The "How To" Guide To Preparing Your Application For The Priority Writers' Retreat

Rather than a long, drawn-out application process, this year we’ve decided to limit our application period from January 1-February 1.  Admittedly, that’s not a lot of time.  But here’s the good news: you can begin preparing your application this minute.

To apply to The Priory Writers’ Retreat, you need to complete these three steps:

1.) In 500 words or fewer, offer a writing statement that answers the following: “Please share a bit about your writing journey. What's your story? What's your project? What are your goals for this retreat, and how might this retreat assist you in achieving your goals?  If space permits, please also speak briefly about how you might contribute to the community of writers at The Priory.” 

2.)  Additionally, you are asked to submit a writing sample. 

• Prose writers, please submit 10 or fewer double-spaced pages (a single work or multiple works is fine).

• Poetry writers, please submit 3-5 pages of poetry.

3.) Last but not least, please include a 100-word bio!

Check a few more boxes, enter some contact info, sign-up for a one-on-one conference with a writer-in-residence (if you so choose) and click “Submit.”  That’s all there is to it!

Our team of readers will get to work on February 2.  We hope to share the status of your application by mid-February.  Payment will be due in March to reserve your spot. 

Please note that there is a $10 application fee, which helps us offset program costs.

So what are you waiting for?  Start preparing your application!  Then submit beginning January 1!

"These War Scenes are My War Scenes": Cathy Sultan Publishes a New Political Thriller Based On Life Experiences

After experiencing the Lebanese Civil War firsthand while living in Beirut in the 1970s and early 80s, Cathy Sultan returned to America with a deeper understanding of the horrors of war, as well as the socio-political complexities of such conflicts.

Much of which is recounted in Cathy Sultan's latest political thriller, An Ambassador to Syria.

 Cathy Sultan is an author of six books, including a memoir, A Beirut Heart: One Woman's War, which told the story of her life in Beirut, Lebanon during the civil war. The book won Book USA’s Best Books of 2006 Autobiography Award. She has also written five additional books, two which (The Syrian and Damascus Street) serve as prequels to An Ambassador to Syria and feature many of the same characters.

 In addition to writing award-winning books, Sultan has also been a part of the Interfaith Peace-Builders, a social activist group that promotes education on middle eastern issues and human rights.

 I had the pleasure of being able to interview Cathy Sultan about her new book and how her experiences have inspired her writing.

 Aidan Sanfelippo: In the book, An Ambassador to Syria, you tackle real-world concepts like conflicts in Syria, debates over the meaning of religion, and a few characters who are real people, like President Bashar al-Assad. What is your advice for writers who plan to research and write about real wars, religions, and people?

 Cathy Sultan: My advice: know your subject matter. It's very difficult to write about something you know nothing about. I lived through the first eight years of the Lebanese civil war. I know what it means to hear bombs falling, see walls shatter, lives and cities destroyed, children crying because they're scared. I don't believe a writer can make these things up and come across as authentic. I think my story is so powerful because I know these things intimately.

 You ask about religion. In my opinion, religion is too often used to stir conflicts. I know from my research that Paul Bremer, the US's representative in Baghdad after the invasion, purposely set about stirring up strife between Shiites and Sunnis as a way to deflect from what the US had just done, better to have people fight among themselves, the thinking went, than to come down on the US as occupiers. I had lived in Beirut some six years before the civil war began. Religion was never an issue and this was in a country that had seventeen different religious sects. Once the war began, religion became the lightning rod. If a Muslim killed a Christian, the Christians retaliated by killing more Muslims, and so on. Remember the Crusades. Those wars were all about religion. There was a time in the Middle East when people lived peacefully side by side but when the Western powers started their wars whether for oil or regime change, religion played a major role, and once religious strife is ignited, it is almost impossible to tame. Syria is a perfect example of a religious war, ISIS versus the infidels, with hundreds of thousands of people killed. The West used the religion card, thinking they could topple Assad, and failed miserably.

 AS: Why is it important to write stories that involve real events?

“Oftentimes real events, like the war in Syria, affect hundreds of thousands of lives. If you know, as a writer, that there are truths not being revealed, if you know that your government has alternative motives, not necessarily honorable (think Iraq and weapons of mass destruction), and if you have the opportunity, the wherewithal, the knowledge, and good investigative skills, then you most certainly have the right, the necessity to write that story that has been bothering you.”

— Cathy Sultan

CS: Oftentimes real events, like the war in Syria, affect hundreds of thousands of lives. If you know, as a writer, that there are truths not being revealed, if you know that your government has alternative motives, not necessarily honorable (think Iraq and weapons of mass destruction), and if you have the opportunity, the wherewithal, the knowledge, and good investigative skills, then you most certainly have the right, the necessity to write that story that has been bothering you. In my case, I had the background necessary to tackle this story, and that’s why I took it on, knowing we are being manipulated into accepting forever wars.

 I include this in the front of my book:

"We'll know that our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” —William Casey, CIA Director, 1981-1987

 AS: You served on the Board of Eyewitness Palestine/Interfaith Peace-Builders, which is a nongovernmental organization determined to “emphasize listening to and learning from those immersed in the reality of the conflict, and advancing the work of Israelis and Palestinians committed to nonviolent struggle and peace with justice”. How has your work with this organization inspired your writing?

CS: I took my first of six trips to Israel/Palestine in 2002 and my experiences there, witnessing the Israeli invasion of the West Bank, interviewing both Israeli and Palestinians, was the basis for my second book Israeli and Palestinian Voices: A Dialogue with Both Sides. My subsequent visits on behalf of Interfaith Peace-Builders only added to my initial experiences and broadened my knowledge of the conflict. My third book, Tragedy in South Lebanon addressed the Israeli/Hezbollah war, and knowing what I already knew from my visits to Israel, helped me compile the material I needed for that book.

 AS: How has your experience living in Lebanon inspired and influenced your writing?

CS: It's why I became a writer. Once we resettled back in the States, my son asked me to write about our life in Beirut. I had no formal training as a writer and had never taken a creative writing course. I wrote many drafts until finally, I was able to produce my memoir A Beirut Heart: One Woman's War. If I had not lived in Lebanon, if I had not lived through a civil war, if I had not done fieldwork in Israel/Palestine, I would never have been able to write the books I write.

 AS: You let me know some parts of your book that you wanted me to talk about. Those sections primarily focused on the topics of religion, death, and the dangers of being in a war zone. Without spoiling the story, was it about these sections that stood out to you?

CS: I just chose random parts for you to read with no goal in mind other than to have you get an idea of my writing and the scenes I produced. A CIA agent endorsed my book saying that I capture the nuance and complexity of the situation... that I bring life to my work by creating compelling characters that feel like they live in the real world. These war scenes are my war scenes. These people, my characters, are real-life people who do whatever it takes to survive a war, and I know them all.

 AS: Throughout the story, you switch between multiple characters’ perspectives, for example, the war correspondent Sonia Rizk and the Ambassador to Syria, Robert Jenkins. Do you have a favorite character to write from the perspective of?

CS: I love all my characters. Most of them have been with me from the beginning when I wrote The Syrian, Damascus Street, and now An Ambassador. And since I've known them a long time, I'm able to get inside their heads and bring them alive.

 AS: An Ambassador to Syria is not your first book that has featured many of these characters. In the book, the reader can see how the previous events have affected the characters, but they can also still understand and connect with these characters without any prior knowledge. What advice do you have for making realistic and compelling characters and their history?

CS: Whatever story you want to tell, get to know your character. They're going to become your best friends. You'll be spending hours, days, weeks, and months with them. The more you know them, their pleasures, their dislikes, their habits, their inner thoughts, the more they'll come alive on the page. You want your reader to connect with your characters, fall in love with them, cry with them if they're hurt or lose a loved one.

 AS: This is the third book in a story following these characters, the previous two being Damascus Street and The Syrian. Do you plan to continue these characters’ stories in a future book?

CS: Yes, I'm already into the fourth book in my Syrian Quartet. In this new book, it's Omar, whom my readers have met in An Ambassador, who is the main character. He has joined ISIS and along with Mary and Sonia will lead my readers on some harrowing adventures. Stay tuned.

An Ambassador to Syria is available on Amazon for $16.99, eBay for $14.50, or at The Local Store for $12.00.

You can also support Cathy’s work at her book launch on Nov. 16 at 7pm at Avalon Florals' new location 421 Water Street.  She will also have a virtual talk on December 7 at 7PM sponsored by the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library and the CVWG.  Sign up here.

Meet Angie Trudell Vasquez: A Latinx Writer Honoring her Literary Ancestors through Generational Joy

Aja St. Germaine

Angela (Angie) Trudell Vasquez is a life-long writer, speaker, and advocate. She is the current City of Madison Poet Laureate and received an MFA in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her poems have been featured in many publications, including the Yellow Medicine Review, the Raven Chronicles, My People Redux, and the Poetry Foundation. She is the first Latina Poet Laureate of Madison, Wisconsin.

This summer, Angie will serve as a writer-in-residence at The Priory Writers’ Retreat.  Sign-ups begin January 1.  Click here to learn more about how to attend, and how to schedule your one-on-one conference with Angie. 

As someone who is a believer in self-advocacy as a form of social justice, I wanted to hear from a true activist, writer, and social justice advocate about the ways she both cares for and honors herself. This weekend I had the honor of interviewing Vasquez, who made time to chat with me between attending and accepting at award ceremonies. Being Madison’s first Latinx Poet Laureate leaves little room for rest. Vasquez is a woman who believes that if there is generational trauma, there must be generational joy, and she dominates her field both in writing pedagogy and activism.

Aja St. Germaine: As a Latinx writer, the space you take up in a lot of writing spaces is inciting a much-needed change in the racial and cultural dynamic in writing pedagogy, particularly in Wisconsin. How do you see your advocacy translate through your writing?

“I think it is important to be authentic to yourself and your work and not to live up to any one’s expectation but yourself. ”

— Angie Trudell Vasquez

Angie Trudell Vasquez: I am the same person all the time. What I care about, my concerns, what and who I love comes out in my work. I think it is important to be authentic to yourself and your work and not to live up to any one’s expectation but yourself. I look back at my early work, what I wrote, what I saw, what I witnessed in the world around me locally, globally, and personally; and these themes still resonate with the person I am now, not how I wrote them, my craft has evolved and so have I, but what I care about is reflected in my poems. A mentor once said we do not write in a vacuum, and I agree. I have many influences as a poet at this point in my life. I write about everything and do not limit myself to one topic or form or style. I feel free when I write and when I edit. I am a very political person. We discussed it as a family and debated and talked about history, family history, and current events. I think I was a feminist from birth and have never felt less than anyone else regarding gender or ethnicity or class or physical stature. This can be seen in the progression of certain identity poems I wrote through my 20s, 30s, 40s and now 50s. Growing up where I did, I defined myself on the page and decided early to master the English language. I have anti-war poems, peace poems, poems for immigrants and migrants and those displaced, nature poems, environmental poems, poems for celebrations and poems for death and remembrance, poems for all the people I love and absolute strangers I see in airports and train stations and busses and fairs, I have poems of place and poems for children, poems for laborers, animals, trees, flowers, tortillas, fruit and vegetables, I even have poems for bankers… (my first real job).

“My advocacy is to be myself and to be original in my own work and continue to have discovery on the page. I want to be surprised when I write, and my pen is usually ahead of my conscious self. A poet friend said she is writing the best poems of her life in her 70s that is an exciting thought to me. ”

— Angie Trudell Vasquez

My advocacy is to be myself and to be original in my own work and continue to have discovery on the page. I want to be surprised when I write, and my pen is usually ahead of my conscious self. A poet friend said she is writing the best poems of her life in her 70s that is an exciting thought to me.

I am an activist all the time and this shows up in my poems, essays, and the projects I take on as an editor and a publisher. I have my own press Art Night Books which has a social justice function. My early poems were published by Real Change in Seattle, Washington, and an immigrants’ rights organization there called Casa Latina where I volunteered teaching English. I have a new poem coming out and it is about one of my first memories picketing for workers’ rights with my sister. My family arrived in the late 1800s in the Midwest. I am 2nd and 3rd generation. I write about what I care about, what moves me, and if it moves someone else all the better. I write to connect. Poetry can do so much work. You can time travel in poems. All art can have a higher function. Poetry is one of the tools of humanity, and I do not think it should be limited to one definition or role much like humans.

AS: How do you practice self-preservation as a woman of color writer in a predominately white state and writing culture?

ATV: I go where I want primarily, I have every right to be at a literary conference or poetry reading. Do not ask permission just do your art and work on your craft and take it out to read at open mics, submit to journals where your work would be welcome, do your research before you show up and amaze people with your poems or essays or short stories or creative non-fiction. Write the stories you don’t see. Find your literary community and share resources. I have lists I give out when I do poetry workshops for young writers. I was the young woman in my 20s readings poems in my university on domestic violence and women’s reproductive rights no matter the audience. These were my concerns at the time and people were receptive. I grew up in Iowa and it was 99% white, and very much understand living in rural and urban communities in the Midwest. I feel like I have had two feet planted in both communities my entire life. I did choose to get my MFA at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA.edu) because I read about other writers of color and their experience in MFA programs and chose to go to IAIA.edu because I just wanted to focus on my work, work with world class writers and it was the BEST experience for me. I so loved going back in my late 40s and being fully dedicated to my art while there. It felt like home.

There are so many writers doing good work right now, people I know and went to school with, writers all throughout Wisconsin and the U.S. who are having great success. It is out time to tell our stories. I feel supported by my writing community. I have helped shaped this community too. I serve as the Chair for the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission. I was a board member for Woodland Pattern Book Center while I lived in Milwaukee. I am active in the Madison community teaching other’s poems and my own, spreading the love of poetry and judging poetry contests.

The poetry world is rich and historic. Poets of all ethnicities and races have written poems and we have always existed on Turtle Island or North America. My specialty is Indigenous Poetics. I taught a workshop in 2021 solely on Native poets in Wisconsin. I could do the same with Latinx writers in Wisconsin. We have all these literary ancestors, and they paved the way for us and we have their writings to learn about their experience.

Self-care is nature for me, and I dance and walk and do yoga. If we have generational trauma, we also have generational joy, and I am more interested in the joy part now. I choose to spend my precious life on writing what I want to write about and am having a good time publishing poems and collections and have several projects going on right now. I do mentor some people now and then. I want to share what I have learned with other writers. This is how I can pay back. I have not arrived here at this level on my own. Many people have helped me along the way.  Through publishing I am able to contribute by making space for others’ voices and promoting their work.

AS: What advice do you have for young BIPOC writers that are just starting out?

ATV: I have so much advice for poets but will limit generally to writers:

1.     Read, read widely whatever you want it all feeds your writing. Good art inspires more art. Go to museums and art galleries for inspiration and history. Listen to music, live and recorded.

2.     Go to open mics to test out your work and listen to others, poems and stories sound differently when you read them to people aloud, very different than in your home when you are alone. I edit all my work aloud.

3.     Edit your work on the page, read it aloud, number your drafts, put it away and come back to it later. Tape it to your wall with painter’s tape like I do when I am editing a piece and am not sure about something. I put my books on my walls when I am in the editing process, and it helps me greatly.

4.     Be an active literary citizen. Go to events, see writers in person or virtually, check out the listings in your area. Talk to other writers. Support each other’s successes and only compete with yourself.

5.     Submit when you feel you are ready and do your research make sure it is a good fit.

6.     Keep your work organized and know where and when you submitted.

7.     Keep writing. I also journal in addition to writing poetry. I have done automatic writing since I was a child. Whatever works for you do but I like writing poetry or anything creative first in long hand. The body connection is important to me. I do practice “first thought, best thought” often and harvest my free writes for poems.

On January 1, apply to The Priory Writers Retreat where you can work with Angie!

A Teacher in all Trades: An Interview with Eau Claire Writer-in-Residence Ken Szymanski

Aja St. Germaine

Ken Szymanski is the official Writer-in-Residence for Eau Claire, Wisconsin—a distinction for which he was recently honored by the Arts Wisconsin and the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.  In late October, he traveled to Green Bay to receive The Wisconsin Creative Champions Award alongside poet laureates and writers-in-residence statewide.

Yet in addition to bringing home such prestigious awards, he’s also the author of Home Field Advantage. He has rooted himself deeply within the culture of Eau Claire and has contributed to the writing culture since the 1980s; beginning as a high school newspaper editor, continuing as a freelance music journalist for the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, and more recently, collaborating with Volume One and Converge Radio while focusing on the genre of podcasts and spoken word.

Above all else, though, Ken Szymanski is an educator. As an English teacher at Delong Middle School, he sees writing in some of its most vulnerable and fresh stages and knows how to push it to greatness. As a past student of his, I owe much of my own literary success to the fire he lights within young writers. I recently reunited with Ken to glean some insights on both his teaching and writing process, as well as to hear more about his aspirations in his newest role as Eau Claire’s Writer-in-Residence.

Aja St. Germaine: How does your experience as a writer shape your teaching style, and vice versa? 

Ken Szymanski: When teaching 8th grade English, I try to lead by example as a reader and a writer. I show the kids my struggles through several drafts. It’d be tempting to only show them my final drafts, but that would be misleading. Writing is a process, and “struggle” is part of the process. I try to normalize that to the students so that when writing doesn’t come easily, they don’t think something is wrong with them. This is a good reminder for me, too. When I’m working on a story and I’m having difficulties, I think of it as a sign that I’m doing it right.   

AS: You mention on your website that you have been delving into combining spoken word and live music within podcasts—but you started in the 1980's with a very different genre. How has the constant culture shift in Eau Claire impacted your work and genre?

KS: In some ways, it comes down to opportunities. My first book was a choose-your-own-adventure written in junior high. At the time, all I really had was an imagination and a notebook. When I had the opportunity to write concert reviews for the Leader-Telegram, that became my focus. When the Running Water Poetry Slam started, I turned my attention to cranking out three-minute spoken word pieces. Volume One gave me the chance to focus on profiles, essays, and articles on a wide variety of topics. Converge Radio gave me the opportunity to write podcasts, and the Galaudet Gallery shared their space for us to offer performances that combined spoken word with live music. Basically, I take the opportunities Eau Claire gives me. Some of these came down to luck and others were luck created by hard work. 

AS: What are you hoping to see Eau Claire grow into while you are the 2020-2022 Writer in Residence? What impacts are you hoping to make?

“I hope to give my fellow writers a chance to be heard during this difficult time—and to create an audio time capsule of area writers from this time in Eau Claire.”

— Ken Szymanski

KS: The start of my tenure coincided with the Covid shutdown, which has made it tough to do indoor live events. So I started a video series called Snapshots, where each episode features a different local writer. The video features audio of the author combined with local photography and local music. I hope to give my fellow writers a chance to be heard during this difficult time—and to create an audio time capsule of area writers from this time in Eau Claire. While I’ve missed the live events, the advantage of the Snapshots episodes is that they reach far beyond Eau Claire. The Chippewa Valley Writers Guild did such an outstanding job of fostering a sense of community among writers, and this is my way of fostering that community in a time where we can’t meet up in ways that we used to. The funny thing is that we ended up reaching a larger audience through the videos than we often did for the live events. So it’s been a nice accidental discovery of a tool we can use moving forward. I also love how it’s brought photographers and musicians into the literary mix. It’s really been a lot of fun working with them and bringing different types of artists together with a common goal.

Finding My Writing Home At The Priory Writers Retreat

Dr. Jonathan Rylander

As a writing center person (my day job), I think a lot about conversation—about getting down and dirty and talking out ideas one-to-one. That’s true. But in that role, I think, too, about environment. Creating a comfortable space for students to write matters. The right lamp. The right pillow aligned just so on a sofa. But it’s more than a job. For me, where I write right has always been a personal matter. In fact, I fought hard to make it back “up north” after graduate school, and that’s because there is just something about the feel of lighter air. Of bitter-cold water in lakes and rivers up here.

If you’re anything like me, picture, now, The Priory—a mid-century modern gem of building in the woods just outside Eau Claire, one surrounded by hills and a deep forest. And writers!

“At The Priory, I was struck by a sense of genuineness. This is a retreat that brings together folks near and far, from Milwaukee to the Twin Cities to Chicago. Folks who are writers like you and me. Those just trying to get a story, a feeling, an idea out there. In the lounges and in the courtyards outside, I talked with other participants. And when I did, I felt welcomed. I felt at ease.”

— Jonathan Rylander

I went to this retreat for the first time in in the summer of 2019, and here’s what makes this experience unique: its unpretentious, personal touch. At The Priory, I was struck by a sense of genuineness. This is a retreat that brings together folks near and far, from Milwaukee to the Twin Cities to Chicago. Folks who are writers like you and me. Those just trying to get a story, a feeling, an idea out there. In the lounges and in the courtyards outside, I talked with other participants. And when I did, I felt welcomed. I felt at ease.

Writers-in-residence Laura Jean Baker and David McGlynn

During that first summer, I worked with then writer-in-residence David McGlynn, a memoirist at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. He’s written a fantastic memoir called A Door in the Ocean, a book that grapples with a traumatic moment of childhood loss. The book’s deeper themes center around questions of control and vulnerability. And swimming. McGlynn was—still is—a competitive swimmer. To be honest, I wanted to learn more not just about his writing, but also his career as a swimmer and how that influenced his craft. But you know that feeling, the one you get when you read a writer and their work just resonates with you? The one you get when you want to do something a little like they’ve done, but you want to be sure you come off the right way? These were the thoughts that cluttered by mind when I came to the Priory. And I’ll admit, in the weeks before I arrived, I experienced some degree of imposter syndrome, even as an English professor. Until that retreat, my writing had taken the feel and scope of traditional academic articles. I wanted to do something different here.

“I wanted to remember the joy of writing like I did in second grade”

— Jonathan Rylander

Writer-in-residence Dasha Kelly Hamilton

I wanted to remember the joy of writing like I did in second grade. On a more serious note, I wanted to write about my past—about my pain and even my wrongdoings. I wanted to write memoir. But how to begin? Would they take me here? Was I doing it all right? The classic feeling of imposter syndrome. Until I sat down with a cup of coffee and McGlynn walked over to introduce himself that first day. I know it sounds silly—corny even—but here was the person I somehow needed to tell me I was on the right path with my interest in writing memoir. Isn’t it odd how so much about writing is related to permission? I wanted to start off on the right foot. Say the right thing. Here’s what came out….

“Do you still swim?” I said.

“All the time,” David said.

That was, really, all that was needed. We connected. Of course, I’d go on to learn a lot from him and fellow writers. But I’d learn, too, just by writing. And thinking. And having the time to do it all out here. The time to step outside in between writing sessions and walk next to a pine-wooded forest. The time to feel the warmth of a summer night. The time to know I was with other writers that cared, like me.

The Support You Want to See: A Sneak Preview of Barstow and Grand's Issue 5 Release!

Aidan Sanfelippo

It is every writer's goal to be published and to see their work appreciated by their peers, on Nov. 17th the authors of the new Barstow and Grand Issue 5 get to achieve that goal.

For the past five years, Barstow and Grand has worked to showcase the best writers in the region. Every year in the spring, writers who are connected to the Upper Midwest submit their original works which have the chance to be published in the journal the following fall.

Barstow and Grand Issue 5 will be available on Nov. 17th at a release party which, according to their Facebook page, will feature live readings, beer, and, of course, the issue itself.  The event will also feature special musical guest Soren Staff of Them Coulee Boys.

Issue #5, according to a Volume One article titled “Fantastic Fifth: Literary Journal ‘Barstow & Grand’ Set to Release Latest Issue” by Rebecca Mennecke, will have the most undergraduate authors in an issue so far and will feature a wide array of genres.

In an interview with Barstow and Grand editor Eric Rasmussen, he mentioned two student authors who stood out to him. Ruth Thompson, who wrote a fantasy piece titled “Love and Magic”, and Bryson Wilkins, who wrote a horror piece titled “Mr. Sun”. Rasmussen described both as great stories that surprised him while reading.

Another student author featured in the new issue is Elise Eystad, whose poem “So We Ordered Another Beer and Said, Life is Long” will be available to readers on November 17. 

“I feel such a strong connection to Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley,” Eystad remarked, “and I’m so thankful that we have a local publication that supports local creators. 

Due to covid-19, Barstow and Grand was unable to have an in-person event, and instead created the issue #4 Gallery, which featured videos, photos and recorded readings from many of the contributors.  Click here to view it today.

“We’ll definitely do [the gallery] again,” Rasmussen said.  “And I’m hoping, you know with one in the bag, maybe this issue’s authors can find some inspiration and we’ll be able to make that a part of the Barstow and Grand process.”

The start of submissions for issue #6 is March 1, 2022. Anyone associated with the Upper Midwest is encouraged to submit original poetry and/or prose for potential publication in the next issue.

When asked what things to keep in mind when submitting, Rasmussen said, “There are some customs and processes that the literary world appreciates, so a little bit of homework there is probably a good idea. And we have some resources on our website”.

““You’re never going to get published if you don’t put effort into the process, and that process begins by having the confidence to simply put yourself out there.””

— Elise Eystad

“You’re never going to get published if you don’t put effort into the process, and that process begins by having the confidence to simply put yourself out there,” said Eystad.

So put yourself out there, submit an original work of your own, but also give other writers the support you want to see for your work by going to the release party and buying a copy of Barstow and Grand Issue 5.

 The Barstow & Grand Issue 5 Release Party will be held at the Lazy Monk Brewing Company at 7 pm on Nov. 17th.

InSPIRITation: A List of Eau Claire’s Most Inspiring Places for Halloween

Aidan Sanfelippo

As the days get colder and the nights get longer, creative minds cannot help but wonder what lies just beyond the darkness. Since Halloween week is upon us, I thought I would share some Halloween appropriate places in Eau Claire that inspired me in my writing.

“One thing to keep in mind if you are planning on going to these places and others is to remain safe and respectful. Take only ideas, leave only footprints”

One thing to keep in mind if you are planning on going to these places and others is to remain safe and respectful. Take only ideas, leave only footprints. If you are planning on going to places like graveyards, be respectful of the people that lived and don’t bother anyone there. Make sure to also keep yourself safe, go in a group or with a friend. Keeping those ideas in mind, I got a group of friends together and we decided to find five inspiring places for scary stories.

Cemeteries

Cemeteries are great places for quiet contemplation when thinking about a book. As you walk, ask yourself about the lives the people led and who they might have been like. I found myself staring at gravestones trying to comprehend the names and dates that were once people. You can imagine them watching you, either in plain sight or from hiding as a member of the living enters their embassy of the dead. I purposefully didn’t include the name of the cemetery I visited because I do not want to draw you to one specific cemetery. Go to one that is open to walk around but BE RESPECTFUL. This is a place to be inspired about contemplation or where a character might feel like they are being watched.

---

The Old Orchard Cemetery

(Picture of the Plaque in The Old Orchard Cemetery)

The Old Orchard Cemetery was one cemetery that we visited that was especially thought-provoking. This cemetery, according to its plaque, "Is the final resting place for residents of the former Eau Claire County Asylum County Home and County Poor Farm" and because of that, most of the gravestones are missing names and dates of either birth, death, or both. An especially moving sight was a gravestone without any of those, just the word “unknown” left to represent a person’s entire life. It is also the only place in this list that is supposed to be haunted according to Visit Eau Claire’s “5 Paranormal Properties for Ghost Hunters”. In the article it is called Asylum Hill. A white slab tells the full story of what happened and how they are honoring the people that died at this place. The cemetery is only about the size of a yard, but its history towers over all the other places on this list. This is a great place to find inspiration in a historical place or possible supernatural encounters.  

---

Putnam Trail

(Picture of the culvert on The Putnam Trail)

Trails in the woods can feel isolated even with a group of friends. Cut off from society, the feeling of someone or someTHING watching your every move. Then you turn a corner, and you find a large tunnel in the earth. Even with cars driving above it, the tunnel feels immense and terrifying. As you walk through your voice will echo and you might even hear footsteps walking behind you. You know even if you turn around no one will be there. This culvert on the Putnam Trail is the place to be inspired about an ominous encounter or a story of someone walking alone only to realize they are being followed.

---

The River Lights Bridge at Phoenix Park

(Picture of The River Lights Bridge at Phoenix Park)

Bridges have always been ways of describing entrances into different worlds. The changing lights in this bridge and the water rushing underneath make it feel like you are no longer in the world you know. The boards creak and as you look down you see nothing but the rushing dark water waiting. In the darkness, the bridge is the only thing you can see other than the city just out of reach. This is the place where you can represent a character crossing over to a stranger world or to get inspiration from thinking about the unknown.

---

Your Own Home

(Picture of my own home)

After a long day of safely and respectfully finding ideas in Eau Claire’s inspiring places, take some time to write at home. Sit down, relax, watch a scary movie, and be in the safest place for you. Take some inspiration from turning safe spaces into scary ones, the terrifying feeling of an intruder or an unstoppable danger. So, take out your paper, write a bit, and don’t even think about what might be lurking outside of your window.

Happy Halloween, Writers!

"Carried Away By Curiosity": An Interview with Writer Amy Renshaw

Aidan Sanfelippo

Recently I was lucky enough to interview author and editor Amy Renshaw about her new book Strong Suspicions: A Sophie Strong Mystery. Amy is the Senior Editor of Brilliant Star Magazine and has participated in events like last year’s Chippewa Valley Postcard Project. Strong Suspicions is her second book, her first being the nonfiction book Voyage of Love: Abdu'l-Baha in North America. Strong Suspicions is a historical mystery book set in 1912 Milwaukee.  It’s told from the perspective of reporter Sophie Strong.

Aidan Sanfelippo: In September, you published Strong Suspicions: A Sophie Strong Mystery which follows reporter Sophie Strong as she investigates a murder to clear her friend's name. Without spoilers, what was your favorite part about writing this story?

Amy Renshaw: It was fun to learn about the process of developing a mystery plot. I love reading historical mysteries, but I never thought I could write one. Eventually I decided to give it a try. There are a lot of great books and articles about plotting a mystery. I kept writing myself into a corner, then looking for advice about how to move forward. Some things that seem obvious to a reader—like how all the suspects need a motive, and they all need to look guilty—only gradually became clearer as I wrote.

“The research was also really fun. The novel is set in 1912, so I had to find out a lot of things that you just naturally know when writing about the present. If someone turns on a light, is the power electricity or gas or oil? If they drive somewhere, how do they start the car? What do they wear, what do they eat?”

The research was also really fun. The novel is set in 1912, so I had to find out a lot of things that you just naturally know when writing about the present. If someone turns on a light, is the power electricity or gas or oil? If they drive somewhere, how do they start the car? What do they wear, what do they eat? At one point I thought a character might do a crossword puzzle, but crosswords weren’t invented until 1913. I’m thankful for libraries, librarians, and the internet. And podcasts were super helpful too.

AS: An interview with Spectrum West and your book's Amazon description suggest that this is only the first book in the Sophie Strong series! What are you most excited about when writing this series?

AR: For mystery lovers, it’s fun to get to know the characters over the course of a series. I’m excited to develop the characters and see how their relationships might change over time. In my favorite mystery series to read, the characters almost feel like old friends after a while. Their quirks and foibles are funny and endearing as you see them manifest in different ways.

I’m also excited about researching different locations in Milwaukee. The characters visit an amusement park in this book, and I was fascinated to learn that in the early 1900s, there were several amusement parks in Milwaukee, with roller coasters and water rides and other attractions, and they’ve completely disappeared. Going forward, I want to learn about theaters, libraries, museums—there are so many possibilities.

AS: Do you have any advice for writers who plan on writing a multiple-book story?

AR: I’m just starting to learn about writing a series, so I’m looking for advice myself! One thing I’ve learned so far is that the writer needs to consider whether the characters will progress through time and change, or if they’ll basically stay in about the same timeframe. I’m planning for these characters to progress, but slowly. In time, they might encounter World War I, national suffrage for women, Prohibition, and other historical events.  

AS: According to Amazon, this book is a part of the historical mystery genre. What about this genre interests you?

AR: I love historical fiction because there’s so much you can learn about life in previous time periods. It’s also compelling to me that society was wrestling with issues that we still deal with today, though in different ways. So with challenges like racial justice, women’s rights, immigration, and poverty, you can explore how those things impacted people in the past.

Also, though every age has its problems, sometimes it’s enjoyable to escape mentally to a time when people weren’t dealing with constant media access, digital tools, and other pressures of modern life. 

As far as the mystery part of the genre, I enjoy mysteries as a reader because there’s usually consistent action, and it’s fun to focus on solving a puzzle. Strong Suspicions could also be considered a “cozy” mystery, because it doesn’t include a lot of violence.

AS: When did you first know you were interested in this genre?

AR: I’ve been reading historical mysteries for about ten years. I love history in general, and I wrote a nonfiction historical book called Voyage of Love: ‘Abdu’l-Baha in North America. I’ve heard that you should write what you like to read, and that makes a lot of sense to me. I’m not sure exactly how long I worked on Strong Suspicions, but it was a big focus for at least two

years.

AS: In an interview with Spectrum West, you noted your love of research. Do you have any advice on how to research when writing historical fiction/non-fiction works?

“ I found that it’s easy to get carried away by curiosity. It’s a tough balance. ”

AR: I found that it’s easy to get carried away by curiosity. It’s a tough balance. To start, I had to do enough research to get a feel for the time and place. But sometimes I would dig into a topic and really get absorbed by it, and then realize I only needed to include a sentence or two about it. Some authors suggest drafting the novel and leaving notes to yourself about the historical stuff you don’t know. Then when it’s time to research, you can focus on things that will actually fit into the book. I’m trying to limit myself like that going forward, but I’m pretty sure I’ll go down a lot of rabbit holes too.

 AS: In the same interview, you said that your book takes place in 1912 when there was a referendum about whether women should vote in the state of Wisconsin. Why did you choose this unique backdrop for your book?

AR: There are a few things about the struggle for suffrage that really piqued my interest. Sometimes we think of women in the early 1900s as being very prim, proper, and reserved. But I was impressed that a lot of the suffragists were really bold. Some of them gave speeches to big crowds at fairs. They marched in parades. In 1912, women did automobile tours around the state, at a time when a lot of people were still using horse-drawn vehicles. Women’s roles in society were changing quite a bit at that time. And another thing that amazed me is that some women were activists against suffrage. They actually tried to prevent themselves and other women from having the basic human right to vote.

I think it’s important to learn about things like this to get a more complete picture of what women’s lives have been like throughout history. And when we learn about the social justice struggles of the past, to establish laws that we might take for granted today, it can open our minds to consider what new changes might be possible. Other goals that are challenging us, like eliminating racial prejudice and systemic racism, are things I believe can happen with effort and perseverance.

AS: Earlier this year, you were also a part of the Chippewa Valley Postcard Project. According to a WEAU article interviewing Ruth Peterson and Janet Frase, this event is meant to start a discussion where people can examine their own perceptions, learn more about racial justice, and make Eau Claire a better and safer place for people of color. What is something that you have learned from this project (or projects like this) that has influenced your writing?

AR: One thing I learned from the Postcard Project is that people of all ages enjoy creating art, and art can bring people together. We had so much fun at the Juneteenth celebration, for example, where people came to our table to create postcards with art supplies. The project also showed that a lot of people in our community care about racial justice and want to bring about change. I think one thing that’s critical is talking more about race and racism. Hopefully we can build more friendships between people of different races and backgrounds. If we can make Eau Claire more welcoming for people of color, we can have a stronger community.

AS: You are also the senior editor of Brilliant Star Magazine, a magazine that, according to their website, “empowers kids to be world citizens, use their virtues to make the world a better place, and express their creativity, strengths, and beliefs.” (Brilliant Star). How has your work with Brilliant Star influenced or inspired your writing?

AR: I’ve had the blessing of working with Brilliant Star Magazine for over 20 years. In that time, I’ve learned a lot about creativity, writing, and teamwork. My colleagues at the magazine are wonderful examples of dedication and commitment to art. Also, Brilliant Star is inspired by the teachings of the Baha’i Faith, and one of those teachings is that all art is a form of worship. That idea really helped me devote time and energy to this novel. I think it’s important for writers of any faith (or no faith) to trust that practicing our craft, no matter what the outcome, is beneficial—not only to our writing skill, but also to our hearts and minds.

Strong Suspicions: A Sophie Strong Mystery is available on Amazon in paperback and through Kindle, and make sure to keep an eye out for the next books in the series!

On Witches, Spells, and Writing: A Craft Talk Preview with Kathryn Nuernberger

by Charlotte Gutzmer

Since the Middle Ages, humanity has been fascinated with the idea of magic and witches. Even today, Kathryn Nuernberger reminds us how witches throughout history and even into the modern day can inspire activism, understanding, and writing.

Kathryn Nuernberger is an essayist and poet who writes about the history of science and ideas, renegade women, plant medicines, and witches. Her latest book is The Witch of Eye, which is about witches and witch trials. She is also the author of the poetry collections, RUE, The End of Pink, and Rag & Bone, as well as a collection of lyric essays, Brief Interviews with the Romantic Past. Her awards include the James Laughlin Prize from the Academy of American Poets, an NEA fellowship, and notable essays in the Best American series. She teaches in the Creative Writing MFA program at University of Minnesota. This craft talk will be recorded for later viewing.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Kate about her book, The Witch of Eye, her experiences as a professor, and how witchcraft intersects with writing. Read on to learn all about how the history of magic impacts our modern society, how spells can be a form of literature, and how defiance can empower our craft. Then enjoy her virtual craft talk on November 14 at 7PM.

Charlotte Gutzmer:  Your book The Witch of Eye is a beautiful exploration of literature, history, and witchcraft; how do these historical accounts of witchcraft influence our modern society?

 Kathryn Nuernberger: We live in the future shaped by the past. Witch trials were part of that past – they were part of how our judicial system was conceived, of what we consider credible evidence and reasonable testimony was shaped. Some parts of our present judicial system are better now – our ancestors did at least learn from the Salem Witch trials that accepting spectral evidence in a court of law makes for nightmare scenarios in a community. But in other parts of our judicial system and our society more generally, it is also clear that many people haven’t learned much at all from past atrocities. While it’s true that white women are not demonized as witches nearly so often or so violently as they once were, lots of other people in our society are regularly described as monsters and demons and we see the consequences of that twisted perspective in the prevalence of police shootings of unarmed civilians, in hate crimes, and in countless other acts of bias all around us.

 CG:  In the description of your craft talk, you write that we “will explore how spells might be understood as a form of literature that calls activism, resistance, connection, and beauty into this world”. Could you write some more about spellcraft as a form of literature?

 KN: Spells are an important part of the oral tradition. Some of them use rhyme, rhythm, form in the same way a poem might. Another definition of a spell I really like is “words that make something happen,” which means we might interpret certain kinds of political writing as a form of spellcraft as well.

 CG: As a poet, how do you think that witchcraft intersects with lyric? In other words, how can our own writing be a form of magic?

 KN: Because a common definition for a spell is “words that make something happen,” it is not unreasonable to consider any act of writing to be a form of magic. I’m partial to the ones that offer readers a gift – insight or hope or solidarity or a plan for radical political transformation.

 CG:  How did learning about witches and accused witches influence growth in your writing?

 KN: Much of what I learned about accused witches came through my readings of testimonies given by the accused in court. In these moments the accused were in very precarious positions – anything they said might save their lives or condemn them. But also anything they confessed to might be an assertion of their integrity and autonomy as people or be a complete compromise and submission to an oppressive system. Most of the people I chose to write about had a moment of profound resistance in their testimony and I tried to learn from those moments how to live with integrity and courage. Sometimes they also showed brilliant ways to thwart and undermine an oppressive regime via the story you tell, and I tried to learn those lessons too.

 CG: As a professor in the University of Minnesota’s Creative Writing MFA program, how does your experience teaching affect your perspective on writing?

 KN: There’s nothing quite so inspiring as watching a student have an incredible “aha moment” about their own writing. Often I give advice I’ve given a hundred times before, but when that advice lands just right with a student and reveals something to them about their own writing, well to me it feels like I’m learning that strategy again for the first time as well. Students inspire me in many ways, sometimes through their own radical innovations and sometimes by reminding me how valuable it is to keep approaching the blank page every morning with a beginner’s mind that is open to possibilities and experimentation.

 CG: Your craft talk will discuss moments of defiance and resistance in witchcraft. How do these acts of defiance and resistance empower individuals, and how can they also empower our craft?

 KN: A lot of the spells I saw in the course of researching this book started with a description of a previous time the spell had worked. The logic seemed to be that you needed to have seen the magic work already, in order for the magic to work this time. I think that in order to imagine a more just future, it really helps to be able to find examples of that kind of justice already in place, either in small communities in the present moment or historically. Similarly, in order to engage in defiant acts of resistance against an oppressive regime, it helps to have seen someone do it before. In this book I wanted to create a catalogue of examples to make it possible to repeat the spell again, maybe better and stronger because there were examples in place of how it had previously worked, the next time around.

So what are you waiting for? Register today for Kathryn Nuernberger’s craft talk to take the next step in advancing your craft—both in writing and in magic.

The Guild Gives Hope, and Hopes You'll Give

In March of 2020, when words like “masks” and “social distancing” became a part of the daily parlance, the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild made a choice: for as long as we could, we wouldn’t charge anyone for anything until we were all back on our feet. 

Over the past 19 months, we’ve stayed true to that promise. 

Like so many organizations, we pivoted to the virtual format, hosting craft talks with Kimberly Blaeser, Nickolas Butler, Tessa Fontaine, Christina Clancy, David Shih, José Alvergue, Peter Geye, Barrett Swanson, Amanda Skenandore, Larry Watson, Margi Preus, Angie Trudell-Vasquez, Matthew Gavin Frank, Carson Vaughan, Phong Nguyen, Pat Zietlow Miller, among others.  On October 14 at 7PM, we’re hosting our next virtual event: Kathryn Nuernberger’s “Spellcraft and Other Thoughts on The Magic Of Writing”.  Taken together, these events have benefited thousands of writers the world over.  And we’d never have made the pivot to the virtual platform so successfully were it not for the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, our greatest partner throughout the pandemic.

Additionally, we also partnered with the fantastic Pablo Center at the Confluence, who helped us move our popular Sound & Stories series to the virtual stage.  Together, we hosted “Joy to the Word, “All Creatures Great and Small,”  and “Something Old, Something New” for hundreds of viewers.  (And if you missed them, just click the links above!). How wonderful to work with dozens of storytellers, in addition to musicians The Nunnery, Humbird, Peter Phippen, Victoria Shoemaker, Simone Patrie, and more. 

Looking forward, we’ve got a mix of virtual and in-person events to share with you: from Barstow & Grand’s issue 5 release on November 17 at Lazy Monk Brewery, to our annual “Joy to the Word” event on December 16 at Pablo. 

But beyond all these events, the Guild has also served another vital purpose throughout the covid era.  Namely, by serving as the official home for the “Hope Is The Thing” project, which started right here in the Chippewa Valley on March 21, 2020. Over the course of several months, local writers began sending us their “hope” in 500 words or fewer.  We gathered them up, published them daily, and tried to share a little light among the darkness.  The state took notice, and just weeks ago, the Wisconsin Historical Society Press published Hope Is The Thing: Wisconsinites on Perseverance in a Pandemic, featuring 100 writers from across the state.  This Thursday at 7PM, contributors Dan Lyksett, Lopa Basu, Allyson Loomis, Matt Larson, Rebecca Mennecke, Eric Rasmussen, Luong Hunyh, and Katherine Schneider will be sharing their work at The Local Store’s Volume One Gallery.        

Finally, The Priory Writers’ Retreat is back!  On January 1, 2022, we will open applications for our June 23-26 retreat in beautiful Eau Claire.  This is one of our prized programs, and we’re thrilled to return better than ever! This year, participants will have the opportunity to work closely with four writers-in-residence—Nickolas Butler, (fiction) Nicole Kronzer (young adult), Angela Trudell-Vasquez (poetry) and Barrett Swanson (nonfiction)—while also making time for free writing and craft talks and networking and more.  How grateful we are to our newest sponsor, the Wisconsin Writers Association.

Of course, none of this is possible without you.  Yes, you.  As a Guild, we count on everyone to do their part to ensure our mutual success.  To that end, we’re urging you to please consider becoming a $5/month sustaining member, which provides you (and others!) free access to most of our events.  Or, if you prefer to make a one-time tax-deductible gift, you can do that here.     

We’ve done our best over the past 19 months, but now we’re calling upon you to help.  Please ensure our success over the next year.  Please take a moment to make your tax-deductible gift today.

Be inspired, inspire others,

B.J. Hollars

“Entering the Portal”: An Interview with Speculative Fiction Writer Charles Payseur

Aidan Sanfelippo

Imagine space cats running a ghost ship, the tragedy of a star losing their partner, or a man facing both the freezing future earth and losing his fathers.

Such compelling premises are all from the mind of Eau Claire resident and four-time Hugo Awards finalist Charles Payseur. In July of 2021, Charles published a new book of speculative fiction stories titled The Burning Day and Other Strange Stories. I was lucky enough to chat with Charles about his love of speculative fiction, the importance of diversity in stories, and his advice for writers interested in this genre.

Aidan Sanfelippo: A Publishers' Weekly review recognized your new book as "a sure thing for fans of progressive science fiction and fantasy." Can you share a bit about what progressive science fiction and fantasy means to you? 

Charles Payseur: “Progressive” is such a strange word. In some ways it’s incredibly descriptive and accurate when used to categorize things because people will sort of just know what it means. However, that’s because it’s also a buzzword that describes “that kind of writing” which people who like to describe themselves as conservative feel embodies everything that’s wrong with the world. Fortunately, that means it’s a word that is in the process of being claimed/reclaimed into something positive rather than negative. Unfortunately, it also seems to cut off this kind of “progressive” science fiction and fantasy from its long and storied history. It gives an illusion that this kind of work, this kind of writing, is new. And it’s not. Science fiction and fantasy has always been home to progressive thought and structure, to diverse characters and creators, and to futures that did more than glorify the past.

So my own thoughts on progressive science fiction and fantasy are…complicated. But ultimately I feel that it’s the start to an important conversation. And I feel that if the word connects us to, rather than divides us from, the progressive work that has been done since the beginning of science fiction and fantasy from the marginalized and trailblazing authors engaged in the genres, then it’s incredibly valuable, and I’m honored to be included in that tradition.

AS: What is it about these genres that you enjoy most? 

CP: I’ve described speculative fiction (what science fiction and fantasy fall into) as a genre defined by its mandate to break rules. What makes a story speculative is what separates it from the “real” world in some profound way. And I feel there’s a great power there, especially for those who often found or find the “real” world around them suffocating. Who felt or feel powerless in the face of things they couldn’t or can’t fight back against or control. So one reason that I love speculative fiction is that it can offer an escape from that. There’s a reason why portals are so popular in fantasy stories, that allow characters to slip into another world. Or grant people superpowers that allow them to fight what otherwise feels impossible to engage with. That can be freeing, as a reader, to imagine and to experience vicariously through the stories.

But it’s more than that. More than just escape. As a writer, speculative fiction demonstrates that sometimes the rules that we break, that so profoundly differ from the “real” world that stories become science fiction or fantasy, are themselves constructs. The rules are just what people have accepted as necessary or true without fully exploring that, without questioning that. And speculative fiction can push people to see that the supposed truth, the “reality” around them, is as much fiction as martians or magic. That, for me, is the true power and beauty of speculative fiction.

AS: What advice do you have for writers in these genres?

CP: Probably to never get so lost on the speculative premise of your work that you forget that the heart of every story is in the characters, the setting, the action, the moving parts. A lot of times (and I know I did this a lot myself) the allure of the Big Idea can sort of lead people away from making sure they’re telling a story, first and most. And however inventive or interesting the premise is, that’s not enough to make effective or engaging fiction. After that, just be brave! Break rules! Imagine different worlds!

AS: In an interview on "Spectrum West with Al Ross", you have said that one of your first windows into speculative fiction was R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps. Which Goosebumps book has influenced you the most in your writing?

CP: Haha I mean I learned to love reading through Goosebumps. They were the first time that I really connected with books and they sparked an interest in the weird and speculative that lasts to this day. And I think they really do have some great lessons on craft tucked away in them, though obviously they’re geared toward children. Thinking back, it’s difficult to really pull them apart in my mind as individual books rather than a series, though. There are some I remember liking more, like One Day at Horrorland and Ghost Beach but I think when it comes to influence it’s more the collective weight of them that resonates. The way that Stine played with children not being believed by adults, being gaslit about very real dangers. Or the way that he hit on the friendships kids have, friendly but always with a bit of a competitive edge. And of course his fearlessness to let things get incredibly weird and not apologize for it. I’ve since gone back and reread pretty much the entire original series over the past few years and that’s still something that stands out to me, even during some of the more unfortunate moments in the series. It’s not afraid to swing for the fences when it comes to an off-the-wall idea, and I greatly admire that.

AS: What is your advice on learning or getting inspiration from books that writers enjoy?

CP: Don’t be embarrassed! I think that shame is something that’s hard to fight sometimes when faced with “being a writer” (whatever that really means). We learn through what gets taught to us what is essentially “acceptable” to like. And we learn from what those around us like, and what gets recommended to us, and what is popular and what gets movies or television shows based off of it. All of these act as pressures pushing writers to conform to a more limited idea of what good writing is and what it can be. Especially as people go through school and the social and educational pressures there, it’s easy to abandon things that you really enjoy out of shame or embarrassment. And that’s a loss, because for me embracing those niche joys can fuel my creativity in unique and wonderful ways. So don’t be embarrassed, but do also be prepared to look on what you like in a critical way, and seek to understand why you like it, and how you can explore and use that as a writer.

AS: You also mentioned in the interview that you review speculative compact stories on your blog Quick Sip Reviews. Do you think that reviewing other works of literature has helped you write your own stories?

CP: Sometimes? I think that in a lot of ways it’s a great way to learn about craft, and to think about structure, character, tone, voice, all of that. There’s a reason, after all, why creative writing classes all tend to have a reading component, and a criticism component. Reviewing is great for thinking about stories and can be a tool to help strengthen critical muscles for a writer to better engage with their own work. What reviewing helps the most with, though, is reviewing. Which shouldn’t be a huge surprise. Examining paintings in a show or museum can help a person appreciate and articulate things about paintings that they hadn’t been able to before. But that won’t necessarily help you paint better. It can get wheels turning that can lead to that, but the work of writing is always best honed through writing. And though I do think reviewing has pushed me to want to be a better writer and to maybe have an idea of what that looks like, it’s only through writing again and again and again that I think I’ve actually been able to get closer to that idea.

AS: It has been a busy year for you! Along with publishing The Burning Day and Other Strange Stories, you also edited a new book, We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020, alongside guest editor C.L. Clark according to Amazon. Can you describe the importance of diversity in books and short stories?

CP: I needed stories I was never exposed to until I was out of college. Needed them to see parts of myself that I was in denial about, that I didn’t have the language to even think about. And these stories were never given to me, and more than that they were often marginalized and hidden from me so that I didn’t even know they existed. Too many people are in that kind of boat. Aren’t aware that these stories are not new. That they have been told. And told again. And again. And each time they are pushed away and they are hidden and they are censored and they are burned. In the name of protecting people. From? Themselves? The truth of their hearts and identities?

 Diversity in writing opens up the world. It’s a portal through which people can step and find that things they thought were impossible are within their grasp. That ways they’ve felt so alone are connections to communities waiting to welcome them. But only if they find those portals. Only if those stories make it to their hands. So I am incredibly invested in trying to get those kinds of stories into as many hands as I can. To celebrate them and to highlight them and to be loud about them. Because there are people out there who need them, like I needed them. Like I need them still.

Charles Payseur’s book The Burning Day and Other Strange Stories is available on Amazon in either paperback or on Kindle. You can also support Charles on his Patreon and read his reviews on his blog Quick Sip Reviews.

“Your Story Can ALWAYS Get Better”: An Interview with Pat Zietlow Miller on Her Upcoming Virtual Craft Talk

Aja St. Germaine

Pat Zietlow Miller has been writing since the seventh grade and has sold a total of 23 books (12 currently published, 11 more to be published in the coming years). She understands the challenges that great writers in any genre face: writer's block, sensitivity to criticism, and imposter syndrome. She also knows that all writers can overcome these challenges and more.

I was thrilled to chat with Pat on her upcoming virtual craft talk, "Rising From The Wreckage: Revision Tips for Whatever You Write," which takes place September 21 at 7PM central time.  The talk will focus on her passion behind the art, the skill of critique and editing, and as she lovingly puts it, "ripping [your writing] apart for the greater good."

Aja St. Germaine: I'll start with an easy one! Your website mentions that reading influences your writing. What are you reading right now, and how is that influencing your own writing process?

Pat Zietlow Miller: I try to read a wide variety of books -- from board books to adult fiction and nonfiction. I learn so much from good writing whether it's in the genre I write or not. There's always something I can appreciate and apply.

Two recent picture books I've read are NEGATIVE CAT by Sophie Blackall and THE PURPLE PUFFY COAT by Maribeth Boelts and Daniel Duncan. While they are very different stories -- NEGATIVE CAT is about a boy who loves his cat so much he'll do anything to keep him, and THE PURPLE PUFFY COAT is about two friends who learn to listen to what makes each other happy -- they both have a lot of heart. You feel something after reading each story, and that's something most successful picture books have in common.

Plus, NEGATIVE CAT contains some lovely, inspiring turns of phrase, and THE PURPLE PUFFY COAT is funny, which is something I'm always trying to add to my work.

The cool thing about reading work by other writers, is that you see what's possible. You get to be inspired. You get to say: "Wow! That's wonderful! I wonder if I could write something half as good." And, often, you can.

AS: Your book BE KIND has been on the New York Times' picture book bestseller list! In what ways has that impacted your writing experience? Was there an impact that you were not anticipating? What emotions did you find yourself feeling?

PZM: Having BE KIND on the New York Times bestseller list for 10 weeks was a thrill and a dream come true. It brought me recognition, opportunities, and royalties I hadn't experienced before. It was a goal that I wrote down when I started writing books for kids, and seeing it actually happen was amazing.

 The unexpected part was the stress I felt after making the list. Whether or not a book becomes a NYT bestseller is totally out of an author's control. So, while I felt pressure to do it again, it wasn't something I could just make happen. Like many people, I like to feel in control of my life, and the success of my future books was not something I could control. I also experienced a bit of imposter syndrome -- that I wasn't really good enough or cool enough to be a New York Times bestselling author. It took me a bit of time to get out of my head about it and focus on going back to what I could control -- writing stories that I love and trusting that other people would love them too. 

AS: Writing within the realm of children's literature is powerful and impactful genre-work. What draws you into children's literature, and what inspires you to connect with young readers and their minds?

PZM: Being a kid means experiencing so many things for the first time. And, those first experiences can result in a lot of big emotions. I love writing for kids because you can channel those first-time experiences and big emotions into a story that might be funny or reassuring or informative. And, that story you write might make it easier for its readers to handle their emotions and know they're not the only ones feeling them.

 In many ways, I write books for the kid I was and for the kids I know. And, by doing that, my books usually end up being for everyone. Because emotions are universal. I always want to write a book that anyone -- from age 4 to 104 -- could read and feel a connection to because, at some point they've had that experience or felt that feeling. And, reminding people of those universal human emotions helps us see that we're more alike than we think.

I also love introducing kids to the wonder of books. I hope that if they love books when they're young, they'll grow to become curious teen and adult readers.

 AS: Lastly, during your craft talk, you are focusing on revision tips throughout the writing process. For myself personally, I find myself often dreading revision and critique, even my own. What do you find yourself doing in preparation for your own revision-work?

PZM: One thing I've learned as a writer is that your story can ALWAYS get better. Always. And, sometimes, the more you think your story is done and perfect, the more you need to go back and think about it some more. 

So, I approach revision with a reminder to myself of what my goal is. To write the truest, best story I possibly can that excels in every way. Structure, voice, heart, pacing, plot, tension and language. And, as I'll talk about in my presentation, getting to that point sometimes means taking something you love and ripping it apart for the greater good. 

Revision is challenging yourself to do better. To reach writing heights you might not have considered before. I've always been competitive and tenacious, so revision is just unleashing those qualities on something that I wrote.

Click here to register today for Pat’s September 21 craft talk co-sponsored with the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

.

Writers Take The Stage At The River Prairie Celebration of Art

Aidan Sanfelippo

Eau Claire County’s artistic businesses are crucial to the local creative economy, and events like the River Prairie Celebration of Art are here to prove it.

On September 12, from 10am-4pm, the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corporation, the City of Altoona, and the Pablo Center are hosting the River Prairie Celebration of Art at River Prairie Park in Altoona, WI.

The celebration will include local art vendors and food trucks, art activities for children, and performances by the Torch Sisters, the Golden Band, and a live reading from members of our very own Chippewa Valley Writers Guild.

“The Guild is thrilled to be a part of this exciting event dedicated to showcasing local arts,” said Guild director B.J. Hollars.  “Arts entertain, to be sure, but they also drive our creative economy in a big way.  We’re excited to celebrate that.”

The reading will take place at the main stage at River Prairie Park from 11am-1pm.  Hosted by Julian Emerson, it will include original readings from Deb Peterson, Charlotte Gutzmer, Jessi Peterson, Jackie McManus, Debbie Campbell, Amy Renshaw, Dan Lyksett, Connie Russell, Patti See, and Bruce Taylor.  Works will range in subject, but they’ll be connected by the geographic region in which they were written—right here in Eau Claire.

The River Prairie Celebration of Art is but one of many events to take place during the Economy of Art Week—a weeklong effort to highlight the economic importance of artistic businesses in Eau Claire County.   Other events include the Chamber Orchestra Concert on Sept. 11th at 7:30pm at the Pablo Center, and the musical group OAR on Sept. 12th at 7:30pm, also at Pablo. The week will conclude on the 18th with Forge Fest at Artisan Forge Studios, which will feature its own art festival from 10am - 4pm, as well as a live concert at 5pm featuring Peter Wolf Crier along with many other artists.

This week-long celebration of the arts is sponsored by Art of the Valley, Bakke Norman Law Offices, Eau Claire Area EDC, the Pablo Center, Prevail Bank, Visit Eau Claire, and Xcel Energy.

Lyric Essays and Explosions: A Conversation with Matthew Gavin Frank

by Charlotte Gutzmer

We’ve all seen the classic action movie explosion sequence: beginning with the wide-angle shot where the building detonates, blossoming into a cloud of reds, oranges, and yellows, smoke pouring into the sky. At which point the hero always, always, turns away. But such a move extends beyond the Hollywood explosions.  In poet Alberto Rios’s piece “Some Extensions on the Sovereignty of Science”, he writes that “when something explodes, / Turn exactly opposite from it and see what there is to see.” Matthew Gavin Frank takes this advice to heart in his own writing, “turning away” from the subject matter in search of the more intriguing, bizarre, and extraordinary sources of inspiration—and you can, too!

Matthew Gavin Frank is the author of the nonfiction books, The Mad Feast: An Ecstatic Tour Through America’s Food, Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer, Pot Farm, Barolo, and Flight of the Diamond Smugglers; the poetry books, The Morrow Plots, Warranty in Zulu, and Sagittarius Agitprop, and 2 chapbooks. His heavily acclaimed work has been recognized by the New York Times, NPR, the New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, and more. On July 27th, join him in his CVWG craft talk: “Turning Away from the Explosion, Or, the Power of Free Association in the Lyric Essay”. 

I had the pleasure of chatting with Matthew Gavin Frank about his captivating books, about the new writing form of the lyric essay, and about his upcoming craft talk. Read on to learn all about creating balance in your writing and how the most fascinating stories can be found by turning away from the main subject.

Charlotte Gutzmer: In the description of your upcoming craft talk, you pose the question: “By ‘turning away’ from the subject matter with which we most urgently want to engage, are we able to capture our subject’s emotive power even more poignantly?” What are some of the advantages of approaching stories from these unexpected ways, and what can turning away from the main idea reveal?

Matthew Gavin Frank: Many of my favorite essays are struggling toward something, not presuming certainty.  In the essay, often, a presumption of certainty can seem boring. And aggressive.  And false.  Certainty often obscures a kind of truth, rather than illuminates it.  The act of “turning away from the explosion,” not only signifies that a writer is grappling—desperately and urgently—to make sense of often intense personal experience, but also signifies that the writer is interested in journeying toward that elusive sense by attempting to situate their own personal experience or obsession within a larger socio-cultural, natural, and/or historical context, in order to discover or revise or uncover meaning in personal experience.  It’s like forcing ourselves to glimpse the stars only via our peripheral vision, by which, of course, they appear the brightest to us.    

CG: Your nonfiction writing revolves around fascinating and extraordinary topics such as diamond-smuggling carrier pigeons and giant squids; where do you find the inspiration to write on these topics, and what kinds of stories are you generally drawn towards?

MGF: Hmm, I’m not entirely sure.  I think I’m pretty scattershot with regard to my obsessions, and I’m easily obsessed.  I have a decent capacity for surprise, oftentimes to a fault.  The giant squid book (Preparing the Ghost) began in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History when I saw the first-ever photograph of the giant squid (taken by Reverend Moses Harvey in St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1874; the image that rescued the beast from the realm of mythology and finally proved its existence; the one in which the carcass is draped over Harvey’s bathtub curtain rod in order to showcase its full size).  I desperately wanted to uncover the backstory behind the taking of the photograph, and of course, I became curious about the squid itself, and the ways in which we’ve variously engaged it over the years.  I wanted to know what the giant squid, and our reactions to it, could tell us about ourselves.  I became compelled by Harvey’s compulsions, and the sacrifices he had to make in order to chase them toward some nebulous end. And so, I lit out for Newfoundland to investigate further, to see what I could find out. 

The pigeon book (Flight of the Diamond Smugglers) began when I was visiting the Diamond Coast of South Africa, chatting deep into the night in a bar with a former diamond diver, over lots and lots of brandy.  He told me about the ways in which workers would sometimes use trained homing pigeons to smuggle diamonds out of the mines, and that if pigeons are overloaded with too much weight, they can lose their natural GPS, and begin landing at random.  This happened along coastal South Africa—diamond-bearing pigeons dropping from the sky onto the local beaches.  I couldn’t get that image out of my head.  A rain of birds, burdened with gems.  It was that image that eventually led me to investigate further. 

In answering this question, I’m starting to wonder how the act of traveling impacts my openness to potential subject matter, as if my nerve endings are more exposed and aroused when away from home. Traveling seems to intensify my penchant for self-reflection and self-pity, for loneliness, for the shoehorning of my own life into some larger socio-cultural context.  And all of these actions and desires— while traveling especially, and snapped out of my comfort zone— are likely misguided and obsessed with all the wrong beautiful things, and thereby terribly, heartbreakingly human.  And worth shuffling through on the page, via multiple drafts of course.  I don’t know.  This is a really long answer.

CG: As an acclaimed author of both nonfiction and poetry, how do you combine these distinct elements into what is known as the “lyric essay”?

 MGF: In the past, there was a real disconnect for me between the process of writing a poem, and the process of writing prose.  Not so much anymore.  As with the writing of poetry, much of the energy that fuels the writing of my essays is derived from the attempt to find the perfect ingredients necessary to bridge seemingly dissimilar bits of subject matter.  It’s wonderful: as writers, we have the power to manipulate connections between just about anything, no matter how seemingly dissimilar.  It just takes research, contemplation, imaginative alchemy, and the P.I.-style investigation to uncover that perfect “bridge” ingredient.  

CG: What are some of the greatest rewards and challenges of being a lyric essayist?

MGF: Sometimes, the essay needs to call out and re-examine our cultural narratives (and their desire to simplify the world for us) as illusory.  To call attention to the mess.  To restore a false simplicity to its innate complexity.  To agitate our readers’ expectations rather than to confirm them (as well as our own).  I suppose there’s both reward and challenge in forsaking easy, comforting answers, and instead embracing mystery.  Sometimes I have trouble separating these lines of thinking from the processes of writing and just plain general living.  

CG: How can a writer strike a balance between the “explosion” that is their subject matter and the associative subject matter that adds depth to their craft?

MGF: I’m not so sure that balance should be the goal here, but rather a carefully curated imbalance, maybe.  A symphonic, perhaps dissonant, kind of shuffling of the various bits of subject matter, which can sometimes be engaged via formal leaps (a braided essay, a segmented essay, an essay in the form of a syllabus, or in the form of an invented mathematical theorem, or in the form of series of love letters to multiple recipients across time and region and species, or in the form of a narrative map…).  

So, I’m not sure about balance.  I’m chronically imbalanced on the page, especially when drafting! I just try to keep moving forward.  I used to think that there was something wrong with this, and I kept grappling toward some semblance of balance (whatever that means), until I read this article by another writer (though I can’t recall who it is), about how such imbalance can be a good thing; how it can be electric and inspirational, and how that it’s precisely this sort of off-kilter and anxious state that oftentimes yields urgent and exciting work.  I really wish I could remember who wrote that article.  I’m sure if I was better balanced, my memory would be better as well!  And during the pandemic, I’ve learned to be gentler and more generous with myself and others, and not to fret too terribly over ephemeral and elusive and ever-malleable things like “balance.”  I’m not always successful at such ventures, but I’m trying.  

CG: While your craft talk will focus on “the power of association as an entry point into the lyric essay”, can these ideas still be incorporated into other writing forms and creative mediums?

MGF: Oh, of course.  Such ideas can be mapped over and onto just about any art form and medium, sure, but also onto any real aspect of navigating this life.  Going for a walk, watching birds, listening to the frogs, talking to the coupling dragonflies…  Being associative in this way is innate, isn’t it?  I mean: how to navigate all these stimuli?! Maybe it’s a matter of trusting in said associations and inflaming them, interrogating them, bringing them to the fore—being led around by the forces of whimsy and wonder. 

So what are you waiting for? Register today for Matthew Gavin Frank’s craft talk to learn all about how you, too, can turn away from the explosion and bring the inspiration of lyric essays into your craft.

On Love, Social Justice, and Poetry: An Interview with Angela Trudell Vasquez

by Charlotte Gutzmer

In a world fraught with conflict and injustice, Angela Trudell Vasquez grips her pen tightly, writing poems of healing, identity, and love. These magically captivating poems do more than simply warm the heart; they bring people together, fostering a prosperous community like no other.

Angela Trudell Vasquez is a Mexican-American writer and holds an MFA in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Finishing Line Press published her third collection of poetry, In Light, Always Light, in 2019, and recently accepted her fourth collection, My People Redux, for publication. Her poems have appeared in the Yellow Medicine Review, The Slow Down, the Raven Chronicles, The Rumpus, on the Poetry Foundation’s website, and elsewhere. She is the current poet laureate of Madison, Wisconsin and the first Latina to hold the position. She recently co-edited a poetry anthology entitled Through This Door—Wisconsin in Poems, with current Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Margaret Rozga, and released it through her small press, Art Night Books, in November 2020. With poet Millissa Kingbird, she co-edited the Spring 2019 issue of the journal the Yellow Medicine Review. On July 29th, join her in her CVWG craft talk: “Poetry for the People Workshop”.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Angela about her poetry, her experience as the first Latina poet laureate, and about her upcoming craft talk; read on to learn all about incorporating themes of social justice and love into your writing, about writing poems of witness and share, and more!

Charlotte Gutzmer: The About Place Journal describes your poetry as a medium for “highlighting love and social justice”. How can one incorporate these themes into poetry, and how does the process of writing and publishing these poems affect writers and readers?

Angela Trudell Vasquez: Wow, that's really nice of them. I write what I feel and have been an activist from a young age marching with my parents for farmworkers' rights with Cesar Chavez during the lettuce boycott as a child. We lived in Iowa City at the time, my Dad went to the University of Iowa on the GI Bill and we lived in family student housing with people from all over the world. The smell of curry floated into our open windows. My best friend was from Australia. My parents were founding members of the Chicano House and we spent lots of time there. I think I was born a feminist actually. Social Justice has long been a part of my life. We were a Mexican American family living in Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines, we had politics for breakfast as a family and discussed history and politics, not just partisan, we went deeper. I understood class, socio economics from an early age having a super big family with different levels of education and income. Personally, people need to write about what they are moved to write. What are your deep concerns? Your words? Poetry must come from a deep well of truths, your truths. Everyone has their own story to tell and people are endlessly fascinating to me. Poetry can close the gap between people, foster greater understanding, connection and healing. Poets can not be false. There are two things I will mention when I present in June, poetry of witness and documentary poetics. I come from a long line of literary ancestors who helped shape me into the poet I am today. The more we share our poems the more we learn from each other and the greater human experience for all. 

CG: In addition to your own writing, you also have experience editing with the literary journals Yellow Medicine Review and About Place Journal.  How have your experiences in publishing influenced your perspective of the world around you? 

ATV: I have also edited a few more collections including two zines from my time in Milwaukee, and one most recently with the former Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Margaret Rozga, in November 2020 entitled, Through This Door. I also have my own press with my husband, Art Night Books. I find publishing others to be a joy! It does take work. I have learned that when curating a collection it is important to let all the pieces come in before I start reviewing them, so that the pieces can be in conversation with one another. You put a call out to the universe and you get what is floating in the ether. You get exactly what you need. I have also discovered I love having a co-editor like Millissa Kingbird with the Yellow Medicine Review, and Peggy Rozga with Through This Door which along with the other titles came out of Art Night Books. I love talking art and poetry with co-editors and shaping something into being. I enjoy editing my own work and developing good editorial skills in my MFA program. I will say there are so many good writers out there doing their thing without lots of fanfare and it is nice to publish them alongside more well-known writers. I guess I have learned we do not do anything on our own but with the help of others, and I do want to encourage others to write and express themselves. 

CG: In 2020, you were named Madison’s Poet Laureate, and you are the first Latina to hold the role! Could you reflect on your experiences so far in this position? 

ATV: Yes! I am the first Latina in this role and I do not take that lightly. I have had a great time. Later today I will proof the final images for the Bus Lines Poetry Project. I consider myself a literary ambassador, a poet for the people, and I want to connect, only connect in this role and sometimes that means reading my own poems and other times it means expanding people's ideas of poetry by introducing them to someone else's work. The city of Madison has been very welcoming. I love working with Karin Wolf who is my main contact at the city. I love bringing other poets and their poems to read poems at the City Council meetings. I have lost track of how many poetry contests I have judged and how many virtual readings I have done at this point. I do know how many I have done in person. I look forward to being more in the community and working with more young people. Poetry is having its day right now! In addition to what I do locally, I am active on the national and regional scene. Being the Madison Poet Laureate is my dream come true! I have been writing since the age of 7, and really it has been unbelievable for me. I feel most fortunate.

CG: Your craft talk will feature an exercise where participants “write their own poems of witness and share.” Could you speak on the importance of writing these types of poems?

ATV: Yes, absolutely. I am among other things a poet of place, space and time. I learned the term "Poetry of Witness" from the amazing poet who I adore Carolyn Forche, and I credit her book, The Country Between Us, as shaping me as a young poet in my twenties. Her work was also part of my thesis, this book, among many of her others. I like to write contemporary poems about the people around me, the times we are in and what I observe and see in the world. I can write a poem about anything; but sometimes I choose to write from the point of view of the witness, and/or create or sculpt on the page what I see, observe and suss out from the world around me. I write when traveling and before the pandemic that meant poems from travels in the US and outside. It can be a serious topic or it can be something else too.  Like my poems from Isla Mujeres. Or poems from this past weekend, poems from my first niece's wedding, the first to call me, name me "Titi." There were so many beautiful moments I have been writing them down, glimmers, and there is also this absence of those we miss like the young groom's father and his grandmother. With fierce love comes this sadness, coupled with coming together after the pandemic. We have to keep laughing or we will be crying moments, what people said, how they danced with the photographer, the moment we lost track of the rings, the way the young people looked, the bridal party walking down the aisle magnificent and pure in their love for the couple getting married. Meanwhile somewhere else there are people being bombed, losing what we all hold precious, our lives, our beloveds, our lives. This is all true. We, the people come and go but "Art Speaks" across the ages. You can time travel in poems. I have touched on this before in many other poems...

CG: In your upcoming craft talk, you will be sharing your poetic influences, including Carolyn Forché, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, Eduardo Galeano, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Arthur Sze, among others. What can we learn from studying the work of other authors, and what is one poetic technique that you have picked up from these writers? 

ATV: This is going to be so exciting for me! There is much to learn from other poets and to enjoy. Think about how much you enjoy standing in front of a piece of art at the Art Institute of Chicago or at the Chazen in Madison, or the Art Museum in Milwaukee, just writing down the names sparks my brain thinking of all the art I have seen and admired being alive. Good art inspires more art I find. There are poems I can never get enough of in this world and poems I am just stumbling on. I have almost passed out at a reading of a colleague or mentor at IAIA. Reading, listening to writing, these are wonderful gifts of humanity. If you want to be an artist/writer I think it is important to study others and not limit it to literary arts by any means. Arthur Sze's notion of every line being a poem is something I greatly admire!

CG: In the description for your upcoming craft talk, you also state that “poets and poems are central to the global movement towards peace and justice”. How can poetry be used as a force for positive societal change? 

ATV: Point of view, empathy, someone else's story, one they have shared with you can be very effective as a tool for creating a more just and peaceful world. The more we know about each other the less we can dehumanize each other, or allow others to do it to large groups of people. Story telling, sharing of words and stories, and poems can only help the equation. Poems are meant to be heard and are rooted in an oral tradition which by definition creates community. Art has traditionally been used for many different causes; it can certainly work for today's concerns as well. I think about how music, songs from the civil rights movement are just as poignant and relative today as they were when they initially played on the radio. I think of Picasso's Guernica and what it felt like to stand under it and witness what he depicted on the canvas for everyone to see and remember.

So what are you waiting for? Register today for Angela Trudell Vasquez’s craft talk to learn how you, too, can take the next steps towards writing poetry that can help bring people together instead of tearing them apart.

The Healing Power of Dogs: An Interview with Bonnie Wright

Some might say it’s best to let “sleeping dogs lie,” but not Bonnie Wright. In her debut memoir, Diggin’ Up Bones: One woman's spiritual struggle and her golden retriever who leads her out of unconscious transgenerational shame, she confronts her own chaotic and abusive childhood with the help of a dog, Saxon. Saxon, who was dangerously aggressive in his early months, was rehabilitated with Bonnie’s help. And as she supported Saxon, Saxon supported her. The result is a painful yet inspiring story of faith, persevering beyond life’s obstacles, and overcoming shame. We recently had the chance to catch up with Bonnie to learn more about her book and writing process.

1.) Diggin’ Up Bones details the psychological and emotional damage you endured growing up.  How has writing helped you process some of those experiences?

Writing my story over the course of twelve years caused deep introspection and research seeking reasons for walking through life with a heavy heart and a broken relationships. The process of balancing a positive outlook and internally battling the self talk inflicted upon me as a child. The messaging of invisibility, silencing, worthlessness, slamming against self- confidence. Being raised to believe the word curses of being stupid and berated.  The counterbalance was having the messages of faith and all things are possible with God which lit my spirit to push through adversity.  A belief that shame is not who I was supposed to be and I had a purpose as early as eight years old. Writing uprooted years of buried trauma. Having the courage to face its reality, using all senses we are given to experience it again, and God’s grace to move through it, forgive those who have done damage, and thanking those who have supported me, to let shame go.

2.) Your book also touches on the power of shame, and its negative impact on those who experience it?  Can you share a bit about how to overcome those feelings that hold us back?  

Yes.  It is a spiritual struggle within that is not fixed by a therapist or drugs, it is a personal choice I made. Faith and believing in Christ sacrifice by accepting him in our hearts and a housecleaning of the heart and mind releasing shame’s power. During my spiritual search to heal, what I learned on this healing journey was the love of God and the Holy Spirit, my mother taught me as a child which anchored me through life’s dark desolate valley, lifting me up to a life of hope, internal peace, wisdom, freedom from anxiety, healthy boundaries, and joy.  That inner small voice that protects us. It is having that one-on-one personal relationship with Christ through prayer that removes the heavy heartedness and living a life filled with promise and improved health. One may say religion, I say Christ who God sacrificed with his pure love for us and has the power to heal because of his blood shed on the cross. Once accepting that nothing in this world will fix the spiritual thirst implanted and believe, shame loses control. Life’s perspective changes and the past trauma is blinded and healed.  Because living in a shame based home love and belonging were absent. We are all children of God who has given each of us a life purpose before we were formed.  We are here to love, serve, forgive, be grateful, humble, and respond to people as Jesus would with kindness, and forbearance. We are here to be stewards. If more of us took that perspective, division and chaos would lose its grip.

Before we can heal we have to recognize and understand what shame looks like and how it has affected one’s life,  and how it operates in each life and across society and government. First and foremost, fear. It holds the mind prisoner blocking out any positive input and is controlling, leading the victim to believe in hopelessness. It forces silence and early death whether through disease or suicide. It pits people against one another causing violence.  It creates an unrelenting psychological abusive environment of chaos and anger. And when anger is planted deep enough shame is in control.  Because shame is transgenerational, it is transferred at conception, reproducing another generation of dysfunctional homes, causing the innocent child to believe it their normal.

“Shame wears many disguises. It comes through in body language of finger pointing, blame, anger, and twisted another’s words, creating fear, gas lighting, name calling, rejection, degrading”

— Bonnie Wright

Shame wears many disguises. It comes through in body language of finger pointing, blame, anger, and twisted another’s words, creating fear, gas lighting, name calling, rejection, degrading. Belittling, control, sexual abusive, addictions, denial, mean-spirited pranks, manipulative, mind games, loves chaos and flies under the radar. Left to its own devices it presents with anger, bitterness, resentment, contempt and eventually disease of the heart, gut and cancer. One never considers shame with all of its disguises. That’s why it is an unconscious villain actor manically laughing at us.

3.) Your book also tells the story of your powerful relationship with your Golden retriever, Saxon.  Can you describe a story in which Saxon helped you overcome some of the obstacles your book describes?

In the chapter called “Muzzled” is when I fully realized my childhood trauma, seeing him silenced wearing a black muzzle, depressed, hopeless, isolated as an outcast, pushing down the bitterness further within sliced into my heart and opened my consciousness and felt my conscience come alive. Love knows no boundaries and that was how I felt about him and the feelings were mutual. He would know joy if it took the rest of his life and the giving of my life to save him. Shame, anger, and stress took his life far too early, proving the detrimental effects that lead to chronic disease. Ultimately he succeeded showing me a hopeful path of life everlasting. He served his life’s purpose.

4.)   Can you share a bit about the writing process?

Yes. The book evolved from a daily journal after Saxon died. The concept of book was there but the know how to write it was not. Doors opened to me of persons who could help me put logic and order to my journaling. I knew nothing about book structure or process, or what a book required to have interest beyond a personal journal. Much less how to write memoir or what the golden thread of Diggin’ Up Bones would be. The book title changed at least four times as the book took on its own energy. After working with three writing coaches and finally connecting with Marion Roach Smith, author and writing coach of the Memoir Project, Troy School of Arts, Troy, New York, I learned how to write my story and give voice to the core message. She deeply cared.

She taught me about book structure and gave me a process she teaches to all of her writing students... She has a very simple algorithm to follow. First, decide one aspect in your life you are writing about or the arc of the book. Eventually I discovered shame to be part of the main theme. But faith was a critical factor and so was Saxon.  Saxon was the symbol of faith.

Want to check it out? Bonnie’s book is available at Amazon,

The Local Store, and at bonniewrightwrites.com   

A Journey Across Time—From the Comfort of Your Home: A Sound & Stories Sneak Preview

by Charlotte Gutzmer

Stories and music have been with us throughout all of time; from oral folktales and traditional flute music to modern recreations of poetic forms and ambient synth music, art has evolved alongside us, always surprising us and delighting us with new experiences. On Thursday, May 6th, from 6:30-7:30pm, join the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild for a new Sound & Stories event, “Something Old, Something New.”

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.

Click here to register for your free ticket today!

Hosted by B.J. Hollars and produced by Jonathan Rylander, settle in for a Pablo Streams event featuring stories from Andy Patrie, Selika Lawton, Mike Paulus, and Angela Hugunin, all accompanied and with original music from Peter Phippen and The Nunnery. And introducing musical guest Simone Patrie! With additional music support from James Igancio and Victoria Shoemaker. And visuals from Erik Elstran!

I had the pleasure of chatting with many of the artists and hearing about their inspiration and their relationships with and through time. 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.

Andrew Patrie

“A compelling line from the piece I will be reading, one that proves some things do not change with time, comes from my daughter, who is transgender, following an incident on a school bus. After I share a story that happened to me on the school bus (always a bus!), she asks, ‘Why are people so obsessed with body parts?’ She waits a moment before adding, ‘Why are people so mean?’”

Andrew Patrie, a writer and a teacher, is the author of the collection of poems Half-Life and the book Nights, Grace. He’s also a prolific writer for Volume One, where he features articles on everything from dad jokes to introspective articles on music. The piece he’s reading for the event “is excerpted from a book length memoir I am in the process of revising, a writing project which has placed me squarely in the past for the last couple years I've been working on it in earnest.” His writing strikes a phenomenal balance between what we see as lament and what we celebrate; after all, Andrew reminds us, we “can’t get to these milestones without time, either.”  While his writing looks back towards the past, he “wouldn't say it's necessarily done through a lens of nostalgia. The past is often difficult to look at, but it can allow us to make some sense of the present... I get nostalgic like anybody else (my friends and family might say that's an understatement), but if time was a VCR, I've learned that, for as much as I'd like to press the pause button, it's healthier for the tape to let it play out.”

Angela Hugunin

“So it was that Grandpa, months after losing his beloved wife of sixty-six and a half years, bought a Slingshot.”

Angela Hugunin is a senior at UW-Eau Claire majoring in Creative Writing and French. Angela is “drawn to connections: connections between people, between people and places, and between themes that may look at first glance like they’re unrelated... I’m curious about what’s going on under the surface and about what meaning can be found if we examine our experiences closely. Even the most seemingly mundane moments can hold immense meaning!” Some of Angela’s publications include her poem “Heal” in the Spring 2018 edition of NOTA, her essay “Here, We Do Dignity” in the November 2020 edition of Barstow & Grand, and even a variety of French poetry published in the French magazine D’ailleurs. For her, “writing is a wonderful vessel for exploring time. Playing with time—or at least, sifting through it—in writing allows me to process things, to look for commonalities and differences between experiences or themes, and to give the creative work more depth. In my piece for Sound and Stories, time is a prominent force. Moving through it gives me space to reflect on my current relationship with my grandfather, but in looking backward, I also find powerful truths about who he is and who I am. I get to look at who we’re becoming, too. I find that moving through time in my writing can allow powerful truths to emerge. Time can be a challenging force to pin down, but I’m learning that I don’t necessarily need to wrestle it to the ground or try to figure it out; instead, I can observe it and learn from it.”

Dr. Selika Lawton

“Everyone thinks that where they live, is the best place, the coolest place. When I came to Wisconsin. My students in Eau Claire were eager to tell me that Eau Claire was the New Orleans of the North. I did not exactly believe them…”

Dr. Selika Ducksworth Lawton is currently a Professor of history at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Dr. Ducksworth-Lawton is a specialist in Twentieth-Century African American Military, National Security, and Civil Rights History. She works in the intersection of race, national security, civil rights, and protest. Her book, Honorable Men: Armed Self Defense and the Deacons for Defense and Justice, is under contract with University Press of Mississippi and expected in press early next year. Honorable Men describes how African Americans veterans in the Deacons for Defense and Justice combined their military service knowledge with an African American vision of republicanism and citizenship to create a militia in Louisiana that successfully fought the Klan in the 1965-8 activists and protects white and African American Congress of Racial Equality activists. Dr. Ducksworth Lawton is the co-author of Minority and Gender Differences in Officer Career Progression. She is working on a new book on the impact of culture and geography on the activists’ choices between non-violence and armed self-defense in several states in 1964-1967. She earned her PhD in 1994 from Ohio State University in 20th Century military and African American History.

Mike Paulus

The heat lightning was sorcery to us. Some kind of rare devilry quietly bursting across the midnight horizon, raving over the dark, distant pine trees…

Mike Paulus is the Digital Services & Marketing Specialist for the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library here in Eau Claire. He’s worked in local publishing for over two decades, including 14 years as an editor with Volume One, where his “Rear End” column has appeared since 2004. He’s the co-creator and former host of Volume One’s “Let’s Be Honest” grownup storytelling night, and co-produced Volume One’s 2018 stage show True North. He’s a past contributor to Wisconsin Public Radio’s Wisconsin Life program, and he’s hosted multiple cat shows.

Peter Phippen

Peter Phippen is a Grammy Award Nominee, International Acoustic Music Awards Nominee, One World Music Awards Nominee, multiple Native American Music Awards Nominee and a 2021 Native American Style Flute Awards Lifetime Achievement Awards Winner. Phippen is a performing and recording artist specializing in traditional flutes from around the world. Over the past three decades Phippen has researched the history and performance technique of flutes both ancient and modern. In his approach to world flute performance, he is an experiential, natural folk musician with a penchant for creative and artistic musical improvisation. Phippen offers a captivating collage of sound images, covering the folklore and history of flutes from around the world and throughout time. Phippen performs an enchanting mix of the very old and very new in music. He has shared the stage with R. Carlos Nakai, Coyote Oldman, Xavier Quijas Yxayotl, and many more. As a recording artist, Phippen has recorded for Curb Records, Canyon Records, and Promotion Music Records. Phippen's flute playing has also appeared on Lifescapes, Sounds True, and Heart Dance Records.  For more visit: https://www.peterphippen.com/

The Nunnery

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 new single “Whirlpool Ride” is available to stream on Spotify, Youtube, iTunes, and Bandcamp.

So dig out those sepia-toned photos and prepare to view them in Technicolor! Dust off the heirloom and discover the story within! Tilt an ear toward the past, fix your eyes on the future—let’s see what magic awaits in the in-between!

Nourishing Connections: An Interview with Phong Nguyen on Writing, Inspiration, and Collaboration

by Charlotte Gutzmer

How do you craft a lasting story? Most people will tell you that the work begins with compelling characters, strong plots, and resonant themes. But beyond these basics lies the secret to creating stories that will endure the test of time and ingrain themselves in the hearts of readers: connection. Phong Nguyen knows that lasting stories all foster relationships between plot, setting, character, and theme, synergizing their strengths to build a narrative that leaps off the page.

Phong Nguyen is an award-winning author who has published three novels: The Bronze Drum (forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing, 2022), Roundabout: An Improvisational Fiction (Moon City Press, 2020), and The Adventures of Joe Harper (Outpost19, 2016, winner of the Prairie Heritage Book Award); and two short fiction collections: Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History (Mastodon Publishing, 2019) and Memory Sickness (Elixir Press, 2011). He is also the Miller Family Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing at the University of Missouri. On Tuesday, May 18th at 7pm, join him in his upcoming CVWG craft talk: “Building Strong Connective Tissue: Beyond Plot, Character, Setting, and Theme.”

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Phong Nguyen about his phenomenal writing and his upcoming craft talk. Read on to learn all about how nourishing the connections and establishing powerful emotions can strengthen your work, as well as how collaborations between community and literature create lasting impacts on writing.

Charlotte Gutzmer: In the description of your upcoming craft talk, you stress the importance of creating connections between plot, character, setting, and theme. What makes these connections so engaging and important, and how do these connections contribute to a story?

Phong Nguyen: The specific connections we will be discussing in the talk are those between character and plot ("Why is this character in this particular story?") and between character and setting ("How does this character's internal conflict manifest in an external action?"). These connections are vital because you can have the most compelling character and the most interesting plot but if there is no sense of why these events are meaningful to that character and how they affect their future, you will leave readers with the question "So what?" It is not enough to have crafted each of these discrete elements; they need to relate to one another in order to answer that question.

CG: In your short story collection Memory Sickness, I was impressed by not only your ability to craft lasting stories, but also by their emotional intensity. How can a writer weave these powerful emotions into their craft?

PN: If a writer is striving for emotional effect, one prerequisite is that the reader feels close to the characters; they need to feel real. For the characters to feel real, they should be highly specific. If you think about the people you know in your own life, they are highly specific-- the more we know someone, the more aware we are of their contradictions and complexity. Character in fiction works the same way; familiarity and identification go hand in hand. Another prerequisite is that the characters want something urgently, whatever that may be. That way, when their yearnings are denied (or fulfilled), the reader has been with them on the journey all along, yearning alongside them and sharing in the glory or tragedy of its attainment.

CG: Many of your stories feature a clear connection between internal characterization and external plot. What advice can you give writers who want to know more about how internal character affects external story?

PN: The most important aspect of this relationship is that the internal conflict must manifest as an external action. Most writers intuitively understand that their character(s) must experience some internal conflict; the trick is to manifest that conflict in a scene. You might call this the "slipper fits" moment. Theoretically, in the Cinderella story, the Prince or his representative could have simply seen Cinderella and recognized her from the ball, and they lived happily ever after. But that would be narratively inert and unsatisfying. It doesn't matter that the internal conflict is resolved. It never manifested. Therefore we need that "slipper fits" moment to make the conflict real and indicate a narrative destiny for the characters through scene.

CG: Where do you find inspiration for intriguing plots, characters, and conflicts?

PN: My answer is "yes." In other words, I find inspiration anywhere I can: life experience, dreams, research, stories, games, you name it. I try not to limit myself by drinking from only one fountain of inspiration.

CG: Several of your novels and short story collections focus on alternate realities or literary retellings, including The Adventures of Joe Harper and Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History. How, in your opinion, can our own lives and realities be affected by exploring these alternatives?

PN: I'm fond of collaborative writing and collaborations in general. Ancient myths were not created by individuals but by communities over vast spans of time. In the same way, I see The Adventures of Joe Harper as a collaboration with Mark Twain, and I see Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History as a playful collaboration with real historians (the highest compliment I receive from Pages is that readers often feel the need to go back to read the real histories after they read the alternate versions). As far as how our own lives and realities are affected by this, I suppose that such collaborations make us less self-centered and egoistic. It's important to remember that we are single links in a long literary chain.

CG: In your craft talk, you’ll be exploring the most difficult aspects of strengthening the connective tissue between the various aspects of fiction. Could you give a sneak preview from your craft talk that will help a writer overcome these difficulties?

PN: One exercise that we will undertake is to look at summaries of stories I've received that succeed on every level when it comes to discrete elements of storytelling but fail when it comes to making connections between them. Those who attend are invited to provide solutions to the lack of "connective tissue" between plot and character, and between character and setting. There will be time for attendees to write their own summaries of stories that make such connections.

So what are you waiting for? Register soon (link forthcoming!) for Phong Nguyen’s craft talk to learn all about how you can craft lasting stories and strengthen the connective tissue between the various aspects of fiction.

On Writing Extraordinary Moments in History: An Interview with Amanda Skenandore

by Charlotte Gutzmer

Have you ever opened the pages of a book only to be transported to a world full of intrigue, allure, and fascination? Amanda Skenandore has, and as a writer of historical fiction, much of her work is devoted to the art of rebuilding remarkable scenes from history and transposing them onto the page. Jennifer Klepper, USA Today bestselling author of Unbroken Threads, even wrote that Skenandore paints these landscapes of history “with such fine strokes that it’s hard to believe she didn’t somehow transport herself back in time to do her research”! 

Amanda Skenandore is the author of two historical novels, The Undertaker’s Assistant and Between Earth & Sky, winner of the 2019 American Library Association’s Reading List Award for Best Historical Fiction. Her third novel The Second Life of Mirielle West comes out in August, 2021. An avid reader, tea-drinker, and wanderlust, Amanda lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and their pet turtle Lenore. On June 15th at 7pm, join her in her upcoming CVWG craft talk: “Writing the Past”.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Amanda Skenandore about her fascinating historical fiction novels and her upcoming craft talk. Read on to learn how to find extraordinarily inspiring moments in history, how to create resonance between the past and the presence, and how to craft a story that is unforgettable.

Charlotte Gutzmer: What draws you to researching and writing about the past?

Amanda Skenandore: I’ve always loved history. In many ways, the past is like an entirely different world—a world I get to visit in my mind when I research and write. And yet there’s so much that’s relatable in history too, so much that’s relevant to our modern-day lives. History challenges me. It surprises me. It broadens my perspective.

CG: How can one find extraordinary moments in history?

AS: History is filled with extraordinary moments, and you can find them by being curious—not just in your reading but your everyday life. The imprint of those moments is all around us, in the physical spaces we inhabit, in our customs and values. But oftentimes you have to peel back several layers of myth and bias to get at the truth of those moments and find what’s really extraordinary.

CG: In the description of your craft talk, you discuss how there are “common elements that make stories from the past resonate with modern readers”. What are some of these elements?

AS: Many of those elements relate back to our shared humanity. Readers want to be transported to another time, but they want to see people (real or imagined) relating to that world in ways similar to today. Not necessarily on an operational level, but on a physical and emotional one. Heartbreak, ambition, loss, pain, courage—these existed in the past as much as they do today and can bridge that distance in time for the reader.

CG: What are some of the greatest rewards and challenges that come with being a writer of historical fiction?

AS: One of the greatest rewards of writing historical fiction is connecting with readers and sharing with them lesser-known parts of history. I feel like I grow with each novel I write and am able to see the world with a fresh perspective. One of the greatest challenges is finding primary source material, especially for marginalized voices and overlooked events.

CG: Your craft talk will discuss “the responsibility an author has to the historical record and to the reader.” What are some of these responsibilities, and what makes them so important?

AS: I believe writers of historical fiction make a pact with readers. In exchange for their trust, we present a well-researched rendering of the past. Too many errors or misrepresentations and readers will be pulled from the story world and approach the work with suspicion.

CG: Could you give a sneak preview of one of the historical research techniques that you’ll cover in your craft talk?

AS: One of my go-to resources is Google Books. I use it not just to read out-of-print material but also to verify word usage. I can set the date range I want in the advanced settings and search for words or phrases to see if and how they were in use during that time period.

CG: In the description of your craft talk, you quote Rudyard Kipling: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” What makes a story unforgettable?

AS: For me, it’s the character. When we experience history through the lens of a person—their thoughts and fears and hopes and dreams—we connect with the surrounding events, the history, on a more visceral and memorable level.

So what are you waiting for? Register today for Amanda Skenandore’s craft talk for the chance to peer into the past and to transport yourself into a time where you and your writing will never be forgotten.

On the Art of Questions, Storytelling, and Magic: A Conversation with Margi Preus

by Charlotte Gutzmer

When it comes to worlds of mystery and adventure, no one knows how to navigate to the heart of an enchanting story quite like Margi Preus. Whether it’s a breathtaking tale of history and heroism or a bewitching story of myths and magic, she knows exactly what questions will drive her to the deepest and most enthralling moments, settings, and characters.

Margi Preus is a New York Times bestselling author of the Newbery Honor Book Heart of a Samurai and other notable novels and picture books for young readers. New in 2020 are Village of Scoundrels, The Littlest Voyageur, and The Silver Box, part of the Enchantment Lake mystery series. Her books have won multiple awards, been honored as ALA/ALSC Notables, selected as an NPR Backseat Book Club pick, chosen for community reads, and translated into many languages. When not writing, Margi enjoys traveling, speaking, and visiting schools all over the world. On June 8th at 7pm, join her for her CVWG craft talk: “Can I Pull This Off? And Other Questions That Drive Our Writing And Inspire Our Stories”. 

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Margi Preus about her extraordinary stories and her upcoming craft talk. Read on to learn all about how asking questions as you write can hone your craft, the rewards and challenges of writing for young readers, and more!

Charlotte Gutzmer: What are some of the rewards and challenges of being a writer of literature for young readers?

Margi Preus: If you think about what books have meant the most to you, or that have influenced you more than others, it’s likely you’ll single out a book or books from your young reading life. There is no more passionate reader than a young reader. This knowledge makes writing for young readers both rewarding and harrowing. The same thing that makes writing for young readers so rewarding also offers up its greatest challenge: the responsibility that comes with writing for those young hearts and minds.

CG: On your website, you note that your magically fascinating books are rooted in your “family, their stories, and their love of the outdoors.” How does writing help you explore your heritage and the world around you?

MP: Writing makes us see the world more sharply; it allows us to examine human relationships more deeply; and it gives us time to contemplate big questions—the questions raised in and by our own small family spheres as well as the greater world around us.

CG: Your website also refers to a love for travel and for speaking! How have your personal experiences in these passions influenced your craft?

MP: Whether taking shelter behind a boulder during a snowstorm in Norway or getting lost in a forest in France where Jewish children hid during WWII, things I experience when I travel seem to work their way into my stories. And the people I have been privileged to get to know in my travels and through interviews have not only enriched and shaped my writing, but my whole life.

CG: In the description of your upcoming craft talk, you stress the importance of questions and how they are integral to enlightening both writers and readers. How can questions help writers home in on the heart of their craft?

“I find that I am most engaged in my writing not when I am trying to make a statement, but when I am grappling with questions, questions I don’t know the answers to, sometimes unanswerable questions.  ”

— Margi Preus

MP: I find that I am most engaged in my writing not when I am trying to make a statement, but when I am grappling with questions, questions I don’t know the answers to, sometimes unanswerable questions.  

Being aware of the questions that propel you to write in general and why you want to write a particular story help to inform your writing and enrich your writing experience. The questions that you raise within your story for readers to ponder add depth and meaning to that story.  

 I don’t believe we need to always answer the questions we raise, or to wrap everything up in a tidy bow. Raising questions for the reader to ponder and wonder over is a perfectly legitimate purpose of telling stories and may enlighten in deeper ways than answers and solutions.

CG: Of the many questions one might ask oneself when beginning a project, what question is most important?

MP: That is always going to depend on the writer and the project. Still, at some point early in the process the question, “Can I pull this off?” is probably going to occur to the writer. For me, the answer is pretty much always ‘probably not’ which could mean I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, but it might mean there is something wonderful in store—something that will stretch my abilities and expand my imagination, something that will challenge writer and reader.

I think we all ask ourselves questions at the start of a story, even though we’re not always aware of what they are. I hope in my session we can delve into all kinds of things we wonder about, ask ourselves, and consider what questions we hope to pose to the reader.

CG: On your website, you give writers the valuable advice to read “like a writer”. How does one read like a writer, and what benefits does this practice bring?

MP: In a second read-through (the first read-through should always be just for pleasure) look for moments where the story has made you cry, laugh, shiver with suspense, or has kept you turning pages well past your bedtime. What kind of magic trick has the writer performed to make those things happen? Take it apart and study it, as you might learn how to make a coin disappear or pull a rabbit out of a hat. Then practice it. 

So what are you waiting for? Register today for Margi Preus’s craft talk to find out which questions are going to ensnare the senses of your readers, to practice exercises that will create intrigue and magic in your own stories, and to find out how you, too, can delve into the enchanting world of storytelling.