Mentors Muses Monsters

Thirty writers look back at the the people, events, and books that launched their literary lives.

You are not lazy, undisciplined, or uncommitted! Procrastination, perfectionism, and writer's block are habits rooted in scarcity and fear. If you know the seven secrets of the prolific, you can "magically" recover all the energy, discipline, and commitment you thought you had lost. Author, coach and workshop leader Hillary Rettig characterizes, in great detail and depth, the major causes of underproductivity, including: procrastination, perfectionism, resource scarcity, time scarcity, an ineffective writing process, bias, ambivalence, internalized oppression, traumatic rejection, and exploitative career paths. Then she tells you how to conquer each. The solutions are: 1. Identify and Overcome Perfectionism 2. Abundantly Resource Yourself 3. Manage Your Time 4. Optimize Your Writing Process 5. Understand and Claim Your Identity as a Writer 6. Cultivate Resilience in the Face of Rejection and Harsh Criticism, and 7. Create a Liberated Career. Those are the 7 Secrets of the Prolific! And whether you write fiction or nonfiction, or poetry, screenplays or something else - or whether you write for business or school - those secrets will help you speed your output, lower your stress, and bring you joy and fulfillment. Special sections include: *writing on the Internet (and how to withstand the Internet's harsh culture) *coping with the many clueless and/or challenging comments and questions people direct to writers (e.g., "When will you get that thing done?") and, *Publishing Without Perishing, a special Appendix just for graduate students and other academic writers.

The Writer Laid Bare is a book for everyone who loves the craft of good writing. Be they a voracious reader wanting to know more or an emerging writer themselves, best-selling author and writing coach Lee Kofman has distilled her wisdom, insight and passion into this guide to writing and emotional honesty. A combination of raw memoir and a professional writing toolkit, Lee examines her own life, rich in story and emotion to reveal how committing to a truthful writing practice helped her conquer writer’s block and develop her own authentic voice. ‘Show don’t tell’ has never been so compelling. Inspired by her popular writing courses, Lee also offers practical advice on drafts, edits and how to achieve a life/writing balance. How combining her writing with motherhood led her to recognise that ‘ the pram in the hall’ issue is real. Plus the ultimate reading list of books you really should read, from Chekhov to Elena Ferrante and Helen Garner. ‘The Writer Laid Bare takes us on an intimate journey into the magical, and often challenging, terrain an author inhabits. Kofman courageously shares with the reader her own probing writerly journey of self-discovery.’ - Leah Kaminsky

In Transcultural Migration in the Novels of Hédi Bouraoui: A New Ulysses, Elizabeth Sabiston analyses the dominant theme of transcultural migration, or immigration, in the experimental fiction of Hédi Bouraoui. His protagonists are seen as Ulysses-figures for the postmodern age, crossing boundaries of language as well as geography

For students and writers alike, a brilliant guide to the craft of writing by the National Book Award–winning author of Spartina. National Book Award winner John Casey is a masterful novelist who is also an inspiring and beloved teacher. In Beyond the First Draft he offers essential and original insights into the art of writing—and rewriting—fiction. Through anecdotes about other writers’ methods and habits (as well as his own) and close readings of literature from Aristotle to Zola, the essays in this collection offer “suggestions about things to do, things to think about when your writing has got you lost in the woods.” In “Dogma and Anti-dogma” Casey sets out the tried-and-true advice and then comments on when to apply it and when to ignore it. In “What's Funny” he considers the range of comedy from pratfalls to elegant wit. In “In Other Words” he discusses translations and the surprising effects that translating can have on one’s native language. In “Mentors” he pays tribute to those who have guided him and other writers. Throughout the fourteen essays there are notes on voice, point of view, structure, and other crucial elements. This book is an invaluable resource for aspiring writers and a revitalizing companion for seasoned ones.

In Mentor and Muse, a collection of twenty-nine insightful essays by some of today’s leading poetic minds, editors Blas Falconer, Beth Martinelli, and Helena Mesa have brought together an illuminating anthology that draws upon both established and emerging poets to create a one-of-a-kind resource and unlock the secrets of writing and revising poetry. Gathered here are numerous experts eager to share their wisdom with other writers. Each author examines in detail a particular poetic element, shedding new light on the endless possibilities of poetic forms. Addressed within are such topics as the fluid possibilities of imagery in poetry; the duality of myth and the personal, and the power of one to unlock the other; the surprising versatility of traditional poetic forms; and the pleasure of collaboration with other poets. Also explored in depth are the formative roles of cultural identity and expectations, and their effect on composition; advice on how to develop one’s personal poetic style and approach; the importance of setting in reading and meaning; and the value of indirection in the lyric poem. Challenges to conventional concepts of beauty are examined through Shakespeare’s sonnets, and the ghost of Longfellow is called upon to guide students through the rewards and roadblocks of writing popular poetry. Poetic persona is demystified through Newton’s law of gravity, while the countless permutations of punctuation are revealed with analysis of e. e. cummings and W. S. Merwin. !--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /-- The essays include the full text of the poems discussed, and detailed, relevant writing exercises that allow students the opportunity to directly implement the strategies they have learned. While many advanced topics such as authenticity, discordant music, and prosody are covered, this highly readable volume is as user-friendly as it is informative. Offering a variety of aesthetics and approaches to tackling the issues of composition, Mentor and Muse takes poets beyond the simple stages of poetic terms and strategies. These authorsinvite students to explore more advanced concepts, enabling them to draw on the traditions of the past while at the same time forging their own creative paths into the future. Chosen as one of the "Best Books for Writers" by Poets & Writers magazine

This celebrated coming-of-age novel moves from Manhattan during the early days of Mad Men to the swinging, chaotic 1970s: A sensitive girl burdened with her mother’s drinking and long string of husbands becomes a special young woman when her best friend’s family opens her eyes to art Esme Singer is a resilient girl from Los Angeles, new to Manhattan, who takes better care of her beautiful, alcoholic mother than her mother does of her. A former fashion model and extra in the movies, her mother attracts a series of husbands and boyfriends as Esme watches in fascination and sometimes horror. Esme’s father comes and goes, forever riding the wave of the latest get-rich-quick scheme. As Esme becomes a teenager, she turns to her friend Leah’s cultured, exotic family for inspiration and solace—especially Leah’s father, a well-known photographer who encourages Esme to cultivate her gifts. Might art—and a favorite teacher—become the answer to some of her troubles? TheBeginner’s Book of Dreams is an insightful, sophisticated, sometimes wickedly funny, always sharp-eyed portrayal of a young woman inventing and discovering her own independent spirit.

A vibrant history of the renowned and often controversial Iowa Writers’ Workshop and its celebrated alumni and faculty As the world’s preeminent creative writing program, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop has produced an astonishing number of distinguished writers and poets since its establishment in 1936. Its alumni and faculty include twenty-eight Pulitzer Prize winners, six U.S. poet laureates, and numerous National Book Award winners. This volume follows the program from its rise to prominence in the early 1940s under director Paul Engle, who promoted the “workshop” method of classroom peer criticism. Meant to simulate the rigors of editorial and critical scrutiny in the publishing industry, this educational style created an environment of both competition and community, cooperation and rivalry. Focusing on some of the exceptional authors who have participated in the program—such as Flannery O’Connor, Dylan Thomas, Kurt Vonnegut, Jane Smiley, Sandra Cisneros, T. C. Boyle, and Marilynne Robinson—David Dowling examines how the Iowa Writers’ Workshop has shaped professional authorship, publishing industries, and the course of American literature.