign lights up with the words, The Pablo Center at the Confluence. Stepping in, you hear the sweet melody of holiday warmth, accompanied by prolific words that feel like a perfectly warm hug. A saving grace from the harsh atmosphere of which you came. You now see why it is only the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild that can truly bring Joy to the Word. 

If you’re looking for a fun outing this winter, the CVWG is here to provide a mix of stories paired with cozy music. This live event is just the thing to lift your spirits this holiday season! Enjoy a combination of holiday storytelling from performers, Ken Szymanski, Patti See, Justin Schenck, and Jerrika Mighelle paired with the sweet melodies of holiday tunes brought to you by the Uke Klub. 

I asked Joy to the Word storytellers Patti See, and Ken Szymanski to speak about their past and present involvement with Joy to the Word.  

Patti See began by giving us a sneak peek at the piece she is working on in preparation for the event. Her story addresses the elephant in the room: how the holidays, for many people, are not all candy canes and chestnuts roasting by the fire. She shows the negative emotions that arise from the chaos of it all, while keeping her story funny and poignant.

“I suspect many people—especially those who frantically try to put together memorable Christmases for their families/friends--feel this way too,” See says.

Ken Szymanski, a returner to the Joy to the Word stage, knows all too well the power of blending spoken word with music.

“I’ve been a fan of spoken word events since I was a student at UW-EC in the late 90s, and I love how they’ve evolved over the years,” Szymanski says. “Add in live music, and it becomes two of my favorite things joined together.” ”

— Ken Szymanski

“I’ve been a fan of spoken word events since I was a student at UW-EC in the late 90s, and I love how they’ve evolved over the years,” Szymanski says. “Add in live music, and it becomes two of my favorite things joined together.”

Szymanski describes Joy to the Word as an “excellent opportunity for community members to unplug, gather in person, and enjoy the power of music and storytelling.” Like See, he fully recognizes the stress and chaos that the holidays can bring, which is why it is important to have these lighter moments.  

“When people struggle to get in the holiday spirit, sometimes stories and songs from the past can remind them of what they loved about the season in the first place,” Szymanski remarks.  

Joy to the Word is a wonderful seasonal tradition for the Chippewa Valley, See says. Being a part of the fun allows her to reflect on her own childhood traditions, including one formed at the hands of her parents every Christmas morning.  “My dad would sit beneath the Christmas tree and throw gifts at his eight kids like some maniacal elf while my mom would scream ‘Fragile!’ in his direction,” Sees says.  For her, the emotions that arise from the giving and receiving of gifts around the holidays mean just as much as the presents themselves.   

Don’t miss out on this present: Sound & Stories presents “Joy to the Word”, on Thursday, December 18th from 7pm to 8:30pm. Buy tickets today!  

"Everything We Could Do": In His New Novel, David McGlynn Explores the Paradoxes of Life in the NICU

Elva Crist

Here in Wisconsin, the cycle of seasons has an intensity that is unique. The rhythm of life is tied to the changing of the leaves and the coming of the frost, and yet, even here, there are places where time seems to stand still.

David McGlynn’s new novel, Everything We Could Do, is rooted in one such place: a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in a rural hospital in Wisconsin. Operating in seeming isolation from the outside world, the NICU in McGlynn’s debut novel is the center of life for two women: Brooke, a new mother with a baby in the NICU, and Dash, a nurse with a medically complex teenage son, who was formerly a resident of the unit.

The novel is inspired by McGlynn’s own experiences in the NICU, as a parent and as a volunteer. His wife, a healthcare worker, also inspires it. Everything We Could Do is a holistic exploration of the NICU from an experienced author who understands the perspectives of both the family members of patients and the healthcare workers.

“I have long understood ‘Everything We Could Do’ as an act of witness — a deliberate effort to pay attention to a world that often goes unnoticed or deliberately ignored, precisely because it can be hard to look at.”

— David McGlynn

“I have long understood Everything We Could Do as an act of witness — a deliberate effort to pay attention to a world that often goes unnoticed or deliberately ignored, precisely because it can be hard to look at,” McGlynn shared in a recent interview.  “But literature is FULL of stories that are hard to look at (just think of how many novels take place during or in the midst of wars), so the NICU seems a more than appropriate topic.”

On Thursday November 13th, McGlynn will be joined in conversation by poet, writer and UWEC lecturer, Amy Fleury, to discuss life in and after the NICU. Fleury has written extensively on this subject and is currently working on a memoir and a collection of poetry based on the life of her son, who spent his life in the NICU. Fleury has a profound knowledge of what she terms “medically complex motherhood,” and of the NICU as a place within a place, isolated from what is deemed “the world.”  

“I was a long-term NICU parent,” Fleury said, “and I am a mother of a child who has passed, who had complex medical needs, so I have a lot of lived experience of what’s explored in the book.”

It is a paradox that while medically traumatic experiences like those that can occur in the NICU are not often the subjects of open conversation, they are also simplified by those who have not personally experienced them, McGlynn noted. Fleury, whose son lived his whole life in the hospital, hopes that those who attend the conversation will come away with a more nuanced understanding of the nature of the NICU and those who inhabit it.

“I think a lot of times people who are on the outside of these situations think of them as sad, and it can be sad, or traumatic, and it can be traumatic, but there’s still joy, and there’s still love and there’s still connection and community within these places,”  Fleury said.

“One of the things that is important for me is that my son’s life took place in the hospital,” Fleury said, “and so I don’t regret all of the time we spent there, because that was his existence, his life, he had a lot of joy.”

Fleury sees this message embodied in the character of Dash, the nurse whose son has medical complications. She observed that in defining children by their medical complications, we do them a disservice by oversimplifying them, much as the NICU experience itself is.

McGlynn also spoke of this character, who, along with Brooke, the mother, serves as a “tentpole” of the novel. Dash is a representation of many people in the author’s life who work in NICUs in Wisconsin.

“My wife has worked in hospitals throughout her career as a medical social worker, and my mother-in-law was a nurse for 35 years. So I have hung out with nurses for a long time. I love their gallows humor, their tenacity, and their steadiness during times of crisis. I knew I didn’t want Everything We Could Do to only focus on the experience of the parents in the NICU, but to instead provide a glimpse of the entire world of caring for pre-mature and imperiled infants,” McGlynn said.  “The NICU nurses I met and became friends with were (and are) some of the kindest and strongest people I have ever encountered. Dash is representative, in many regards, of my deep admiration for them.”

Through their writing, both McGlynn and Fleury have emphasized the importance of sympathy and compassion, as exemplified by these nurses in many ways. Though the experiences in hospitals and similarly difficult places can be traumatic and complex, there is a simplicity at the heart of it when it comes to community.

““I mean really, at the core, it’s about compassion.””

— Amy Fleury

“I mean really, at the core, it’s about compassion,” said Fleury. “It’s about extending grace to others and trying to understand. It’s difficult to completely put yourself in another person’s circumstance, but to attempt, make some attempt to go beyond preconceived notions and extend that compassion, not pity, but compassion.”

McGlynn and Fleury’s forthcoming program will highlight two artists using their craft in the most poignant way: to process the difficulties of life, and, in McGlynn’s words, to tell an untold story.

Join David McGlynn and Amy Fleury’s conversation on Everything We Could Do at 6 PM on November 13th at L.E. Phillips Memorial Library.

Barstow & Grand Turns 9! Interviews with the Editors

Chloe Stromberg

Mark your calendars folks! It’s that time of year again, when Barstow & Grand will be releasing the ninth edition of their regional literary journal. Join fellow writers in celebrating the hard work they’ve dedicated to this journal. A release party will be held at The Brewing Projekt on Wednesday, November 19 at 7PM.

I got in touch with a few of the editors, who work on the journal. They spoke about the process of collaborating on the journal and highlighted the importance of contributions made by many writers.

I first had a conversation with Eric Rasmussen, founder and editor for Barstow & Grand. Eric has been helping with the release of these literary journals for nine years. We discussed some background on Barstow & Grand, as well as the upcoming regional literary journal.

CS: What is the biggest change Barstow & Grand has seen over the years?

ER: Every issue is a unique mix of local authors and writers from around the upper midwest, and that’s always the most exciting part of publishing the journal. Our goal all along has been to contribute to the literary community of the Chippewa Valley and build bridges to other writers in the region and beyond. While our submission and publication routines have been fairly well established for several years now, it’s always fun and rewarding to see what sort of writers we’re appealing by taking a look at who’s submitting.

CS: What is something you think is unique to this edition, compared to previous ones?

ER: The most unique element of the issue that we’re particularly excited about is the art we found to compliment the writing in the journal. We connected with Greg Krochen, archivist at UW-Eau Claire’s McIntyre Library, who shared the work of local amateur photographer Daniel Bastian Nelson, who took pictures of life in the Chippewa Valley around the turn of the 19th century. Not only are the images super engaging, the historical angle lends the writing we’re featuring this time around a different twist. People have been engaging creatively with the Chippewa Valley for a long time, and it’s interesting to consider that scope.

CS: How did you initially become interested in editing, and more specifically for Barstow & Grand?

ER: My original interest in local publishing was founded in my own writing endeavors. Writing fiction has been my primary creative outlet for more than a decade now, and early on I took as much writing advice to heart as possible, including how impactful working for a literary journal can be on one’s own writing. After gaining some experience as a reader for a couple different national journals, I decided the Chippewa Valley could use an outlet of its own. This was at the time BJ Hollars was starting the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild, so it felt like the perfect time to start a partnership and bring my modest editorial skills to the local writing community.

CS: What is your favorite aspect of the editing process? Is there anything that surprised you, going into it?

ER: Reading submissions is always overwhelming, and rejecting work is heartbreaking. But once we follow the process and are left with a stack of writing that we intend to publish, something magical happens. As I re-read the pieces for layout purposes, I find all the ways they’re connected, and discover the reasons our readers and editors chose them. It’s like pieces of a collage that you didn’t think would fit together gelling into a cohesive work. The first read-through of the laid-out journal is a deeply rewarding act of discovery, even though I’ve seen all the pieces before!

CS: What advice would you give to those who are interested in pursuing an editing career, or working for Barstow & Grand?

ER: As a hobbyist editor, I’m probably not a great source of advice for those seeking careers in literary editing and publishing! That being said, I would definitely remind any interested parties that editing is a skill, and like all skills, can only be developed through practice. After more than a decade of editing work, I’m relatively confident in the suggestions I offer our authors, but that wasn’t always the case. Some people are born with a good critical eye when it comes to writing, but the process of working with authors is something that will take time to hone.

CS: What’s been your favorite project to work on at Barstow & Grand?

ER: The release party every year is a blast, and I’m continually dumbfounded that we manage to attract so many people! I’m also proud of our website, our editorial team, and all the other behind-the-scenes work. But nothing compares to picking up the proof copy each year from EC Printing. That’s every writer’s dream–a book that you helped create, that people will pick up and read and find some joy in doing so. The physical copy of each year’s issue is definitely the part I appreciate most.

CS: What are you most excited about for this next release of the Barstow & Grand regional literary journal?

ER: Our release party will once again take place at the Brewing Projekt in November, and that’s always a focal point. Meeting authors, seeing friends and literary contacts, the event has become a cornerstone of local literary calendar, and that’s always very exciting. Handing our authors the complete journal with their work included is something I look forward to every year!

Next, I asked Kate Hinnant, poetry editor for Barstow & Grand to speak on how other positions she inhabits overlap with her work at Barstow & Grand.

CS: What does contributing to this literary journal mean to you and your colleagues?

KH: For me, being part of producing this journal is about providing a place for local and regional writers to share their work. I feel like the careful way we curate each issue means we are not simply amassing poems and prose, but creating a context in which they can be enjoyed together.

CS: In addition to working as the poetry editor for Barstow & Grand, you also work at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in McIntyre library. Could you explain a bit about your position?

KH: Sure. I am the Head of Communication. McIntyre Library has a lot of cool things going on: events, exhibits, digital collections of historic photos, for example. I head up a team of staff that makes sure that students, faculty and staff and sometimes the public know about everything that is going on in our library.

CS: Are there any takeaways you’ve had from working in McIntyre library that translate over to your position as a poetry editor? What skills have you acquired that may influence your editing technique?

“Sharing thoughts with the other poetry readers helps me recognize the value that others see in my poems.”

— Poetry Edtior, Kate Hinnant

KH: Both positions demand that I always consider my audience. For example, with the journal I am not looking for poems that satisfy just me, I am trying to think of our readers. So if the form isn’t my favorite, or if it’s about a topic that’s not of interest, I still consider it. Sharing thoughts with the other poetry readers helps me recognize the value that others see in my poems.

CS: What positions have you had in the past that led you to editing poetry for Barstow & Grand?

KH: I was a reader and then Poetry Editor of Sycamore Review in the early 1990s.

CS: Can you explain a bit about what to expect from Barstow & Grand’s regional literary journal?

KH: We try not to follow any formula, so it really is good and varied writing from the upper midwest.

Lastly, Paul Reid, the editor of prose for Barstow & Grand, shared his enjoyment for laughing at the everyday events of life through storytelling.

CS: Along with being a prose editor for Barstow & Grand, you’re also an English/Creative writing professor at Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC). How might your teaching experience influence the way you edit? Is there anything you’ve learned teaching that you could apply to your editing position?

“I’ve learned that behind every piece of writing is a person, so it is important to be empathetic and encouraging to others. I work with writers of all ability levels on a weekly basis, so I always try to find ways to give writers feedback, no matter how small. ”

— Prose Editor, Paul Reid

PR: I’ve learned that behind every piece of writing is a person, so it is important to be empathetic and encouraging to others. I work with writers of all ability levels on a weekly basis, so I always try to find ways to give writers feedback, no matter how small.

CS: On the other end, are there techniques or skills you’ve acquired as a prose editor that you’ve been able to use in your teaching?

PR: We get so many great submissions of prose to Barstow and Grand–reading them makes me excited to write and I try to share that enthusiasm in encouraging my students to take chances and put themselves out there as writers.

CS: You’ve made contributions in the past to Barstow & Grand’s literary journals. What is your favorite genre to write? Why?

PR: I love the short story, but my favorite genre is probably creative non-fiction. Every story starts with an element of truth, and I feel I have a lot of stories to tell. I enjoy the challenge of helping my readers see the humor in everyday events.

CS: As an editor, what has been your favorite genre/style of writing to read? Why might that be and has your taste shifted over time?

PR: My favorite genre to read is the same as I write–short stories and creative non-fiction, although I will admit I gravitate toward shorter pieces and flash fiction, as I love the power of the word and this really shines in shorter fiction.

CS: Why do you believe it’s important for people to support Barstow & Grand?

PR: Barstow & Grand has published over 200 authors since it started, many of them first-time authors–what an amazing statistic! To have an outlet to give so many people a voice to reach others is something that is truly needed today more than ever. Plus, it is always a great read!

CS: Do you have any tips for writers who are interested in submitting work to a journal in the future? Editing or otherwise?

PR: You will never get published if you don’t submit a piece, simple as that. Believe in yourself and your abilities. If your piece isn’t accepted, don’t be discouraged–this happens all the time! Submit again–it will happen for you!

Don’t forget to show up to The Brewing Projekt, at 7:00pm on Wednesday, Nov. 19th, for a night full of pure literary bliss! This event will run from 7:00pm-8:30pm.

Summertime Souvenirs: Ken Szymanski on Souvenirs, Music, and the Power of Collaboration

Elva Crist

To Eau Claire writer Ken Szymanski, summer is a unique time. Though it always seems to be the most fleeting of the seasons, it remains the most beloved, and the memories associated with it live on as souvenirs of one’s home.

This July, during summer’s peak, Szymanski published a collection of poignant essays titled Summertime Souvenirs, which explores summertime moments that last far beyond the bounds of the fleeting season. These essays include both never before seen creations and new versions of previously published pieces. When crafting the collection, Szymanski was occupied with the transitory nature of the season.

“People love [summer], but it always feels like it’s slipping away and that dichotomy, I think, makes for an interesting topic,” Szymanski said.

For this reason, Szymanski anticipates that these stories will remain relevant for many years to come. Though summer seems short, he remarked that it will always return, and therefore the stories and memories of summer will have eternal value.

Szymanski said that this book was about “making a story into a souvenir that you can take with you, into the colder months, in the darker months.”

This philosophy is reflected in all of Szymanski’s works. To the writer, stories are souvenirs of a life which always seems to be slipping away.

Szymanski, as a lifelong Eau Claire resident, has a deep sense of what summer in Wisconsin means. He described the Northern Wisconsin State fair as a quintessential July experience. A picture of this spectacle makes up the cover of Summertime Souvenirs, which is designed by Szymanski’s nephew, Kevin Szymanski.

Szymanski cited “the smells and all the childhood memories associated with that place” as a primary inspiration for the collection.

Beyond the fair, Szymanski described kayaking down the Chippewa River as a central experience, marveling at its beauty and serenity.

“It’s so incredible that that is so close by, and most people never ever see it.””

— Ken Szymanski

“It's so incredible that that is so close by, and most people never ever see it,” Szymanski said. “And we are all traveling across the country to see these great things, but there is so much just right here.”

The experience of creating Summertime Souvenirs continued beyond the efforts of writing, editing, and publishing. Szymanski went on the road with friend, musician, and fellow teacher Derick Black to hold what they have termed “literary concerts” across the state. This tour was titled “The Traveling Literary Jukebox Experience Highway 29 Summertime Souvenirs Tour.”

These literary concerts featured Szymanski reciting his stories, accompanied by Black’s music, which consisted of both covers and originals written to complement the tales. This format is an idea that the duo has perfected over the years in the Eau Claire literary scene.

Szymanski is an avid music fan and sees music as “a higher form of communication” and as a major influence on his craft, although he himself is not a musician.

“I long to play it, I long to be able to sing, but I can’t,” Szymanski said. “So, my way of getting closer to music is to write about it, and to write with it, and to be next to it.”

Szymanski also described how his literary journey has been inextricably linked to music, ever since his childhood.

“The very first article that I ever wrote was in my school newspaper,” Szymanski said. “It was an album review. And so, I've been writing about music since the very beginning.”

Later, Szymanski covered bands, festivals, and concerts as a writer for the Leader-Telegram. He said that he used the skills developed in capturing the experiences of musicians to create works that evoke the lives of his family and home, which ultimately led to the publication of Summertime Souvenirs.

Another dynamic element in “The Traveling Literary Jukebox Experience” was the opportunity for audience interaction. Audience members requested story themes from a jukebox card, and then the artists would pull material from their vast catalogue of writings.

“It makes it fun for us because we don’t know what it's going to be when we walk into a place, and they don't know what it's going to be, and we create it together,” Szymanski said. Many of his pursuits, particularly in the Eau Claire community, have also been enriched by collaboration and by inspiration by other artists.

These experiences, particularly in educational settings, have profoundly impacted his career as an author, fulfilling his belief in cross-disciplinary inspiration. Szymanski described how his early literary experiences encouraged him to pursue writing.

“When we read Where the Red Fern Grows, the author actually came to my grade school in Eau Claire,” Szymanski said. “He spoke to us, and that made a huge impression on me that that was a person behind that, and he was just a regular guy that came to our school. And that made it feel like something that a person could do, is write books.”

Szymanski also described how S. E. Hinton’s youthfulness when writing The Outsiders, J. D. Salinger’s casual tone in The Catcher in the Rye, and the Midwestern setting of Michael Perry’s Population: 485 gave him the confidence that writing would not only be possible, but also valuable. He also mentioned the music of Bruce Springsteen, specifically his ability “to love and celebrate his home through his lyrics.”

“All of those things, growing up, had a big cumulative effect on me,” Szymanski said.

Ultimately, these early literary experiences led him to understand that here in Wisconsin, “we are not just flyover country.” The experiences, thoughts, and works of Wisconsinites matter.

Today, Szymanski can help young Eau Claire residents feel the same inspiration through his career as a middle school English teacher. This vocation, Szymanski said, is invaluable to him as a writer.

“I am spending my days talking about books and thinking about books and trying to get kids interested in things and talking about writing,” Szymanski said. “And a lot of the time the best way to understand something is to try to explain it to other people. So, it’s really deepened by an understanding of the writing craft and how to get and hold people's attention, because middle schoolers aren’t naturally interested in English class, or might not be interested in reading or writing, and then to try to find the way into a reluctant reader is also a good skill as a writer.”

Furthermore, Szymanski says that rhetorical skills necessary for a writer are also necessary for a teacher, and so his career as an educator helps him to practice writing techniques each day.

“I can’t take my audience for granted at my day job, and I don’t take my audience for granted as a writer.”

— Ken Szymanski

“I can't take my audience for granted at my day job, and I don't take my audience for granted as a writer,” Szymanski said. “And that makes me revise harder and to make it as tight as possible.

Since 2020, Szymanski has also been the city’s Writer-in-Residence, an experience which Szymanski has used to enrich the literary community here in the Valley.

“I set out that I really wanted to collaborate with as many people as possible,” Szymanski said. “So, during the pandemic I made the Snapshots series ... with that I collaborated with almost a hundred musicians photographers, artists, and writers.”

Szymanski is always working to bring new people into the literary community, via a variety of events and experiences.

"The biggest takeaway [from being Writer-In-Residence] has been the power of collaboration, and the power of collaboration across disciplines,” Szymanski said.

Szymanski plans to transform the experience of his collaboration with Black in “The Traveling Literary Jukebox Experience” into another piece to be featured in Volume One. It will further reflect on the undertaking and create another souvenir of both summer, and his experience as a writer in Eau Claire.

Szymanski’s writing is a continuous journey to capture and interpret the moments which have forged his life in Eau Claire, as a writer, educator, and person.

“That’s what stories are to me,” Szymanski said. “Holding on to moments in time.”

Keep an eye out for Szymanski’s future events, including the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild’s Sounds & Stories “Joy to the Word” program at the Pablo Center on December 18 and a Christmas literary concert at the Chippewa Falls Public Library. Szymanski and Black are also developing a literary concert exploring siblings. You can keep up with Szymanski’s events here.  

“Keeping Your Mind Where Your Body Is” (And Other Tricks To Stay Grounded When Writing): An interview with 12-Hour Writers Retreat Writer-in-Residence Laura Anne Bird

Chloe Stromberg

Author Laura Anne Bird recently celebrated one year of her middle-grade novel, Marvelous Jackson, which was awarded Gold for Children’s Fiction at the 2025 Midwest Book Awards ceremony. In addition to Marvelous Jackson, Laura is also the author of Crossing the Pressure Line. Both novels tell beautiful stories of young people who suffer a loss but find ways to cope, and ultimately discover purpose and meaning in their lives. Check out Laura's work here!

Born in Milwaukee, Laura now resides in Madison, Wisconsin. Earning her degree in English from the University of Notre Dame, Laura spent 20 years working for nonprofit organizations before ultimately writing middle-grade books.

Laura will join The Chippewa Valley Writers Guild for a 12-Hour Writers Retreat at Forage. This event will be a spectacular opportunity to get your creative juices flowing and make your ideas come to fruition. Start a new writing project or continue a piece with the support of other writers, all while sipping on a coffee or tea and enjoying delicious meals provided. The retreat welcomes writers of all levels and genres. It’s an opportunity you won’t want to miss!

I asked Laura a couple questions about her influences and what her involvement in this retreat means to her.

CS: Can you describe how you go about writing young characters? Are there particular influences in your life that you turn to for your characters?

LB: Well, it helps that I’m the mom of three big kids. They’re all old now, they’re all in college. But when they were in that 8-to-12 year old range, that certainly gave me a front seat to all the growth that happens during that time, and all of the push-pull that goes on with kids, you know? Also, I take a lot of notes. I just have a lot of memories of being 12, and to this day, as I’m writing my young characters, I always use that as sort of my gauge: would this resonate with my 12-year-old self? One of the greatest challenges that I always face is just nailing that tone and that voice, and making sure it’s exactly right. I think it’s really easy for adult writers writing for kids to want to go into preaching mode…You have to back that adult voice and perspective out of it.

CS: Have you gone to writing retreats before? How do you believe retreats influence writers and their perspective of the writing process?

LB: What’s funny is I have not gone on a writing retreat myself. I wrote both of my books really in sort of, the nooks and crannies of motherhood. I would just have to steal an hour here, steal an hour there. But a retreat can offer all kinds of benefits. Just carving out some really good quality chunks of time where we can have quiet, and where we can have space to breathe and to listen to what’s going on in our head, and to get things down on paper. I think it is absolutely invaluable.

I’m excited to be a part of the 12-Hour Writers Retreat, because I think it’s going to be such a special day. What a pleasure to be surrounded by other literary-minded people who can be encouraging and supportive, and just sit back and do some good writing.

CS: What is something that is unique to your writing process?

LB: This is not unique, but I am a really slow writer. I think that there are people out there who might follow authors on Instagram and feel that they are not as fast as that author or as prolific as that author. I think we have to get rid of messaging like that, because we all go at our own pace.

I think that’s okay. I won’t rush through it. I want to savor the words that are coming to me. Whether I’m crafting them, or whether I’m consuming them, I think it’s really nice to slow down and take the time that it deserves.

 CS: In an interview where you were asked about what activities are on your bucket list, you noted your appreciation for meditation and living in the moment. Where is your favorite spot to meditate? How do you believe meditation may influence creativity in writing?

“‘Keeping your mind where your body is…’ That’s sort of my mantra.”

— Laura Anne Bird

LB: For me, meditation has been absolutely critical. I get a lot of voices in my head, telling me that something’s not good enough. It’s been really important to me to find tools that sort of take you out of your head and into the present moment. “Keeping your mind where your body is…” That’s sort of my mantra.

What’s great about meditation is that you can do it anywhere. I will meditate in my car, I will meditate in the bathroom, I will sit in my closet…When I’m able to devote that time to just decompressing and breathing…it does clear my head, and it makes it easier to write. So, I think it’s all connected to living a creative life.

CS: Are you currently working on any books or projects, and if so could you share a little bit about them?

LB: Yes! I’m really excited. I’m working on my third manuscript right now, and it’s another middle grade book. It connects with my first two books, so they’re all considered companion stories. The main character of this manuscript I’m working on is different than my two other main characters, but she is a character that you actually meet in Marvelous Jackson. So, she’s part of this little group of kids, and I’m so excited to tell her story. She is vibrant, and creative, and she finds that she needs to stand up for something that means something very much to her and the town that she lives in. So there’s kind of, like, some activism, you might even be able to call it. Assuming I can get this third book written and published, when you read all three of them then, you really can read them out of order…Each of their stories is so different, and each of the kids is so different.

Join Laura at 9AM on Saturday, Oct. 18th, for an inspiration-packed 12-Hour Writers Retreat at Forage! Space is limited. Register now by clicking here.

Elva's Top Five Chippewa Valley Book Festival Picks

Elva Crist

Every autumn, the Chippewa Valley comes together to celebrate literature, artists, and community at th Chippewa Valley Book Festival. Every iteration of the festival features an array of writers and events that appeal to the many facets of this community, and this year is no exception.

As a lover of literature and learning, I eagerly await October. In the meantime, I have selected my top five festival events to share with you. My passion for nonfiction, nature, craft, culture, history, and language informs these choices. Please explore these choices, as well as the festival’s full schedule, to create your own itinerary, based on your unique fascinations and areas of curiosity.

Wisconsin Chefs, Farmers, and the Magic of Locally Produced Food: A Speaking Event with Lori Friedrich

During this event, food writer Lori Friederich will explore the journeys and inspirations that created Wisconsin Field to Fork: Farm Fresh Recipes from the Dairy State, a new book that blends the recipes and stories of Wisconsin. This book is filled with a deep love for the land and people of Wisconsin, and this conversation with Friederich will undoubtedly delve into the importance of creating local food networks, one of today’s most fascinating and pressing issues. With Friederich’s expertise as both a chef and writer, she can offer great insight into the power of food to build community and communication.

This speaking event is the perfect choice for food enthusiasts, farmers and those who support them, nature lovers, and anyone who cares for Wisconsin.

Explore our state’s stories with Friedrich on Wednesday, October 22nd, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., in the Riverview Room at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

Youth Skill-Building Workshop: Bookbinding for Young Beginners

One of Chippewa Valley Book Festival’s most interactive events, Bookbinding for Beginners will offer young readers and crafters the opportunity to learn an age-old craft that has changed the course of our world. In learning to bookbind, participants will gain a greater appreciation for the art of the physical book and make something with their hands in a world increasingly focused on the virtual.

In my small, homespun experience rebinding old books, I found it to be not only technically riveting, but a powerful way to build friendships.

This event is perfect for any young person curious about books, art, or crafting. Be sure to register soon to guarantee your place among other new bookbinders!

Connect with your creativity on Thursday, October 23rd, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., in the RCU Dabble Box Makerspace at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

Poetry and Trauma: South Asian Women’s Voices Across Nations with Lopamudra Basu and Feroza Jussawalla

This experience is special even among the other book festival events for the diversity of the perspectives offered. Not only will Lopamudra Basu and Feroza Jussawalla discuss the process of editing and creating Sing, Slivered Tongue, a new poetry anthology focused on trauma and the women of the South Asian diaspora, but several poets featured in the anthology will be virtually performing their contributions. These poets are Prathim-Maya Dora-Laskey, Anuja Ghimire, Zilka Joseph, and Mary Anne Mohanraj.

This is an exciting opportunity to explore various perspectives, cultures, and forms of poetry in one dynamic hour.

Listen to the voices and words of these poets on Friday, October 24th, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., in the Riverview Room at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.  

Author Leif Enger discusses “I Cheerfully Refuse”

This event is a delightful opportunity to learn from Leif Enger, the author of the successful and timely novel I Cheerfully Refuse, the saga of a man battling grief, the elements, and the nature of his time and society.

In addition to being a literal exploration of the beloved Lake Superior, this is also an examination of the threats we face as a society and how humanity can survive in even the most harrowing of times. For those who wish to reflect on the present and the future, in all of its contradictions, this book and discussion will be invaluable.

Explore this poignant novel with Enger on Saturday, October 25th, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., in the Riverview Room at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

Dickey Chapelle: Defending Democracy Through Journalism with Lorissa Rinehart

There is never a time when learning from and about strong women is not needed, or a place where free speech will not need defending. In this discussion, Lorissa Rinehart will use her book First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent to delve into the struggle to protect democracy through its greatest ally, freedom of expression.

Using Chapelle as an example of bravery and unwavering principle in the face of pressure and censorship, Rinehart will share her insights on how and why the legacy of this remarkable American matters.

Choose this event for its timeless themes, adventurous spirit, and for the story of one writer’s integrity and perseverance.

Discover a little-known trailblazer with Rinehart on Saturday, October 25th, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., in the Riverview Room at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

All events (excluding Bookbinding for Young Beginners) are offered in-person and virtually.

For information on all of the events featured at the Chippewa Valley Book Festival and registration, visit their website.

Tend to Your Spirit: A New Book by Julianne Lepp Explores Spiritual Healing Amidst Chronic Pain

Elva Crist

Sometimes significant growth and connection can emerge from pain. On October 14, Eau Claire writer Julianne Lepp will release her new book, Tend to Your Spirit: Mindful Living With Chronic Illness, which speaks to this very issue. Lepp cowrote this exploration of chronic pain with Florence Caplow, a fellow Unitarian Universalist minister and author.

Since both Lepp and Caplow live with chronic illness, they have collaborated to use their writing abilities, personal experiences, and spiritual knowledge to fill the void in the literary world for an interfaith and dynamic guide to living with chronic illness.  Tend To Your Spirit is not your traditional book. Rather than focusing on a linear narrative created through text, it features such diverse elements as essays, playlists, poems, quotes, and more.  Structured around the four seasons, this uniquely grounded and holistic project is ideal for those seeking to grow and heal through connection with their environment, community, and themselves. To the authors, the seasons represent the cyclical process of healing, and are a reminder to seek answers and meaning in the world around us. In writing Tend to Your Spirit, Lepp and Caplow seek to connect the experience of chronic pain with larger cycles of life.

Read the excerpted interview below to learn more about Lepp’s insight on writing, community,  and the collaborative process.

Elva Crist: How did the idea for writing this book emerge?

Julianne Lepp: Well, my coauthor and I met during the pandemic and we both were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis around the same time, and we’re both Unitarian Universalist ministers...during the pandemic everybody was struggling so with the onset of really painful and scary illness, we found each other in an online forum and started supporting each other over a year or two. And then as we got to know each other better, we decided that more people needed this kind of support...We really tried to make it for a very wide audience so it could help touch and change people’s lives.

EC: What was the process of writing in collaboration with Florence Caplow?

JL: We sat down and decided the layout of how we wanted to approach the book, and we thought that seasons were a really good way of looking at chronic illness because each day can be different, and the seasons of our lives, and it had so many metaphors....So we created a spreadsheet, we divided up the seasons, and we decided that we wanted four emotional topics for each season...It took time to figure all this out, but we had a very
structured way of working together. We created a covenant together of how we would work together, how we would treat each other, and how we could be good cowriters.

EC: How did Unitarian Universalism play a role in your philosophy of dealing with the chronic pain and in writing this book?

“To feel worthy and loved and have dignity when you are feeling like you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing is pretty important. ”

— Julianne Lepp

JL: One of the focuses of my spiritual tradition is that each person has dignity and worth. As someone who has worked in very high stress jobs—like I’ve been a stockbroker, a minister—I expect my body to cooperate with me, to go 100%, because I want to show up for people and I want to get things done, and I like to be involved in justice work, and out in the community, I’m a mom, a partner. So, I’ve had to learn to lean into the grace of saying, ‘even though I can’t do all the things I used to do, I still have worth and dignity.’ And also, I’ve learned that the deep spiritual sense of love includes everybody, even yourself. To feel worthy and loved and have dignity when you are feeling like you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing is pretty important.

EC: Circling back to the seasons we were talking about, you and Florence Caplow described how you see people reading the book in Seasons Circles, so I was wondering how you see people engaging with this book?

JL: We really saw that at a senior center: maybe someone would want to host a Seasons Circle and go through this with people, or maybe at a congregation, or at a retreat center? It's all about small group support. Because the thing that became incredibly apparent to me is that we live such lives of aloneness when we’re busy. And sometimes it’s very vulnerable to share hard things. I remember when I was a young mom, I had a mom’s group, but when I had this [chronic illness], I had nothing. I mean, had people who cared, but to be able to talk to people who understand... one in four Americans has some sort of chronic illness, and that can start young or old...having community is important.

EC: Is there anything else that you’d like to share about the book or the process?

JL: I think working with a publisher is definitely a dance. You have what you want, they have what they want... You have a lot of ideas about what you think it should be, but you have to negotiate. We were really clear when we pitched this book that we wanted it to have graphics and color and elements because when you are in pain, you don’t want to read a bunch of block text. We have been so pleased with the final book layout and the publisher really came through on that.

EC: The entire concept of the book is really connected to nature, as you mentioned before, so I was wondering if you could elaborate on your relationship with nature. Did that connection impact your experience of dealing with chronic pain?

JL: We bought a house right before the pandemic, and our front yard was all grass, and there were no sounds of crickets. When the pandemic hit, we were home quite a bit, and I was going stir crazy. I needed to touch earth, and I wanted to be closer to nature. So we created a garden labyrinth in the front yard...We also did native plants in the other part of the yard, trying to really change the landscape. When you can’t change your circumstances, being able to cultivate life and beauty and see the cycles of nature is very important. The cool thing about fall, winter, spring and summer is that you get to see that it is okay to rest, its okay to bloom, its okay to relax, its okay to let things go. Pretty much, nature can teach all the lessons you need to know if you are paying attention.

Keep an eye out for the release of this extraordinary book from Skinner House Books, and for an upcoming talk with Lepp at L.E. Phillips Memorial Library on November 4 at 6PM. You can find their events calendar here.

2 Weeks, 8000 Words, And 8 Tips on How To Make The Most of Your Writing Time

Jayson Coleman

As a college student studying English, finding time to write is necessary for my success. Yet, when it comes to personal projects, finding time to write has been one of my greatest struggles.

Ever since I came to UW-Eau Claire three years ago, I’ve always found excuses for why I haven’t been working on these projects. For the first few months of my freshman year, my main excuse was that I didn’t have a project I was working on. Once I started my newest novel in the spring of 2023, though, my reasons for not writing seemed to come just as fast as my ideas for the story. I struggled to write during the earliest stages of my draft because I always found starting a project to be the hardest part of writing. My novel was also going to be heavily based around a friend of mine, and I wanted to make sure I had their approval before diving into it.

Once I got a few chapters into my draft and received joyous approval from my friend, though, my excuses not to write kept on coming. So much of my time was spent in class, doing homework, or at my job, and when I had free time, I had many different hobbies to balance. I loved working on my novel, but I also liked reading, going to events on- and off-campus, and exploring Eau Claire. It got to a point where I was doing so much writing for class that whenever I had free time, writing was one of the last things I wanted to do. Instead, in these situations, I often found myself resorting to doing nothing, loitering on the internet as the hours slowly ticked away. While my writing pace during breaks improved as I progressed further into my novel, my pace during the school year was often lacking, managing to complete about a page a week if I was lucky.

I conducted research on time management tips for writers, and one tip that emerged was to not overlook “true priorities” in favor of writing, with schoolwork and self-care being my top priorities. Still, I knew that my writing pace was unsustainable. The more time that passed between writing sessions, the harder it was for me to get ideas flowing once I sat down to write. Plus, I often thought about my novel far more often than I worked on it, so by not writing I was failing to take advantage of my creative momentum.

Some of the other tips I found were ones that I was already familiar with; for instance, being cautious about multitasking (I learned that the hard way), avoiding procrastination and distractions, and not trying to be perfect, among others. When it came to figuring out what tips I would implement to make sure I found time to write, though, I decided to keep it simple.

In the words of Zach Boldt, a friend of mine and fellow author at UWEC, I would “just write.” For a span of two weeks, from April 6, 2025, to April 19, 2025, I would make a point to write every day, following the key tip of being disciplined that I came across in my online research.

The typical layout of one of the author's writing sessions, in a quiet study room and with an array of "helpful" items. These items include, from left to right, his novel outline, laptop, emoji pillow (which the novel is partly based on), Girl Scout cookies to snack on, full water bottle, and writing utensils.

For this “experiment,” I would be working on my current project titled Valerie: The Novel. This story took heavy inspiration from a very special experience of mine, when a friend gave me a ride home from theatre practice for the first time and gave me an emoji pillow which quickly became my most cherished possession. I took this brief experience and chose to expand upon it, asking what would happen if my friend was secretly a government agent, the emoji pillow she gifted me was the most monetarily valuable item on Earth, and my friend’s car, named Valerie, could talk.

When my experiment began, my initial goal was to write at least a page every day, or at least three to four hundred words. Another initial goal was that my writing time wouldn’t interfere with the time I spent on my “true priorities,” but instead would become a part of my pleasure time. As recent UWEC graduate and author Eliot Gannon said, writing “is especially easy if you don’t view it as work, because it isn’t, really. You can have a lot of fun with it!”

The second floor of UWEC's Davies Center well after peak lunch hours, which the author found was an ideal place to sit down and write (unless he got distracted by the building's strange music playlists).

During this experiment, there were a few trends that I noticed with my writing. Some of the general trends I noticed were that I’m a night writer, I tend to write in the same few locations (either a quiet study room in my dorm building or the second floor of the Davies Center after lunch hours), and I often brought many items with me to sessions that I felt I “needed” to write.

As for the writing itself, I realized there were some days where I was more motivated to write than others. While I initially expected to aim for about 400 words a day, there were days where I well overshot that estimate, writing between 700 and 900 words, which normally came when I was ending chapters or writing key moments that I had been planning in my head for a long time. On the other hand, there were also days where I was exhausted from school and homework, and writing 400 words was the last thing I wanted to do. On these days, I thought I’d just write about 200 words to get something down on paper then go to bed, but I ended up getting so caught up in scenes that even on my least productive days, I never wrote less than 300 words.

“The most important trends I noticed from this experiment come in the form of one pro and one con. ”

— Jayson Coleman

The most important trends I noticed from this experiment come in the form of one pro and one con. The pro of writing every day was that I found it a lot easier to start writing in each session, especially as the two weeks went on. By having shorter breaks in between sessions, it created a consistent train of thought when writing and helped keep my mind on the novel when I wasn’t. The major con with this experiment was that while I was hoping my writing time would cut into my leisure time, that was not the case. Instead, I found myself constantly pushing back assignments I needed to work on and, arguably worse, drastically diminishing the time I spent sleeping. While I was incredibly proud of the progress I made on my novel during this time (over twenty pages and 8,000 words written), throughout much of these two weeks I was stressed, mentally drained, and the 6 hours of sleep I consistently received every night did not help with that.

After processing the successes and failures of my experiment, and with the help of authors who I interviewed, I crafted a list of what I learned about ways I could improve my time management and make my writing sessions more effective. While each of these tips come from the perspective of an overworked college student, I believe they are applicable to anyone struggling with finding time to write, or to any writer in general. Finally, while some of my tips reflect what I’ve found through research or by word of mouth, I’ve learned that I don’t agree with every piece of advice I’ve heard before. I think it’s best to take advice from multiple different sources or find what works best for you specifically (although forcing yourself to write every day for two weeks might not be the best way to find that.)

TIP #1: SLEEP

This is barely a writing tip, more of a general health and wellness tip. Make sure you get enough sleep at night; I failed to do so during my experiment and many things suffered because of that. Getting enough sleep not only makes you feel refreshed while writing, but also in everything else you do. Again, this is barely a writing tip, and more of an emphasis in relation to…

TIP #2: DON’T WRITE EVERY DAY IF YOU FEASIBLY CANNOT WRITE EVERY DAY

Or in other words, routine is most important. I feel like a general tip I often hear as a writer is to write as often as I can and write every day if possible. Sometimes, though, writing every day is simply not possible and that’s okay. If writing every day is possible for you, then that’s great and you should try to fit writing into your schedule as often as you can, but writing every other day or once or twice a week also works. During my last winter break, I made a point to write at least every other day, and it might’ve been my most productive month of writing ever! The key here is making sure you’re not taking long breaks in between sessions so what you’re writing can stay fresh in your mind.

Tied to this idea is scheduling specific times to write. I failed to schedule specific times to write during my experiment, and as a result, everything else suffered. I was writing when I should’ve been working on schoolwork, so I ended up putting off those assignments. Then, my writing sessions took longer than anticipated and cut into my sleep time, and that made me exhausted and stressed when I finally sat down to do work. I’ll definitely try to do a better job of scheduling writing times in the future, especially during the school year.

 “It’s entirely different than forcing yourself to write,” Boldt said on scheduling writing time, “having something be part of a routine is pretty healthy. That’s good, just finding a good space in your schedule to plop in another thing.”

Even McKenna Dutton, a recent UWEC graduate whose biggest piece of writing advice is to essentially force yourself to write (“just do it,” she says), finding a consistent scheduled routine was key in helping her make progress with her writing.

 “When I came to college, I created ‘Future Creatives,’” Dutton said, “which was a group on campus where we would dedicate an hour at least, two times a week, to write. That really helped me a lot to keep me from not procrastinating.”

(To any current Blugolds who may be reading this, although Dutton has graduated, “Future Creatives” will still be going strong! So, if you’re looking to find time to write, keep your eye out for when they’ll be meeting!)

 TIP #3: SET GOALS. SET LOTS OF GOALS.

Goals can be for a singular session or a broader period of time. During my experiment, I set a goal for how much I wanted to write every day. A goal doesn’t have to be tied to a word or page count, though. As Gannon told me, sometimes a goal can involve “fleshing out a character or putting down a plot beat,” and that simply accomplishing a goal constitutes a successful writing session.

During the two years I’ve spent working on my novel, I’ve also set multiple long-term goals for myself. First, it was “get to 30 pages by the end of the summer,” then “get to 100 pages by the end of sophomore year,” “get to 150 pages by the end of summer 2024,” “get to 200 pages by the end of junior year,” and now “finish my rough draft before the end of summer.” While I’ve only succeeded in two of my four long-term goals, they all motivated me to write and therefore accomplished their main purpose. I’ve found that always having a goal to shoot for, whether short-term or long-term, has motivated me to write, even if I didn’t successfully complete the goal. The sense of accomplishment and progress that completing goals brings is also a great motivator in itself!

TIP #4: READ! READ! READ!

On the topic of motivation, while I’ve never been one to read for inspiration (yet!), each of my friends brought this up so I thought it’d be important to mention.

“What motivates me to write is anything I’m reading,” Gannon said. “I view writing as: you don’t get a lot of output if you don’t have a lot of input. Reading is the input, so you need to read to get that output. And then anything I think is cool, like styles (or genres), will get me into a phase. And often, whatever phase I’m in will inspire my writing.”

“What inspires me is reading really good books or watching really good movies,” Dutton said. “I love when books or movies feel real, and the fact that we can capture that through fiction, of all things, is fascinating to me.”

“I am motivated by the books I read,” Boldt said. “I would also recommend bringing a book wherever you are writing because I read when I get stuck. Or I do crosswords, anything to keep my mind occupied.”

TIP #5: LOCATION ISN’T CRUCIAL

I feel like I’ve heard that some people have a certain place they need to be or certain things they need to have in order to write. While I am “guilty” of often writing in the same places and with the same things, most of them aren’t necessary for me to write. In fact, I like the adventure that comes with discovering a new place to write, and as was the case with the second floor of Davies, some of those discoveries can prove successful!

The most important thing about a place is that it’s free of distractions. For me, any sound other than white noise can take me out of a writer’s mindset immediately, so I am very picky about where I write. If sound is less of an issue for you, then I’d recommend getting creative with where you work!

And, on the topic of distractions, don’t take your phone and/or check social media if possible during a session. If you need to check your phone, though (or if the thought of social media is eating away at you and preventing you from focusing on your writing), make it fast. Social media can be a time killer, and spending too much time on it during a writing session can horribly derail your train of thought.

TIP #6: TAKE NOTES! BEFORE, WHILE, AND AFTER YOU WRITE.

One of the author's post-session notes that helps him find his train of thought when starting his next session (character names redacted since they're based on real people).

As a writer, I’ve learned that notes and outlines are some of your best friends. Usually, when I come up with an idea for a larger project, I let the idea simmer in my head for a while before I sit down and write it. This simmering process is where I develop characters, plot threads, and specific lines or jokes. Once I’m finally ready to write, I take everything I’ve thought of during the simmering process and plop it down in an outline, the blueprint for my writing, adding to it as I go. My outline for Valerie: The Novel was about three-and-a-half pages long when I first put it down, and I’ve added around two extra pages of notes since. For me, an outline is a base structure that makes the writing process much easier and guarantees that I don’t forget to put down my most crucial ideas. And, while my current outlines primarily involve plot structures, I’d love to make larger outlines in the future where I also dive deeper into characters, their own arcs, and their dynamics with each other.

Especially over the past few months, I’ve also learned that taking notes after a session is just as important as outlining before a session or project. Sometimes when I finish a session, I don’t know how long it will be until I find time to write again. Oftentimes, when I sit down to write, I completely forget what I wrote about in the last session which can make starting to write very difficult. But, writing down something to guide me to where I take my story next after a session works wonders, even if it’s as short as one sentence. It helps alleviate the writer’s block that can appear at the beginning of any session, and I’d like to think it helps my writing feel more like a cohesive whole and not something that was written in multiple segments.

Finally, if you’re often thinking about your writing even when you’re doing other things, taking notes when you’re not writing is also extremely important.

“Most of the time, if inspiration strikes and you don’t want to forget it, but you think you’ll just remember it, you won’t,” Gannon said. “It’s good to just write a quick note, and those quick notes can be super useful, especially if you’re making them all the time. Eventually, all those fragments will add up and you might have a full story.”

TIP #7: STOPPING A SESSION IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS STARTING A SESSION

Stopping a session in the wrong place can make it very difficult to get ideas rolling the next time you sit down and write. For almost twenty-one years, my mind has defaulted to wanting to end sessions at the end of chapters or scenes, since that’s what made sense in my brain. This past semester, though, in my Playwriting class, I learned that might do more harm than good. Instead, sessions should be ended in the middle of scenes because that will make it easier for you to remember where you want to go when you start your next session. While taking notes and keeping a consistent routine can help diminish the effects of writer’s block if you end a session at the end of a scene or chapter, ending sessions in the middle of scenes has proven helpful in making the starts of sessions much easier.

Another thing I’d recommend in relation to stopping sessions is to stop when you get stuck. This may seem antithetical to the notion that the only way to get out of a writer’s block is to write, and I agree with that, but I also can’t deny that, sometimes, what a piece needs is space. There are many times where I knew where I wanted to go with a scene but wasn’t sure how to word it, so I slept on it for a day or two then opened my laptop and immediately knew what to do. Sometimes, all you need to tackle a tricky part of your story is a fresh mind. Of course, you won’t want to give a tricky part of your story too much space, otherwise you’ll risk forgetting where you wanted to take it altogether.

 TIP #8: WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE!

The author at work (totally in the middle of a writing session and not just pretending to write things down for a good picture).

This might be the most important tip of all. You wouldn’t risk losing hours of sleep over your writing if you weren’t passionate about what you wrote, you wouldn’t constantly set goals if you knew you didn’t care about completing those goals, nor would you spend days, months, if not years outlining if you didn’t want to write the best story you could. If I learned one thing from my experiment, it’s that you shouldn’t force yourself to write. If you don’t like what you’re writing, though, then you’re forcing yourself to write every time you write, and that should be an indicator that you might want to scrap that project and start something new. While you may have dreams of getting published, finding an audience with your work, and becoming a full-time writer, I am under the firm belief that we, as authors, write for ourselves before we write for anybody else.

“If you feel like you keep on encountering this mindset of, ‘I don’t have enough time to write’ or ‘I’m overly stressed,’ you can think of writing as a way to reduce that stress,” Gannon said. “It has therapeutic properties, and then you can also create something good with it. Writing is especially easy if you don’t view it as work, because it isn’t, really, but view it as pleasure or fun because you can have a lot of fun with it.”

“Kissing and Murder”: Tasha Coryell discusses debut novel At L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library

Tasha Coryell in conversation w/ BJ Hollars.

Credit: Julian Emerson

Jayson Coleman

On a warm Thursday evening, dozens of Eau Claire area residents stayed inside to take in the ruminations of a woman in love with a murderer.

Well, in a fictional sense.

On May 1, 2025 at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Library, St. Paul-based author Tasha Coryell discussed her debut novel Love Letters to a Serial Killer. While snacks, drinks, and book signings were all provided, the headline of the event was Coryell herself, who read an excerpt from her novel and answered questions about the book, its origins, inspirations, and path to publication.

While Coryell has already published a short story collection and has written many full-length novels on her computer, Love Letters to a Serial Killer is her first published novel. The book follows Hannah Wilson, a lonely true crime fanatic who immerses herself in forums about murder cases. One day, she comes across the case of William Thompson, a handsome lawyer. Learning about the crimes he’s committed, along with her own personal frustrations with life, inspires Hannah to write him “a series of angry letters”, and she is shocked when William responds back. As William’s letters make Hannah feel understood for the first time, she faces the dilemma of whether to pursue him. He could be her next partner, but she would also risk being his next victim.

Coryell said she would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys reading romance novels and/or thrillers, with the book appealing to her own personal taste of “books about kissing and murder.” In Love Letters to a Serial Killer, however, Coryell takes this mix of genres and adds a humorous edge.

“ I was like, ‘What would happen if a woman fell in love with a serial killer and he turned out to be boring?’ That was the root of the book.””

— Tasha Coryell

 “I was really interested in women who fell in love with serial killers,” Coryell said when sharing her inspiration for the novel, “and I started pondering. I was like, ‘what would happen if a woman fell in love with a serial killer and he turned out to be boring?’ That was the root of the book.”

The novel’s strong humor and storytelling, however, make it an engaging read or listen for anyone, even if romances and thrillers aren’t their preferred genres.

“This was my first time being able to hear what the book was about, and I thought it was really fun,” said Sara Hefty, a frequent attendee of Writers Guild events. “Usually crime novels aren’t my thing, so it got my attention. I also really loved what she shared about this being an outlet to navigate all the chaos that we’re going through right now. Originally, I picked this up for my sister-in-law, but I’m like, ‘oh, maybe I’ll get two copies!’”

While Love Letters to a Serial Killer is largely focused on comedy, Hefty also said she was interested in the social commentary that the novel’s concept provides.

 “What I thought was really interesting in the book was the woman’s point of view,” Hefty said, “listening to it from a systematic violence perspective, and then obviously the serial killer is right there. I thought it was really telling of our society how she was describing [Hannah’s] dating, how she was describing her jobs, how she was describing the life that women live and what led her to start dating the serial killer in the first place.”

While Love Letters to a Serial Killer was the focus of the event, Coryell also took some time to discuss her second novel, Matchmaking for a Psychopath, which will be releasing in July.

“Matchmaking for a Psychopath is about a woman whose fiancé breaks up with her for her best friend,” Coryell said. “She’s a matchmaker, and she finds herself getting really involved with some of her clients. And then all these body parts start showing up at her door and she has to figure out if someone’s out to get her while she’s still trying to win her fiancé back. There’s a whole situation.”

Coryell’s audience left the reading excited to experience more of her book. For Coryell herself, that appreciation was mutual.

“My brother went to Eau Claire for college, so it’s really nice being able to be here,” Coryell said. “I love doing readings in the Midwest. There’s a really great reading and writing community here, so it’s been great to come!”

Click here to learn more and purchase Love Letters to a Serial Killer.

The 12-Hour Writers Retreat: An Intern’s Account

Jayson Coleman

On April 19th, 2025, I attended my first ever writer’s retreat. When I arrived at The Forage in downtown Eau Claire at around nine in the morning, I did not know what to expect. Eleven and a half hours later, when I biked back to my dorm room under the shadow of night, I immediately knew it would not be my last.

I walked into The Forage a few minutes after the event began. Once I found an open seat at one of the four large group tables laid out throughout the space, I was greeted with the retreat’s writer in-residence, Toya Wolfe, giving an energized lecture on starting new projects. At the end of the lecture, we were all given a prompt: imagine a place, any place, an object within that place, then a person, a smell, and a hidden object. Once we had all those, we were instructed to write a scene or story about the world we just created. For many writers at the retreat, the prompt ended up inspiring their day’s work. For me, though, I struggled to imagine a scene knowing I had other projects that I wanted to focus on.

“Since I had never been to a writer’s retreat before this one, I had no idea what I was walking into. ”

— Jayson Coleman

Since I had never been to a writer’s retreat before this one, I had no idea what I was walking into. I had originally thought that almost the entirety of the twelve hours would be spent writing. Because of this, I thought I would easily have the time to get multiple projects done. I wanted to plan out and write the ten-minute play that was due the next week for my playwriting class, work on my novel, and revise a short story. I also thought that much of the retreat would be spent in isolation, with each writer having their own little room to lock themselves inside of. Therefore, I brought not one, not two, but three stuffed animals to keep me company.

Not long into the retreat, though, many of my preconceptions were proven wrong. First, only about a third of the day was devoted to writing. Toya Wolfe, in her opening lectures, told us to only focus on one project and focus on the most difficult one. Since I always find starting a piece to be the most difficult part of writing, I chose to devote my time to writing the play. Second, we did not have our own little rooms, the entire day would be spent in the same communal space. We did have the opportunity to sign up for one-on-one chats with either Toya or retreat host BJ Hollars, but since I didn’t have to pay to be at the retreat, I decided to let the other writers fill the schedule first. Needless to say, one stuffed animal was more than enough. Third, the food that The Forage provided was astounding! The blueberry muffin that I had during the first freewriting session, the chicken lentil soup offered during lunch, and the chocolate chip cookies provided during dinner were the culinary highlights, but everything offered was delicious!

Put simply, the writer’s retreat felt like a glorified creative writing workshop, similar to those I’m used to at college. I still get to hear others’ feedback and read what I wrote, but there’s also dedicated freewriting time, free food, and opportunities to talk one-on-one with experienced writers. Therefore, while the writer’s retreat resembled experiences I’ve grown very familiar with, that didn’t detract from its benefits for the other writers in attendance.

“Right now, I’m probably writing maybe once every two weeks,” said David Fields, a former newspaper reporter who describes himself as “semi-retired”. “I’ll never get anything done at that pace. So here we’re focused to write.”

In fact, Fields noted that one of his favorite things about the writer’s retreat was how it differentiated from the creative writing workshops I’m used to.

“It’s like being in college without the testing and without the assessment You can enjoy the learning without the stress of knowing whether you get an A or a D.”

— Dave Fields

“It’s like being in college without the testing and without the assessment,” Fields said. “You can enjoy the learning without the stress of knowing whether you get an A or a D. It’s relaxing, and with very few demands.”

Colleen McCluskey, a former UWEC grad student and returning attendee of the writer’s retreat, also valued the retreat’s workshop aspect and the people it allowed her to work with.

“I didn’t get a chance to do a one-on-one with Toya,” McCluskey said, “but I did get a chance to do one with BJ. Hearing feedback from other people who have, I wouldn’t say ‘cracked the code’, but have been successful multiple times, it inspires me because there’s only so much you can do on your own. You need other people to look at your work, or else it gets stagnant.”

As for me, by day’s end I’d completed the first two scenes of my ten-minute play, and hearing positive reactions to what I shared of it during workshop had me excited for the final events of the evening. After a delicious taco bar dinner at one big table and manually shifting the room’s layout multiple times, we were finally prepared for the night’s climax… the participant’s reading!

At the participant’s reading, I had the pleasure of hearing each of my peers read what they had devoted their entire day to. I heard people read poetry, emotional memoirs, skin-crawling horror, and seemingly everything in between, all of it incredibly well-written! And, of course, for the first time in the history of a CVWG writer’s retreat, I got to have a scene of my play read out! It was a highlight of my day, calling up two of my fellow unsuspecting writers to read out a role and listening to the supportive audience laugh alongside me. While I had scheduled myself to read early during the show in case I wanted to bike back home before sunset, I knew early on that I wanted to stay for everyone’s reading, and I’m glad that I did!

Overall, the day I spent at the Forage among my fellow writers was incredible! I knew I didn’t have as full of an experience as I could’ve had, missing out on the one-on-ones as well as the alcohol, but that only inspires me to return more! While I am grateful for the time I got to sit down and focus on writing, the entertainment provided by the final reading, and the wonderful food, the highlight of the retreat for me was the people I got to meet and the community I got to be a part of. While being among mostly new faces for the first time did leave me quite anxious, I left The Forage that night with a few extra friends as well as the experiences and interactions I’d been hoping for since I began my internship. Returning to the next 12-Hour Writer’s Retreat would let me reconnect with these now familiar faces, strengthen the friendships I built (while creating a few more), and continue finding my place within the Chippewa Valley writing community.

“It’s a super positive environment, and it’s added a spark to my semi-retirement,” Fields said. “Whether I ever accomplish anything with this, it’s just nice being around all these other creative spirits.”

Writing with Trans-parency: Andrew Patrie on “Clumsy Love”

By Jayson Coleman

If you ask Andrew Patrie about how he is as a parent, he’ll be the first to tell you that he’s nothing special. But, balancing parenting and all its surprises with teaching and writing is already a lot, and that’s before you let your child, in his words, “lead the dance.”

I had the opportunity to interview Patrie ahead of the release of his newest book, Clumsy Love. Clumsy Love is Patrie’s first memoir, and it follows Patrie’s story as a father raising his transgender daughter, Simone, discussing the challenges of parenting but also the discoveries he’s made about himself, his daughter, and their relationship as a family. Through his own experiences, Patrie shows that showing undying love can come with plenty of mistakes which, while especially true of someone navigating through his child coming out, is a notion that can be applicable to any parent.

Jayson Coleman: What is Clumsy Love and what is it about?

Andrew Patrie: It’s a story about raising our transgender daughter. It begins in what would be the “present tense” of the book which is us travelling to Madison to consult about these puberty blockers, and the book ends, then, with us going back 18 months later to get the blockers put in. In between, then, it’s the story about her birth and what childhood was like. I have her permission to use her dead name, so the chunk of the book that’s set in the past, she is referred to as our son, so I wanted the reader to have that experience too of when there’s that shift when she goes through the name change. As we were struggling with all that, getting the pronouns straight, it’s like the reader would go through that in a similar way. It’s not really trying to tell her story, though, obviously she’s a character in the book, but the book’s about things that she allowed me to know. I want her to be able to tell her own story, and I hope she will.

JC: You’ve written lots of pieces for Volume One as well as a few poetry collections. How does Clumsy Love differ from those other things you’ve written?

“I’ve never done anything like this before, on this sort of scale, and the part that was daunting for me was that I didn’t know how to approach doing this.”

— Andy Patrie

AP: I’ve never done anything like this before, on this sort of scale, and the part that was daunting for me was that I didn’t know how to approach doing this. Do you just start on page 1 and go until you’re done? And I learned that, no, you can do it in pieces. And then some of the fun is trying to find out how all these pieces fit. I learned a lot through this process, which was so different from just sitting down and writing for a couple hours to work on a poem idea. I showed up each week focusing on one memory, when that week was up, I was on to the next memory, so there wasn’t any time to go back or obsess over what I’d written. I got to have a narrative that makes sense for a reader. And so thinking about it that way, because I think I had tried to put things together chronologically, and BJ was the one who said ‘the reader doesn’t need to know your timeline, so if it makes sense, maybe break some of this up.’ That was, for me, also kind of a new thing, learning that you’re not being deceitful. It’s still the true story that these moments happened, but I put them out of order because it makes more sense on the page.

JC: What inspired you to tell this story? Were there any specific moments or experiences where you knew you had to get this story down on paper?

AP: I was at a writing retreat about writing for radio, where I was gonna write a short prose piece. I had a bunch of ideas, and one of them was this image I had of us at a hotel pool. Simone is in this bathing suit and gets into the water with these other girls. And this is a little bit after the name changing ceremony and her hair had been growing out, so it felt like a test to see if she’s going to be accepted or not. They were awkward at first, but then eventually they were playing together. And I just remember this image of where one girl made sort of a swing with her hands and invited Simone into it. That story ended up getting on Wisconsin Public Radio, and there was some good reaction to that, which was nice. And then I wrote a couple other pieces, one about Simone’s ninth birthday party and the third one was about blockers. So I just felt like we were charting these moments in our lives that we weren’t really finding an outlet for or advice for. We were just kind of going through it. And I know it’s not the only book out there about parents with transgender children, but I thought it could be another voice, another bit of light out there.

JC: What added difficulties are there with writing about someone as closely connected to you as your daughter? Or does it make the writing process easier?

AP: I’m pretty comfortable with laying it all out when it comes to myself, but I have a wife who’s not necessarily that comfortable. And of course, there was a lot of concern about how Simone would react to this. She knew I was writing this book and that I was gonna use the dead name, so she heard little bits and pieces, but it wasn’t until last summer that she read it finally. She liked it and gave me her blessing. And it was interesting because I said, “what’s your favorite part?” And she said, “oh, the bar scene,” the part where I’ve made a poor decision. So, I thought it was hilarious that the part she liked most was a scene that has nothing to do with her. So, she was okay with things. But I’d be lying if I said I still don’t have the concern, given the current social climate, of outing someone. It’s not someone else’s business to do that, even if I am her father. But Simone’s been out since 2016 so I think we’re past that concern. But also, just the oddness of taking people you know, making them characters, but trying to be as truthful as possible while being respectful of what’s being shared. I wanted to be honest, but also protective of Simone.

JC: Clumsy Love is about a very personal but also thought-provoking topic. Did you learn anything about yourself or your relationship with Simone while writing the memoir?

AP: I can’t say I learned anything about what it’s like to be trans, because I’m not, but in some of the research, it was fascinating to see what the science says about this. There was this study done where they did autopsies on the brains of cisgendered men and woman but also trans men and women, and they found that the brain of a trans woman looked identical to the brain of a cisgender woman. And in terms of my relationship with Simone, I think I was able to suddenly see patterns. She and I have very similar personalities in terms of our reactions to things, and we have a similar sense of humor. My adoption is also brought up, which I originally wasn’t enthused about because I felt it was its own story and I didn’t want to muddy the waters too much, I wanted to stay focused on the parenting. But, as an adopted kid, I talk about feeling a bit estranged from my own parents growing up, and I found out that originally, I was born with a different name. Suddenly, I’m finding all these great connections to Simone’s story. I know they’re not the same, and I’m very careful to point that out in the book, but it made me realize maybe there’s a way to connect and talk to this kid that I hadn’t thought about before. I also started to realize how much having Simone in our lives made me appreciate parenting more, and it made me think more about my parenting.

“I’ve never wavered in my love of Simone, but I’ve not always expressed that love as I should have.”

— Andy Patrie

JC: Why is the book titled “Clumsy Love?”

AP: I’ve never wavered in my love of Simone, but I’ve not always expressed that love as I should have. Or, in my attempts to express that love, it’s kind of come out garbled. I’m a big Three Stooges fan, and in one of their episodes, they talk about “we always get it right the second time.” I started thinking about that with Simone. There was always my first attempt, which oftentimes is awkward and clumsy, and then I can go from there. So, I think that’s where the title felt right, that it has been clumsy. I thought that’s something most parents or readers could relate to, but then adding the element of your kid saying “hey, I’m gay” or “I’m transgender,” it added an extra layer of clumsiness of how to navigate this.

JC: What do you hope a reader would take out of Clumsy Love?

AP: Simone wrote the foreward for the book, so I know what she’s hoping people will take out of it. But I guess my goal with the book always was to just attach a human face to this issue that most people probably know from scrolling social media or whatever talking heads they’re watching on cable news. It’s easy to lose that dimensionality, especially when the issue is oftentimes told in the most extreme version. So, I thought it’d be nice to tell the story of just one family and how they were responding to this. You strip away the politicking and see we’re just people who happen to have a transgender daughter.

JC: In our current social and political climate that is very hostile towards and largely unwilling to understand transgender and gender non-conforming people, what impact do you think this book and your experiences shared within them may have on whoever’s reading it?

AP: A couple summers ago, I got invited to be on an ACLU panel talking about my experience as a teacher with banned books. And as I was leaving, as I was on my way out the door, I heard Simone say something like, “yeah, you go get ‘em straight, white, hetero savior!” which was great, it was the absolute perfect thing I needed to hear. Because I feel like I’m not comfortable being any kind of spokesperson. I’m not a queer person, I’m as straight as they come, straight white guy. But I thought, for better or worse, tonight I’m one of the people they’re getting, and I’ll try to do my best. I’m hoping that, as someone who’s not claiming to be any kind of spokesperson, saying “hey, this is one story,” but that maybe it can connect or resonate with other people in a similar situation. And I feel like maybe that is a political act in the sense that it’s trying to push back on certain narratives that are out there. I just hope it’s a little bit of love. Might be clumsy love, but there’s a little bit more love in the world with the book out there.

Click here to pre-order your copy today.

Community, Confidence, And Cold Refreshments: Rough Draft Reading Series Returns to 2 Roots

Jayson Coleman

The idea of publicly sharing one’s unfinished writing may seem terrifying, but never fear: the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild is here to help local writers overcome that fear in a supportive, communal environment.

The Rough Draft Reading Series will be returning to 2 Roots Art and Wine Gallery on Tuesday, March 25. The upcoming event will be the fourth iteration of the Rough Draft Reading Series- but will feature something new that is bound to please.

In addition to the open mic, writers are invited to come to 2 Roots at 6:15 pm, forty-five minutes before the event’s scheduled start time, to partake in an “informal ‘happy hour.’” This will be an opportunity for writers and literary lovers to engage in fellowship and frivolity before the readings.

Katie Venit, the event’s host, says she hopes the social hour will make writers feel more at ease in what can otherwise be a tense and vulnerable environment.

“Writers tend to be introverts, so we’re especially vulnerable to neglecting our community. But it’s so important. We’re also hoping this [social hour] will help people feel more comfortable signing up to read, so they can see that we’re not so scary.””

— Katie Venit, host

“Writers tend to be introverts,” Venit said, “so we’re especially vulnerable to neglecting our community. But it’s so important. We’re also hoping this [social hour] will help people feel more comfortable signing up to read, so they can see that we’re not so scary.”

Both the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library and the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild have hosted a plethora of events featuring experienced writers coming in and sharing their works. What makes the Rough Draft Reading Series unique is that the “experienced writer” can be anyone who’s in attendance.

 “It’s an open mic for anyone in the community to read what they’re working on,” Venit said. “People often ask if they can read even if they’re not ‘members of the guild,’ which always makes me giggle because we don’t have membership criteria. I mean, the guild is partly run on donations, so yes, please donate if you can. But even if you can’t, just come anyway.”

Any piece of writing at any level can be read at the Rough Draft Reading Series. Venit said that she had heard people read poems and short stories, as well as essays and novel excerpts. She has not yet known of someone bringing in a play or other dramatic reading, but they’re welcome nonetheless.

“We’ve had some of the most experienced writers in the community read, and some new writers read their very first poem,” Venit said. “Everyone gets the same warm response. It’s very supportive. Just please keep your whole reading—including any context you need to give—to five minutes or less so we can fit as many folks in as possible.”

While the wonderful drinks and community of writers are reason enough to attend the Rough Draft Reading Series, as a writer, there’s an unmistakable benefit to hearing thoughts on your work from a perspective other than your own.

“It is so easy to question ourselves as writers,” Venit said. “It is so easy to think we’re no good. I have a few books coming out in the coming years, and I still question everything I write. And I think that’s a fairly universal experience. Having a community can really support ourselves and help us along through the tough times when we doubt ourselves.”

And, even through the fear of public speaking and doubting of our own abilities, there’s something about sharing your work with a group of supportive peers that harkens back to why we write to begin with.

“The thing with writing is, it’s really about connection,” Venit said. “The writer wants to connect to the reader, wants to share their thoughts with the reader. That’s the whole point of writing. And, for me at least, there’s no better way to connect to your reader than though a public reading, when you can gauge how your jokes land, how your audience reacts. It’s magical.”

No advance registration is required to attend the Rough Draft Reading Series. Interested writers can simply walk in, sign up for a slot to read (until all slots are filled), and enjoy an evening of sharing works, meeting friends, and having fun.

Take a Hike, Enjoy a Poem

In the fall of 2024, Kate Felton had an idea: What if poetry and the natural world converged? 

As the owner of Eau Claire Outdoors, Kate has long had an interest in encouraging people of the Chippewa Valley to enjoy the outdoors.  But she realized, too, that “enjoying the outdoors” was hardly limited to the traditional “outdoorsy” activities.  In addition to paddling, biking, climbing and camping, why not add a little poetry into the mix?

“I'm not a very religious person, but I feel most connected to my spirituality when I'm in nature,” Kate says.  “Nature is art, in my eyes. So how natural I thought it was to bring art to nature and vice versa.”

She contacted Guild member and poet Elan Mccalum, and together, the pair hosted the first Poetry Hike at the Town of Union Conservancy on September 28. Poets Max Garland, Amy Fleury, and Elan took their positions in the woods and read to the dozens of poetry and nature lovers in attendance.

 “I started Eau Claire Outdoors to help people explore the edges of their comfort zones, to try new things, to engage with nature more deeply than they ever have,” Kate explains.  And poetry seemed the perfect fit to accomplish all of these goals.

“ “And there were so many people who came! And on top of that, the weather was absolutely gorgeous for late September. It was a spectacular hike.””

— Elan Mccallum

 “And there were so many people who came!” Elan says.  “And on top of that, the weather was absolutely gorgeous for late September. It was a spectacular hike.”

In addition to trying out a new form of literary event in a new space, Elan and Kate were committed to another experiment, too: goodwill donations to pay the poets. 

“I read an article years ago in the Leader-Telegram that seemed to shore up this idea that creatives can't help themselves with creating the art that nourishes and sustains our communities, so they'll do it even if making a living is hard. Which is true in a lot of ways and instances,” Elan says.  “But what I feel was the limitation of that article was that creatives--writers, poets, musicians, artists--should be able to make the art that nourishes and sustains our communities and make a living. I wanted to ensure that whoever agreed to read would be given something to respect their time and craft, and that asking our community to help provide some of that money would bring a greater consciousness of, "Oh, yeah, it makes sense that the poets should get paid.”

And then came the twist: not only did the attendees give generously (over $300), but the poets declined payment and donated the money to the Guild. 

“It's an amazing feeling to belong to a community that not only supports the arts,” Elan says, “but to belong to a creative community that supports other creatives.”

The proceeds from the Poetry Hike will provide one all-expenses-paid scholarship for the next three 12-Hour Retreats.

The next Poetry Hike will take place on May 18 at 6PM at the Town of Union Conservancy and feature poets Elan Mccallum, José Alvergue, David Greschner and Jessi Peterson.  Free will donations for this event can be made online or day-of and will divided among the readers.  Register here!

Celebrating Our Downfalls: “Mistakes Were Made” Coming To The Pablo Center

Jayson Coleman

While many storytelling series like to focus on tales of happiness, success, or resilience, an upcoming event at the Pablo Center will be trying something new—sharing stories of failure, folly, and most of all, mistakes.

“Mistakes Were Made”, coming to the Pablo Center on March 13 at 7PM, will be the second “After Dark” edition of the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild’s “Sound & Stories” series. The “Sound & Stories: After Dark” series features five regional authors sharing stories for mature audiences, with the stories presented in “Mistakes Were Made” being described as “blunders so epic we have no choice but to enshrine them.”

 “As it turns out, people are often quite interested in our screw-ups and darker moments, which makes this theme and this particular storytelling series work,” said Eric Rasmussen, a host and storyteller at the upcoming “Mistakes Were Made” event as well as at last year’s inaugural “After Dark” event.

Rasmussen is an Eau Claire native, author, English teacher, and editor of the Barstow & Grand literary magazine. He will be joined on the “Mistakes Were Made” stage by former Leader-Telegram reporter Dan Lyksett and Eau Claire native Laura Buchholz “whose sardonic sense of humor,” Rasmussen says, “never fails to entertain.”

 “The most exciting part of the evening will be our special guests - two highly accomplished storytellers from the Twin Cities,” Rasmussen said of the final two performers taking the stage. Allison Broeren is an Eau Claire native who works as a theatrical performer and producer in Minneapolis. Rounding out the storytellers is Broeren’s friend, Jason Schommer, a storyteller and stand-up comedian who for years opened for Louie Anderson in Las Vegas.

 In addition to the storytellers, music will also be provided by Creeping Charlie and the Roundups, a new band led by Jon Loomis, a local writer, poet, and musician.

 While Rasmussen has a few reservations regarding sharing his personal stories of failure and embarrassment in front of a live audience, he is very excited about being able to entertain himself and the public with such tales.

“I don’t know if there will be any deep insights about failures and how to handle them, but there will definitely be tons of laughs, a few gasps, and an opportunity to enjoy the literary and performance talents of some familiar faces from around town and a few out-of-town guests!”

— Eric Rasmussen, host and storyteller

“Our first and biggest goal is entertainment,” Rasmussen said. “I don’t know if there will be any deep insights about failures and how to handle them, but there will definitely be tons of laughs, a few gasps, and an opportunity to enjoy the literary and performance talents of some familiar faces from around town and a few out-of-town guests!”

While pure entertainment is at the forefront for “Mistakes Were Made”, Rasmussen noted that of all the options for entertainment throughout the Chippewa Valley, this event stands out as being special.

“Just like live theatre, there’s something about an in-person storytelling experience that can’t be recreated onscreen or in a podcast,” Rasmussen said. “Our region is home to a wealth of talented writers and performers, so in addition to the stories themselves, evenings like this create a sense of community that makes for a uniquely memorable evening.”

As for the stories presented during the night themselves, they’re sure to be memorable for the audience, but ones that the storytellers would prefer to forget.

“The stories will cover a full range of boneheaded moves,” Rasmussen said, “from outdoor accidents on hunting trips, storming out of jobs with nowhere to go, and a full spectrum of errors committed behind the wheels of cars. It should be a blast!”

For those who won’t be able to make it to “Mistakes Were Made”, Rasmussen is hopeful that this won’t be the last time an event like this is held.

“After the success of last year’s ‘Sound & Stories: After Dark,’” Rasmussen said, “there’s a good chance the Writers Guild will continue hosting more mature storytelling events for the foreseeable future. And there are SO MANY performers we could tap, plenty to keep this series going for years.”

$10 all-inclusive tickets for “Mistakes Were Made” are available online for purchase here

From Barstools To Bookshelves: Nickolas Butler Discusses New Novel At L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library Event

Nickolas Butler reads from his latest novel, “A Forty Year Kiss” in front of a packed Riverview Room crowd on January 3, 2025.

Jayson Coleman

Nickolas Butler’s inspiration for stories can come from places as mundane as the dark corner of a Chippewa Falls bar. Now, he’s sharing these stories with the rest of the world.

Over a hundred Eau Claire area residents packed the Riverview Room inside L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library on Jan. 3, 2025, to hear Eau Claire native and author Nickolas Butler discuss his brand new novel, A Forty Year Kiss. Throughout the event, Butler talked about his inspirations for the novel, what he considered when writing his characters and their struggles, and many fascinating and hilarious anecdotes of his experiences while writing.

Butler was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, but was raised in Eau Claire and has spent much of his life in the upper Midwest. He attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison and the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. In 2014, he published his first novel, Shotgun Lovesongs, which became a national bestseller and has been translated into over ten languages. He has since released four more novels and a short story collection.

A Forty Year Kiss is Butler’s fifth novel, and it follows Charlie and Vivian, a divorced couple from Chippewa Falls who reconnect after being separated for 40 years. During their time away from each other, Charlie and Vivian have led very different lives. Charlie’s been able to live for himself, travelling the world and going to college, but he also deals with a drinking problem. Vivian, on the other hand, grew up in a financial situation that was not nearly as fortunate as Charlie’s where she had to give up everything for her children and grandchildren. Throughout the novel, readers see their relationship from both perspectives, with Butler constantly switching between Charlie’s and Vivian’s points of view.

In early reviews of the novel, many readers have shown appreciation for the novel’s central romance being between two older characters, with Butler sharing a similar sentiment. In interviews and at his event, Butler talked about how the story focuses on personal growth, change, and maturity within the characters. He said that unlike romances that feature younger characters, between Charlie and Vivian, there’s sixty years of baggage, sixty years of drama, and sixty years of questions that need to be asked. He also noted that he finds “old love” more interesting because people are much more introspective at 60 than at 20.

As interesting as the ages and experiences of the central characters, though, was how Butler got the idea for A Forty Year Kiss. Throughout the event, Butler discussed how the way he wanted his prose to feel while reading was greatly influenced by “When Harry Met Sally,” but the idea for the story itself came from both a local and unconventional place.

Butler’s inspiration for the book began at the Tomahawk Room in Chippewa Falls when, in the corner of the bar, he began to overhear a conversation between two estranged lovers who appeared to be in their sixties. He heard the man ask if he could kiss the woman sitting with him, then witnessed the prolonged and passionate kiss that followed. He also heard the woman mention that she had always received chocolate from this man, among other details. As their interaction continued, Butler became increasingly invested in their history.

“I was hiding my face because I was blushing so hard,” Butler said when recounting the situation, “and I was transcribing everything!”

Butler had taken many notes on his phone about the conversation he had eavesdropped on that evening. Even though his publisher told him that they wanted him to write a literary suspense novel, though, Butler knew that he wanted to turn the bar interaction into something special.

For the people who attended the library event and purchased the novel, much of its interest comes from their ability to relate to the story. That relation, though, goes far past the novel taking place in the Chippewa Valley.

“I think it’s very real,” said Liz Rehrauer, a retired English teacher from New Auburn who attended the event. “I had a friend who was a tennis player. We played tennis together, she lost her first husband, married a judge in town. And when the judge died, she went back to a (class) reunion in Alma (or) one of the small towns across the Mississippi, and she ended up marrying a guy that she had dated in high school, and they were in their 60s.”

For Butler, telling these real stories that he sees play out in front of him every day is one of his favorite parts of writing.

“I get to imagine other people’s lives,” Butler said, while adding that he doesn’t feel the pressure to represent these lives as accurately as possible. “These are my characters.”

A Forty Year Kiss is available for purchase at The Local Store, Dotters Books, and here.

Horseradish Adds Spice to EC's Literary Scene

B.J. Hollars (sort of…with a satirical touch)

Jeff DeGrave has claimed Eau Claire as his home since 2003. He has been published in Eau Claire’s very own literary magazine, Barstow & Grand, and has participated in numerous CVWG-sponsored events including the annual “Joy to the Word” celebration, several writer’s retreats, as well as performing in the “Bend in the River” radio drama. He and his car will be appearing in two upcoming locally-produced films. He previously co-produced a monthly news parody publication called The Citizen Harold in the Twin Cities for several years. But he never wrote a book before. Until now. And that book is called Horseradish! Let’s learn more about the “comedy yearbook of the Chippewa Valley.”

BJ: Frankly, Jeff, I don’t know where to begin. How did this happen—and why?

Jeff DeGrave: That’s a tough question, BJ. I can tell you’ve done this sort of thing before.

BJ: You’re a slippery respondent, Jeff. But, please, share with our readers how this project began.

JD: Alright. Well, I have this friend who is simply relentless in his pursuit to make a writer out of everyone he meets. The amount of work he has done to make Eau Claire “The Unofficial Capital of the Written Word” is unparalleled. Eventually, I caved. And Horseradish! is the result. You might know this friend of mine?

BJ: Nope. Never met him. Anyhow, tell us about the idea behind the book: How did Horseradish! become Horseradish!?

“The “elevator pitch” for Horseradish! is “The Onion meets Eau Claire.” It’s a light-hearted satirical look back at the events, news items, and other happenings that were important to Chippewa Valley residents during the past year. ”

— Jeff DeGrave

JD: Because we have so many great writers of legitimate books in and around the Chippewa Valley, I figured the region could use a book that is less great, less legitimate, and barely even a book. The “elevator pitch” for Horseradish! is “The Onion meets Eau Claire.” It’s a light-hearted satirical look back at the events, news items, and other happenings that were important to Chippewa Valley residents during the past year. And, given “these times,” I feel like everyone could use a bit of locally-based humor to provide a much needed escape from reality—even if it’s only temporary.

BJ: Reality? Who needs it? But what about the name, the style, and some of the other elements that make Horseradish!, Horseradish!?

JD: The name, Horseradish!, of course, is a shout out to Eau Claire’s position as the world’s horseradish hub. Because horseradish, the root, has a bit of a bite to it, I thought it captured the  satirical tone of the book. I’m also using the word, “horseradish,” like “poppycock” or “balderdash” to let the reader know that everything they read is fictitious. Plus, I think horseradish is one of the more neglected tubers out there and I think it’s time to bring the conversation back.

BJ:  No horseradish in that statement! What kind of stories can readers expect to find inside the book?

JD: The vibe of the book follows everyone’s favorite locally-produced arts and entertainment magazine, Volume One. Like Volume One, there are articles that focus on the community, nature, local events, and more. For example, one story celebrates the arrival of our new trolley in Eau Claire as a solution to the lack of a major air carrier at the EAU airport with the headline of “New Eau Claire Trolley to Resolve EAU Transportation Issues.” Another story looks at how Eau Claire lost its top ranking as the “Hippest City in the region to the “dark horse” town of Cleghorn. And, there is also a satirical look at the controversy that surrounded the recent arrival of roundabouts in the area.

BJ:  This is pretty hard-hitting stuff.

JD: Just wait until you get to the essay on the “Midwestern Stand-Off” that examines why no one will eat the final piece of pizza when a pizza is being shared between a group of people.

BJ: We’ve all been there. And I am sure I will be there again soon. Speaking of the future, what are the plans for 2026? Can the Valley expect to see the arrival of a new edition of Horseradish! around this same time next year?

JD: It may very well be the case that one Horseradish! will be plenty for many years to come. Then again, if the demand for more Horseradish! is there, producing this book at the end of every year would be a lot of fun. And there’s always going to be plenty of material to work with around here!

BJ: Let’s hope the ceiling for Horseradish! is high. In the meantime, do you have another project in the works for 2025?

JD: Nothing yet. But with my previously-mentioned friend, who knows what he might talk me into.

Horseradish! is available at the Volume One Local Store, Dotters Books, and on eBay (search: horseradish book). Look for book readings from Horseradish! around the Chippewa Valley in 2025.

Leaving a Legacy of Literacy: Opening doors to communities big and small

Maggie O’Brien

Literacy presents immense opportunities to those who possess it. From career options to social functioning, literacy can open doors that unfortunately remain shut for many.

Illiteracy can be isolating socially and can even prevent parents from participating in children’s lives and education. Imagine going out to a restaurant with your child and being unable to read the menu to them, or not being familiar with the words your child is studying for a spelling test.

In recent years, data has shown less-than-favorable literacy levels in the nation, the state of Wisconsin, and even in Eau Claire. The National Literary Institute revealed that in 2024, 21% of adults in the US will be illiterate, and 54% of adults will have a literacy level below that of a 6th grader.

It’s important to account for the link between poverty and literacy when we’re looking at literacy data. Poorer regions tend to offer fewer educational resources and opportunities, meaning individuals from these regions are more likely to be illiterate. Being unable to read and write at a proficient level limits career options and inhibits streamlined functioning in society. 

In Wisconsin, literacy rates are a bit more promising but still far from ideal. According to Wisconsin Literacy, one in seven Wisconsin adults struggle with low literacy. 

“For those with low literacy, attempting to read an instruction booklet or fill out a medical form becomes troublesome and time-consuming. In instances like these, literacy becomes a matter of accessibility. ”

— Maggie O'Brien

For those with low literacy, attempting to read an instruction booklet or fill out a medical form becomes troublesome and time-consuming. In instances like these, literacy becomes a matter of accessibility. 

Considering literacy in this light is critical as technology and jargon infiltrate spaces like doctor’s offices and schools, which are vital for everyone, not just literate people. Imagine attempting to receive critical medical care and being presented with a device you are unable to use. On top of that, you are unable to comprehend the terminology on the screen before you. Asking for help in situations like these can be dehumanizing, time-consuming, and terrifying.

According to WQOW, around 14,000 people struggle with low literacy in the Chippewa Valley, which includes Eau Claire, Chippewa, and Dunn counties. Additionally, in the Eau Claire Area School District, 58% of elementary students, 57% of middle school students, and 59% of high school students tested below the proficient level for reading.

So, more than half of Eau Claire’s student population cannot read proficiently. These statistics, coupled with the fear-mongering narratives heard in and around schools, can easily be grounds for catastrophizing the state of literacy and reading. While your first inclination may be to dwell in hopelessness, consider the creative ways in which Eau Claire is combating falling literacy rates.

Literacy Interventions

Eau Claire has taken numerous measures to address low literacy rates among both adult and student populations. 

Literacy Chippewa Valley is a harbor of hope for adults struggling with literacy in the Chippewa Valley area. According to its website, Literacy Chippewa Valley is a community-based organization that aims to foster literacy in adults to help them reach their academic, employment, and life goals. 

Literacy Chippewa Valley’s values of accessibility, inclusion, adaptability, progress, and sustainability are visible throughout its free programs. In the past year, this organization assisted 600 adults in Chippewa, Dunn, and Eau Claire counties, a 20% increase from the previous year.

One of Literacy Chippewa Valley’s free programs is called One-to-One Tutoring. This program offers weekly tutoring services catered to the abilities and interests of aspiring learners. Tutors instruct on topics such as ELL, math, GED/HESD acquisition, driver’s license preparation, and citizenship testing preparation.

This program offers those with low literacy the opportunity to make breakthroughs that may assist in career advancement. It also helps participants better operate in a world that demands literacy for many tasks. 

Additional programs include Corrections Education and Family Literacy. Visit Literacy Chippewa Valley’s website to learn more about its wonderful programs. By promoting literacy among adult populations and providing family-centered resources, Literacy Chippewa Valley lays the groundwork for parents to actively participate in their children’s literacy. 

Eau Claire’s outreach extends beyond adults. Let’s consider L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library as the hub of resources and events that aid in developing and sustaining literacy among the youth population. 

L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library offers multiple youth programs on site and online. These programs are designed for infants up to sixth grade, and are all free options for children and families. 

One program specifically geared towards helping children develop early literacy skills and discover a love of reading is Storytime at the Library. This free program takes place weekly, from September 16 to December 14, in the Youth Program Room at L.E. Phillips Memorial Library. 

According to its website, storytimes feature assorted age-appropriate stories, rhymes, fingerplays, flannels, music, and movement. Five different groups, separated by age, are available. 

The groups include Little Movers, Bouncing Babies, Toddler Storytime, Preschool Storytime, and Family Storytime. Family storytime is a great resource for families developing their literacy together. 

L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library also offers two Book Clubs for K-6 readers. The Read Me a Book Club is focused on Grades K-2 and aims to encourage the celebration of reading as a family. This club consists of a monthly two-part series that includes a read-aloud and hands-on activities. 

The Read Me a Book Club is a perfect way for families to work on literacy together. L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library programming offers plenty of opportunities. for parents to take an active role in developing their children’s literacy and their own. 

The L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library also hosts The Book Scouts Book Clubs, recommended for grades 3-6, talk about books and do hands-on activities inspired by their monthly read. The two Book Scouts groups include the Story Seekers and the Page Turners. Each group reads books that match differing difficulty levels and interests.

Multiple book-focused, kid-friendly events take place at ​​L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library every week. Take a look at its event calendar to explore them.

L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library also has a whole Kids page spotlighting family resources in Eau Claire. This page conveniently organizes Early Learning Programs, Family/Parent Support, Public Libraries, and more and offers a brief explanation of each resource.

As technology infiltrates classrooms and homes, many children spend their schooldays and weekends staring at screens. L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library offers plenty of free resources for parents and children to combat the low literacy rates and take some time away from screens.

Considering the various options would be a purposeful first step toward instilling literacy and appreciation for reading in young children.

In addition to everything offered at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, Eau Claire’s Family Resource Center has recently become an affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The Imagination Library is currently the world's largest children’s literacy program. 

Each month, a free book is mailed directly to a child’s home from birth until age five. The only requirement for participation is to live in Eau Claire and Dunn Counties. This means children can accumulate a library of up to 60 books before their fifth birthday. 

According to its website, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library aims to inspire a love of reading in children from birth to age five. If children are exposed to reading at a very young age and have ample access to various books, they are much more likely to see the intrinsic values of reading.

For children from families who may struggle with income due to low literacy, this program is an excellent opportunity to develop young readers and encourage learning for both parents and children.

A noteworthy part of this program is that it provides books to children before they begin school. Thus, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has the potential to lower the number of children who do not have access to books before Kindergarten.

Eau Claire Family Resource Center’s website states, “Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has been shown to increase the frequency of reading books together, leading to increased kindergarten readiness.” This way, children can see value in reading and grow to love it before school even requires it.

If you are interested in signing up for this program, you can download a form from the Imagination Library website and mail it to Eau Claire’s Family Resource Center, or visit the Family Resource Center playroom to complete a registration form in person with assistance. 

Bridging the gap between “literacy” and “literary”

As a future English educator, it’s empowering to be optimistic about literacy despite the discouraging data. In my classroom, I will only get closer to the problem. The literacy levels of my students will undoubtedly influence my teaching as a secondary education teacher, and I will have to work creatively to reach all of my students. This might involve showing films alongside reading texts, incorporating multi-modal technology, and bringing art and expression into my curriculum. These creative approaches allow me to brush the dust off of the way canon texts are typically taught by allowing varied engagement opportunities.

For students struggling with literacy, an English classroom may be the last place they want to be. This starts early when students who cannot read at the expected level are overlooked or labeled “disadvantaged.” This struggle may continue into middle and high school.

The importance of scaffolding must not be overlooked in this conversation. With abundant resources available, parents must lay the groundwork for their children’s literacy by taking advantage of everything Eau Claire offers. 

This may start with parents addressing the state of their own literacy. Literacy Chippewa Valley is a great place to start for parents who may have some work to do before they can help their children. 

If parents provide their children with access to books and education for reading to serve as a daily practice, literacy maintains a central position in children’s lives. Taking the time to instill a passion for reading even before school begins sets children up to see the immense value of “literacy.” This appreciation lays the groundwork for a legacy of literacy and abundant access to literary communities and resources. 

The idea here is that parents must make an attempt to be proactive. Of course, many parents may not have abundant time to dedicate to literacy intervention, but taking the time to set up reading habits while children are young will likely make later intervention unnecessary. 

“As a future educator, I must not forget my role in including all my students in literary communities and opening up spaces that may feel inaccessible or beyond students’ capabilities”

— Maggie O'Brien

As a future educator, I must not forget my role in including all my students in literary communities and opening up spaces that may feel inaccessible or beyond students’ capabilities. Closing out children struggling with literacy from literary communities sends the unfavorable message that the “literary” is not for them. 

If I want my students to appreciate the “literary,” I must first approach their literacy levels appropriately and help them recognize the value in both “literacy” and the “literary.” Oftentimes,  literary organizations such as book clubs and writing groups are populated mostly by successful writers or avid readers. 

I intend to reverse this narrative. Students can only increase their reading and writing abilities by practicing. In order to make space for this, we must create inclusive, supportive, and empathetic literary communities that offer them room to do so

“WRITE. RETREAT. REPEAT.” The Oxbow Writer’s Retreat Returns With Novelist Christina Clancy

UPDATE: OUR RETREAT IS NOW SOLD OUT! PLEASE EMAIL US AT CHIPPEWAVALLEYWRITERSGUILD@GMAIL.COM TO BE PLACED ON THE WAITLIST.

Hotel rooms, record players, and writers—oh my! The Oxbow Writer’s Retreat is returning for its fifth year. Attendees will check into The Oxbow Hotel, a local treasure, at 8:45 am on Saturday, January 18, and check out at 11 am on Sunday, January 19. It’s the perfect weekend away to recharge with your writer best friends!

If you’re looking for Eau Claire’s finest boutique hotel, look no further than the Oxbow. Whether you’re writing with the rest of the group in its event spaces, or attempting to wind down that chugging creative engine in your room, the area around you will be drenched with style and local flair. The venue is also famous for having record players in its rooms and an extensive vinyl library in its lobby—the writing of you and your peers won’t be the only delight at this retreat!

Novelist Christina Clancy is this year’s writer-in-residence. Her short stories and essays have been featured everywhere from The New York Times to The Washington Post. She has two novels under her belt, and a third on its way, coming in February, 2025. And on top of her impressive credentials as a writer, she has also hosted the Oxbow Retreat before! Christina Clancy knows what she’s doing.

“We're thrilled to partner with The Oxbow Hotel and Christina Clancy,” says host B.J. Hollars. “We have the perfect venue for the perfect writer to ensure an ideal retreat.” 

There are many wonderful things to experience this time at the Oxbow! Here are a few events from the schedule: writing exercises with writer-in-residence Christina Clancy, optional mini-group workshops, and jazz and fellowship at The Lakely, The Oxbow Hotel’s stylish cocktail lounge on Saturday night. Find out more about the schedule here.

The food will be delicious, as well: included in the price of your ticket are two scrumptious meals from Forage, the local commercial kitchen and friend to the Guild.

Signing up for this retreat is a two step process! Be sure to complete both steps, or you will not have signed up!

Step 1: Click here to reserve your spot by purchasing your $105 weekend ticket.

Step 2: Pick up the phone and call The Oxbow Hotel (715-839-0601) and ask them to sign you up for The Oxbow Writer’s Retreat. Room prices range from $115.00-149.00 (plus fees). The promo code is: WRITERS. Room upgrades available. Need to come into town early? Ask about the special writers' rate for Friday night lodging.

Please note that our retreats are non-refundable. An organization of our size is unable to absorb costs associated with cancellations. However, with sufficient notice, we will do our best to fill your slot, and if successful, we’ll gladly refund your payment.

This cost includes Saturday night lodging, breakfast, lunch, fruit, cookies, muffins, coffee, a drink ticket, and mini-group workshops, as well as all of the craft talks and instruction. Room upgrades available. Need to come into town early? Ask about the special writers' rate for Friday night lodging.