Anjali Enjeti

How did you become a writer? Twenty-one-and-a-half years ago, I gave birth to my first child. Until then, I’d been an avid reader and practicing attorney. Motherhood unleashed this primal need for me to pen what this experience was like. I began by blogging, and then writing parenting articles.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). If I had to name one book that inspired me to write, it would be Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. It’s such a magical book. When I picked it up, I felt like I was discovering the English language for the first time. I reread it recently – it still packs the same punch.

The late Valerie Boyd was a friend and writing mentor for many years, and she was one of the authors who first got me into book reviewing. Jessica Handler, another Atlanta-area writer, has been so supportive of my writing journey from the beginning. Journalist and author Fariba Nawa is my best friend. She’s based in Istanbul but I talk to her daily over WhatsApp about writing and life. Kavitha Rajagopalan, Madhushree Ghosh, Gayatri Sethi, and several other South Asian women writers guide and inspire me on this journey.

When and where do you write? I write in the sunroom at the back of our house. There are several large windows, so it’s filled with lots of natural light. I’m surrounded by oak, pine, and cryptomeria trees. Families of deer skip through the yard. I can hear birds chirping and woodpeckers pecking. It’s like being outside, but without the pollen and mosquito bites!

What are you working on now? I’m working on another novel. This one takes place in the 1990s in North Georgia, in the very tail end of the Appalachia Mountains. It’s about a mother and daughter who are haunted by an assassination that occurred in the early 1970s in Hyderabad, a city in southern India.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? I’m not sure I’d call what I have writer’s block. I suffer from chronic pain, and it controls a large part of my life. I can’t write on a schedule. I go months without writing. I have to write around my pain in order to write at all.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? Years ago, I attended a writing event where author Bernice McFadden was the featured speaker. She said that she doesn’t feel creative every day so she doesn’t write every day. I found this so liberating. After that day, I quit feeling guilty about not writing every day.

What’s your advice to new writers? Don’t judge your talent or skill as a writer based on how often or where you publish. Bylines ultimately don’t determine your worth as a writer.

Anjali Enjeti is an Atlanta-based former attorney, journalist, and organizer. She is the author of Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change, and The Parted Earth. She is the winner of the Georgia Author of the Year for first novel, a gold medal recipient for Best Regional Nonfiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, and is a 2023 finalist for the Townsend Prize for fiction. Her other writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and elsewhere. She teaches creative writing in the MFA programs at Antioch University in Los Angeles and Reinhardt University.

GennaRose Nethercott

How did you become a writer? The direct influence has to be my dad–a writer himself–who raised me surrounded by stories and poems and folklore. I have a classic Lisa Frank binder with snow leopards on the cover containing poetry I wrote as a five year old, scrawled in misspelled gel pen. The early works. And honestly, thematically it’s pretty similar to what I do now. Monsters and fairytales and the like. The thing is, though, for most of my youth I desperately didn’t want to be a writer by profession. I had gotten it into my head that it would be a path filled with too much disappointment and existential angst (I wasn’t…wrong…). By my late teens, however, I realized I only truly felt sane and myself while writing–so figured I didn’t have much of a choice. May as well go all in. So I did.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). Well like I said, my dad is first and foremost. But then there’s Kelly Link, Angela Carter, Karen Russell, Ray Bradbury–with whose works I’d like to consider my own to be in conversation. My novel Thistlefoot, specifically, was heavily influenced by Isaac Bashevis Singer and Sholem Aleichem, as well as Libba Bray and Leigh Bardugo. And all my work is deeply indebted to traditional folklore. Old stories, old monsters, which I’m always excited to tinker with in new ways. And then there’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is…well…just very deeply rooted in my soul.

When and where do you write? I wish I had some kind of consistent routine, but I don’t. Basically, the “when” is “whenever I have a deadline to hit.” Mostly I write in bed. I’m a devout bedsman. Earlier this year I tried to lure myself into writing in an armchair in my library by putting up fancy wallpaper and hanging nice lights and plants– but the truth is, you can’t beat a soft bed. People used to give me shit about it, but then I saw a photograph of Sondheim writing while lying flat on his back on the couch, so I consider my argument untouchable now. That said, I’m on the road touring a lot, so my writing bed isn’t always my actual, at-home bed. Sometimes it’s a pile of sheepskins and camping mats stuffed into the trunk of my car. Sometimes it’s a hotel bed. One one occasion, it was a series of sofa cushions a collaborator lined up in a closet in preparation for my arrival, knowing I can only write while very, very cozy. Was I being treated like a fussy little kitten? Yes. Did I mind? No.

What are you working on now? I’m currently finishing up edits on my forthcoming short story collection, Fifty Beasts To Break Your Heart, due out in early 2024–a series of weird, speculative short stories. Short stories have always been my greatest love as a reader, so I’m thrilled to finally be making my own contribution to the genre. I’m also gearing up to start writing my next novel, binging classic gothics for inspiration. Oh, and a friend and I just wrote a book of cheeky fortunes you can interpret with the help of a pair of dice, which we plan to sell at the local farmer’s market while drunk on absinthe and dressed as medieval jesters. We’re calling ourselves Fortune’s Fools Mercantile and Propheteering. So you know…keeping busy.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? I’m not sure I believe in writer’s block. I think writer’s block is a term for those who don’t recognize that writing is labor. Sure, sometimes it flows onto the page in a burst of thrilling inspiration, sweet and easy–but that’s rare and precious. In my experience, ninety-nine percent of the time writing is sitting down, gritting my teeth, and putting in painful and tedious work. So I guess “writer’s block” for me is just when I lack the energy or gumption to do the work that needs to be done–which yes, happens all the time. But it has nothing to do with inspiration or lack thereof.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? This is more publishing advice than writing advice, but it has to be the idea that if readers, publishers, etc. want to reject your work, it’s their job to do that. Not yours. Don’t do their job for them. In other words, don’t withhold your work from the world just because you’re afraid it won’t be accepted. If you believe in a piece, toss it out with full gusto. That’s your role. If the world wants it, it’ll seize it. If not, it won’t. But ultimately, that isn’t up to you. Shoot your shot.

What’s your advice to new writers? Find a writing community (or build your own)! Nothing will motivate, inspire, and improve your craft more than a group of like minded friends. If you can find people to share your work with who’ll share with you in turn, ideally on a regular basis, you’ll find your skills begin to bounce off each other, strengthening everyone. Writing can be solitary work–but don’t forget that at its heart, it’s an art form all about communication and connection.

GennaRose Nethercott is a writer and folklorist. Her first book, The Lumberjack's Dove, was selected by Louise Glück as a winner of the National Poetry Series, and whether authoring novels, poems, ballads, or even fold-up paper cootie catchers, her projects are all rooted in myth—and what our stories reveal about who we are. She tours widely, performing strange tales (sometimes with puppets in tow), and researches/writes for the podcast Lore. She lives in Brattleboro, Vermont, beside an old cemetery. Thistlefoot is her debut novel.

Emma Kantor

How did you become a writer? I’ve always loved storytelling. I was a theater kid and would often break out into silly sketches and song-and-dance routines for family and friends. In another life, I would’ve been a character actor. But somewhere around age 12, the adolescent anxiety set in and I became much more introverted. Enter books. Still, I continued to perform in high school and college, and I dabbled in improv after graduation.

I didn’t fully consider myself a writer until a few years ago. Before then, I had always identified as an editor first. Then the pandemic hit and, with no opportunities for performing, I craved a creative outlet. I turned to short humor writing and personal essays. In retrospect, I learned so many vital lessons from theater and comedy that serve me as a writer—about crafting a persona and voice, and bringing humor as well as vulnerability to the page. And after improv, I’m not afraid to do live readings...

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). I’m in awe of Jhumpa Lahiri—the way she crosses borders through her fiction, nonfiction, and translation, both in English and Italian. I’ve been studying Italian since 2008, but I can only aspire to her level of fluency. I’m sure moving to Rome would help!

A large part of my reading life is dedicated to children’s and YA books. Some of my favorite authors writing for young people today are Katherine Rundell, Rebecca Stead, Nina LaCour, and Nicola Yoon. I’m a late bloomer, and I’m forever drawn to stories about the precarity and joy of young women coming of age. 

In terms of mentors, I credit my former teachers at Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, Alisson Wood and Michele Filgate, for showing me how to give and receive feedback with generosity and insight, and how to form a writing discipline. 

When and where do you write? I have two desks—one that belonged to my great aunt and one from Ikea—but if I’m being honest, I mostly write in bed. Early evenings after work and weekend afternoons are generally when I have the time and energy to face the page. Now that I’m working remotely, not having to commute every day to the office has also opened up my schedule for writing.

What are you working on now? I’m currently revisiting and revising an essay I started last summer on The Green Ray, the film by Éric Rohmer and the novel of the same name by Jules Verne. My piece is about the bittersweet solitude of summer as a single woman, and moments of serendipity in the search for connection.

On the comedy side, I’m mustering up the chutzpah to launch a Jewish literary humor website. Stay tuned. And to anyone who may be interested in contributing as a writer or editor, please reach out!

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Of course. The benefit of working at a magazine with regular deadlines is that I’m always writing or editing something. So, no matter how stuck I am on a personal project, I’m able to stay productive in other ways.

I also found a lot of encouragement in this craft essay by Kate Angus for Literary Hub. She compares the writing process to working in a field: “Sometimes I am harvesting and sometimes I must let the field lie fallow or seed it with other experiences so new growth can germinate.” I love the idea of rest as a vital part of the labor. I’m grateful, too, for her reminder that writing can take many shapes—it doesn’t need to involve putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Writing can encompass those in-between times when we’re thinking and living our lives, gathering material, whether consciously or not. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? From Dani Shapiro’s Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life: “There is no difference between practice and art. The practice is the art.”

What’s your advice to new writers? Read widely, but also be out in the world. Surround yourself with interesting, creative people. They’re more fun. And that creativity is bound to rub off.

Emma Kantor is a Brooklyn-based writer, comedian, and deputy children’s book editor at Publishers Weekly. In addition to PW, her work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Electric Literature, Hey Alma, Literary Hub, and Pigeon Pages, among other outlets. Learn more about her work at emmakantor.com and on Twitter @emkantor.