In Search of the Good Place
INTENTIONS | 8.1.2021
Dear Herders,
After listening to a 5-star interview between writers Tommy Orange and Ocean Vuong, hosted by City Arts & Lectures, I’ve been pausing to question what sayings enter my daily conscience and dialogues; Vuong and Orange specifically question the violent metaphors of war that many writers use (subconsciously) to describe their writing and revision process. I recommend listening to their riveting and at times humorous conversation on what words enter our daily conscience, on the role and trouble of the literary canon, and on the need to write their own stories.
This August, many global arts events are happening. August 7th and 8th marks the Trauma, Tresses, & Truth: The Conference, largely curated by the award-winning author, writing coach, and workshop facilitator, Lizette Wanzer. The event’s website writes how this “two-day virtual conference” examines “the politics, policing, and perception of African American and Afro Latina women’s natural hair in American society.” You can register today, or contribute to support the conference here.
Our interview stars the wonderful and witty Elizabeth Forsyth. Elizabeth is a short story writer and essayist. She’s also an expert with DIY author events, with a related guidebook and hosting an upcoming class on DIY Author Events at the Writer’s Grotto this November 6th. The first six Herders to message Elizabeth (on Twitter) receive an additional 20% discount for the course. More details in the interview below!
As for me, this July I paused the monthly trifecta of teaching elementary students, editing as a freelancer, and studying as a graduate school student. Taking time off is a privilege and I’ve been grateful to unplug and stay with my partner’s family in a small town in northern Romania. It’s hot and humid. My backpack is a small library that carries Balkan Ghosts by Robert Kaplan, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Life Sentence by Nina Cassian, 20th Century Women’s Poets in Translation, When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté, and Romanian Literature as World Literature by a multitude of authors. I do not go anywhere without a copious amount of books. Are you like this too?
I hope that you’re time off (or on) has been full of meaning-making and community. Check out our Writing Prompt and the Happenings too; there is a variety of virtual and in-person events hosted by fellow Herders in these coming weeks.
Your writer friend,
Allie
CREATIVITY CRUSH | 8.3.21
“Humor is an Essential Part of Life:” Elizabeth Forsyth on being intentional with comedy in her life & writing.
It’s not often that someone writes short stories while working on their novel, and has also organized over 100 author events. Elizabeth Forsyth has done all of the above, and with a penchant for humor too. On November 6th, Elizabeth is offering her DIY Author Events course at the Writer’s Grotto—registration also includes a personal consultation with Elizabeth and her new handbook DIY Author Events. The first six Herders to message Elizabeth (on Twitter) can receive an additional 20% discount off the course!
Enjoy the interview below, and keep an eye out for Elizabeth’s upcoming book on DIY Author Events to make your next book launch, reading, or local bookstore event a hit.
The Herd: You are primarily a short story writer, with a novel in the works. Does working on both of those help the other or, as you playfully allude, do short stories get in the way of your longer work?
DIY Author Events — November 6th, online course!
Elizabeth Forsyth: It’s a bit of both. Two of the short stories I’ve published are spin-offs of a first draft of my novel. I find writing novels has the potential to be emotionally satiating in a way that no short story has ever been for me. However, short stories are very, very finish-able compared to a novel, which is extremely appealing as a writer. For me, it's sort of the difference between your favorite dessert versus a ten-course meal. Both are satisfying in different ways.
I think it’s also important to be flexible in your writing approach and be both realistic and kind to yourself about what you can achieve as a writer. My attention span dwindled significantly during the pandemic, and a shift in focus away from my novel to short stories and flash fiction has meant that I’m able to write in a way that’s personally manageable.
The Herd: Would you say humor is a tool that appears across your short stories? If so, what is the role of humor in your work?
Elizabeth Forsyth: I try to reflect life in my work, and humor is an essential part of life. I never understood writers who compartmentalize writing - ‘this is a tragedy, or this is romance novel, or a high literary novel’ - with the implication that choosing a genre is inherently exclusive, that humor has no place in tragedy, or in romance, or in a high literary novel.
Writing with a sole aim to be humorous, though, is tricky and the writing can die very quickly like some sort of squashed slug once you move into the precarious realm of ‘sustained humor’. With sustained humor, irony and wry cynical observations are often a crutch and a bit of a bore to read and write. My first long-abandoned novel was called ‘Normal Norman’ and was about a mediocre guy appointed to a high government office during an apocalyptic scenario (which hits differently these days). I was never able to sustain the humor long enough to finish it.
I also think humor is a trap that readers fall into. Once they consider writing humorous everything in the work is read with an eye towards humor. I’ve had friends read an excerpt of my novel, Family Business, and laugh at very inappropriate parts, like a scene of a mother visiting her child in the hospital. It’s really not meant to be funny. I promise.
“I’d like to think my stories deal with themes of blood, and women’s blood, dominion, craving, woman vs. nature, becoming delusional into thinking you’re an all-powerful nature goddess, etc., though I try not to cast aspersions on unfinished short stories.”
~Elizabeth Forsyth
The Herd: Do you have a go-to routine when it comes to writing?
Elizabeth Forsyth: Yes—I try and set a new routine and then fail at it. Usually I get a good 10,000 words for my novel or a first draft of a short story out of it. After a little while, I look for a contest to submit to and then edit the short story until it’s done.
I also enjoy attending writing meetups. Right now, while I’m still living virtually, I’ve been sporadically attending Shuffle’s Creativity Circles. Finding a group of people to write with - not necessarily sharing or workshopping your writing, but actually writing with - is a great way to peer-pressure yourself into writing.
The Herd: Your novel, Family Business, is in the works and was also a finalist in the SF Writers Conference for their novel extracts. Does this novel deal with any themes that also appear in your short stories or does it grapple with something else entirely?
Elizabeth Forsyth: Some of my short stories - because I stole them from my novel - invariably have the same themes. California, family, money, environment, expectation, identity - all universal, if you consider California to be a state of mind. But most of my short stories don’t deal with the same themes, usually because short stories are much more of a reflection of a particular stage I’m going through.
I wrote about choosing underwear to be buried around my 30-something-th birthday when I felt sad about aging. I wrote a horror story about sewing buttons onto a person when trying to pick up a hobby.
My latest short story is about a woman out in the woods in Alaska who (spoiler alert!) eats her husband and baby and then goes into town, all to slake her thirst for blood. I’d like to think it deals with themes of blood, and women’s blood, dominion, craving, woman vs. nature, becoming delusional into thinking you’re an all-powerful nature goddess, etc., though I try not to cast aspersions on unfinished short stories. Is it a coincidence that my New Year’s resolution was to eat more healthily and I just want a pizza? Probably not.
The Herd: Are there any artists right now whose works you love, or whose work you'd like to give a special shout-out to?
Elizabeth Forsyth: A London-based writing group that I belong to has come out with some amazing work. Labeja Kodua Okullu’s ‘Tortellini and the ’80s in the Key of R&B was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Lara Haworth is a visual artist and poet who will soon be releasing her first novel. She also just released ‘ALL THE PEOPLE I HURT WITH MY WEDDING’, an incredible short film.
The Herd: Any other questions/comments/topics you'd like to share or use this space for?
Elizabeth Forsyth: Yeah! In addition to working on short stories and a novel, I’m also working on my book ‘DIY Author Events: A Practical Guide to Planning Your Own Author Event’. I held a talk last spring on the same topic and received so many questions that I was inspired to start writing a guidebook.
In my professional capacity I’ve worked with over 100 authors to plan their author events as the founder and manager of an events program at a bookstore as well as the current classes manager at the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto. So many authors are lost at sea now that the publishing industry has shifted away from traditional publishing. If you are traditional published, often publishers are no longer able or willing to support authors in organizing events. The thought of organizing an author event can be overwhelming, and most authors have no idea where to start. How do you find a place to hold your event? How do you sell books? How do you promote your event? I’ll be covering all those questions and more.
In the meantime, here’s my number-one tip to having a successful event: seed the audience. Give yourself a friendly face to look at, have someone ready to ask a softball question to kick off the Q & A, have them poised to take a few screenshots or photos with their phone that you can post online later. It will make your event much more pleasant.
The Herd: Any summer reads you'd recommend to fellow Herders?
Elizabeth Forsyth: A couple of books I’ve rated 5 stars on Goodreads recently are these three. First off, Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salesses. Not only does it make you think about the format of workshops and how they could be more inclusive, but there’s a number of excellent writing prompts and revision exercises at the end. I also loved Independent People, by Halldór Laxness. I picked it up in Iceland a few years ago and only just got around to reading it. There’s the insidious atmosphere of cold, of want. At one point, near the climax, I had to put the book down for fifteen minutes and think about it and absorb it. Any book that makes me do that is 5/5.
Lastly, Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative by Herbert Mason. I find it comforting to know that people have always struggled with mortality, and I found this translation to be the most poetic:
“...being human holds a special grief / Of privacy within the universe / That yearns and waits to be retouched / By someone who can take away / the memory of death.”
It captures the feeling of the piece rather than a direct translation of various and broken tablets pieced together (though it was helpful to have already have a vague understanding of the direct translation).
~
For more ways to connect, you can follow Elizabeth Forsyth @Write_Stuff_ and sign up for that DIY Author Events course this fall to make your next author event a huge success. Thank you Elizabeth, for your time, your workshops, and your stories.
Brief bio: Elizabeth Forsyth has short stories and essays that have been featured in various anthologies, and her short story 'Time is a Circus' was longlisted for the Berlin Writing Prize 2019. She was a 2020 Literary Arts Resident with the Shuffle Collective, and is currently the Classes Manager at the San Francisco Writers Grotto.
AUGUST WRITING PROMPT | 8.1.2021
Prompt: Have you been thinking of how to archive 2020? How do we preserve and honor stories from this last year in an era of rapidly changing news cycles that often center whiteness? Meg Pillow’s article on Living Memory: Black archivists, activists, and artists are fighting for justice and ethical remembrance — and reimagining the archive itself offers many ideas.
If you have some time, read the full article and choose one of the following three prompts:
Think about one memory you have (or a news article) from 2020. What emotions does it elicit? Is this news article still relevant to situations or the world today? Write a journal entry about how this “past” memory lives on, structurally and metaphorically.
Why do you think archives are so often incomplete and biased? Are there ways to challenge the historic and ongoing whitewashing of the archives?
Write a free verse poem cataloging any of the words, emotions, and events that you remember from 2020. Be as honest and unflinching as you can.
HAPPENINGS | 8.1.21
August 7th and August 8th: Trauma, Tresses, & Truth: The Conference. “This two-day virtual conference examines the politics, policing, and perception of African American and Afro Latina women’s natural hair in American society. In addition to readings, attendees can choose from 75-minute panels and workshops. Register here.
August 8th at 4:00 PST, the Alta Mesa Arts Center is offering an online reading and discussion to benefit Mutual Aid Myanmar, featuring Maw Shein Win and Kenneth Wong. Register here.
August 4th, 2021, marks the one-year mark of the Beirut port blast. Featured Herder Katia Aoun Hage offers her press’s anthology The Beirut Call. Proceeds from this book go to Dar al Kalima University College of Arts and Culture’s program.
November 6th marks the DIY Author Events hosted by the Writer’s Grotto with special feature Elizabeth Forsyth. Sign up today or DM Elizabeth for an additional 20% discount for the first six people to respond!
Join Allie Rigby for an August Writing Retreat with the Point Reyes Institute on Sunday August 22nd. You can also write in community and nature with Allie Rigby on October 23rd during the Wild Writing Nature Workshop hosted at the beautiful Pepperwood Preserve in Santa Rosa.
Previous feature Aster K. Foley now has prints, zines, and wearable art for sale with Dead Penny Press. Check out the latest stickers, pronoun pendants, tee-shirts, and more!
Marking a Pandemic, One Crane at a Time. Writer Grace Loh receives her first byline in the New York Times with her essay about focusing on family and the act of making paper cranes with her son during this past year.
Climate change artists in Santa Ana, including Herder Julia Rigby, are praised in Los Angeles Times for Art that points toward a sustainable future in the middle of a climate crisis.
Maggie Smith on How to Revise Poems Without Losing the Initial Spark. Whether you love or loathe revision, there are a lot of helpful tips here.
Shuffle creators Tess Bliven and Anuj Nijhawan are welcoming all Herders to join the supportive and amazing Shuffle community! Click here to view your 25% discount.
Nature writing gets a critical and reflective spin in What Do We Hope to Find When Looking for a Snow Leopard, by Kathryn Schulz.
That’s it for Issue XXI of The Herd. Feel free to comment below, or share The Herd with anyone who needs a lift.
The Herd is a literary newsletter that celebrates artistic expression and elevates artists who build community and foster connection.