Emily Beyda

How did you become a writer?

I honestly can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing! It’s always been something I loved, and a huge part of how I interact with the world. Growing up, our next door neighbor was legendary LA writer Eve Babitz, and as soon as I could hold a pen she encouraged me to write things down. My parents still have some early examples of my childhood “novels” on their bookshelves, complete with hand drawn cover art! Writing has always been my way of processing and responding to my experience of the world, and I’m so lucky that I get to do it professionally.

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

The writer who made me want to write was Francisca Lea Block. Her dreamy, propulsive prose was such an inspiration to me as a young writer. As an adult, my biggest influences and supporters have definitely been my teachers--including my mentor Ivy Pochoda who is always such a font of professional inspiration and advice, as well as David Gates, Jennifer DuBois, and the inimitable Karen Russell. I’m always blown away by the genuine spirit of solidarity that animates the writing world. That creative generosity is such an inspiration to me in my work, and how I try to interact with my own community.

When and where do you write?

Before Covid, my kitchen table in the morning was where I did all my work. Now my husband, who teaches high school history, uses it as his classroom, so I head over to my parent’s house every day to write in my treehouse “office.” It’s not a bad arrangement! I spend the early half of the day writing at a desk that looks into a thicket of bamboo where hummingbirds like to congregate, before moving on to journalism and teaching stuff in the afternoon. I always feel closest to my source of inspiration in the mornings.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a kind of spooky book about a young couple who buy an abandoned summer camp and the various strange occurrences that happen out there in the woods. It’s very different from anything I’ve written before, and has been a really fun, challenging experience. I love projects that force me to use new parts of my brain, which this definitely does.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Of course! It’s such a natural (if unfortunate) part of being a writer. What always helps me when I’m experiencing writer's block is to look for the source of my reluctance. It can mean that there’s something I’m resisting in the work or trying to avoid, and forcing myself to articulate what that something is generally gets me over the hump. It could also be the case that the section I’m trying to force myself to get through just isn’t working, and I need to walk away for a while, or try another approach. Listening to what the block is telling you is key! Remember that the call is coming from inside the house.

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

Karen Russell once told me to find what brings me joy in the work and follow that spark. That advice is something I return to again and again in my own practice. Ultimately, we are the ones who have to spend the most time in these universes we create. Not our readers, not our audiences, not anyone but ourselves. Remembering that source of joy is such a precious and critical thing, a kind of literary spirit guide.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Growing up, my mom always told me that the perfect is the enemy of the good, and I think that there’s nowhere this is truer than in writing work. Don’t let yourself get too bogged down in the pursuit of perfection in any particular section of your work. Remember the big picture, and the unity of your vision, and the pieces will fall into place. 

Emily Beyda is the author of The Body Double. You can find her on Instagram @emilybeyda.

Bonnie Tsui

How did you become a writer?

By becoming a reader first. As a kid, I read nonstop -- my mom took me to the library every week and every week I came back with a sky-high stack of books that made me so happy. I love being immersed in a world. My dad is an artist, and we grew up in his downstairs studio. It was a pretty creative environment in our house -- we were homebodies, but our imaginative life was internally expansive. 

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

In college I took two nonfiction seminars with the writer Natalie Kusz, the author of Road Song, an incredibly riveting memoir. She taught me that nonfiction writing could be just as creative as fiction, the prose as vivid and diamond-bright and powerful. That was eye-opening. It changed my life.

When and where do you write? 

When I need to write something that requires sustained thought, I get up really early. That five to six am window when everything is still and dark is so clarifying. The where matters less.

What are you working on now? 

Finishing up the back matter for my first children's book, which will be published next year. Writing an essay for an anthology on San Francisco. And neck-deep in my next book, about fallow time.  

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Not really, though this period of pandemic and protest has certainly made it difficult to get writing done, mostly because so much of my waking life is taken up with thinking and talking about these big and uncertain things, especially with my children.  

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

Get up and do the work. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

Writing is a discipline, just like any other. It's not some magical thing that happens to you -- ultimately, you are the force that drives the work. Carving out a regular routine for your practice is critical. And then you can make the magic.

Bonnie Tsui is the author of WHY WE SWIM, a cultural and scientific exploration of our human relationship with water and swimming. A Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times bestseller, it was named an Editor's Choice by The New York Times Book Review. It has also received praise from NPR, The San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist, and was named a best book of the season by Amazon, Outside, Buzzfeed, Oprah, and more. A journalist and longtime contributor to The New York Times, Bonnie is also the author of AMERICAN CHINATOWN, winner of the Asia/Pacific American Award for Literature and a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller. She lives, swims, and surfs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Katherine Hill

How did you become a writer?

As the only child of two English professors, I was lucky to see adults reading and writing from a young age. I made my first book on one of my mom’s legal pads, and from that point on I was pretty much always writing something, whether it was a play or a story or an outline for a fictional universe. The Bennington MFA program was where I developed my grown-up practice, reading other writers closely, and committing a certain number of hours each week to the work of writing and revision.

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

The list is long and always growing, but the current headliners are Virginia Woolf, Elena Ferrante, Jennifer Egan, and Lydia Davis. My brilliant Bennington teachers—Lynne Sharon Schwartz, Alice Mattison, Amy Hempel, and Martha Cooley—mentored me generously at a really critical time. 

When and where do you write?

I mostly write at home, at my desk, but I’ve also gotten great work done at coffee shops, libraries, and especially writing residencies like the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. The key is having a good chair, few interruptions, and lots and lots of time. 

What are you working on now?

A journal of my daughter’s first year of life and a new novel that’s still finding its form. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

I would say there are periods when I write and periods when I don’t. This used to bother me, in a really existential way, but I’ve come to accept it as part of my process. It’s always hard to start after a period of not-writing, but I always manage to do it, mostly by reading excellent writers and letting myself write whatever comes out, knowing I can always throw it away later—and probably will.

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

The real work of writing is revising. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

Read widely and deeply in your chosen genre—and also outside your genre—to figure out how other writers have done it. Seek out mentors and fellow travelers. Be patient with yourself: Failure is an inevitable and necessary part of any artistic process. Learn who to listen to, and who not to listen to, which is an answer particular to you. Remember that in the end, it’s your work, and you get to decide how to make it.

Katherine Hill is the author of two novels—The Violet Hour (2013) and A Short Move (2020), which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. With Sarah Chihaya, Merve Emre, and Jill Richards, she is also co-author of The Ferrante Letters: An Experiment in Collective Criticism (2020). She teaches creative writing and literature at Adelphi University.