Notes from The Writer's Corner
This week we had an inspiring conversation with author and writing instructor Kathy Curto. Scroll down to see what's on deck for the coming weeks and for other news from the corner!
Loved having author and writing instructor Kathy Curto as the first guest of 2025! We had such an inspiring conversation about:
• Accepting breaks from our work as part of the process.
• How to get back to your writing after a break.
• How to use your senses to inspire new work and open up your creative side.
• Why we, as writers, need to connect instead of compare.
• Why we need everyone's writing.
• And so much more!
Here is a link to the recording (Passcode: hjm#mfA1).
To learn more about Kathy or to contact her, visit her website www.kathycurto.com.
What’s coming up …
January 20 - MLK Day (No Meeting)
January 27 at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST - Monthly Open Discussion
This session will be an open forum for writers to discuss and share what’s on their minds. Bring your struggles, questions, and wisdom!
February 3 at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST
Christie Tate for a Discussion on Craft
Christie Tate is an essayist and author who writes creative nonfiction and memoir. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Group, which was a Reese’s Book Club selection and has been translated into 19 languages. She is also the author of B.F.F.-- A Memoir of Friendship Lost & Found. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and elsewhere. Her essays have been nominated for Puschcart Prizes, and Kiese Laymon selected her essay, Promised Lands, as the winner of the New Ohio Review’s 2019 nonfiction contest. She writes about addiction, eating disorders, friendship, alienation, recovery, and her Grandma’s farm in Forreston, Texas. She grew up in Dallas and now lives in Chicago with her family. She has finally stopped telling people that she graduated first in her law school class. Please don’t hate her because she has no pets.
February 24 at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST
Marion Roach Smith for a Discussion on Craft
Marion Roach Smith is the author of four books, all of which contain a large degree of memoir. Her most recent book is The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing--And Life, (Grand Central, 2011). Under the name Marion Roach, she is the author of The Roots of Desire: The Myth, Meaning and Sexual Power of Red Hair, (Bloomsbury, 2005); co-author with famed forensic pathologist Michael Baden, M.D., of Dead Reckoning (Simon & Schuster, 2001); and author of Another Name for Madness, (Houghton Mifflin, 1985).
A former staff member of The New York Times, she has written for The New York Times Magazine, Prevention, The Daily News, Vogue, Newsday, Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart Living, Discover and The Los Angeles Times. A former commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, until recently she had a talk show on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius/XM 110.
Marion is a sought-after speaker on the power of telling one’s tale and the value of memoir. She is a long-time teacher of memoir and has taught thousands of people to write what they know.
Stay tuned! We will be adding new guests to the calendar every week!
Other news …
Our good friend Steve Almond has a bunch of craft classes in the next couple of months (all super fun and super cheap). Here are the links if you are interested:
https://www.writingco-lab.com/classes/almond-joy-masterclassquartet
So much to look forward to! Our community grounds me in these uncertain times. Being reminded of our common humanity and how to memorialize it on the page is balm for the soul.