Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

What, Why, How: Charles Salzberg

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What: I write. I started my first novel when I was 12. It was a roman a clef (although I certainly did not know what that term meant at the time) about a sleepaway summer camp. I had recently learned how to touch type, a class I had to take in school in order to be allowed to skip a grade (to this day I maintain it was the best class I ever took), and I made it to three single-space pages before I … [Read more...]

What. Why, How: Binnie Klein

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What: Like many writers, I started as a child with poetry, mostly moody tomes about the shape of loneliness. In my late adolescence and twenties, I got involved with the New York poetry “scene” – took workshops with well-known poets, started a magazine with some like-minded students, and moved into NYC from New Jersey. I have the classic bulging scrapbook of rejections, but “still, she persisted” … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Caroline Leavitt

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What: I create worlds! I write novels. I write scripts and short stories and essays. Everything to me is a story! I’ve always made up stories. A few years ago, one of my novels Into Thin Air was optioned and I was so tired of books being optioned and nothing happening, that I told my agent that I wanted to write the script. “Have you ever written scripts before?” she asked and I lied. “Of course … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Kaye Curren

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What: I am a nonfiction advocate in a 200-year old entrenched tradition of poetry and fiction. Memoir, essays, humor essays, articles, book and movie reviews. I was told once I should write a novel. I can’t. I’m too hooked on true-life stories. I’m inspired by people’s lives - living, breathing, surviving, and coming out standing on their feet. I even have a special bookshelf for my favorite … [Read more...]

How to Evaluate Your Poem

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Is it any good? Acclaimed poet and teacher Jack Ridl says others often ask him, “Is my poem any good?”  He answers "It's likely we all worry about that, or at least worry about embarrassing ourselves with what we’ve written. I like to ask my poems if they are effective. Then I ask 'effective in what way/s?'" Useful questions to ask your poem: Jack offers some other ("more useful?") questions to … [Read more...]