by Bethany | Nov 21, 2018 | Courage to Create, Podcast
Join Bethany Hegedus as she interviews friend and fellow author, Cate Berry, about Cate’s debut picture book, PENGUIN AND TINY SHRIMP DON’T DO BEDTIME (Balzer + Bray 2018). The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books has said that “The story is a smartly comedic entry in the genre of the anti-bedtime story, and the exclamatory dialogue-only text adds energy and humor. This will be a joyous bedtime read.”
Cate is a seventh generation Texan with an MFA in Children’s Literature from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She also teaches at The Writing Barn and is a longtime member of SCBWI and The Writer’s League of Texas. Cate speaks at schools, libraries, and conferences year round. Visit her online at cateberry.com.
In this entertaining and inspiring episode, Bethany and Cate discuss the circuitous journey of the literary life, the walls women must scale to break into comedy, and they even sing a little! The episode also touches on how important inclusivity and diversity are in picture books and how all children’s writers need to be aware of avoiding stereotypes in their work. Both writers agree that children love to feel empowered, and a good book can do that. Finally, they discuss how they find time to squeeze writing in, even at the most unlikely places.
by Bethany | Nov 14, 2018 | Courage to Create, Podcast
Hello listeners! While we love our “Insight and Ah-ha’s” segment of The Porchlight, and the wonderful authors we interview who grace us with their voices and stories, we also understand the personal journey of living a literary life — the up’s and the down’s, the triumphs and defeats, the everyday wonders of putting words to the page. For that reason we’ve created a new segment called “Courage to Create.”
(This new segment is all about living a literary life. How do we engage with our craft on a day to day basis, and how do we sustain that engagement in a world filled with distractions. Hope you enjoy our first segment of Courage to Create with Bethany Hegedus.)
Sam Bond Photography
Writing Barn founder and director, Bethany Hegedus, launches her Literary Life series of talks on this episode of The Porchlight. Bethany’s goal with these episodes is to delve deeply into what leading a literary life means to each individual and how we can keep ourselves inspired and engaged in our work without neglecting the many other areas of our lives. This series grew out of a talk Bethany gave years ago, and then it evolved into the Write. Submit. Support classes offered both in-person and online at The Writing Barn. The next evolution of Bethany’s idea is this, the podcast, where she monologues on how we can engage with ourselves and our work as well as with the community of creators around us in order to lead our best, most fulfilling creative lives. In this pilot episode, Bethany goes through Elmore Leonard and Zadie Smith’s Top Ten Rules for living a literary life as well as her own list. Hoping these talks will serve as a creative tool for listeners to get in touch with their own goals and make their own lists, Bethany is sure to encourage, educate, and inspire in this new podcast series.
by Bethany | Nov 7, 2018 | Courage to Create, Podcast
Welcome back listeners to The Porchlight Podcast, we couldn’t be happier to start off Season 3 with the one and only Jamie Swenson. Jamie teaches Picture Book classes at The Writing Barn and is a celebrated picture book author. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it. And tune in next week for our brand new segment: Living the Literary Life with Bethany Hegedus.
Jamie A. Swenson, author of the newly released picture book A FALL BALL FOR ALL, joins Bethany on this episode of The Porchlight. Jamie has an MFA from Hamline University and is the author of four picture books and two chapter books, including BIG RIG and MEET WOOF AND QUACK. She’s also an associate librarian and early literacy story teller who lives in Wisconsin and is teaching an online picture book class via The Writing Barn beginning in January 2019.
During their conversation, Bethany and Jamie discuss the challenges of writing rhyming picture books and the importance of punctuation and page turns in the picture book format as well as how a writer can leave room for the illustrator. They share their mutual love of author Phyllis Root and discuss how much they learn not only as students but also as teachers of other writers. Jamie shares how she makes time for her writing amidst her busy work and life schedules, and Bethany calls Jamie’s commentary a master class in living the literary life. To learn more about Jamie, visit her website at www.jamieaswenson.com
by Bethany | Sep 7, 2018 | Courage to Create, Podcast
In this latest episode of The Porchlight Podcast, Writing Barn Founder, Bethany Hegedus, speaks with author, long-time friend, and Austin’s own SCBWI Regional Advisor, Samantha M. Clark. Listen as they discuss the release of Samantha’s debut novel, The Boy, The Boat, and The Beast (Simon & Schuster 2018).
This inspiring episode touches on craft, creation, and the long, sometimes arduous road your book must take on its way to publication. But as Sam points out in this episode, the only thing we can control is the creation itself, all we can control is finding the heart of the story, making sure it beats with intention and power. If we do this, then we have done enough.
Samantha M. Clark loves stories about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances because if four ordinary brothers and sisters can find a magical world at the back of a wardrobe, why can’t she? Until she finds her own real-life Narnia, she writes about other ordinary children and teens who’ve stumbled into a wardrobe of their own. She grew up in different countries around the world and now lives with her husband and two funny dogs in Austin, Texas. Samantha is the regional advisor for the Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and she explores wardrobes every chance she gets. Visit her online at SamanthaMClark.com.
by Bethany | Aug 22, 2018 | Courage to Create, Podcast
In this newest episode of The Porchlight, Writing Barn Founder, Bethany Hegedus, talks with poet and novelist Carrie Fountain about her debut novel I’m Not Missing (Flatiron Books 2018).
I’m Not Missing, is a coming of age novel set in Las Cruces, New Mexico and follows the life and trials of protagonist, Miranda, as she navigates her senior year and the sudden disappearance of her best friend.
In this episode Bethany and Carrie discuss all things I’m Not Missing, from creation to release, and also touch on aspects of the writer life, including the process of transitioning from writing Poetry to Young Adult Fiction and the power and honor behind being a woman writing for younger women. Carrie and Bethany even reminisce on the books that changed them as young readers, from Judy Blume’s Tiger Eyes, to Tolstoy’s War and Peace. This is an episode not to be missed!
Enjoy our latest episode of The Porchlight, and don’t forget to pick up your own copy of I’m Not Missing by Carrie Fountain, on shelves now!
Carrie Fountain’s poems have appeared in Tin House, Poetry, and The New Yorker, among others. Her debut collection, Burn Lake, was a National Poetry Series winner and was published in 2010 by Penguin. Her second collection, Instant Winner, was published by Penguin in 2014. Fountain’s debut novel, I’m Not Missing, was published in July, 2018 by Flatiron Books (Macmillan).
Born and raised in Mesilla, New Mexico, Fountain received her MFA as a fellow at the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. Currently writer-in-residence at St. Edward’s University and Visiting Professor at the Michener Center, she is the host of NPR’s This Is Just To Say, a radio show and podcast where she has intimate conversations with America’s most influential poets.
Fountain lives in Austin with her husband, playwright and novelist Kirk Lynn, and their children.
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