We’re officially over one twelfth of the way into the New Year, and if you’re anything like me, some of those crazy, exciting New Year’s Resolutions – the same ones that seemed like such bold goals at the end of December – may be feeling a little insurmountable by now. But instead of kicking yourself for not yet finishing your novel or losing that holiday weight, take a peek at SSC student Barabara Govednik’s essay at The Women’s Conference, and consider a new kind of personal goal for the coming year: “…To simply be who I am without putting up all the arguments against myself that have become second nature.” You might just find yourself making a new resolution.
Congratulations to Barbara for her publication – and many thanks for the sound advice!
Congratulations to Coaching and First Pages student Vicky Tesmer who has finished the first draft of her manuscript!
The semi-autobiographical piece, A Thousand Beautiful Things, addresses issues of science, faith, politics, world travel, and love. Vicky experimented with the prose, including poems alongside the stories. It was a fascinating process for this longtime visual artist, learning to turn her images into words.
Here’s what Vicky says: “When I walked into StoryStudio on January 12th last year I didn’t have a precise goal - I just knew I had a lot in me to say. It came out in a novel!
“I believe what I learned most about writing was that if you substitute paintbrushes, paints, a palette and a canvas for words, sentences, paragraphs and chapters you can ‘paint’ a novel. I feel my book is a painting - perhaps a ‘Pop Art’ painting - as if you stepped into an Andy Warhol canvas. It’s visual and surreal and current. Looking back on the past year, I don’t believe I could have stayed on track nor organized my thoughts and words without Paige [StoryStudio Chicago Instructor/Coach Alyson Paige Warren]. She helped me stay focused, giving meaningful insight and direction to the chapters, the characters and the overall ‘picture’ of the story.”
Congratulations and best wishes on your redrafting process, Vicky!
We can hardly keep up with all the successes of Ranjit Souri, one of our Personal Essay instructors. His latest accomplishment can be heard in the form of an essay on Cincinnati Public Radio. It’s a tribute to one of Ranjit’s favorite musicians, Adrian Belew.
Here’s the link to check it out.
We are so delighted to announce that StoryStudio student Will Fletcher had his short story “Dear Life” published in the Chicago Reader’s tenth annual Fiction Issue. Will workshopped this story in our very own Advanced Fiction Workshop just last fall. This is Will’s first publication, and he hit it pretty big time, which is no surprise from those of us who had the opportunity to work with him!
You can read Will’s story online: here.
Congratulations Will!
Huge congrats to SSC student Anne Laughlin on the launch of her second novel Veritas, which comes out today from Bold Strokes Books. Anne workshopped parts of this manuscript in the Advanced Fiction Workshop a few years ago, so we’ll happily take some of the credit for her success!
Kudos, Anne!
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