Brian Kimberling

How did you become a writer?

Partly through a literary arms race with the neighbor girl. If she wrote a poem about a chain link fence I had to write one too; when she wrote a gruesome medical scene I had to follow suit. She’s had 3 novels published now, and I’m on 2. But she’s 6 months older.

Also, everybody in my orbit as a child was a voracious reader. Becoming such myself was probably crucial to developing a penchant for writing later.

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

Carolyn Baugh, neighbor girl and author above. Peter Taylor, Katherine Anne Porter, and Frank O’Connor. Salinger. Much later Tessa Hadley. I’ve been accused of writing with a pointillistic style, whatever that means — I think it comes from revering the compression and economy of the short story above all else. I had to grow up to learn that character and feelings are important too.

When and where do you write? 

Sporadically in the kitchen. This has changed over the years. My first book, Snapper, was written in a garage with a pool table in the southern English countryside. I could watch cows out the window, take a few shots on the pool table, and then go write a paragraph or smoke a cigarette or both. I’m amazed that book got written, let alone quickly and easily, but the truth is that shooting pool alone is pretty boring. My second book, Goulash, took much longer and was written in a variety of dwellings.

What are you working on now? 

A long narrative in 3rd person. May sound vague but both my previous books have been first person faux memoirs. In 3rd I’m enjoying the omniscience and the ability to condescend to my characters. But it’s best not to say much more about it until it’s complete.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

No, I don’t think so. I suffer heavily from procrastination and distraction and some other things.  There have been times when I was too stricken by one thing or another to work. But I don’t think I’ve ever felt blocked per se. I am however often unwilling to do the sheer amount of work writing involves — at least the way I do it — false starts and dead ends and starting all over again.

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

Don’t shine. Don’t seek to shine. Burn. (Richard Mitchell)

What’s your advice to new writers?

Writing is hard work! Don’t forget that or let anyone persuade you otherwise.

Brian Kimberling grew up in southern Indiana and spent several years working in the Czech Republic, Mexico, and Turkey before settling in England. Snapper, his first novel, was published by Pantheon in 2013, and Goulash, his second, by the same imprint in 2019.

Tamara Warren

How did you become a writer?

One word at a time. My mom says I slept with a book instead of a security blanket in my crib. When I was about eight, I told anyone who would listen that I had aspirations to become The New York Times food critic.  When I was in fourth grade, the middle school drama teacher adapted my short story “Detective Tamara and the Case of the Missing Dog” to the seventh grade stage. The byline hooked me. Going forward, it was a matter of persistence and curiosity.

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

The teacher and author Jackson’s Taylor’s writing group changed my writing life. My teachers Daryl Pinckney, Zia Jaffrey, Honor Moore, Susan Bell, and Jonathan Dee made me a better writer. The MFA creative writing program at The New School also prompted me to read a book a week, an excellent habit that I keep up.  One go-to example of a literary influence: I return to The Great Gatsby for a healthy dose of voice, scene and character. Conversations with journalist and author friends Brett Berk, Karen Good, Kierna Mayo, and Ayana Byrd keep me fired up about writing in both buzzy new digital forms that come with the times and the quiet pursuit of satisfying prose. The writers Phil Patton and Warren Brown mentored me on how writing about technical topics, like cars, could be clever and creative.

When and where do you write?

I take a notebook with me everywhere. When my time is more limited and I have a specific goal or deadline, I write in the morning, before I check email and engage in other distractions.

What are you working on now? 

“Winter Skin” a coming-of-age novel set in the post-industrial Detroit music scene in the 1990s, and a series of articles that will be published in 2019. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

No, but I have suffered through many days of terrible writing. I try to take walks and read to get back on track when the writing stinks. 

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

Read the work out loud before sending it out.  

What’s your advice to new writers?

The writing brain is a muscle that needs to be trained. Use exercises to warm up when you feel stuck. Read more poetry. Get to know your writing process and develop a routine around it. 

Tamara Warren has written for over 100 publications including The New York Times, Car and Driver, Vox, Automobile, Rolling Stone, AutoWeek, Architectural Digest, Vibe, and Detroit Free Press. She co-hosts the weekly Cheddar Rides show on the Cheddar news network. She is also the former transportation editor and senior reporter at The Verge. Tamara is the founder of Le Car, an editorial app based on automotive journalism. Her essays have appeared in Definition: The Art & Design of Hip Hop (Harper Collins) and Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption (Bloomsbury.)  She has appeared as a guest on ABC World News Tonight, CBS, CNBC, and The History Channel. She was raised in Detroit, Michigan and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Leslie Connor

How did you become a writer?

This was a bit of a surprise. I always loved to write, but it was my degree in art and illustration that brought me to the children’s book field. I began to work on picture book texts. Then I discovered a well of ideas for longer works of fiction and gravitated toward stories for middle graders and teens. (I've never gone back to illustrating!)

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

Robert Louis Stevenson, Else Minarik, Christopher Paul Curtis, John Irving, Maya Angelou, Maurice Sendak, Alice Hoffman, Kimberly Newton Fusco, Gary Schmidt….I could go on a long, long while here! 

When and where do you write?

The laptop makes for a great portable office. Thus, I began my career in coffee shops, libraries, and curled up on borrowed sofas. Recently, we build a sweet little office shed on our back hill in woods and I love having that space to dream and write in. I’m not one to rise at the crack of dawn to work. I take a morning walk with the dogs then pour the tea and start. 

What are you working on now? 

I’m polishing the final draft of a middle grade novel about a grieving girl and a difficult dog who arrive to the same new home in a tiny New England town. Both arrive harboring secrets and mysteries, and neither seems to want much to do with the other—not at first.  

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

If I have, I cannot admit it because the concept terrifies me. There are definitely short periods when I simply not writing, but I am probably ruminating or letting the creative well fill. 

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

Shorten your sentences and cut your adverbs!

What’s your advice to new writers?

Shorten your sentences and cut your adverbs! (Sound familiar?) Practice "dedicated daydreaming." Seek to tell the truth about the world and the characters that have arrived into your heart for each story. 

As a kid, Leslie Connor was a daydreamer who loved to be upside down in odd places such as the middle of the stairway at her family home where she could look out the front door and watch the world from an unusual perspective. She studied visual art at the University of Connecticut where she earned a BFA. She is happily surprised to be writing today. Leslie is the genre-hopping author of several award-winning books for children including a picture book, Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel, the middle grade novels, Crunch, and Waiting for Normal, winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, and All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook, a finalist for the E.B. White Read Aloud Award.She has written two teen novels, Dead on Town Lineand The Things You Kiss Goodbye.Leslie’s newest title, The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle, also for middle grade readers, was a National Book Award Finalist in 2018. Leslie lives with her husband and rescue dogs in a little house in the Connecticut woods.