Marginally | a podcast about writing, work, and friendship
Arts:Literature
We are so excited to talk to Elizabeth Wetmore today, the author of the novel Valentine, which we loved. We also love her story about working on a book as long as it needs, and how she's balanced many jobs while believing in her writing all along, even when she's been, in her own words, "late to the game in every possible way." So this episode features a fantastic practical discussion about making all of that work, from being led by your love for characters and place to asking for help.
We also discuss the responsibility she felt in writing a diverse cast of characters in a West Texas setting, how she got the place right, and about writing about a place you deliberately left.
Before devoting herself to writing, Elizabeth variously tended bar, taught English, drove a cab, edited psychology dissertations, and painted silos and cooling towers at a petrochemical plant. For a time, she lived in a one-room cabin in the woods outside of Flagstaff, Arizona while she worked as a classical music announcer. A native of West Texas, she is most at home in the desert, near the sea, or on the side of a mountain. She now lives in Chicago.
She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and two fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, and numerous other residencies and awards.
As always, we'd love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show.
Visit our website, marginallypodcast.com, for complete show notes and to get in touch.
Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast.
Theme music is "It's Time" by Scaricá Ricascá.
Have a question you'd like us to try to answer, or a topic you'd love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here. Thanks for listening, and get to work!
If you like Marginally, you should check out #amwriting, with Jess and KJ, where two much more experienced writers talk through their processes with each other and celebrated guests.
Episode 75 - Tasha L. Harrison and Kate Newburg talk writing friendships and creative collaborations
Pep Talk 17: Jessica Abel on naps and self-care
Pep Talk 16: Paul Jarvis on what to do with fear
Julie Buntin on Friendship
Writing Planning with Alicia de los Reyes
Episode 69: Courtney Balestier of WMFA
Episode 68: Mary Laura Philpott talks essays, feelings and perfectionism
Episode 65: Secret sisterhoods & female literary friendships with Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney
Episode 64: Story Arcana with Caroline Donahue
Episode 61: Creative Focus with Jessica Abel
Episode 59: Tasha L. Harrison
Episode 54: Business, being idle and the creative life with Tom Hodgkinson
Episode 51: Paul Jarvis on growing your brand intentionally
Episode 48: Manjula Martin
Episode 46: Was There A Golden Age of Short Stories?
Episode 44: Jane Friedman and the business of writing
Episode 40: KJ Dell'Antonia and how to be a happier writer
Episode 39: Jean Hannah Edelstein on the the value of day jobs and permission to be a writer
Episode 38: Writer and Historian Fred Allison compares writing to being a fighter pilot
Episode 36: Writer and teacher Jess Lahey of #AmWriting
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Anne of Green Gables
Black Beauty
Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame