Bobi Conn

How did you become a writer? 

In middle school, I wrote a story for a creative writing assignment and took it very seriously – I ended up writing more than required and spent a lot of time thinking about all the details. From then on, I loved to write as much as I had always loved reading. I enjoy writing academic papers and creative pieces equally, which came in handy at school. I gave up on the idea of being a “real” writer for a while after I graduated from college, but found the need to write was too intense to ignore. I decided to get a master’s degree in English, with an emphasis in creative writing, and my career as a writer finally took off.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

I love the writing of Gabriel García Márquez – magical realism is a beautiful genre that aligns in interesting ways with my experience of childhood. I found Frank McCourt’s memoir, Angela’s Ashes, to be an excellent example of a heartbreaking story that is rendered into beautiful art, which is what I wanted for my own memoir. Several teachers had a positive influence on me as a writer, but one in particular was my English teacher as a junior in high school. She encouraged me as a writer and tried to convince me to make better choices about life in general. I still have one of the papers I wrote for her class. I think her believing in me before I could believe in myself, was really important for the foundation of my identity as a writer.

When and where do you write? 

I prefer to write at night, after I feel like I’ve taken care of my family and home. That’s when it’s easiest for me to shut out any lingering distractions and focus completely on writing. Right now, I have my desk in my bedroom, but I prefer to have a home office where I write. I think it’s helpful to have a space that my mind primarily associates with creative work. When I go into a dedicated physical writing space, it’s easier to enter the psychological space I need to be productive.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a novel that will trace the lives of multiple generations in a family from eastern Kentucky. This book focuses on the experiences of the women in the family, and it explores generational, cumulative trauma, while also looking at the ways our ancestral history can shape our individual identities. Some of the characters and events I incorporate into this novel will be loosely based on the lives of my family members. I was inspired to write this book when I thought about my great-grandmother’s experiences as a young mother during the Great Depression, and how my great-grandfather, who was a moonshiner, made choices that impacted her greatly. I imagine my great-grandmother could not express the devastating impact some of his choices had on her, or how she felt about her own life, and so I wanted to write something that, in part, conveys the story she may have told if she could. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

I don’t think of it as writer’s block. When I have a hard time getting in the zone, I see it as letting my mind get in the way of the words – in other words, that’s when I’m overthinking, rather than writing. When that happens, I just write whatever I can, even if I know it’s not good and I won’t keep it, because that gets my mind’s words out of the way and creativity can flow again. I also recognize that sometimes, my creative mind is still working in the background and isn’t ready to bring everything to the foreground. At those times, I give myself permission to do something else – go for a walk, work on a puzzle, even watch television – and set a time to return to writing. By the time I sit back down to write, I’m usually ready to go.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

William Faulkner’s advice to “kill all your darlings” comes to me often. I think a lot of writers, myself included, become attached to things we have written, or even the ideas behind them, and doing so stands in the way of creating something that transcends ourselves. While editing my memoir, my editor once told me not to let the lyricism of a sentence get in the way of writing something that would be clear for the reader. I realized she was right, and that I was so excited about the beauty of the words, I forgot to consider whether they would mean anything to my readers. I had to “kill my darling” – sacrifice something I wrote (that only served myself) and became overly attached to – in the interest of telling a good story for my audience.

What’s your advice to new writers? 

It’s important to get an outside perspective on your writing, but not all perspectives are equally valuable. A good editor will “get” you and have passion for the work you want to create. They will help you understand your writing and how to accomplish your goals, and they will provide an invaluable bridge to your audience. A good editor will also give you constructive criticism, which writers need to become better. Be open to feedback from a good editor and in my experience, a phone conversation sometimes helps clear up misunderstandings that can occur when you’re communicating back and forth to resolve comments and questions.

Bobi Conn was born in Morehead, Kentucky, and raised in a nearby holler, where she developed a deep connection with the land and her Appalachian roots. She obtained her bachelor's degree at Berea College, the first school in the American South to integrate racially and to teach men and women in the same classrooms. After struggling as a single mother, she worked multiple part-time jobs at once to support her son and to attend graduate school, where she earned a master's degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing. In addition to writing, Bobi loves playing pool, cooking, being in the woods, attempting to grow a garden, and spending time with her incredible children. Her debut memoir, In the Shadow of the Valley, was published in May  2020 (Little A).

Jill Watts

How did you become a writer?  

I think the first step in becoming a writer is to become a reader. My mom encouraged us to love reading. And I hadn’t thought about it until recently but from the time I was small I was fascinated by books. When I was really young, I made illustrated books mostly of people working in factories. I think this was because there was an electronics manufacturer near where we lived and you could see the people working through the large windows that faced the street. What drove me as an adult to become a writer was my desire to learn, teach, and contribute to the greater social good. I went to graduate school at UCLA and was fortunate enough to be hired as a History Professor at California State University San Marcos. What they say about universities is true, you must publish. But I enjoy writing and welcome the opportunity because my goal as a historian is to write to support change for the better.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

In addition to my mom, I had two terrific high school English teachers. Betsy Scarborough and Crandallyn Graham drilled us on smart writing and analysis. In college, I took courses from Professor Edward Reynolds who, at the time, was working on Stand the Storm, his book on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. From him I learned the importance of “Sankofa,” which in Akan means “return and fetch it.” This gave me the understanding of the urgent need to recover the stories of the past for the benefit the present and future. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s political histories, Blanche Wiesen Cook’s multi-volume biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, and John Lewis’s autobiography Walking in the Wind have all inspired my recent work. When I need a change of pace, I read Raymond Chandler. Chandler is problematic in our time but he weaves suspenseful tales and paints gripping portraits of Los Angeles in the 1930s and 1940s.  

When and where do you write? 

Since I teach at the university full-time, I mostly write at home during winter and summer breaks. I recently set up a writing space at home that is separate from where I work on my teaching. That has helped me focus. I like to write in the mornings or at night when everything is quiet. Writing with a view is great and turning off email even better. 

What are you working on now? 

I have started a biography of Mary McLeod Bethune. She is a major figure in The Black Cabinet book that I just finished. Few people know that she was the first African American woman to be appointed as an administrator of a federal program. And almost no one remembers that she was not only the most influential African American woman of the first half of the twentieth century but that she ranked overall as one the most important women in the United States at the time. There was so much about her life’s story that I couldn’t include in The Black Cabinet. She rose from the cotton fields of South Carolina to become the founder of Bethune-Cookman University. That trajectory allowed her to emerge as one of the most significant civil and women’s rights activists of the period that preceded Martin Luther King. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

I was blocked for several months at a really critical time a number of years ago. What I learned was first that you can’t force writing. Second, I came to the realization that you have to have something you need to say. Third, you have to clean out the clutter in your head before writing. Talk to someone. Meditate. Do yoga. Play or listen to music. Take a walk. Eat desserts but not too many. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Sit down and do it. But even more helpful was the idea that writing just to write is the best place to start. It commences an internal dialogue that allows the ideas to flow and take form as they compete with each other on the page. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

First, write what you know. It is authenticity that reaches readers and allows you to make your contribution. Do your research if the nature of your work requires it. Second, make sure you are writing for the sole purpose of writing. The end goal needs to be selfless. If you are writing for any other purpose—like money or fame or even to settle a score­––it will undermine the work. Third, find a mentor—someone who is familiar with your genre and can give you good honest advice. But most of all, enjoy writing. If you love what you do, it will show. 

Jill Watts (https://jill-watts.com/) is the author of The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt (Grove). She has also published three other books: Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood (Amistad), Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Oxford), and God, Harlem U.S.A.: The Father Divine Story (University of California Press). She is a California native and is a Professor of History at California State University San Marcos where has served as department chair and is currently the coordinator of the History Graduate Program. Her books on Hattie McDaniel and Father Divine have been optioned for film.

Emrys Westacott

How did you become a writer?

I've always dabbled in creative writing, mainly poetry, but the writing I've done for publication has generally been more scholarly. After finishing graduate school I started publishing articles in philosophy journals. That's what academics are and required to do in order to get tenure. A disappointing aspect of that sort of publication, though, is that one typically gets virtually no feedback for the simple reason that most scholarly articles are read by very few people. But then articles that I published on the ethics of gossiping and on the topic of rudeness received some media attention, and the philosophy editor at Princeton University Press invited me to put together a collection of essays on everyday ethics. In doing this, I began consciously to write for a more general audience of readers who might not have much background in philosophy, but who were interested in my topics and were willing to think. 

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

That's a difficult question, because if I name the writers I most admire I might seem to be comparing myself to them, which I wouldn't want to do! In the philosophical canon, the writer who does best what I try to do is perhaps David Hume: he combines originality, philosophical clarity, literary elegance, and a dash of humour. Nietzsche is my favourite stylist, but I wouldn't try to emulate him. Instead, I strive for what he calls, when criticizing John Stuart Mill, "an insulting clarity." I view absolute clarity as a great virtue, and I admire thinkers like Plato, Descartes, and Schopenhauer who achieve it. I'm impatient with any obscurity that I think is deliberate, pretentious, or the result of careless thinking.

When and where do you write? 

Mostly I write in my study in the early morning. I try to write every day, even if it's only for twenty minutes. I find that just turning the engine over a couple of times helps to keep it from rusting up: that is, it keeps me mulling over the matter in hand. If I have a deadline to meet, I'll write anywhere and at any time. But I do find that after about three hours I often stop being very productive.

What are you working on now? 

I'm working on a book about how we need to rethink our notions of both work and leisure as the consequences of the computer revolution really start to kick in and increasing levels of automation make it possible for people to work much less than they do. I believe that instead of having millions unemployed and millions feeling overworked, we should try to make possible a more equitable redistribution of work. And education should not just be about equipping people for the workplace; it should also aim at helping them to get the most out of their leisure time.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

No. Writing is hard work, and sometimes I don't write due to laziness. But I assume that is different from writer's block.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Write every day, even if only for twenty minutes. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

1. Write every day. 100 words a day (which is hardly anything) = 70,000 words in two years (which is a book).

2. Be a perfectionist. Work hard in choosing your words, crafting your sentences, and organizing your text with a view to making the finished product as clear, precise, and as engaging as possible.

3. Don't be a perfectionist. That is, don't let an awareness of your limitations, or fear of criticism, inhibit you. When I play golf, I know perfectly well that I'm not Tiger Woods. But I can still enjoy playing, can hope to improve, and can occasionally hit a fine shot. I find it helps to adopt the same attitude toward my writing. There are many philosophers who are cleverer than me, scholars who are more erudite than me, and writers who are more creative or stylish than me. But that's no reason for me not to have a go.

Emrys Westacott was born in Nottingham, and grew up in Chesterfield (UK). He studied philosophy at the University of Sheffield, McGill University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Since 1996 he has taught philosophy at Alfred University in Western New York. His work has appeared in various publications, both scholarly and popular, including Philosophy Now, The Humanist, The Philosophical Forum, International Studies in Philosophy, the International Journal of Applied Philosophy, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Think, and The Philosopher's Magazine. He has written three books: Thinking Through Philosophy (co-authored with Chris Horner) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000); The Virtues of our Vices (Princeton Univ. Press, 2012); and The Wisdom of Frugality (Princeton, 2016). Further information, including links to his writings in a variety of genres can be found at his website:

https://sites.google.com/site/ewestacott/