Posted by David Sabol, GD Poetry Reader for 5.1
As we all know, starting a career as a writer is pretty difficult. You’re a young writer who’s practiced your craft for years, writing page after page of work, until finally, you’ve written something that you feel the literary world needs to see… Now what? Most people don’t know where to go from here, whether they’re in high school or college. Continue reading
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Posted by Erin Carlo, GD Public Relations Manager and Fiction Reader for 5.1
Gandy Dancers past and present are thrilled to announce the debut of one of our very talented contributors, Dante Di Stefano, in his collection of poetry, Love is a Stone Endlessly in Flight. You can find a copy on Amazon here. Dante graced the pages of Gandy Dancer Issue 3.2 and Issue 4.1 with his poetry, and he has won awards such as the Thayer Fellowship in the Arts, the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, the Phyllis Smart-Young Prize in Poetry, and an Academy of American Poets College Prize. Aside from Gandy Dancer, Dante’s work has appeared in Shenandoah, The Writer’s Chronicle, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, Brilliant Corners, and The Southern California Review. He earned his Ph.D. in creative writing from the State University of New York at Binghamton and is now a high school English teacher in Endicott, New York.
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Posted by Erin Carlo, Creative Nonfiction Reader for Issue 4.1
High school and college students are plagued with thoughts and concerns about the future. Speaking with someone who has experience in a field of interest can help alleviate the stress we experience as we face the unknown.
Thinking of my future invoked anxious feelings that began to tug at my normally lighthearted, happy presence. I started to feel uneasy, easily distracted, and irritated because I didn’t know what my “next step” would be.
I found myself on the Geneseo English department webpage, looking at requirements for my major, when I stumbled upon the profile of Tracy Strauss, a graduate of SUNY Geneseo and former English major. She sounded so nice, so happy, so successful! I wanted to know more about her, and how she got to this point. I reached out to Ms. Strauss and asked her if she would be willing to speak with me.
Tracy Strauss has been successful since graduating from Geneseo in 1996. She has been published in The Huffington Post, Salon, The Rumpus, xoJane, Poets & Writers Magazine, Writer’s Digest Magazine, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, The Feminist Wire, The Dodo, The Southampton Review, Solstice Literary Magazine, Beyond the Margins, and more. Ms. Strauss is currently a liberal arts and writing instructor at the New England Conservatory of Music Writing Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Continue reading
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Posted by Erin Carlo, Nonfiction Reader for Issue 4.1
Wendy Corsi Staub, the wildly successful and prolific author of over eighty novels, visited Geneseo on Thursday, October 22nd. As an avid reader of Ms. Staub’s many works, I was delighted to have the opportunity to hear her speak about her writing life, her inspirations and motivations, as well as the adversity she has overcome along the way.
Accompanying Wendy was her editor and friend, Lucia Marco, the Vice President and Executive Editor at Harper-Collins Willian Morrow Books. Attendees were able to ask questions about writing, editing, and publishing. Wendy and Lucia were exceptionally knowledgeable, and remarkably approachable.
A few of Wendy’s accomplishments include:
When asked how she was possibly able to produce over eighty novels before the age of 50, Ms. Staub responded, “I walk fast, I talk fast, I write fast. Once I’m in the groove, the stories just come.” Furthermore, when asked how to write successful fiction, fiction that will attract readers and keep them coming back for more, Wendy chuckled, gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully and said: “Give yourself permission to have bad days. Sometimes, you’re going to write crap. What’s important is to keep writing anyways. Sit down at your computer, do your pages, and then the next day, go over what you wrote and see what you can do with it.”
As an aspiring writer, I felt empowered by this advice. Wendy Corsi Staub and Lucia Macro are tremendous role models for the creative minds in college classrooms everywhere.
For more information, please visit www.wendycorsistaub.com.
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