The Intersection Between Writing and Teaching: An Interview with Larry Watson

Charlotte Gutzmer

As writers, we all understand the magic that comes with transcribing our innermost thoughts into tangible stories—what you may not fully recognize, however, is how the creative and transformative power of teaching can be just as magnificent.

Larry Watson isn’t just a renowned writer: he’s also an acclaimed teacher who has been teaching for over 40 years! With decades of experience in the craft of writing and the art of teaching, he has published ten novels, the fiction collection JUSTICE, and the poetry collection Late Assignments. His work has received critical acclaim and won awards and prizes from Milkweed Press, Friends of American Writers, Mountain and Plains Booksellers Association, and more: his 2013 novel, Let Him Go, has even been adapted to the 2020 film sharing the same name and starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. On Tuesday, June 1st at 7pm, join him in his upcoming CVWG craft talk: “40 in 40: Lessons from 40 Years of Teaching Condensed into 40 Minutes”. 

His craft talk will focus on “narrative modes, conflict in story and how it corresponds to story structure, and the storytelling devices that do a particularly effective job of engaging readers.” Those who join will also learn about “some exercises that might lead to the creation of full-length fictions or that might be incorporated into longer narratives.”

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Larry Watson about his work, his escapades in education, and about his upcoming craft talk. Read on to learn all about how tension “pulls a story taught”, how his experiences in teaching transformed his work, and more.

Charlotte Gutzmer: Congratulations on your novel Let Him Go being adapted into a film! What was the most exciting part of adapting your novel for the screen, and what challenges did it pose?

Larry Watson: Thanks. It was pretty exciting. But really, I had next to nothing to do with making the film. All the challenges of adapting the novel fell to Thomas Bezucha. He wrote the screenplay. He was also a producer and he directed the movie. All credit goes to him and his commitment to the project.

CG: You’ve published 10 acclaimed novels, a fiction collection, and a book of poetry. As someone well-versed in many forms of storytelling, how does the process of writing shift from one mode to another?

LW: I don’t write many short stories. It’s just a very difficult form for me, perhaps because I can never be sure what can be left out. Poems I have to wait for, and they don’t come around much anymore. When they do, I need to get a complete draft written—no matter how rough—as quickly as I can. Subsequent revisions can take hours or years or any span of time in between. But novels I can approach and work on like a job in an office. I can—and do—write something every day. I’m slow but steady.

CG: Your most recent novel, The Lives of Edie Pritchard, “crackles with tension”, according to Kirkus Reviews, and your upcoming craft talk will focus on conflict in story. How do you add tension to your writing, and what makes tension so integral to narrative?

LW: I consider the scene a structural fundamental in my fiction, and I try to make sure that there’s some tension in every scene. It might not be overt (and come to think of it, it seldom is), but there needs to be something to pull things taught. That something often has to do with a character’s desire, stated or unstated. And what one character wants might well be at odds with what another character wants. But if the scene has only one character, I still have to find a way to introduce a conflict of some kind.

CG: In your poetry collection Late Assignments, you refer to memory as a storyteller. How, in your opinion, does memory play a role in telling stories, and how can writers begin to transcribe them?

LW: I’ve said that I write from memory more than from observation. And I think of memory as a kind of filter. Whatever sticks in the filter is there for a reason, though I might not know what that reason is. Part of my task as a writer is to present the image or incident in such a way that its significance becomes apparent. (Significance isn’t necessarily the same, in my view, as meaning). I also don’t care whether the memory is “true” or not; it can be useful for fiction either way. In this way, memory can contribute to storytelling. 

CG: In your opinion, what are some of the biggest misconceptions about teaching, and what are some of the greatest rewards?

“I don’t think people who don’t teach understand how much time it takes. It goes way beyond hours in the classroom or even hours reading student writing”

— Larry Watson

LW: I don’t think people who don’t teach understand how much time it takes. It goes way beyond hours in the classroom or even hours reading student writing. Research is often required to work up lessons or compose lectures (even very short ones). And teaching takes up a lot of thought-time, as teachers think about what they’ll do in class that semester, that week, that day, that hour. Every student is different, and attention must be paid to how all those individuals are progressing—or not. All of these things are true of writing, too. No matter how much time a teacher devotes to [their]  classes and students, [they] can always do more. And no matter how much time a writer spends on his writing, he/she can always do more. More time is what both writers and teachers always need. Of course what writers and teachers learn from their art/craft can be tremendously rewarding, and some of those things are discoveries that could never be reached without the classroom or the devotion to a piece of writing.

CG: How has your style of teaching changed over the course of 40 years, and what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from your experiences as a teacher?

Maybe I became a bit more efficient as a teacher. After all those years, I might have developed a better sense of the lessons and activities that would be useful and helpful to students. And while this isn’t exactly a lesson, I learned early on that in virtually every class there’d be at least one student with the talent and skill to be a published writer. It was wonderful to come across those students. It was also wonderful to see that other students usually recognized that talent too and went out of their way to praise the writer and the work. But not all those talented writers went on to write and publish. Something besides talent and skill is required.

CG: How has your experience teaching in colleges and universities influenced your writing?

LW: Oh, the influence is so great I couldn’t begin to summarize it! But here’s one way that writing and teaching worked together for me, and, I suppose, influenced each other. In creative writing classes, I usually did the same assignments—both in class prompts and more formal exercises—that I gave my students. Doing that helped me understand what a writer was likely to come up against in the writing. And on a few occasions, what I wrote turned out to be something more than an exercise. I came up with drafts of poems, ideas for stories, and scenes for novels. I tried never to give students exercises or assignments that were frivolous or that couldn’t lead to or couldn’t be a part of something useful to writing fiction, poetry, drama, or nonfiction.

So what are you waiting for? Register today for Larry Watson’s craft talk to experience 40 wondrous years of teaching in what may be the most rewarding 40 minutes of you

Watch David Shih's "'You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone': Writing About Race"

In January, David Shih presented a powerful craft talk on writing about race. The talk was so well received that several attendees asked if we might make it available for replay. We’re so glad we can. Thanks to David for sharing his knowledge, and to attendees and viewers for listening and learning alongside him.

Sending Out Sunshine: On Writing Letters to Bring Healing and Joy

“There’s something intoxicating about a handwritten piece of mail sailing to us across the US Postal Service. ”

Katy Hackworthy

There’s something intoxicating about a handwritten piece of mail sailing to us across the US Postal Service. Every time my roommate slides a pile under my door, I delight in everyone’s unique handwriting, declaring who sent a bit of themselves to make my day a little brighter. The floors of my room are strewn with half ripped envelopes tucked into piles of overdue library books, little reminders motivating me to send out a bit of extra sunshine myself. 

This holiday season, I had  every ambition to write love letters to pals, family members, and even old acquaintances as gifts. Due to the way things tend to go during that bustling time of year (where do the hours run off to?), and a solid dose of grief pervading almost every aspect of my life, I only sent off maybe one or two bits of snail mail. 

Lucky for me, the pile of empty but stamped & addressed envelopes still sat on my desk among spilled candle wax, ink weary pens, and half full journals. While I haven’t completed the pile, I did dive in headfirst to reciprocate the delight I’ve felt coming home to a handwritten letter. What’s the new year for if not to make good on old promises made to yourself in a time that once seemed to be brimming with possibility?

For even more accountability, I took some time off social media, but only after asking if anyone would like to be pen pals. To my delight, I got a few takers, including someone I’ve mostly been in professional spaces with whose kind words, meticulously done coloring pages, and sweet cards have brought such joy since our new form of correspondence, and someone who I connected with on a dating app many moons ago who happens to have the same visceral love for the outdoors, working with youth, and Ross Gay as I do. 

While I’m not always consistent, I’ve spent a good chunk of the first few months of 2021 with pen and paper instead of tired eyes & mindless scrolling. As a result, I have gorgeous art reminding me someone out there supports me, I have reclaimed my time in service of myself and others, and I have strengthened connections with people who were mere acquaintances before the word “pal” accompanied our pens. 

“It’s easy to see letter writing as something “less than” writing, but for me, it’s been a welcome creative outlet when I haven’t had the capacity to take the more emotionally laborious path towards poetry, or explore some of the heaviness I’ve been carrying around through creative nonfiction. ”

It’s easy to see letter writing as something “less than” writing, but for me, it’s been a welcome creative outlet when I haven’t had the capacity to take the more emotionally laborious path towards poetry, or explore some of the heaviness I’ve been carrying around through creative nonfiction. I welcome the intimacy that comes from having an audience of one person instead of having to consider a wider swath of readers. The time I’ve spent writing these letters has been a form of healing during such a heavy time, and I’m grateful for the newness the changing of the seasons will continue to bring.

From a rapidly scrawled postcard from a pal abroad to a sprawling letter from a sweet stranger or lover, something about the extra bit of intention involved always makes this kind of correspondence all the more special, especially in times of increased isolation & neverending screen time. From a pen pal’s response trusting me with work advice & a gorgeous, thoughtful coloring sheet that sits atop my dresser to telling my best friend to save one of my letters “for a time she really needs it”, it’s been extra wonderful to witness the tangible impact of these correspondences. I hope you take some time out of your busy, weird, & wild schedules to make some room for this intention, and send a little sunshine for the price of a stamp. 

On Discovering America and Its Stories: A Conversation With Virtual Writers Retreat Speaker Carson Vaughan

by Charlotte Gutzmer

Peering over the devoid field that was once a zoo teeming with life, Carson Vaughan wondered how it came to be like this. What had caused the once popular zoo to become an empty-caged ghost town? None of the locals would tell him about the tragedy that had occurred there, but the tension was palpable. Royal, Nebraska and its zoo had a story to share, Carson knew.  But what was it?

Carson Vaughan is an award-winning nonfiction author, freelance journalist, and editor who finds beautiful stories in places often dismissed in what some might call cultural deserts. His debut nonfiction book, Zoo Nebraska: The Dismantling of an American Dream, has garnered critical acclaim (2020 Nebraska Book Award) for its expertly written portrayal of the rural Midwest and the rise and fall of Royal, Nebraska’s uniquely intriguing zoo. On Tuesday, May 11th at 7pm, join him in his upcoming CVWG craft talk: “Distilling The Extra From The Ordinary: Writing And Reporting In ‘Flyover Country’”.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Carson Vaughan about Zoo Nebraska and his upcoming craft talk. Read on to learn all about his book-writing process, how he discovers stories, and how his experiences as a freelance journalist shapes his view of the world.

Charlotte Gutzmer: Zoo Nebraska is a beautifully written portrait of the rise and fall of a zoo in Royal, Nebraska that explores the dynamics between humanity, animals, and politics. Where did you encounter this history, and what drew you to writing about it?

Carson Vaughan: I had never heard of Royal, Nebraska, or its infamous roadside zoo until 2009. My girlfriend and her mother were giving me a personal tour of northeast Nebraska, and as we passed through Royal, roughly 30 minutes from their farm, they casually mentioned a shooting and somebody named Reuben. I didn't know a single detail, had never heard of this tragic event, and immediately had more questions than they could answer. We pulled off the highway to take a closer look at the derelict zoo, and as luck would have it, the state of Nebraska had placed a small flyer on the chain link fence advertising a public auction to be held the very next weekend. Still sniffing around for an appropriate senior journalism thesis, I drove back the next weekend. It would be another few weeks, maybe months, before I understood exactly what story the story was, but I left that auction buzzing with excitement. The locals refused to discuss the day the chimpanzees broke loose, and it was exactly that resistance that let me know I was on to something. The more time I spent in Royal, the more certain I was that beneath the novelty of an exotic animal escape in rural Nebraska there lay a gripping story reflective of the human condition at large--a story, in other words, that would hopefully resound beyond the community of Royal alone.

CG: As a freelance journalist from central Nebraska, you seem quite skillful at depicting the compelling charm of life in rural communities. Moreover, your sense of time and place seems to be rooted not only in the history of the area, but also in the people who inhabit it. Can you share a bit about how these skills developed throughout your experiences writing about this region?

CV: Not every story allows for it, but in my longform work, I tend to get a little obsessive about the context. In the case of Zoo Nebraska, I could hardly tell the story of this bizarre roadside zoo without explaining the man who first willed it to life, and I could hardly tell the story of its founder without explaining the community that raised him. Oftentimes these contextual details fall to the cutting room floor, but I firmly believe that one's grasp of the history and culture of a place -- whether or not they're frankly acknowledged in the text -- is reflected in the tone of the prose. As a reader, there are few things I find more compelling and refreshing in a piece of writing, be it fiction, nonfiction or poetry, than a confident and authoritative voice, and that sort of authority is often hard won. In short: context informs everything, and I try my best to develop that context as thoroughly and practically as possible in order to give my readers a better sense of who, exactly, they're dealing with.

CG: In the description of your upcoming craft talk, you write that it’s “easy to dismiss America’s rural spaces as cultural deserts, devoid of the intrigue we afford the cities or the coasts or the exotic landscapes of the imagination.” Can you share a bit about how your writing of Zoo Nebraska may have led you to this conclusion, or how this conclusion influenced your writing of Zoo Nebraska?

“I was born and raised in a small town in central Nebraska, and the local histories I grew up with were every bit as exciting as the histories that Hollywood and national media typically portrayed. I carried that philosophy with me as I approached Zoo Nebraska, and yet in my decade of reporting on this zoo and this community, that philosophy was further solidified every day”

 CV: You've posed a great question, because both of these variations are accurate. Well before approaching Zoo Nebraska, I had a pretty firm conviction that American culture was neglecting -- much to its detriment -- the stories of rural America. I was born and raised in a small town in central Nebraska, and the local histories I grew up with were every bit as exciting as the histories that Hollywood and national media typically portrayed. I carried that philosophy with me as I approached Zoo Nebraska, and yet in my decade of reporting on this zoo and this community, that philosophy was further solidified every day. As the full picture of Zoo Nebraska developed, I understood that all those universal themes that make a great story were alive and well in this town of 65 people.

CG: Zoo Nebraska examines the relationship between humans and animals—how does your relationship with animals and nature influence your work?

CV: You're not wrong in your assertion that Zoo Nebraska examines the relationship between humans and animals, but if I'm being completely honest, I was always much more engaged with the relationship between humans and other humans. Between Dick Haskin and his father, or Dick Haskin and the Jensen family. Or between the Jensen family and Kenneth Schlueter. Between the zoo board members and the volunteers. Between the locals and the outsiders. All that said, there was an undeniable bond between Dick Haskin and Reuben the chimpanzee, and to ignore that particular dynamic would have been not only a lost opportunity, but an inaccurate portrayal of nearly every aspect of the zoo. Nothing in Zoo Nebraska would have played out were it not for Dick's initial love of Reuben, which painted his every move for the next two and half decades. 

I'm not sure my own relationship with animals influenced my work to any serious degree -- I have a dog but don't consider myself an animal guy by any stretch of the imagination -- though I am incredibly concerned about our environment and the natural world. Part of my fascination with Dick's story is the purity with which he approached working with great apes. When he first learned about their endangerment, and the destruction of their natural habitat, he devoted himself to the cause and never looked back. Sadly, that drive was corrupted by time and circumstance, and what began as an incredibly admirable dream ended in the death of three more chimpanzees.

CG: What are the rewards and difficulties of being a freelance journalist? How does one even begin?

“The rewards of freelancing are manifold: the freedom to pursue your own interests, the flexible schedule, the opportunity to work with so many different editors and publications and across multiple mediums. On the other hand, the pay often fluctuates wildly, and the grind never stops”

 CV: The rewards of freelancing are manifold: the freedom to pursue your own interests, the flexible schedule, the opportunity to work with so many different editors and publications and across multiple mediums. On the other hand, the pay often fluctuates wildly, and the grind never stops, and it can often be a lonely pursuit, removed as it is from a traditional workplace where you'd be regularly interacting with peers and coworkers. I began immediately after graduate school by pitching as many stories as I could every week. Only a tiny percentage stuck, but those that did often led to my next assignment. The first few years were hardly profitable, but I've slowly climbed that hill and am still climbing it today. Some weeks are easier than others. And some weeks never end.

CG: Many of your essays, as well as your book, focus on fascinating stories discovered in unexpected places. How do you know when something is “story worthy?” And what draws you to uncovering these stories in rural culture most of all?

CV: I'm drawn to rural stories because they're so rarely told, and when they are, they're often told poorly or by outsiders with no real understanding of the cultural milieu they're representing. I'm not sure I can pinpoint one single trigger, but I do feel a mission to bring these rural stories to a larger audience. That said, I feel no obligation to write purely positive stories. I'm not a public relations manager or booster for rural America, but I do feel that rural America has been simplified to a detrimental degree. Whether positive or negative, I consider any story that complicates our understanding of rural America a win for America large.

CG: As your award-winning debut nonfiction book, Zoo Nebraska has seen a lot of success and acclaim. What advice would you give to someone who is writing their debut work of nonfiction?

 CV: Allow yourself to ask stupid questions and keep asking stupid questions until they don't sound stupid anymore. Read widely. Read fiction and poetry, too. And always remember that you're writing about real people with very real lives. Your final portrayal may not be entirely rosy, but it should be true, and it should always be approached with empathy.

So what are you waiting for? Register today for Carson Vaughan’s craft talk so you, too, can learn how to distill the ‘Extra’ from the ‘Ordinary’.

A Journey Into The Wild--From The Comforts Of Your Home A Sound & Stories Sneak Preview

Charlotte Gutzmer

The animal world is full of magic and beauty: from the majestic beasts of the jungle to the pets who sleep beside us at night, they have always coexisted with us, providing inspiration for all kinds of music, art, and stories. On March 4 at 6:30pm, join Pablo Streams’s Sound & Stories event, “All Creatures Great and Small” for an unforgettable evening of music and tales (or maybe tails?) centered on the animal world. 

Writers and musicians from across western Wisconsin are coming together for the next installment of  the CVWG’s Sound & Stories. The virtual event will be available for free to stream at 6:30pm, and will include American Sign Language interpretation as well as subtitle services. Click here to register for your free ticket today.

The line-up includes award-winning nonfiction writer John Hildebrand, animal welfare expert Bekah Weitz, environmentalist and ornithologist Steve Betchkal, and author Katherine Schneider, all accompanied and with original music from Humbird and The Nunnery.

I had the pleasure of chatting with each artist and hearing about their inspiration and their relationships with animals. They were also kind enough to share a few sneak preview lines from their stories, excerpted in italics below.  Read on to learn more about this exciting event, as well as the writers and musicians working together to bring the magic to you.

Katherine Schneider

“Since I’ve had Seeing Eye dogs for forty-eight years, you might think it would be an old hat to train with a new one, but it isn’t. The journey is an intense one, full of heartache and miracles…”

Photo description: Kathie and Calvin

Katherine Schneider, a retired clinical psychologist, prolific writer, and speaker on disability issues, joins the Guild for this event with her tenth Seeing Eye dog Calvin. Her relationship with her Seeing Eye dogs offer an exceptional perspective on animals. “Each one is a unique being, but each has been my best friend, my eyes, and my transportation. The way the partnership works is a daily miracle.” Schneider’s writing revolves around her identity as someone living with disabilities, and she has published four compelling books that explore how her life experiences and her wisdom affects her world. “Both the accommodations necessitated by the disabilities and people’s reactions to me as a disabled elder creates opportunities for fresh stories about life’s frustrations and joys.”

Steve Betchkal

“The outdoors is a wild and dangerous place, populated with shameless, grease-seeking, ring-tailed miscreants. It’s not for the meek or credulous or unsuspecting. Be well advised, my domesticated friends, of the inherent hazards of Nature. Frolic at your own risk.”

Photo description: Steve Betchkal birding

Steve Betchkal, a life-long environmentalist and professional ornithologist, fell in love with animals at an early age: “In fact, my Mom deflected me from a life of crime at age six. I wanted a bird book so badly I tried to shoplift it before she caught me at the register!” Betchkal has travelled the Western Hemisphere and encountered nearly 1100 birds, as well as an extensive list of mammals, dragonflies, butterflies, grasses, wildflowers, and even Wisconsin’s own Tiger Beetles. He believes that “humans are intimately responsible for the significant decline in natural habitats, systems, and species, and that they need to be actively educated that plants and animals add to the quality of our lives.” His award-winning writing, which focuses on the complicated and beautiful natural world, is a delight for all of those fascinated with the environment. “This is at the very root of all my writing: I love life because it’s essential and sacred. Don’t you?”

John Hildebrand

“I’ve been reading up on gophers since their lives remain such a mystery. Like us, they don’t hibernate but put up their own hay in underground storage chambers to last the winter. They live an almost entirely subterranean existence… If they view the surface the way we do the dirt, as a nasty place and potential burial plot, it’s because every predator has gopher on the menu.”

Photo description: John Hildebrand on an icy shoreline.

John Hildebrand is the author of five non-fiction books and a professor at UW-Eau Claire. This March he’ll be sharing a piece from his second book, Mapping the Farm: The Chronicle of a Family. Hildebrand, who is fascinated with “the complexities and unpredictabilities of everyday life”, goes looking for captivating and sensational stories. These stories, which view animals as an essential fabric of the world, incorporate his experiences with meeting with those who have complicated, unique relationships with creatures, including “wildlife biologists, subsistence hunters in Alaskan Native villages, Midwestern farmers… Each has informed (and enlarged) my view of the natural world.”

Bekah Weitz

“My coworker was right that he was beautiful. Pale grey and white feathery hair, big soft feet, eyes such a pale blue they looked cold, like ice. A picture-perfect Husky puppy. But he was also angry. Not just aggressive like other dogs I’d seen. This puppy was backed all the way into the furthest corner of his kennel, eyes darting back and forth at all of us, staring with the most irate resolve I’d ever seen from a dog. He wanted no part of any of this. He was angry.”

Photo description: Bekah Weitz and dog

Bekah Weitz is an animal health inspector and an expert in the complicated relationship that is the human-animal bond. She’s worked in animal shelters with homeless pets, investigated crimes against animals, and now works to keep animal industries healthy and strong. She explains that “my work reinforces that humans simply wouldn’t be who we are without the wild and domesticated animals in our lives supporting us. They have changed and now sustain who we are as a species by providing us with companionship, food, transportation, entertainment, or a combination of those things. Animals and humans are inextricably connected and extraordinarily important to our humanity.” Weitz has encountered a plethora of animals in her work, from house cats to tigers, and is now excited to share her experiences with the beautiful creatures. She’s been around animals since birth, and has “learned to listen to them and hear what they feel deeper than one learns a language. Because my person is so tied to the animals that surround me, I’ve been dedicated to doing my best to serve animals and the people who depend on them. I didn’t choose this work – it was simply the only work I ever could have done.”

Humbird

“My relationship with nature and animals is one of total enchantment and wonder. I wish I was better at slowing down to simply witness the world. When I am able to do so, I feel most complete, and inevitably, I think that’s when the best work comes out, too.”

Humbird is a Minneapolis-based musical artist who explores the relationship between nature, folktales, and longing through experimental folk and environmental Americana. Siri Undlin, the creator and face of Humbird, is inspired by the complexities and intricacies of everyday life and the world around her: “Inspiration can come from anywhere if you’re paying close attention. All of my music starts with a seed of inspiration, then grows from there.” With over 400,000 monthly listeners, Humbird’s music is a refreshing blend of indie-folk and the poetic magic of Midwestern winters. In preparation for this event, Undlin is “excited to see how the collaborative elements of this event resonate between the different performers – it’s always really magical to witness and participate in that.”

The Nunnery

Photo description: The Nunnery, Sarah Elstran, posing.

The Nunnery is a solo act featuring Sarah Elstran, a Minneapolis-based musician who uses the art of the loop pedal to explore a world of peaceful and ambient sound. By layering voices and instrumentals upon themselves, Elstran creates a lush atmosphere inspired by the spaces and stories around her. Listening to The Nunnery is an experience that inspires healing, emotional understanding, and meditative contemplation. Elstran’s most recent album “We are the Stars” focuses on themes of nature and space and embodies the importance of understanding and growth. 

So what are you waiting for? Plant your gardens, fill your feeders, and invite your pets up on the couch. Then join us on March 4 at 6:30pm for a journey into the wild – from the comforts of your home.

Magic, Forests, and Transcribing The Abstract Into The Tangible: An Interview with the Guild's Newest Intern, Charlotte Gutzmer!

Guild friends, we are overjoyed to introduce Charlotte Gutzmer, the CVWG’s new Spring 2021 intern! Charlotte is an English (creative writing) major at UW-Eau Claire and an avid reader and writer. (So clearly she’s in the right place!). We recently sat down with Charlotte to get to know her a bit better, and in particular, to learn more about what inspired her to become a part of the Guild! Read on! And look forward to all sorts of great articles from Charlotte in the coming weeks!

Interviewer: What inspired you to become a part of the CVWG?

Charlotte Gutzmer: In elementary school, I fell in love with words. Reading and writing were a big part of my life growing up, and they still are--in fact, I’m a creative writing major! I think that the way words bring people together is magical in a way. I sought out the Guild because I wanted to be a part of a community of people who love words as much as I do, and I really feel like I’ve found that. I’m really looking forward to creating connections with other writers and to getting to know the writing scene of Chippewa Valley. 

I: What do you like to write?

CG: I consider myself an experimental writer. I like to dabble in all areas of writing, but my absolute favorites are fictional prose and poetry. Writing poetry is really cathartic to me. It’s nice to be able to transcribe abstract thoughts and aesthetics into something more tangible, and it helps me get to know myself more, too. In addition, I love to write short stories. It’s fascinating how you can encapsulate so much emotion and change into a short piece. The limited space of a short story also inspires me; there’s something about the pressure of working in a confined space that makes me explore themes I wouldn’t otherwise.

I: What’s your favorite genre?

“I’m enamored by the idea of magic and how it plays into our everyday lives, so magical realism has a special place in my heart.”

CG: Ooh, this is a tough one. I’m enamored by the idea of magic and how it plays into our everyday lives, so magical realism has a special place in my heart. I love the idea that magic is found in the mundane, not just the fantastical, and that we encounter it constantly. Looking at the world through this lens has really helped me with my own mental health. However, I wouldn’t be able to discuss my favorite genres without mentioning fantasy, science fiction, horror, and psychological thrillers. Exploring what makes us human is at the heart of what I love about literature, and these genres really do a good job of highlighting exactly that while also exploring beautiful, terrifying, and sometimes impossible-to-understand places.

I: What do you love about the Chippewa Valley?

“Forests have always been a place of incredible beauty and peace for me. I often spend hours just hiking through the forest while daydreaming, listening to music, or just appreciating the world around me. ”

CG: I grew up in the Madison area and came to Eau Claire for the first time when I started college. The first thing that drew me here was the landscape, particularly the forests. Forests have always been a place of incredible beauty and peace for me. I often spend hours just hiking through the forest while daydreaming, listening to music, or just appreciating the world around me. The rivers and fauna are amazing, too! After moving to Eau Claire, I knew I’d made the right choice. Not only have I made incredible friends here, but I love the atmosphere of the city, especially downtown Eau Claire. And now I have the incredible opportunity to work closely with other writers! It’s a win-win situation.

I: Finally, what are you most excited for in this internship?
CG: There are lots of occasions that I’m really looking forward to this semester, such as the (soon to be officially announced!) Sound & Stories: All Creatures Great and Small event. We have some really talented writers on the line-up this semester that I can’t wait to meet and speak to! I’m also excited for the opportunity to make connections with the professional world of writing and to grow as a writer myself.

On Authenticity, Freedom in Form, and Imitation Crab: A Conversation with Katie Vagnino

 What is authenticity? In a culture that loves reality shows and movies “based on a true story,” yet puts on a facade for social media and our everyday lives, what’s real? What’s simply an “imitation” of the truth? In her new book Imitation Crab, poet Katie Vagnino explores questions of artificiality versus authenticity while maintaining a playful, humorous tone.

Katie Vagnino is a poet and a former professor at UW-Eau Claire. She is now based in the Twin Cities and working in marketing, yet her passion for teaching, creative writing, and poetry are still very apparent in her life. I had the opportunity to chat with Vagnino over the phone about Imitation Crab, releasing February 5th, 2021, as well as her perspective on the freedom that poetic forms provide, inspiringly weird critters and creatures, and collaborative cover art. Enjoy the interview below, and preorder your copy of Imitation Crab now on Finishing Line Press here!

Elise Eystad: Imitation Crab, what a fun title! I read the title poem on your website, and wondered, what was the inspiration behind titling the book with that poem? Does it hint at a general theme throughout the poems included?

Katie Vagnino: I decided to make that the title because I'm a fan of that poem, but I also think it reflects the themes echoed in the collection; questions of authenticity and how we determine what's real and what’s fake or artificial. Poetry as a genre gets accused of being off-putting or alienating because of some of the artifice that goes into it. Poems sometimes have rhyme or meter and it’s a little less natural than normal speech, right? That can make people suspicious of poetry. That’s kind of a meta-explanation of the title. More to the point, it's a trend that interests me: in our era we seem obsessed with truth and reality—whether we're having conversations about fake news or reality shows—and you see things marketed as being “based on a true story.” As a culture, we’re kind of obsessed with the idea that there’s more value if things are real. And also, just in our everyday lives, I imagine a lot of us are trying to live authentically or according to some sort of truth that is meaningful to us. I think that that’s something that bubbles up in the book: questions about where we may be performing in our lives, like playing different roles depending on where we are and who we are interacting with. Sometimes those roles are prescribed by gender or other things that relate to identity. I also just genuinely thought it would be fun to have a quirky title. There’s a lot of very serious poetry titles out there, and I just wanted something playful and a little bit weird. There's some humor in some of the poems, so I wanted that to be reflected in the title, as well.

EE: What would you say some of the main themes of the book are? Are there consistent things that inspire your poetry?

“Not all of it is necessarily autobiographical, but most of my poems are pretty narrative. I like to tell stories or at least hint at them. ”

KV: Like I said, there are considerations of artificiality versus authenticity. There is also a feminist bent to the poems. I think I’m just drawn more to women's perspectives, women’s stories. Something that I didn't really intentionally do, but that became apparent as I was putting it all together, is that there are also a lot of small creatures and insects [in the book]. I'm not sure what that necessarily means, per say, but it seems to be a trope. For example, I have a sonnet about oysters, and there's some other critters that come up. In terms of imagery, it seems to be something I'm drawn to. There’s a poem called “Small Mammals of Tree Haven” about creatures that are in a diorama that I saw when I was in Rhinelander, WI. It’s all about weasels, voles, and other little weird animals that populate the Northwoods forest.

Obviously, there are also poems about relationships and family. Not all of it is necessarily autobiographical, but most of my poems are pretty narrative. I like to tell stories or at least hint at them. Stylistically, there's definitely a lot of formal pieces. I do tend to write more in verse forms, like sonnets, sestinas, villanelles. There is some free verse in the collection, too, but I’d say one of the hallmarks of my style is narrative formalism.

EE: I was going to ask about some of the poetic techniques and devices that you use. It seems that you like more of the formal side of poetry!

“I feel like it actually can be paradoxically freeing to have some constraints to work with. Free verse can be a little daunting, because you have literally all possibilities open to you...”

KV: Yeah, I feel like it actually can be paradoxically freeing to have some constraints to work with. Free verse can be a little daunting, because you have literally all possibilities open to you. Sometimes by having some rules or guidelines, you wind up making more interesting, unusual, or surprising choices, which can be exciting. If you’re not having to think about rhyme, meter, or a repeating word in a particular place, I find that a little bit paralyzing; it's like too much freedom. I also think the things I might come up with aren’t necessarily as interesting as how my mind works if I'm working within a form.

Sound is also really important to me. My poems don't necessarily have a lot of rhyme, which is what people tend to think of when they're thinking about sound in a poem. But there are a lot of other tools and devices that can make a poem musical. All the same things we think about and talk about with music apply to poetry, in terms of rhythm and pacing. You can use sound to speed up how a reader moves through a poem or slow them down, so modifying sound impacts tempo, if you will. Also, just how the words sound, how they feel in your mouth, how your ear interprets different sounds makes a difference. Long vowel sounds have a very different impact than a lot of short plosives syllables, right? There's a reason that expletives have hard consonants: it gives them more impact. So, basically I believe the words, the music, and the sound of the poem should tell the story of the poem, ideally. Whatever the poem is about should in some way be reinforced or expressed in the music of it.

EE: Yeah, definitely! I like that a lot. So, this is your first published collection of poetry. Can you walk me through the process of getting to this point?

KV: A chunk of the poems came from my MFA thesis. As part of getting my MFA in Creative Writing, my final project was a book-length project. This book is not that project, but some of the poems started there; I'd say a lot of them started there, though they changed. I continued to edit them, rearrange them, and whatnot. And I continued to write, because it's been almost a decade since I finished that degree. When I came out of school, I felt like I didn't really have a book of poems yet. I felt like I had a start, and then just in the last few years, I started thinking about trying to put together a manuscript, which involved looking at everything I had. A traditional full-length collection is anywhere from 48 to 100 or pages, so I had to decide what I wanted in, what I didn't want to include, and how I wanted to organize the poems, which was which was difficult, because it's not like a novel where there’s a story that is told in some sort of order. It was hard for me to wrap my mind around how it would make sense to cohesively group the poems, so I got some input from other folks. I shared some poems with them and got some ideas around how to think about arranging them.

About two years ago is when I started sending out the manuscript. I started entering it into contests. There are a number of first book contests, or contests for people who haven't yet published a book of poetry. I felt like that was a good way to get my foot in the door. I also just entered contests that were open to anyone. Also, some small presses have open reading periods, where you're allowed to send them your work. That’s the way a lot of poetry books come into the world. It’s a little different than fiction, for example. Poets don't usually work through agents. It’s more direct; you send your stuff and either have to win a contest or be memorable out of a pile of submissions during an open reading period. So, I got a lot of rejections, obviously, and a few promising ones, where they didn't accept the manuscript but said it came close or that they thought it had potential. I was a finalist a few times in different contests, and then this past May, I got notified that Finishing Line Press was interested in publishing it.

EE: Local artist Jen Schultz created your cover art. Were there any specifications that you had or an image in your head for it? Or did she just create something and give it to you?

KV: It was definitely a collaborative process. I found Jen through Volume One and saw some of her work on her Instagram. I liked her collage style; I thought it had a fun, surreal, playful energy to it. We met up in June, in Eau Claire (socially distanced, of course), and I shared some poems with her. We talked a little bit about what kind of aesthetic I was looking for, but I didn't give her real prescriptive guidelines. I thought I wanted some sort of crab representation on the cover, whether that was going to be a literal crab or crab claws. I was curious to see what she would come up with.

After we met initially, she mocked up a few design ideas with some images that she had found. The first image she sent me had those women with the crab accessories, and I immediately responded to that. It’s funny because she sent me maybe eight or ten images that involved crabs, and that just happened to be the first one in the group, and then that one just kept coming back as a favorite. From there, she laid out a few different covers, and then there was some back and forth about fonts and the color palette. So, it was very collaborative; I wasn't doing the work of making the changes, but there was back and forth until we landed on something we both really liked.

EE: Lastly, anything you’d like to share about yourself? What do you do when you’re not writing a poetry book?

“I joke sometimes that I feel like marketing and poetry are diametrically opposed. Like, you can’t get more opposite. Poetry is interested in truth, and marketing is interested in selling and promoting, creating the appearance of value. There’s that real vs. fake dichotomy again!”

KV: I still really love teaching; that's what brought me to Eau Claire in the first place. I still feel connected to friends there and the University, and I'm still doing some teaching. I teach my own monthly workshop, currently on Zoom. Otherwise, my day job is marketing for a digital health company. I joke sometimes that I feel like marketing and poetry are diametrically opposed. Like, you can’t get more opposite. Poetry is interested in truth, and marketing is interested in selling and promoting, creating the appearance of value. There’s that real vs. fake dichotomy again! Also, I’m still in a band that's based in Eau Claire: The Flaming Doublewides, so I sing in my band when there's not a pandemic happening! 

EE: What’s the release date and where can people get a copy of Imitation Crab?

KV: It releases Febuary 5th. You can preorder it now through the Finishing Line Press website. Once it comes out, it will be available on Amazon and the publisher’s website, and hopefully in some local bookstores! I live in the Twin Cities, but I’m hoping to get it to some Eau Claire bookstores, as well.

"To me, the truth is whatever scares you into silence": An Interview with David Shih

James Baldwin said that the “hardest” and “most fearful” thing in the world for the writer is simplicity. This is especially the case for writers who write about race. On January 17, award-winning UWEC English professor David Shih will share how he came to understand that his worst, most convoluted writing about race revealed a fear of telling the truth. Join us for a conversation on how this realization guided his approach to completing his current nonfiction book project—coming your way soon! We recently caught up with David and learned more about his upcoming event, his forthcoming book, and the impact of teaching on writing. Scroll on for the complete interview!

B.J. Hollars: Tell us a bit about your craft talk.  What inspired this topic, and what are you most excited to share?

David Shih: It was inspired by the book I am writing now, a memoir/cultural criticism hybrid. I find that some of the most tortured language today comes from the decision to write about race and racism. I include my own writing in this lot, of course, which is always going to be a work in progress as long as I am one myself. The challenge may come from imagining multiple audiences while we write—always tricky—but also from imagining ourselves being someone we’re not. I plan to share my experiences about writing about white people, which began as the most natural thing in the world to me when I was an assimilated teenager. What was exciting for me to learn was how quickly your story or essay about race and racism falls into place as soon as you’re willing to write about what scares you the most.

BH: How has teaching about race impacted your creative work?

“My job as a professor and as a writer is basically the same, which is to get someone else to see something that they might otherwise miss, but the way you go about that work is and should be different.”

DS: It has mattered a lot. I don’t think I could have written this book even ten years ago—at least not very well—because I was still learning how to bring that knowledge from the class onto the page in a way that wasn’t just a dressed-up transcript. I absolutely don’t want my creative work to be an extension of my pedagogy, although I expect that it might be received that way by some. My job as a professor and as a writer is basically the same, which is to get someone else to see something that they might otherwise miss, but the way you go about that work is and should be different. And then when undertaking both endeavors, teaching and writing, you have to leave something for the other party to do that you, as the “authority,” should not know yourself.

BH: Can you share a bit about your latest book project?

DS: As I mentioned above, it is a memoir/cultural criticism hybrid. It covers social issues that are important to Asian Americans today by focusing on my own experiences as a Chinese American belonging to a generation that saw some of the greatest shifts in meaning for Asian identity in this country—Gen X. I expect that readers will learn more about the history and dynamics of anti-Asian racism in this respect, but the book’s narrative is not ultimately instrumental in the way that we see in Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist or DiAngelo’s White Fragility. It is not a “how to” book. For that to be the case, I would have to have the answers already, and I wanted to write the book because I didn’t have them. All that said, the closest comp in purpose and approach, if not in style or content, might be Cathy Park Hong’s excellent book Minor Feelings (2020).

BH: In your craft talk description you mentioned a "fear of telling the truth."  Can you tell us more about that fear, and that truth?

“To me, the truth is whatever scares you into silence”

DS: To me, the truth is whatever scares you into silence. People do tend to know what it is but may not have to confront it because they have options—money, position, a generous partner, whatever. These options allow you to maintain the status quo in your own life, which, if you’re in this place, is probably comfortable enough in superficial ways. Baldwin knew that a hypocritical society was the outcome of hypocritical individuals whose private lives were inconsonant with those they showed to the public. So if there were ever going to be any reduction in harm socially, it had to begin at the personal level, and the reason is that you cannot hide the truth from everyone. Someone else knows that you’re lying. Maybe a lot of people. This is what Baldwin meant when he said that black people can never be strangers to white Americans—only witnesses—no matter how much the latter long for that innocence. It is the same innocence that he saw them maintaining in their stories.

BH: Who are some writers who have impacted your understanding of writing on the subject of race?

DS: Well, as for so many others, James Baldwin is probably at the top of the list, which is why the talk centers on his idea of the fear of telling the truth. I didn’t read him until I was a doctoral student. Better late than never. And even then I didn’t quite understand him in the way that I thought I understood Richard Wright or Ralph Ellison. I think we naturally expect writers like them to be writing about black people. And they are, except my mistake was thinking that they could do so independently of white people. Baldwin disabused me of that fallacy right away. In his essays, he wrote not so much about black people but about white people and in a way that took others decades to catch up with, if they ever did. I would not be writing my book if not for Maxine Hong Kingston. I tend to return to The Woman Warrior whenever I feel stuck and prosaic. It taught me how to count syllables in my sentences and how one too many or too few could wreck everything. It’s probably why I write so slowly. But it also taught me how to be an American and honor my parents at the same time. There was nothing that seemed off-limits in that book, no fear at all, which was such a valuable lesson. It is a wonder.

Tune into to David’s craft talk on January 19 at 7PM. Thanks to our co-sponsor, L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library!

Things That Go Bump When You Film: An Interview with Eau Claire Filmmaker Steve Dayton on the Release of His New Film, "gIVE"

Kensie Kiesow

Halloween may be in the rearview, but there’s still plenty of time to beat the dust from your sweaters, heat up a mug of cider, and huddle in front of the TV for an evening of frights and fun! This December, the Guild is thrilled to spotlight another inspired creative from Eau Claire: Steve Dayton. Dayton is a local film producer, writer, and director whose art warns what happens when you go poking about in the shadows of your psyche, where your worst fears come out to play. Despite his busy schedule and early calls to the set, Dayton was kind enough to tell me more about his upcoming movie “gIVE” recently filmed right here in the gorgeous forests of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Kensie Kiesow: Have you made other movies, horror or otherwise, before gIVE? Where could someone find them? 

Steve Dayton: My first feature that I directed is titled Pop Punk Zombies, and it’s about two friends going to the opening night concert for the first ever zombie punk band. As you can imagine, it doesn't go well. But, as of 2020 we ended our deal with Brain Damage Films, and we’re looking to get it on new platforms in 2021.

KK: Are you producing this movie as well as writing and directing it?

SD: Yes, this is a low budget endeavor that came out of my need to create another feature.  I wanted to do something a little different where, instead of having a locked down script, we had a treatment and worked through the scenes as we shot them.

KK: Why did you choose a Wisconsin forest for the setting?

“Low budget movie making is all about using what you have. I had a house, an amazing family and wife, great friends, and a Wisconsin forest, so that’s what I used to make this movie. Plus, I also had five mannequin heads.”

SD: Low budget movie making is all about using what you have. I had a house, an amazing family and wife, great friends, and a Wisconsin forest, so that's what I used to make this movie. Plus, I also had five mannequin heads.

KK: What about the horror genre interests you? 

SD: I like the suspense of it all.  I love Hitchcock movies and really terrible b- horror films and everything in-between.

KK: What was your first introduction to horror?

SD: I remember watching JAWS at a really young age and loving it.  I specifically remember being drawn to the scene where the little boy gets eaten mid-day at the packed beach.  The mom running around in the ocean screaming for her son. It's the emotion of that, that I am drawn to.  It's funny that you asked that because gIVE has a lot of that type of drama!

KK: Horror movies are often a reflection of what scares us, like communists during the 60’s or diseases now. Does this movie mirror your own fears?

SD: gIVE is a combination of my two greatest fears.  As a kid I was afraid that I would be taken away from my parents or they would be taken away from me.  I would lay in bed as a kid and think that aliens were going to take me.  As an adult, or at least someone who pretends to be an adult, my greatest fear would be to lose a child.  My life is my kids, and imagining something happening to them is something I don't even want to think about.

KK: What can you tell me about your movie without giving anything away?

SD: gIVE is about a couple whose daughter goes missing in a mysterious way.  After his wife becomes unresponsive to life, Jay, the main character, is left to enter the forest where his daughter was last seen to see if he can put together the pieces to a life that is fractured. giVE explores how humans cope with extreme loss and how to move on when you feel like you are not ready to.

gIVE is currently available for streaming on Amazon. Click here.

For more information about the movie gIVE, visit moviegive.com.

Follow Steve on Facebook and Instagram @give.movie

Beat Back the COVID Winter Chill: an Interview with Eric Rasmussen of Barstow & Grand

Kensie Kiesow

During a time when each drop of sunlight is scarce and precious, yet venturing outside to see it could send you to one of the maxed-out emergency rooms in Eau Claire, finding beauty and new perspectives in the world is more challenging than ever. We are isolated in our homes from our friends and family, forced to eat our Christmas cookies ourselves, and each day the whipping winds sting our pink cheeks a little harder. It is during these dark times that we all must remember the Chippewa Valley writing community is still alive and kicking out some great hits.

To beat back the darkening winter cloud above our heads, I spoke with Eric Rasmussen, the editor in chief of Barstow & Grand, about their exciting new issue that just released this fall! In this issue, expect to see work from some nationally known writers as the team behind B&G seeks to expand the Chippewa Valley writing community. The voices and artistic eye of midwestern writers and creatives, locally and nationally read, are combined in the fourth release of B&G’s latest journal. 

Editor Eric Rasmussen

Kensie Kiesow: What is the process like to compile and edit one of these issues?

 Eric Rasmussen: We take submissions in March and April each spring. From there, teams of readers read through each story and poem (usually about 200-300 total submissions), and they nominate pieces for round two. The editors read the round two pieces by early summer, and select what goes in the journal shortly afterwards. This allows us to edit and lay the issue out by August and September, all in preparation for the issue release in fall!

As for submissions, issue #4 was our first issue open to any upper-Midwest author (the first three issues focused on Chippewa Valley writers exclusively.) As we attempt to expand the Chippewa Valley literary community, this felt like the next natural step!

KK: What do you look for/encourage in the submissions for B&G?

ER: So far, word of mouth and our social media marketing has produced most of our submissions. In previous cycles we did a little better job with local outreach, and we hope to do more of that in the future. At the moment, the lit journal world is in a unique spot. There are A TON of journals out there (despite numerous big-name losses due to the pandemic), and as always, lots of writers who are trying to find audiences for their work. But finding the right pieces and maintaining a quality publication from year to year is harder than ever.

As for writing elements, we want to see whatever drives an author’s passion! We have no preference for any particular theme, genre, or idea. As a Midwestern journal, we do receive a lot of work tied to Midwestern themes - the land, agriculture, family, aging. Those pieces often have a harder time standing out, as we see so many. But we are open to any type of writing.

KK: What challenges has the COVID-19 pandemic presented to B&G and the making of this issue this year? How have you and the B&G staff overcome these challenges?

ER: Most of the challenges have been personal. No one involved in the process is financially compensated, which means B&G is essentially a hobby for its readers and editors, and prioritizing such work this year has been quite challenging. Also, many of our staff members are involved in different levels and aspects of education, and that field experienced some unique stresses this year. But, we all managed to find the time, even if the issue came out a little later than usual!

The biggest pandemic challenge, however, is revenue. We essentially sold enough issues at our release party each year to fund the following year’s issue. Without that release party, we’re in a tough financial spot.

The biggest pandemic challenge, however, is revenue. We essentially sold enough issues at our release party each year to fund the following year’s issue. Without that release party, we’re in a tough financial spot. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that Chippewa Valley literary community members will keep ordering issues online, and perhaps this spring we can put together an event to sell a few more!

KK: What is different or unique about this issue?

ER: First, we welcomed Dorothy Chan as our Managing Editor, and her experience, knowledge, and connections have been transformative. Her assistance helped Barstow & Grand take some big steps this year!

The inclusion of authors from farther afield (upper Midwest, in addition to Chippewa Valley submissions) definitely affected the character of the issue as well. Our first three issues were VERY midwestern - lots of nature stories and imagery, farming, gardening, and other pastoral work. This time a few more stories and poems set in more urban environments, with a little more action perhaps, help balance the work with gentler themes, and makes for a really compelling reading experience.

KK: What sort of message or feeling do you want your readers to take away from this issue?

First and foremost, B&G exists to support the writers of the Chippewa Valley, and I think B&G helps writers and readers everywhere understand that the inspiration found in our Midwestern fields and backyards is just as powerful and profound as the writing that comes out of the coasts or the big-city college campuses.

ER: First and foremost, B&G exists to support the writers of the Chippewa Valley, and I think B&G helps writers and readers everywhere understand that the inspiration found in our Midwestern fields and backyards is just as powerful and profound as the writing that comes out of the coasts or the big-city college campuses. Our authors are doing fascinating things, and we are thrilled to help highlight that!

New writers can submit their work for the next issue in March by visiting Barstow and Grand’s website and following the link to Submittable! As for you readers, local businesses need your help now more than ever. If you like art, poetry, and short stories written by Midwesterners just like you and you want to see more, consider purchasing a copy of this issue and support your local creatives!

Joy to the Word SNEAK PREVIEW: Kaia Simon

““I was trying to pretend that everything was fine. I was sure that the glass eyes of the taxidermy animals lining the walls of the lodge could see right through my act.” ”

We are just days away from Joy to the Word 2020 Edition! Which means, of course, that it will be held virtually! Thankfully, that makes the show more accessible than ever! And FREE! Click here to register, and on Dec. 17 at 6:30, settle in for stories courtesy of former Wisconsin poet laureate Max Garland, UWEC’s Director of Multicultural Affairs Dang Yang, UWEC English Professor Kaia Simon, and writer Sarah Jayne Johnson, all accompanied and with original music by The Nunnery. Also featuring original visuals by Erik Elstran.

Read on for a sneak preview of Kaia Simon’s story!

Blount: Could you share a quote from your story?

Kaia Simon: Sure. The story is called “Singalong.”

“I was trying to pretend that everything was fine. I was sure that the glass eyes of the taxidermy animals lining the walls of the lodge could see right through my act.”

KB: Why did you pick this story? What makes it special to you?

KS: I chose to tell this story because it’s a significant and special holiday memory. It’s also a bittersweet memory. I wanted to reflect this feeling to our audience because I know many of us are facing challenges, and the 2020 holiday season will also probably hold some of those bittersweet memories. Sharing this story reminds me, and so I hope it will remind everyone, that there are also those moments of light and love amid the winters of our lives.

KB: Keeping with the theme, what is something in your world currently bringing you joy?

KS: I’ve never been happier to see holiday light displays than I am this season.

Joy to the Word SNEAK PREVIEW: Sarah Jayne Johnson

“This was it, this was my moment. My sister had lost her patience, my dad had all but lost his voice, and I could feel my mother wanting to pull me back inside. One cold, deep breath in, and I launched myself onto the polar pillows below.”

We are just days away from Joy to the Word 2020 Edition! Which means, of course, that it will be held virtually! Thankfully, that makes the show more accessible than ever! And FREE! Click here to register, and on Dec. 17 at 6:30, settle in for stories courtesy of former Wisconsin poet laureate Max Garland, UWEC’s Director of Multicultural Affairs Dang Yang, UWEC English Professor Kaia Simon, and writer Sarah Jayne Johnson, all accompanied and with original music by The Nunnery. Also featuring original visuals by Erik Elstran.

Read on for three questions with Sarah, including a sneak preview of what she’ll be sharing…

Elise Eystad: Could you give a quote from the story you’ll be sharing?

Sarah Johnson: "This was it, this was my moment. My sister had lost her patience, my dad had all but lost his voice, and I could feel my mother wanting to pull me back inside. One cold, deep breath in, and I launched myself onto the polar pillows below."

EE: Why did you pick this story? What makes it special?

 SJ: The older I get, the more I realize what a privilege it was to have winter growing up and be given the opportunities only snow presents. We get so stuck in the shoveling, scraping, and (if you're me) slipping that we forget about the majesty winter brings us every year. I liked thinking back to a time when a big snowstorm meant a day off of school with my parents, leaving snow pants and mittens on the radiator, and flicking tiny flakes off my eyelashes. I adored getting caught in the nostalgia of winter through a child's eyes. Writing this story was fun because it reminded me to revert back to that childlike sense of wonder with things I don't appreciate enough as an adult.

EE: What is something in your world currently bringing you joy?

SJ: In a year where joy can seem like a distant memory, I've come to appreciate the little things in my day-to-day life. A well-made, comfortable bed. My husband making me tea. My little dog curling up in a blanket with me. All things that may seem mundane but put together remind me how lucky I am.

Joy to the Word SNEAK PREVIEW: Max Garland

““It was 10 below and the sun was not quite up and the moon not quite down.””

We are just days away from Joy to the Word 2020 Edition! Which means, of course, that it will be held virtually! Thankfully, that makes the show more accessible than ever! And FREE! Click here to register, and on Dec. 17 at 6:30, settle in for stories courtesy of former Wisconsin poet laureate Max Garland, UWEC’s Director of Multicultural Affairs Dang Yang, UWEC English Professor Kaia Simon, and writer Sarah Jayne Johnson, all accompanied and with original music by The Nunnery. Also featuring original visuals by Erik Elstran.

Read on for three questions with Max, including a sneak preview of what he’ll be sharing…

Elise Eystad: Could you give a quote from the story you’ll be sharing?

Max Garland: "It was 10 below and the sun was not quite up and the moon not quite down."

EE: Why did you pick this story? What makes it special?

MG: It's actually a poem and the surrounding story of something that surprised me as I wrote it. It seems connected to this particularly harrowing year.

EE: What is something in your world currently bringing you joy?

MG: Stepping outside in the morning, taking that first breath of winter air. Even though it's cold, there's a surge of something like joy. Also, coffee, geese flying over, snow, songs (particularly vocal harmony), and thinking about Inauguration Day, 2021-- all those things bring me moments of joy.

Tune in to Joy to the Word—part of the Pablo Streams series!—this Dec. 17 at 6:30!

"The Melody Comes First...": The Nunnery on Making Music, Collaboration, and Headlining CVWG’s "Joy to the Word"

Elise Eystad

One thing that signifies the holiday season to me each year is the assortment of holiday programs that we have here in Eau Claire. Whether it be a performance of the Nutcracker Ballet or a Big Band jazz concert of beloved Christmas tunes, I have always loved the creativity and entertainment that comes along with the month of December. With Covid impacting our ability to have and attend these programs, local artists and musicians have had to get creative with how to celebrate this season in 2020. Luckily, on December 17th, the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild is teaming up with The Nunnery—alongside storytellers Max Garland, Kaia Simon, Dang Yang, and Sarah Jayne Johnson—to create a charming and cozy night of wintry entertainment. Eau Claire’s annual “Joy to the Word” program will take place virtually, featuring a seasonal array of music, art, and stories.

This year’s Joy to the Word event features The Nunnery, which is the solo act of Sarah Elstran, based out of Minneapolis. The Nunnery is known for creating lush soundscapes through the use of layered vocals and looping effects. Unique to The Nunnery’s live performances are her use of visual projections and improvisation, which she hopes will communicate a “a thought without words.”

I recently asked Sarah a few questions about the Joy to the Word event and The Nunnery’s music. Read on to learn more!

Elise Eystad: With the Joy to the World event, it looks like you will be collaborating with other authors and storytellers. How does cross collaboration, with artists, musicians, writers, and others, impact music? What is special/beneficial about a performance with this kind of collaboration? 

Sarah Elstran (The Nunnery): Collaborating live is such an exciting way to create music; it's always so different based on the artist. You have to pay attention and adapt in real time without overthinking what you're playing while you create. For this show, all the collaboration will be improvised without any knowledge of what the readers will be saying or how they will say it. I hope to just add enough to enhance the artists and not overpower them.

EE: How do live projections and other visuals add to your performances? Are they specific to the song you’re performing? Tell me more about what goes into choosing the visuals for a performance,

SE: My projections are done by Erik Elstran. He projects all kinds of visuals of things he's filmed such as a foggy field to a kaleidoscope of plants. Because each song has its own feeling, the visuals usually represent that in an abstract and ethereal way. I like my music to be up for interpretation and the visuals can convey a different perspective to the music.

EE: You hope that the listener will experience “a sense of peace, a space to understand your own heart.” Can you elaborate more on what that means to you? What is your experience with music that communicates these things? 

“Music is a form of expression that can translate feelings without saying much at all. I’ve experienced times at shows where I close my eyes and all of a sudden, I’m transported into this place of the song. ”

SE: Everyone experiences music differently. Music is a form of expression that can translate feelings without saying much at all. I’ve experienced times at shows where I close my eyes and all of a sudden, I’m transported into this place of the song. In that place I feel, and I can identify with the song. I think few can say that music doesn’t affect them in one way or another.

 EE: Listening to your discography, I notice a lot of looping effects (which are awesome!). What draws you to utilizing looping in your music? What other effects or techniques do you tend to use or be drawn towards?

SE: Thank you, it’s fun to experiment with pedals and effects. It’s a huge tool in creating new soundscapes. I like to think my music will continue evolving and incorporating new effects. Another thing that helps me create is just a change of location. For instance, writing in a cabin near a lake versus writing in a car while driving through the desert makes for different inspirations to create. 

EE: Tell me about your songwriting process! As a fellow songwriter, I’m so interested in hearing others’ processes. What comes first for you: lyrics or instrumentation?

“Looping requires layering, it’s like I have the option to take a different route with each layer. I’ve had people during shows give me a random word and base a song around that. It’s fun to improvise on the fly...”

SE: Typically, the melody comes first. I don’t always hear the song as a whole before I begin. Looping requires layering, it’s like I have the option to take a different route with each layer. I’ve had people during shows give me a random word and base a song around that. It’s fun to improvise on the fly because I don’t know what’s going to happen while it’s happening.

EE: Finally, tell me any other details about the Joy to the World event that you have! Anything you’re particularly looking forward to with this performance? 

SE: Just excited to be playing a show with humans in all honesty. It’s been a long time and I’ve missed the connection through performances.

Be sure to check out The Nunnery on Spotify, Bandcamp, or anywhere else you stream music. You can also support her on her website, follow her on Instagram, and check out her new music video for “Proud.”

This year’s Joy to the Word event is free and open to the public. Check out the Pablo Center’s website or CVWG for more information on the event. Keep an eye out for future Guild articles on the Joy to the Word’s featured writers and speakers, and mark your calendar for December 17th at 6:30pm to celebrate with us!

Exploring Critical Theory Outside of Academia: An Interview With Bob Nowlan

Krisany Blount

Even before I was an English major, I found myself dissecting texts. Because I’m a young person – trapped somewhere in the mystery zone between Millennial and Gen Z – the texts I was analyzing were almost always from pop culture. From adaptations of Greek myths to yet another superhero movie, none of my favorites were safe. There was always some little detail to interrogate, a plot point to ponder, a single line to unpack layers of meaning from. This propensity has made me a better writer, but it has also confused some people who can’t understand why I want to pick apart the media I love. Why do I have to read so far into everything? It’s only entertainment, after all.

“For me, analyzing media is my way of telling it “I love you.” Taking it apart is like saying “I want to spend more time with you.” Close reading says “I want to know everything about you.””

For me, analyzing media is my way of telling it “I love you.” Taking it apart is like saying “I want to spend more time with you.” Close reading says “I want to know everything about you.”

Critical engagement tends to be viewed as something only academics do or are qualified to do. The thought is that you need to have a formal education and a fancy degree in something like film studies in order for your thoughts and observations to have merit. This is, of course, false. Though learning critical theory from a class will certainly make engagement easier, anyone, regardless of age or academic background, is capable of analysis.

And I think everyone should be able to engage critically with their favorite media. All art has a message. Critical theory helps us evaluate what a piece is saying and how well it’s saying it. Since interacting with media is unavoidable, critical theory is then another tool of media literacy.

But how can you get better at engaging critically with the media you consume? Reading is an obvious answer. This is why Dr. Bob Nowlan of the UW-Eau Claire English department is currently writing two books that will provide a starting point for understanding critical theory and its applications to popular culture. The first, 21st Century British TV Crime Drama: a Critical Guide, will utilize British TV crime dramas to provide an introduction to key concepts and practices in the fields of Critical Media Studies, Critical Studies in Film, Television, and Moving-Image Culture, and Critical Studies in Popular Culture. The second, Ian Curtis, Joy Division, and Critical Theory, aims to show similarities in the issues and questions tackled by both critical theorists and the band Joy Division.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with him about the importance of learning critical theory, the intersections of pop culture, critical theory, and memoir, and what we can gain from critical interactions with pop culture. 

Krisany Blount: You’re currently writing a book about British TV crime drama and another about Ian Curtis and his band Joy Division, both with an emphasis on critical theory. What attracted you to these topics in particular?

Bob Nowlan: I first encountered the music of Joy Division during my freshman year, 1979-1980, at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.  At the time I identified strongly with punk, from the likes of the Sex Pistols and the Clash.  I even was proud to be told, as a freshman university student, that I looked like Johnny Rotten, and later deliberately sought to make myself look even more like him.  Listening to Joy Division, I heard the same freshness, urgency, and intensity that attracted me to punk, yet also something transcending the immediacy and directness of punk, conveying, in contrast, a richly resonant sense of both distance and precision, a controlled fury emanating from a fiercely passionate yet also agonizingly vulnerable exploration of emotional, psychological, physical, and metaphysical extremes.  I have continued to listen regularly to Joy Division and to explore everything I possibly could in any way connected with Ian Curtis and Joy Division ever since, including via multiple extended visits to and extensive ‘field research’ conducted in Manchester and Greater Manchester, England.  

“This music connects powerfully with issues, and experiences, of deep personal impact and concern for me–issues and experiences that have proven definitively shaping, even in many respects ‘shatteringly’ shaping, of whom I am and what I am about.”

This music connects powerfully with issues, and experiences, of deep personal impact and concern for me–issues and experiences that have proven definitively shaping, even in many respects ‘shatteringly’ shaping, of whom I am and what I am about.  I find this particular life-story and this particular body of music together provide a fantastic avenue to explore and engage a striking intersection of interests between critical theory and popular culture, especially in relation to questions of ultimate and fundamental concern as well as those that traverse conventional boundaries between the sociological and the psychological.  I experience a strong personal resonance with what might well be identified as a ‘post-punk sensibility’ and to my mind Joy Division is without a doubt the all-time greatest post-punk band and Ian Curtis is without a doubt the all-time greatest post-punk musician.  Although I do love many, many more post-punk bands and musicians, including many contemporary outfits, such as, for example, The Twilight Sad and Fontaines D.C.!  In my book I approach the music of Ian Curtis and Joy Division as art, arguing this art encompasses a range of potential meanings and impacts far exceeding, and far superseding, common biographical connections, as understandably fascinating as so many people continue to find those to be–and I am striving to show how this music, as art, can be put to work in ways few have yet even anticipated or imagined, for all the popular attention and acclaim Ian Curtis and Joy Division have posthumously received.  

With 21st century British TV crime drama, I love these kinds of shows and watch them again and again, all the time, whenever I get the chance, and have done so for a great many years now.  I maintain an immense passion for British crime fiction–as literature, film, and television.  I love crime fiction, yet I abhor violence; I am really a quite gentle person; and I am, and long have been, fiercely committed toward working actively on behalf of social justice.  Then again, I share those tendencies, qualities, and commitments with many leading crime novelists as well as with many if not most leading creators of crime fiction movies and TV series.  My interest in 21st century British TV crime drama also undoubtedly connects with my even longer-running passionate interest in film noir, and noir fiction more broadly conceived, and with my personal affinity and attraction to what might well be identified as a noir sensibility and a noir aesthetics.  Crime fiction, including crime television, has long provided a pivotal site for symbolically staging, confronting, and striving to find ways to work through significant social as well as individual trauma.  Crime fiction simultaneously engages matters of fundamental philosophical concern, including relations between being and nothingness; the meaning, value, and significance of existence, including at its most intense and extreme; the multiplicity, division, and even fracturing of (personal and social) identity; the complications involved in determining what is ethical as well as how to lead an ethical life; and the boundaries distinguishing, as well as the inextricable interconnection that ultimately links, life and death.  I am focused in this book on shows that I can put to work as sites through which to inquire into these kinds of issues, and into many more narrowly specifically socially and politically topical issues, while also showing readers how multiple divergent critical readings of the same show can be simultaneously viable and plausible, especially by reading each show first as aligned with dominant ideology and second as aligned with critique of dominant ideology. 

The two books focus on considerably overlapping territory.  One key source of unity between the two is my emphasis on critical theory and my drawing upon my personal history of teaching and working with critical theory.  From my first encounter with critical theory as an undergraduate student I became enthused and impassioned about pursuing and contributing to further knowledge in critical theory.  I have, from this beginning point onward, found critical theory, for all its initial overtly seeming abstractness, to be ultimately highly concrete, relevant, and indeed urgent, and in all my teaching and scholarship concerned with critical theory I continually strive to show this to be the case.  I understand critical theory as ultimately continuous with all of the various theories and modes of criticism we all work with all the time, every day, and I find it offers its potentially most compelling contributions to understanding and practice when brought to bear in relation to popular culture, which includes culture that most of us spend a vast amount of our lives involved with, in multiple disparate ways.  I have been concentrating my intellectual work in critical theory and critical studies in popular culture ever since graduate school, and in my two books I am attempting to share with a much wider audience what I have shared with many classes of students I have taught in these same areas–to show how critical theory can be concrete, relevant, and urgent.

KB: You’ve taught ten classes on these topics since 2011. How have those experiences effected your conceptualization for these books?

BN: These series of five successive classes, and the students involved in all of these classes, inspired me to write these books.  I needed to work hard to be well prepared to teach these classes, and to continue to develop and refine my approaches to doing so, from one class offering to the next, but I learned, as I always do, immensely, from and with my students.  The fact students found these subjects exciting of interest, and that they worked to produce exceptional quality work as a result of us taking on these subjects together, demonstrated to me how much these particular focuses have to offer, of interest and value, to a great many people, including many who would not have imagined this to be the case until they began to pursue these paths of inquiry.  The sheer fact as well that teaching classes with each of these two focuses repeatedly, while continuing to develop and refine the two focuses from one iteration to the next, has only increased my interest in the subject matter, rather than leaving me tired of it, further emphasizes, for me, that these two books are endeavors I need to pursue–and to accomplish.  Ever increasingly I have come to recognize, as I write, that these two books, taken together, allow me to reflect on, examine, and set forth my positions concerning everything that has proven most interesting and important to me throughout my academic career, and, even more than that, my entire life-experience.  I have thrown myself into teaching for 35 years, and I’m showing here, in my writing of these two books, what such a total immersion can teach a teacher.  I would never be doing this work without having taught these classes, and these students.  I am tremendously grateful to them–all of them.

KB: With both books, you seem to be offering an explanation and an example of how critical theory doesn’t have to be restricted to “academic” topics and circles, and in fact shouldn’t be. What do you think critical engagement with popular culture can teach us about ourselves and our society? In other words, what can we gain from critically engaging with popular culture?

BN: Critical engagement with popular culture is, simply put, thoughtfully appreciative engagement.   Critical theory provides us numerous concepts, methods, approaches, frameworks, and yet more besides that can help us better understand ourselves, people like and different from us, and the cultures as well as the society of which we are a part–and this enhanced understanding can enable us to make more conscious, deliberate, active, extensive, intensive, and impactful contributions to our lives, the lives of the people with whom we routinely interact, and the lives of our communities.  Critical engagement with popular culture can help us come to grips with not only how popular culture forms and constitutes us, but also how we do the same with popular culture.  

“Critical engagement enables us to recognize popular culture as site and stake of conversation, contestation, negotiation, transaction, conflict, and struggle, and to find our place and our role within all of this by figuring out what, when, where, how and why we want to contribute. ”

Critical engagement enables us to recognize popular culture as site and stake of conversation, contestation, negotiation, transaction, conflict, and struggle, and to find our place and our role within all of this by figuring out what, when, where, how and why we want to contribute.  Critical engagement with popular culture shows us that we are every bit as much concerned with the kinds of issues that celebrated philosophers and critical theorists write about, but we make use of often considerably different signs, codes, and discourses to do so.  Much of what we are concerned with, individually and collectively, is largely unconscious, or at least difficult to identify, explain, and figure out how best to which to respond, but thinking critically about how texts of popular culture address the exact same concerns that matter to and motivate us can enable us to clarify our own thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and actions, while also offering us crucial epiphanies–moments of profound discovery, revelation, and insight.   

KB: In the profile for Ian Curtis, Joy Division, and Critical Theory, you mention that you are writing it in part as a personal memoir. Do you have any thoughts on combining creative forms of writing with more academic ones? Is one part easier to write than the other?

BN: This is my first attempt at writing a memoir–even at writing a ‘part memoir’.  I have found it easier, once I got started, than I expected.  I think you need to be at the right place, and the right time, in your life, where you are ready to recall and examine your life-experience, including what has most significantly shaped and impacted this, as well as how that shaping and that impact has made you whom and what you are.  You have to be ready for honesty and vulnerability.  Since, in my own teaching, I frequently use examples drawn from personal experience, including many stories from personal experience, this is a process that is hardly unfamiliar to me.  And, since I’m always seeking ways to show students that critical theory and critical studies of popular culture are highly concrete, relevant, and urgent fields, I find it important to make those kinds of connections all the time, and to make them as blunt and telling as well as colorful and distinctive as I can, while encouraging students to make the same kinds of connections with their own identities and experiences.  Also, since I am writing both books with audiences much like students I have taught in mind as my targets it is not hard to combine the academic with the personal, since I have plenty of experience doing exactly that for exactly those kinds of audiences.

KB: Though I can multitask pretty much anything else, I’ve found my best writing is typically the result of focusing on one piece until a draft is done. How are you balancing writing two books at the same time?

BN: Well, it is certainly ambitious, and I am steadily discovering how much so as I proceed.  But I have to credit now retired former UW-Eau Claire Director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Karen Havholm for encouraging me to work on both books simultaneously, as she suggested this way I can always move back and forth between the two whenever I run into a block or experience fatigue writing, and working, in one direction.  In practice, I do work on one piece at a time, and work that all the way through, but having both projects in process simultaneously, as they deal with many of the same issues and concerns, but one is focused on television and the other on music, does help keep my enthusiasm persistently strong.  I have been doing well; since August 1, 2020 I have written 450+ single-spaced typed pages of material, and I have read and taken notes on more books and articles than I could possibly estimate, while doing a huge amount of screening and listening too.  I’ve been enjoying it, even as it has proven fairly all-consuming.

In Mike Perry's New Book, Hope Is Everything

Stephanie Nesja

 Author and humorist Michael Perry is back, and this time he’s asking readers to persist in “connecting even if we never meet…” The New York Times bestselling author of Population: 485, The Jesus Cow, and Roughneck Grace gives us another glimpse of what it’s like living in small-town rural Wisconsin via Peaceful Persistence. Originally published in the Wisconsin State Journal between April 2018 and March 2020, this new collection presents a variety of brief essays, all of which offer anecdotes to readers of all kinds.

“From Perry’s Aesop-like morality tales on gratitude, family, farming, and fireflies, Perry proves, once more, that there is something to be gleaned in everyday moments, no matter how small. ”

Leading with his heart, Perry writes to connect to his readers. The essays in this collection “were composed during a time of personal and national unease, and often reflect that mood, but just as often veer into humor and hope.” Humor and hope, indeed. From Perry’s Aesop-like morality tales on gratitude, family, farming, and fireflies, Perry proves, once more, that there is something to be gleaned in everyday moments, no matter how small.

The author offers insight for his readers by way of lessons he teaches throughout the themes of his two-page essays. Perry, an everyday guy, connects to his readers while trying to enjoy life amid a difficult national backdrop. His desire to share these moments allow not only for solace and significance to be found in his words, but also hope.

If there’s one touchstone throughout the collection, it revolves around hope. In “Window Robin,” Perry teaches his readers the importance of persistence as he watches a robin diligently peck for worms in the softening ground. When Perry’s daughter is missing her mom in “Sunday Night Sads,” he reminds us that even in the smallest moments of grief, the stars will still rise, and tomorrow is a new day. In “Dad Suit,” Perry reflects on the joy of family values while trying on suits—a task he doesn’t enjoy. And in “Crowdsourced Truck Repair” we learn the importance of coming together, even virtually, through discussing the how-tos of repairing a truck. It’s clear Perry values many things in addition to the aforementioned, like traditions, friends, neighbors, nature, music, road trips, farm-fresh eggs, gardening, garlic, asparagus, hard work, relaxation, and the philosophy of Michel de Montaigne.

 While Perry’s down-to-earth scenes do much to hook the reader, it’s his poetic style that keeps readers fully engaged through vivid imagery, alliteration, and bountiful descriptions of various kinds amalgamated with a rich vocabulary, learned from his days of voluntarily reading the dictionary as a child, which will hopefully expand the reader’s own expressions.  

In his final essay, “Healing Day,” Perry offers advice as a nod to Bill Fay’s song of the same name. “Peaceful persistence,” he writes, “is its own reward. It isn’t a matter of winning, it is a matter of dignity. Be at peace with yourself.” It’s clear that above all, the author’s main value for his readers is to have hope.

5 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block

“However, could it be possible that “writer’s block” is simply a term coined to represent a writer’s anxiety to write? Writer’s block normally coincides with wandering attention, worrying about deadlines, and a fear or hatred of a blank screen: all signs of anxiety. The good news here is that anxiety is completely manageable, and tricks to combat that restless feeling whenever you sit down at your desk are conveniently available to your viewing pleasure right here! ”

Kensie Kiesow

 The most prolific writers in history have struggled with writer’s block so intense, it lasted for decades. Writer’s block was Ernest Hemingway’s greatest fear, and he drove an ambulance for the united states military during WWI! During his service in Italy, he was even injured by an Austrian mortar fire, and writer’s block was still his greatest fear. Although Hemingway swears it exists, some writers live in denial. Patrick Rothfuss, author of Name of the Wind, likened the idea of writer’s block to a magical muse, who “bestows the writing onto us, and we become inspired” rather than acknowledging that “sometimes, writing is super hard…just like any other job.” However, could it be possible that “writer’s block” is simply a term coined to represent a writer’s anxiety to write? Writer’s block normally coincides with wandering attention, worrying about deadlines, and a fear or hatred of a blank screen: all signs of anxiety. The good news here is that anxiety is completely manageable, and tricks to combat that restless feeling whenever you sit down at your desk are conveniently available to your viewing pleasure right here! Whether you’ve had writer’s block lasting hours, weeks, or months, we’ve got some tips to help you out!

Make a Cup of Tea or Coffee

Whether you choose to make tea, coffee, or some other drink in your kitchen, the point of this tip is not the beverage, but the walking away from your laptop or notebook that you’ve been staring at for three hours. Staring at screens is not only bad for your eyes, but it’s bad for your productivity. Instead, just get up, maybe stretch those stiff legs a little, and go get something to drink. Hydration is also a side bonus!

Take a Shower

I’m sure you smell like lilacs in full bloom carried on a warm spring evening, but taking a shower is a great way to turn off your brain while doing a task. Showering is so routine that you don’t have to think about how you’re washing your hair or shaving your legs because we do that all the time. In the fifteen-or-so minutes that it takes you to shower, your brain relaxes and that allows you to passively think about your project and let new ideas bubble up from your subconscious. Ever wondered why bright ideas always seem to take shape while in the shower? This is why! Give your brain a break and lather up!

Go for a Walk

I’m sure this piece of advice isn’t new, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. The brain and the body are connected in so many fascinating ways, and if you’re body is starting to feel sore from sitting, or you’ve been staring at a screen for so long that your eyes are on fire, get out of the house. Just get out and walk around the neighborhood or, better yet, walk the Putnam Trail or Chippewa River Trail. The Chippewa Valley is beautiful, and so much inspiration comes from the world around you that you may not even realize. Let your mind wander as you reconnect with nature and you’ll return to your desk with a more relaxed brain filled with some fresh ideas.

Do Something Else on Your To-Do List

Life is hectic and crazy, and sometimes taking a break to do nothing just leaves you feeling unproductive and more stressed than when you started out. Instead, switch over to something else you’ve been holding off. Does the front door still stick? Do you still need to get that oil change? During writer’s block is the best time to get that task out of the way and feel like you’re still getting things done and being productive!

Catch Up with a Friend

During this time when we are fighting an airborne pandemic, it’s difficult to see friends in person, but not impossible! Walking around town is absolutely something you and a friend can do together, and it’s already something from this list that will help with calming your writing anxiety! If you would rather stay extra careful, call or facetime your friend to chat and maybe explain to them your work that has tragically come to a halt. Friends, especially friends from your workshop group or high school poetry club, provide fantastic services as sounding boards. Taking a moment to hear about their lives in quarantine and what’s going on in their heads will also help you get out of yours.

5 Fun Writing Games to Play While You’re Waiting for Inspiration to Strike

“Creative people often get stuck in their heads about their projects and it’s difficult to escape that spiral, especially when a deadline is fast approaching. However, it’s important to take a step back from your work every now and then to give your brain something else to chew on for a while, so let’s play some games! ”

Kensie Kiesow

Have you ever been in a mood to write, but you’re not sure what to write about? Maybe you’re stuck on an idea that’s going nowhere, or a plot that’s going somewhere, but you don’t like where it’s ended up. Or, maybe you’re bored and this whole writing thing is something different to pass the time. In any case, games are a great way to relieve any stress or anxiety that might be preventing you from working on the next Great American Novel (cue waving flag and fireworks). Creative people often get stuck in their heads about their projects and it’s difficult to escape that spiral, especially when a deadline is fast approaching. However, it’s important to take a step back from your work every now and then to give your brain something else to chew on for a while, so let’s play some games!

 “Complete the Story”

This here game is the only one on this list that requires a group of writers (at least two, but the more the zanier!) and it can easily be adapted to a socially distant e-mail chain. Firstly, you will need a prompt. The more vague or ambiguous the prompt the better because then it opens each story up to multiple, vastly different interpretations, and we at the guild have found that prompts in the form of a picture or painting work wonders for this. Next, now that you’ve got a group of creative writers and an intriguing prompt, it’s time to start writing your stories. After each player has had a moment to divine a story from the selected prompt, they have three minutes of speed writing before passing the document onto the person next to them in a clockwise motion. If you wish to adapt this to a socially distanced, e-mail format, your group will have to devise a hypothetical circle around which to pass the documents. The number of rounds wherein your group passes the document is absolutely up to you and your group, but eventually, each story should be written to conclusion. Once the stories are completed and returned to their original writers, read them back to the group and try not to laugh! 

“From Beginning to End”

For this game, pick two books from your bookshelf completely at random. With your eyes closed, flip through the pages of the first book until some intuition from deep in your gut tells you to stop, then with that same gut intuition and your eyes closed, pick a line at random. This line will be what starts your story. Now, turn to the second book you pulled and choose another line using the same search process. As I’m sure you can guess, this second line will be the last line of your story. Write the starting line at the top of a piece of paper and the ending line on the bottom and try to connect these two, completely random thoughts!

“The Pantoum”

Some poem formulas present unique creative challenges, like the sonnet or villanelle, which require a specific structure when written traditionally. Contemporary poetry writing has all but thrown propriety out the window, but sometimes returning to your grandparent’s age of poetry can be fun game to pass that unproductive time staring at a blank page. The pantoum form consists of four-line stanzas wherein the second and fourth lines of the first stanza become the first and third lines of the next stanza, and so on and so forth. Your poem can be however long you want, but in the last stanza, the pattern switches up. Instead, the third and first lines of the first stanza become the second and fourth lines of the last, so your poem should end with the beginning line. Sound complicated enough? If your answer is no and you’d like to take this poem a step further, steal four lines from your favorite song or poem and build the rest of your pantoum from there! 

“Twenty-Six to One”

With one sheet of paper, write a story or poem wherein the first sentence or first line contains twenty-six words. No more, no less. As you write, knock off one more word from each sentence or line until you end up with just one word. If you’re writing a poem, you can use enjambment to cheat a little bit, but if you want to up the ante, try to make each line a complete sentence. Conversely, you could write a story that begins with a one-word sentence and grows to twenty-six!

“Dialogue”

Dialogue is notoriously difficult to write. There hasn’t been one writer in the history of the world who hasn’t, at some point, struggled with dialogue. It always sounds too unnatural or trite to their ears, so this game can provide you with a little no-stakes practice. Firstly, you’ll need three hats. Or, you could use envelopes, boxes, your friends’ purses, bowls, what have you, but you need three containers. Cut up a bunch of little slips of paper and write out as many places as you can think of in ten seconds and put them in the first hat. These could be rooms in your own house, a Macy’s, a national park, or the surface of the sun. Into the second hat, dump an equal number of slips on which you’ve written your characters: a mother and her son, three teen gal pals, a chicken and a goose, or a priest, rabbi, and monk. In the third and final hat, list some interesting topics like hiking in the Andes, dentistry, baking, Frankenstein, etc. Your topics can be anything you want, but make sure you can get a story out of it. Choose one slip of paper from each hat and write a scene about what happens using ONLY dialogue! Your dialogue must include a mention of the place in which the characters are talking as well as some action, body language, and most importantly, a narrative. Writing dialogue can be stressful, but practice makes perfect and games make practicing fun!

Now, go write!

"Turn Off Your Inner Critic" and Other Lessons From National Novel Writing Month

NaNoWriMo writer Karissa Zastrow / Credit: Justin Patchin

Krisany Blount

For many prose writers, the end goal is a novel. It doesn’t sound that hard to do. Really, it’s only about 70,000 words (on the low-end of average). Just a really long short story. And how hard is writing a short story?

If you’re laughing with a sort of bitter irony, you know what I’m getting at. Writing is deceptively difficult. Despite the number of people who remark that they’ve “always wanted to write a novel,” there’s a reason they haven’t done it already. Because it’s not as easy as it seems.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible though. There’s all sorts of methods and advice out there to help writers make it through the first draft, and the second, and et cetera. One of these tools is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

First started in 1999, NaNoWriMo takes place every November. The goal is to write 50,000 words over the course of the month. In other words, to “complete” a first draft of a novel in a month. This breaks down to writing 1,667 words a day, for all 30 days of November.

“Many writers, myself included, tend to flounder in the first draft process because we start to second guess ourselves, self-edit, and procrastinate. To tackle NaNoWriMo with any degree of success, you have to turn off that inner-editor and just write.””

“NaNoWriMo is an impetus to get writers to lay down a rough draft that they can spend time on later to add to, edit, and continue revising. Many writers, myself included, tend to flounder in the first draft process because we start to second guess ourselves, self-edit, and procrastinate. To tackle NaNoWriMo with any degree of success, you have to turn off that inner-editor and just write,” says Aimee Johnson, a long-time participant and Municipal Liaison for the Eau Claire area NaNoWriMo group.

As Municipal Liaison, Johnson organizes events like write-ins, where NaNoWriMo participants can show up with their writing instrument of choice and write for a few hours while hanging out with other writers. This year, these events have, of course, gone virtual. But Johnson cites the community as one of the keys to succeeding. Karissa Zastrow, another long time NaNoWriMo participant, agrees.

““I am incredibly motivated by achieving a goal, so when there’s the combination of setting the goal and having a support system of other writers who check in to see where I’m are at with my word count, it pushes me to keep going,” says Zastrow.”

“I am incredibly motivated by achieving a goal, so when there’s the combination of setting the goal and having a support system of other writers who check in to see where I’m are at with my word count, it pushes me to keep going,” says Zastrow.

Other advice for success? Keep everything you write. Yes, we all want to write a perfect first draft and writing “bad” words can feel counterproductive, but as my favorite writing motto goes: you can’t edit a blank page. Once you finish, you can make it better.

Carve out time to write and stick to it, but don’t be afraid to write outside of that time. A few minutes here and there can really add up in the long run. But just writing in short bursts likely won’t be enough to get you to the goal, so setting aside some time each day just for writing is also important. As is defending your writing time.

“It is so easy to say, ‘well, I guess I can go do this tonight and just write double tomorrow’ or ‘I’ll just make it up over the weekend.’ Before you know it, you are down almost 5,000 words and that is not a small number. When people ask you to give up your writing time, protect it,” says Zastrow.

But even by doing everything “right” you might not finish and that’s okay. NaNoWriMo isn’t a walk in the park, and the mental toll for creativity this year is more strenuous than usual, so just showing up and trying right now is a major accomplishment.

“Being able to have something to work with is the real prize at the end of NaNoWriMo. Plus, you deserve to be the writer you wish you could be, and NaNoWriMo is the perfect time to do that,” says Johnson.

Best of luck to everyone participating in NaNoWriMo!

Opening the Door To Fresh Knowledge: A Conversation with Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate Peggy Rozga

Elise Eystad

Have you been looking for poetry that you can relate and connect to?

“From Superior, Washburn, and Ashland to Racine, Sturtevant, and Milwaukee. From Door County to Madison and the Driftless area. Wisconsin, you are here. Your lived experience is here,” reads the press release for a new poetry anthology. Titled Through This Door: Wisconsin in Poems, this anthology was compiled and edited by Margaret Rozga & Angela Trudell Vasquez and includes poetry from all eight Wisconsin poet laureates, as well as various other poets from around the state.

The poet laureate is a long-standing tradition in the United States, its primary role being to give poetry “a public presence,” says current Wisconsin poet laureate Margaret (Peggy) Rozga. In a pre-pandemic times, this involved hosting readings and events across Wisconsin, but when Covid hit, this “public presence” had to take on new forms. In addition to learning about Zoom and online presentations, Rozga has also been working on this anthology.

Read on to learn more from Rozga about her role of the poet laureate, the release of Through This Door: Wisconsin in Poems, and how you can snag your copy today!

Elise Eystad: Can you give a brief synopsis of Through This Door: Wisconsin in Poems? Who are some of the contributors and where are they from?

Margaret Rozga: The fifty poets from across Wisconsin included in Through This Door contributed poems that resonated with the words of U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, "When beloved Sun Rises, it is an entrance, a door to fresh knowledge." This quote is the epigraph for the book, and two of its four sections pick up terms from the quote for their titles: "Through This Door," "Fresh Knowledge," "In the Quiet," and "Each Sunrise."  Among the poems are those that reflect on nature, those that consider personal or community relationships, some that focus on the pandemic, and one that gives a picture of the in-person voting during Wisconsin's April primary. The anthology concludes with a hopeful view of the future.

EE: Your press release quotes U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s book, Crazy Brave, as setting the overall theme for this anthology: “When beloved Sun rises, it is an entrance, a door to fresh knowledge.” What is the significance of this theme? The significance of doors?

MR: Doors are thresholds, passageways to new insights, often new beginnings.  Poetry is one way to open up new insights.  I particularly like Harjo's phrase "fresh knowledge."   A poem may present something the reader already knew in a way, but the poem sees that knowledge in a new light, in a way that sparks a deeper understanding.

EE: What did the selection process of compiling the anthology look like? How is the theme of the anthology, explained above, demonstrated in the poems selected?

MR:

A couple of examples:

One poet, Ethel Mortensen Davis, writes about being awakened at night by the moonlight coming in her bedroom window. She then goes outside and to her surprise finds "bees at night collecting nectar" and 'honey-suckle branches / laden with bees."

In Max Garland's poem "Joy," the speaker is outside in such cold that is hurts to breathe.  "I stood under the red pine, took a few more breaths // from deep in the glacial instant of my one and only life, / which hurt a little, by which I mean the edge of joy / where it sharpens itself for the work it has to do."

The selection of poems took over a year.  We knew we wanted to include all 8 poets who'd served as Wisconsin Poet Laureate and as many local poets laureate as we could.

The selection of poems took over a year.  We knew we wanted to include all 8 poets who'd served as Wisconsin Poet Laureate and as many local poets laureate as we could. Most poets sent us 3 to 5 poems.  We had to think about which ones best fit the theme.  Sometimes that changed when we saw how a poem by one person was complemented by a poem from another person.  Once we had a good start on the collection, we noticed work by others that would fill a gap in what we had.  We found at least three of what become poems in the book posted on Facebook where the person who posted them wasn't thinking about writing a poem for a book at all, but we saw how what they wrote opened a door to "fresh knowledge."  We're very grateful to them, as we are to all the poets, for allowing us to share their work in this book.

Co-editor Angela Trudell Vasquez

EE: Through This Door: Wisconsin in Poems includes poems by the eight Wisconsin Poets Laureate. Can you tell me more about the role of poets laureate in Wisconsin? 

MR: The first poets laureate in the English tradition wrote poems to commemorate official public events.  The most famous may be Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade." In the U.S., national, state, and local poets laureate are seldom commissioned to write poems for specific events, but in other ways they work to give poetry a public presence.  Editing this book is one way I'm bringing an inclusive range of poetic voices to public attention.  Another example, Kimberly Blaeser, 2015-2016 Wisconsin Poet Laureate created an online poetry recitation map.  All the poets laureate give readings and present workshops throughout Wisconsin, and now virtually

EE: As your time as poet laureate winds down, what can you tell me about your experience? What was it like to try to give poetry to the people in the midst of Covid? How is your role, and the role of books like this anthology, more important than ever?

MR: In the first 5/8ths of my term, I put 3500 miles on my car driving to poet laureate events.  In this last 3/8ths of my term, I've driven 12 miles for poet laureate events.  So it was a drastic change.  In March 2020 I heard of Zoom for the first time.  Since then thanks to Zoom and other online platforms, I've been able to continue to connect poetry and people throughout Wisconsin and beyond.  I've learned strategies to keep online presentations lively.  In the words of my introduction to this anthology, it is a way to "show the Wisconsin we have and help build the Wisconsin we need." 

EE: This anthology is a display of the Wisconsin lived experience. In general, what ways do you feel poetry has the power to demonstrate our lived experiences? And more specifically, how do you feel poetry written across Wisconsin, from Washburn to Madison to Door County, can connect the people of Wisconsin?

MR: I think of poetry as an epistemology, a way of knowing, that is different from the way of knowing, analysis, most often employed in schools and business.  Analysis divides its subject matter into component parts; poetry with metaphor at its heart, sees likenesses.  So we see the subject in a different light depending on which way of knowing guides our approach. 

“Poetry seeks to engage all the senses, so that we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch what is being considered.  In this attention to sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, there is more potential for engaging the emotions, and that’s where the depth of response comes from.  ”

Poetry seeks to engage all the senses, so that we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch what is being considered.  In this attention to sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, there is more potential for engaging the emotions, and that's where the depth of response comes from.  

I do not live in Eau Claire, I may not know how you love the river, but your poem can make that experience come alive for me. Then every time I drive west on I-94, I will not see Eau Claire roll by as just another freeway exit, but I'll appreciate it as a place where you live and a river you love flows.  

There are poets included in this anthology that I've never met in person, but we've connected through poetry.  They have and the poetry has enriched my life, my sense of what is possible.

An example from the book, Philomena Kebec writes of a cliff "once covered in trees and soft underbrush worn down to its bare clay foundation" and she concludes: "Water is writing its own story." The Bad River near her home in "Wiikwedong, also known as Ashland, Wisconsin" becomes for me a symbol of the living earth, even though I've never seen it and didn't know the indigenous name for what in English is Ashland.  The person and the place become important to me, part of what makes me who I am.