Past Instructors
When did you first feel like a writer?
I started writing poems and keeping a nature journal at about age 9. In fifth grade a teacher encouraged me with a reading list of poets I might like, including Keats and Wordsworth. My parents gave me Louis Untermeyer’s Golden Treasury of Poetry, a completely dog eared and falling-apart jewel I still own; it is an amazing anthology every child deserves, with poems and illustrations to attract young people, classic poems to grow on, and wonderful work by high-school students to encourage student writers. By the time I was in seventh grade and compiling a “collection” of my own poetry for a class assignment, I had attained the mix of enthusiasm and ego to really feel like a writer. Discovering about that time that ee cummings shares my birthday sealed it.
When did you first feel like a writer?
As a young child, I loved reading aloud and hearing others read to me (often in silly accents). In third grade I remember retelling stories that I’d read in a journal I kept. When the characters started doing unpredictable things that didn’t match the original narrative, I thought that maybe writing was magical. I’ve been dabbling off and on ever since.
Gene Osborn's Songwriting Class will begin Monday, April 4.
When did you first feel like a writer?
I started to identify as a writer in high school. Initially I was far more concerned with being seen by my classmates as I sat alone in the courtyard writing feverishly. I soon realized that this was not just social theater, but rather an amazing and liberating outlet for my emotions and perspectives. As I developed musically it felt natural to put poems to melodies. Nothing feels better than writing, recording and having someone I've never met sing along to song I've written. This, more than anything, makes me feel like a writer.
What’s your philosophy about teaching a writing class?
Hilary Jerrill Steinitz
Hilary Jerrill Steinitz was a Henry Hoyns Fellow as well as a Jacob Javits Fellow at the University of Virginia, where she received her MFA in fiction in 1999. She has received grants and fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and the Ragdale Foundation. Her stories have appeared in the New England Review, the Southwest Review, and Zoetrope: All-Story, and have been listed with distinction in Best American Short Stories. One of the founding members of WriterHouse, Steinitz is working on a novel, The Fitting Room.
When did you first feel like a writer?
Fourth grade. We were assigned stories and a few of us offered to read our work in class. Throughout the school year, my classmates always asked that I read mine, which both surprised and delighted me.
What's your philosophy about teaching a writing class?
My primary focus is to support a writer's process. We may have common practices, but I see my role as getting writers to craft new material and helping them flesh out what is most authentic and resonant. I look for what's obvious and what may be hidden in the writing. We tend to live in our heads so I offer ways to deepen self awareness and its connection to language.
Gina Welch
Gina Welch holds a BA in History from Yale and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow. Her first book, Salt and Light, is forthcoming from Metropolitan Books in 2009.
Matthew Stowell's writing seminar "Writing About Wine" will be held Saturday, March 26.
When did you first feel like a writer?
When I was ten years old I wrote a story about going off to spend the summer on my (fictional) uncle’s dude ranch out west. It probably wasn’t a very good story and it owed a lot to the Spin and Marty TV series, but the magic I felt while composing it convinced me that writing was all I wanted to do. In my twenties I had three poems accepted in a British literary magazine next to poems by Sylvia Plath and Harold Pinter, and this legitimized my efforts and served as the kick in the pants I needed to dedicate myself to the craft.
What’s your philosophy about teaching a writing class?
Maria Adelmann's fiction workshop begins June 14.
When did you first feel like a writer?
When I was in second grade — I wrote a story about a mouse that camped out inside of my school desk and used marshmallows for a bed.
What’s your philosophy about teaching a writing class?
My writing classes are less about figuring out what’s “right” or “wrong” with a story and more about figuring out what each story hopes to convey.
If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be and why?
Many of my favorite books are about such melancholy characters that I don’t think I’d ever want to hang out with them. Imagine going to a bar with Billy Pilgrim (Slaughterhouse-Five)?!! I’d rather have a night on the town with Randle Patrick McMurphy (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest).
Winn Collier's writing seminar "The Art of Blogging" will be held Saturday, April 16.
When did you first feel like a writer?
I believe it was third grade when my mom gave me an old manual typewriter, the kind that traveling salesmen would use in the 40's. It was a clunker, but it was good enough for me to begin my memoir ... in third grade. I couldn't possibly have had much to say, but I did my best to fill up a page.
What's your philosophy about teaching a writing class?
I think we're all looking to have our imagination stretched. Writing, as any art, is a magnificently horrifying, beautifully insane endeavor. Most of us do it because we must - and perhaps because we are a bit loony. But we don't have to do it alone. I don't know many writers who want to keep their words to themselves. So, my philosophy is to gather round the table with other writers and share our words and our sentences and see what kind of mischief we can stir up.
When did you first feel like a writer?
I think I was born to be a writer. Before I could even write down the words myself, I would dictate stories and songs to my mother. I would also scribble random letters on pages and then read them aloud as a story.
After I had a contract for my first book, something really did shift for me, though. I talked to someone in my writing group about how I had a deadline and wasn't sure how often I could meet with the group. "That's because you're a professional now," she told me. A professional. That blew my mind. I was no longer writing to satisfy myself, but I was being paid to write. What's your philosophy about teaching a writing class?
My goal is to get everyone in the class to improve their writing and to get fired up about writing in general. I try to keep the atmosphere supportive, but helpful. Tough love. I encourage the students to read each other's work carefully and tell each other when and where it is wonderful or weak. This process helps their fellow students, but it also helps each student improve their own skills.
If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be and why?
Michael Cordell's writing class "Screenwriting for Hollywood" will begin Tuesday, September 20.
When did you first feel like a writer?
In fourth grade when my teacher read a poem I had written about pollution (I’m fairly sure I came out against it) and she said I should submit it to “Weekly Reader”. From time to time ever since, I’ve had bits of encouraging things said about my writing.
What's your philosophy about teaching a writing class?
I simply share my thoughts, experiences and philosophy about writing for Hollywood, and students can pick out those things that ring true to them. I’ve had a modicum of success writing screenplays (my goal is to one day have two modicum) and so I think some of the things I say should at least be considered. I also believe, though, that there is no one right way to write, so at no time do I try to say “this is how you have to do it.”
If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be and why?
When did you first feel like a writer?
I first decided to be a writer when I was in third grade and had read The Chronicles of Narnia. When did I first feel like a writer? Hmm—I think it was when I had my first story accepted outside of school publications. That was back in 1978.
Marie Potoczny's class "Writing Small: Little Stories with Big Impact--An Introduction to Flash Fiction
" will begin Wednesday, September 22.
When did you first feel like a writer?
Is it fair to say I've always felt like a writer? Even when I was a little kid I hungered to write and give voice to my thoughts.
What's your philosophy about teaching a writing class?
I don't care a lot about grammar and spelling. I'm way more interested in the writing process and students' ideas.If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be and why?
I would really enjoy hanging out with Sherlock Holmes and going on a lot of madcap adventures.
Sarah Collins Honenberger will be teaching A Time to Write on Monday evenings.
Is there a particular book, essay, or poem that made you want to write?
My grandmother read poems out loud to us as children in her 1710 house in Massachusetts, four walls of built-in bookshelves and the Atlantic Ocean out the window. Writing always seemed like a romantic life to me. But one book? Probably Cynthia Voigt's Darcy's Song made me aspire to write seriously about ordinary people with problems
What's the number one thing that distracts you when you're trying to write?
My husband. Books. Movies.
If you could write from any location, where would it be?
A sailboat in the islands, warm and sunny, fresh fruit, with a place to swim every day — I've done this three winters for a month, so I know it works.
Kathryn
Erskine will be teaching
Writing Children's Literature on Thursday evenings.
Is there a particular book, essay, or poem that made you want to write?
I can't say there was one in particular. I just remember being surrounded by books and always loving them. I'm told I was reading by three and liked reading diaries, especially my older sister's. I grew up on British books mostly, living in South Africa and Scotland when I was young, so titles may be unfamiliar, but they were all tales of adventure with no parents around to ruin the fun. I remember first thinking seriously of publishing a book at 10 or 11 because I thought it would be such a wonderful feeling to dedicate a book to someone — at that time, it would've been my mother or my school's headmistress. They're both still worthy of book tributes.
What's the number one thing that distracts you when you're trying to write?
Noise of any kind — phone, leaf blower outside, kids inside, even music. I can listen to music to inspire my writing but not when I'm actually writing.
If you could write from any location, where would it be?
A castle turret overlooking beautiful gardens (complete with labyrinth to wander in when I need to think) and, beyond that, the sea. It would be sunny, warm and breezy. My turret room would be equipped with coffee, tea, chocolate, cheese and a laptop with high speed internet connection. Lots of books and maps, too, on whatever topic I'm researching, and a comfy window seat for reading (and, OK, naps). Really, I ask for so little.
Meet Wendy Gavin Porter, who will be teaching a morning seminar on
dialogue Saturday, November 21.
As always, WriterHouse
members receive a discount on enrollment.
Is there a particular book or essay (or screenplay) that made you want to write?
I couldn’t possibly pick one! Especially since, because my dad is a novelist, our home as my sister and I were growing up was permeated with the assumption that One Writes, just as one reads, talks, or, for that matter, breathes. But if pressed, I’d mention Kipling’s Jungle Books, T.H. White’s Sword in the Stone, Richard Adams’ Watership Down, Jane Eyre, Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, anything by Nancy Willard, and many, many others. Books that have shaped the course of my life, that have given me comfort, turned my brain inside out, felt like friends to me, have also inspired me to write.What's the number one thing that distracts you when you're trying to write?
That would be the clamor of my two young children!If you could write from any location, where would it be?
I used to love going to writing/artist colonies during the summers for a month at a time. My favorite of all, I think, is the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, even though no air conditioning in the studios poses something of a challenge. Nothing more wonderful than having all the unfettered, uninterrupted time in the world to work, night and day. But those days are gone (see above), so my second favorite location in which to write is most definitely WriterHouse. I’ve had a fabulous summer there, working away whenever I can get away. It’s ideal.
When did you first feel like a writer?
When
my first news article appeared in the high school newspaper, and I saw
my words in print, I knew I had found my place in things. This was
something I was better at than most of my classmates. I would probably
never be Homecoming king, or president of student government, or the
highest scorer on the SAT, but I could write and was therefore someone
to be reckoned with.
When did you first feel like a writer?
I mysteriously learned to read before starting school but not to form letters. Making up nursery rhymes as I played on the swing gave me great pleasure. For my 6th birthday I received a scrapbook. Cracking open those deliciously empty pages and having acquired the skills of writing, I fell to writing down my poems immediately. I still have that “scrapbook” and treasure it.
What's your philosophy about teaching a writing class?
My first thought is “if I’m not having fun no one is having fun.” That means being absorbed in the moment, open and accepting of the material presented by workshop members. While I’ll have points to get across, I’ll likely do so by demonstrating rather than lecturing. As Emily Dickinson said in one of her poems “Tell the truth but tell it slant.” My first responsibility is to support each writer in their unique experience of making poetry.
Dalia Rosenfeld is teaching a young adult fiction workshop on Tuesday evenings. Check out all of our classes here.
Is there a particular book, essay, or poem that made you want to write?It was my father's green Olivetti typewriter that, at the age of three, made me want to write, and I've had the image of it in my mind (though not the typewriter itself) ever since. I also am a firm believer that the mere presence of books in a house will lead a person to try their hand at one, and that writing can only come with reading — like a delicious meal made even more delicious by the side dishes accompanying it.
What's the number one thing that distracts you when you're trying to write?
If the conditions are right and I am completely alone in the house (i.e., without the presence of three little boys opening and closing my bedroom door in quick succession, for hours on end), the biggest distraction becomes the project itself — at least initially, before it has found itself and can write itself to completion. I often find the beginning of every writing attempt excruciating, but also exciting. After a single good sentence, there is often no turning back.
If you could write from any location, where would it be?
In all my years of writing, I have found only one location that works: My bedroom. I like to write in bed, stretch out my legs, and take naps between pages. I consider every page worthy of a reward, and sleeping contains fewer calories than chocolate.
When did you first feel like a writer?
I have always identified as a writer, since I was in grade school and created my own "library," writing and illustrating books and signing up my parents and friends for library cards. Putting words on the page has felt like a natural and unavoidable means of self-expression for me for as long as I can remember. In high school, I expended a lot of energy studying classical flute. As soon as I got to college, I stopped spending time that way, and poetry began happening immediately, almost as though it had been temporarily dammed up and was finally released. Since then, I've continued to write my way through a number of different forms: poetry, nonfiction, journalism, blogs, and writing that blurs the genre boundaries.
Emma Rathbone is teaching a Monday evening fiction workshop. Sign up now or look at some of the other classes we're offering this spring.
Is there a particular book/essay that made you want to write?
There's no specific book or essay that made me want to write. But I read a lot as a kid and growing up, and I think you naturally want to participate in whatever you admire the most, or what touches you. I do remember being especially impressed by George Orwell's 1984. I had never read anything with such scope and imagination before, and so that was inspiring.
What's the number one thing that distracts you when you're trying to write?
The internet and emailing are very distracting, and just the general day to day ups and downs can also get in the way. I think it takes a lot of discipline to clear out the time to write every morning, even when you're not feeling especially creative. Noise, too. I can't stand those little Chinese water torture types of sounds like a tap dripping or a tyrannical little kid blowing a whistle outside your window, which happened the other day.
If you could write from any location, where would it be?
I don't have to be in an especially beautiful place to write. It would be nice to be in a rustic country house in France, but I think I'd do just as well in any random library. My main requirements are that it's very quiet, fairly warm and bright, and it also helps if I'm not hungry.
This summer Andrew Ewell is teaching Writing is Rewriting, a workshop designed to students through the sometimes intimidating but always rewarding process of revision.
WriterHouse: Is there a particular book or essay that made you want to write?
Andrew: I don't know if there's a particular book that made me want to write, but there are several I return to when I need a little inspiration. Almost anything by Nabokov would fit into this category, Speak, Memory and Lolita in particular. Nabokov's prose engages you in a way that would make almost any reader want to write. I can't get through the "Mademoiselle O" chapter of Speak, Memory without thinking, "I want to do that!"
WriterHouse: What's the number one thing that distracts you when you're trying to write?
Andrew: Myself! Whether it's checking email, reading wine reviews online or checking bank statements, the distraction is ultimately me. This, I suppose, is one reason I like to write in a lot of different places — home office, front porch, library, coffee shop, etc. The change of scenery helps me lose myself a little and focus on the writing, and nothing else.
WriterHouse: If you could write from any location, where would it be?
Andrew: I do like to write in a lot of different places, but I also love to have a home base. Put water there, and I'm happy. Make it the Chesapeake Bay, and it's all the better. There's just something about watching the seasons change over the Chesapeake that I find thrilling.
