WriterHouse

Enroll now for Book Promotion 101 with Bella Stander This WriterHouse seminar will take place on Friday, March 19 as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book. Guarantee your slot — enroll today!

The 2010 Virginia Festival of the Book starts March 17. If you're planning to attend, don't miss these presentations by WriterHouse members. Click on the links for program information:

• Cliff Garstang (In an Uncharted Country) will be on two panels, Short Fiction and Writing Contests: Making Them Work for You, and will be moderating Making Local History Come Alive.
• WriterHouse Vice President Rachel Unkefer will also be on the Writing Contests panel. Sarah Collins Honenberger will be moderating that panel.
• Fran Cannon Slayton (When the Whistle Blows) will be appearing at several events, including Terrific Kids' Novels Adults Will Love, Too and Defining One's Own Voice in Literature. Along with Deborah Prum (Rats, Bulls and Flying Machines), she will also be on the panel Dancing With the Manuscripts: How to Hook an Editor on the First Page.
• Winn Collier will join Kristin Swenson for Bible Babel and Holy Curiosity: Questions and Answers about the Bible.

Emma Rathbone is teaching a Monday evening fiction workshop. Sign up now or look at some of the other classes we're offering this spring.

Is there a particular book/essay that made you want to write?

There's no specific book or essay that made me want to write. But I read a lot as a kid and growing up, and I think you naturally want to participate in whatever you admire the most, or what touches you. I do remember being especially impressed by George Orwell's 1984. I had never read anything with such scope and imagination before, and so that was inspiring.

What's the number one thing that distracts you when you're trying to write?

The internet and emailing are very distracting, and just the general day to day ups and downs can also get in the way. I think it takes a lot of discipline to clear out the time to write every morning, even when you're not feeling especially creative. Noise, too. I can't stand those little Chinese water torture types of sounds like a tap dripping or a tyrannical little kid blowing a whistle outside your window, which happened the other day.

If you could write from any location, where would it be?

I don't have to be in an especially beautiful place to write. It would be nice to be in a rustic country house in France, but I think I'd do just as well in any random library. My main requirements are that it's very quiet, fairly warm and bright, and it also helps if I'm not hungry.

Rachel Weaver will be teaching Creative Writing: Beginning the Journey on Friday mornings beginning January 22.

Is there a particular book or essay (or screenplay) that made you want to write?

As a child, I was terrified by Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.  I wasn't a particularly fearful child in general, and I remember being surprised and a little embarrassed that I could be so affected by a book. I think that realization—that good writing can be incredibly powerful—was the seed, at least, of my wanting to write.

What's the number one thing that distracts you when you're trying to write?

Inevitably the Internet distracts me, especially if I need to pause and look something up. I can without warning find myself reading an article, then emailing it to a friend, then returning an email to another friend about getting dinner, then—speaking of dinner—searching new recipes. It can spiral out of control pretty quickly. But eventually, I always get back to the story.

If you could write from any location, where would it be?

My grad school apartment in Missoula, Montana, which was solitary and cozy and inexplicably inspiring.