Why Martha Greenwald wants to reinvigorate your writing project
LLA: Why did you chose to teach on the subject of "recovering your subject" for the November 11th workshop topic? Why does this topic interest you as a teacher and as a writer?
MG: I have been working on a memoir project, on and off, for the past six years. Although I thought I knew my subject well, I realized after I'd begun that I was wrong. I had to find ways to rediscover my own stories and history. I thought it could be useful to share that experience with other writers who also might feel lost in their projects. I see so many writers who overshare on social media, and I suspect that is sometimes because they confuse posts with the real work of writing and also because they crave feedback. A workshop can be a nice antidote, a place to be face-to-face with each other and be reminded of our actual projects, not a hastily dashed note to the online world, in need of a 'like.' I hope we get some good work done on Saturday!
BIO: Martha Greenwald is a writer, editor, and tutor. Her collection of poems, Other Prohibited Items, was the winner of the Mississippi Review Poetry Series. Her work has appeared in The Threepenny Review, Slate, Poetry, Best New Poets, The Sycamore Review, Shenandoah, New World Writing. She has held a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford and been awarded scholarships from both the Breadloaf and Sewanee Writers Conferences. Greenwald has also held an Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council. Works in progress include Shivah Bullies, a memoir, and Well, Bless His Heart, a collection of short fiction.
