An Interview with
Member of the Year - Kasturi Patra

by Joyce Hertzoff

You’ve recently had a novel and a couple of short stories published. 2020 wasn’t a good year for most of the world, but you ended it on a high note. Tell us about your novel and short stories.
I wrote the first two drafts of this novel in 2018 and then left it in the backburner. Around the same time, I joined WVU and I got more interested in writing literary short stories, so I’d been doing that ever since. However, when there was a novel pitch competition by the Indian publisher, Half Baked Beans, my husband inspired me to send the pitch. I really didn’t expect it to win the competition but it did. The book is about to be released in a few months’ time.

A few of my short stories got published in 2020. All of these stories began in WVU. I’d run with a prompt and then let it take me on a creative adventure.

For example, I wrote Reunion as a homage to Richard Ford’s Reunion. This is a part of an anthology and will be found on Amazon. I wrote it in the Homage Story class. Broken Dolls and The Atlas began in the Literary Fiction class. Dadu’s Beedi which is forthcoming in Lakeview International Journal also began in the Literary Fiction class. Lucky was written in a Flash Fiction class.

All my published stories in 2020 have been inspired by the classes, exercises, and discussions in WVU and the Sweethearts of the Rodeo workshop.


Do you prefer working on longer or shorter pieces? Why?
I love working on short stories more because there’s so much to learn in terms of the writing craft. I feel that the more I revise, edit, apply certain techniques, tweak the structure, POV, voice, etc. the more I grow as a writer.


What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m working on a collection of linked short stories based in ‘90s Kolkata and the present day Delhi and Kolkata. The stories are linked by themes such as female friendships, coming of age, mother-daughter relationships, growing up in nineties India as a woman, and so on. The women in these stories have different personalities but the one thing that they have in common is the way they try, sometimes even desperately, to rise above their experiences/conditions. They refuse to be defined by whatever happened to them. Just as in life, they succeed at times, and fail at others. There will be characters that feel more lovable than others, however, my aim is that they are all realistic and are people that the readers can empathize with, even though they might not be lovable. It will be a character-driven collection with certain social messages, however, it will not be preachy in any way.
Some of my published stories that I mentioned before are a part of this collection.


What courses and forums at WVU have helped you along the way?
The Literary Fiction class which I think I’ve taken thrice so far!  Also, the Linked Stories course and workshop which I’d taken twice.

I also enjoyed the Narrative Design class, some of the classes on flash fiction, and the series of classes based on Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story.

I am a part of the Sweethearts of the Rodeo study group and I owe a lot to the group for my growth as a writer. I learn a great deal from each of the talented writers over there. Their feedback helps me strengthen my stories and become a better writer. We do weekly writing prompts and that has been the one steady writing practice in my life even during my busiest or roughest phases. Sweethearts is my true “home” in the literary world. 😀

What advice would you give writers who are just starting out? • Read extensively. I do not know of any other way to become a better writer. • I thank my stars almost every day for leading me to WVU. Whatever little I could achieve in terms of writing was because of this place. Writing communities are extremely important and so are the giving and the receiving of feedback for our work. • Be open-minded to critiques because that’s the best way to learn and improve. At the same time, be confident about your vision of the story, and don’t try to incorporate each and every feedback you receive. Only include the ones that you think go with your vision.

• Write every day. If you’re not writing, then edit or revise. I don’t believe in writer’s block and my personal experience is that the more I write, the more ideas come to me. I’ve set myself a goal of writing or editing 500-1000 words every day for six days a week. I completely adhere to this quote by Cheryl Strayed: “Writing is hard....Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig.”

• Be gentle with yourself. Writing is lonely and hard. Be open to learning but don’t judge yourself too harshly. Celebrate your successes no matter how small they are.

• Take time out for self-care. Meditation, vision journaling, and exercising are the three things that I do almost every day. They hugely help me with my writing and with navigating life in general.

• Other writers are your friends and not your rivals. The more you’re open to helping and learning from your peers, the more your work will improve. We are all unique human beings with unique stories to share. Someone else’s success should be the cause for celebration and not jealousy. Be inspired by the success stories of your peers, try to learn from them. When you live from an abundant mindset, everything you do (and this includes writing) brings so much joy and fulfillment!

Do you have a website? How active are you on social media?
Yes, my website is called kasturipatra.com.

I share writing and reading-related resources; inform readers about publication/submission opportunities; talk about my own work and learnings, as well as, those of my fellow writers.

I’m very active on Facebook. I also have a page over there called Kasturi Patra – Writer 

My novel is yet to be released.

An Interview with Karen Barr

by Joyce Hertzoff

First a basic question, what does a facilitator do? How much do they bring to the class?

The facilitator is responsible for several things.
• Posting Welcome & Introduction post
• Post assignment each week along with any other required text, including feedback requirements
• Leaving feedback as required for everyone in the class
• Answering any questions, the group may have
• Posting any extra material or examples to help clarify
• Encourage all writers – especially new ones
• Monitoring class participation to ensure that students meet all requirements; this may include sending reminders by personal message.
• Post last day reminder
• Track attendance; ensure those who have completed the course have also left the required feedback.
• Report problems or ask questions or seek support via the “Faculty Room”
• At the end of the class, they are responsible for following up on any open items with the Staff Advisor or Administrator

So, you can see, being a facilitator comes with some responsibility and they bring a lot to the class in the way of feedback and making sure the class runs smoothly.

When did you start facilitating classes at WVU? Do you only facilitate MFA classes? Give us an estimate of the number of classes you’ve facilitated. Do you prefer to facilitate Literature or Core classes?

Oh, wow. I started facilitating in 2015. I facilitated the first round of MFA110, Syntax & Grammar. I wrote Bob to ask if it was a difficult grammar course because that was one of my worst subjects. He said, “there’s no better way to learn than to teach.” So that’s how I got started.

I was scared to death facilitating a class that I didn’t have a lot of knowledge in, but everyone was so supportive and kind. It was a wonderful experience and I learned so much!

Since then, I’ve mostly facilitated MFA classes. I did create some basic fiction courses and facilitated those for a time as well. I prefer the Core Courses. Mainly because there’s just so much to learn there and each time I facilitate them, I absorb more. I would say I’ve facilitated well over 200 classes.

What have you learned from facilitating? Would you recommend that others take the training class and facilitate classes?

The first thing is that it never hurts to repeat classes. I learn something new each time I take a class and there are some classes I’ve facilitated over a dozen times. There’s always more to learn.

One thing I think people forget is that we are constantly learning and growing as writers. I can look at something I wrote six months ago and see where it needs improvement. A lot of that has to do with how I’ve grown in that six-month period.
In each class we take, we absorb what we need at that moment. By the next time that class comes around, we’ve changed, grown, and that means we will absorb things that we might have skimmed over the last time. To me, this is one of the best things about facilitating.
I highly recommend that everyone take the facilitator's class. Even if they decide not to facilitate classes in the end, they’ll learn formatting, classroom etiquette, and a lot about how the classrooms work.

How much time do you generally spend on each class, including preparation time and research? What kinds of things do you search for to add to the class?

It depends. Some of the classes have been thoroughly researched and there’s little to add. So, I just go to the archives and copy/paste the assignments into the classroom. In those cases, it takes very little time to get things set up.
For others, the literature classes, for instance, I may look up the author to see if they’ve released anything new. In the case of the classic authors, I might spend a bit of time reading about them, read some of their other work to see if there are certain elements of craft that wind through all their stories or unusual facts most people aren’t aware of. Anything that might strike a chord with the students.
Occasionally, I’ll add an extra story or reading from the internet. Just to switch things up a bit for those who may be repeating the course. I try to keep things interesting.

One of the most important things when creating or setting up any class is to find discussion topics that are unique, meaning they can’t be readily found through a Google search. We’ve had very few problems with plagiarism in the WVU classes, but it happens. Having discussion points that are different than those found in the wiki or college-study websites is important. It relieves the student’s temptation to plagiarize or paraphrase in their assignments. And, of course, it encourages them to think outside the box.

How do you keep track of which students complete their assignment AND give sufficient feedback? What do you expect the feedback to include?

In the smaller classes, this is pretty simple. I try to read assignments and feedback as they come in. That also helps in case there needs to be a revision, it gives the student more time to complete. At the end of class, you can usually tally things up in your head or on a piece of scrap paper. My motto: KISS – Keep it simple, stupid!

For larger classes, I use a spreadsheet. (I think I uploaded a copy of it in the mentor’s Lounge. I’d be happy to share!) It is a simple, self-calculating spreadsheet. I just enter the names of the students at the beginning of class, then mark them completed as they finish their assignments and feedback.
It only takes a few minutes a day and by the end of class, you have everything you need to post a completion report.

As for what the feedback should include, that’s different for every class. In classes where the assignment is a response essay, the feedback would be different from one where the assignment concentrates on craft. But in general, feedback—just like the assignment posts— should display a good understanding of the principles covered in the course readings.

In literature classes, I like to see an open discussion. We learn more from that than we do from posting route facts and figures about the techniques being studied. It’s not always easy to get students to open up. Sometimes it might take prompting. I try to add questions or discussion topics that aren’t easily found on the internet.
Again, it helps students to avoid plagiarism as they are forced to think things through on their own. They can’t just Google an answer. This is especially important, I think, because we study the classics and there are dozens of study guides easily accessible on the internet.

You wear many hats at WVU. Which do you enjoy the most?

That’s a tough one. I enjoy most all my duties here at WVU. But I’d have to say facilitating the Subtext and Difficult Imagination courses. They are my favorites. Subtext is a very deep and difficult subject. No matter how many times I go through that course, I find new ways to interpret the information.
I also enjoy working as the editor in chief of the Village Square. We get to read so many wonderful submissions and knowing WVU has a voice in the world is very satisfying.

To Find Comfort

By Brigitte Whiting

I asked my fellow editors at Village Square what they've done to find comfort in these days of the Covid-19 pandemic...

Karen and Frank have spent more time with their dogs, and Louise with her two guinea pigs. Karen spends at least fifteen minutes a day outdoors listening to the birds, watching the clouds roll by, and breathing in the fresh air. Louise takes walks near the seashore. I like to explore my yard. In early spring, I watched a pair of hawks fly overhead, and in late July, I stopped in front of a red spruce and looked up to see a juvenile red-shouldered hawk sitting on a branch, sleepy-eyed and moving its head from side-to-side, in no hurry to fly away.  

Joyce has tried knitting more difficult patterns, Gayle baked bread and learned new recipes, and Penny delved into the secrets of making sourdough bread. I've looked for further projects in my yard. Last November, someone accidentally spilled what I thought was coarse gravel along the road in front of my house. It turned out to be crushed rocks and the tires of all the vehicles that drove by spit them to my curb. Then the snowplows sprayed a six-foot-wide swath of rocks over the lawn at the front of my yard. In April before black fly season, I swept the stones up and carted half-buckets to spread them on the bare ground on one side of my garage.

Penny, Joyce, and Frank have hosted meals and joined friends for lunches on a regular basis. In our cold April, a catbird and an oriole visited my sunflower and suet feeders for two weeks. Gerardine is considering getting a short-spike-purple haircut — 2020 has been a tough year for her. On a happier note, her daughter is expecting her first child.

For projects that are farther from home, Louise hosted a cyber trip and visited scenes in other countries. Joyce is enjoying bingeing on Australian and Canadian programs on Acorn. Gayle found new online communities for gaming and writing. Joyce and Frank visited with family and friends via Zoom. In March, my two local writers' groups moved to Zoom and we've continued meeting weekly. Enza is teaching her nephew English in short spurts — she says his attention span runs fourteen to twenty minutes, tops.

Most of us have been writing and journaling more, and Enza has taken lots of online courses. She's also watched YouTube videos on how to cut hair at home and how not to cut hair at home, both useful topics right now. It's a given that all of us have been involved with coursework at WVU. 

Karen has summed the experience up: gratitude and comfort go hand-in-hand. And for us at the Journal, they've been found close to home. 

An Interview with Tats

by Gayle Drakes

Question
First and Last Name (if you don’t mind, or we can stick to your WVU username if you prefer).

Answer
Thank you for asking me to participate in this. When I write, I use a pseudonym. I've always wanted to keep that part separate. I think because this work is often done from home, I wanted to treat it as a business, with specific hours, no distractions, etc. So, I went with Mahalia Solages. At WVU, I'm just Tats.

Question
Tell us something about yourself

Answer
Oh wow. I never know how to answer that. I'm a New Yorker, whose family moved to the Caribbean. Then I moved back to New York for college. I studied Interior Design and moved on to hospitality, and then aviation, where I've been for over twenty years. I have a Certified Instructor's License, but I have been in corporate aviation as a flight attendant for twenty years. Basically, we fly G450's, G650's [i.e. Gulfstreams] and the like. I've traveled all around the world, I love cooking, I'm a mom, I do philanthropy work...

Question
What do you write? Any specific genres?

Answer
Early on, I started with women’s fiction novels- not chick-lit or romance- and then I tried my hand at children's books (when the one agent who was interested in my novel passed away… ahem… plot twist). I can't say I knew what I was doing, but I just wanted to start somewhere. The children's books led me to lots of school appearances, Barnes and Noble author showcases and community events. I moved on to short stories and a few of those have been published. Those led to multiple Miami Book Fair events and Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) showcases. I seem to be more into literary fiction as a whole.

Question
What do you bring from your background to your writing?

Answer
I had very little experience other than a few classes from the New York Writer's Workshop, Florida International University (FIU) workshops, and a writing group. I always enjoyed writing, but I have had so many other "careers" prior to. The traveling and interaction with all sorts have helped to create wonderful settings and character profiles though. LOL.

Question
What classes are you taking at Writers Village University (WVU)? How have they helped your writing?

Answer
I have taken every class to complete the MFA at WVU and then some. I used to meet with a writing group locally, twice a month, but then life and adulting created scheduling issues. Enter stage left, WVU. This community has been instrumental in my growth and understanding. The feedback and knowledge have absolutely helped my current work. I also realized I would be the one who needs an editor. I'm still forever making grammatical mistakes. Good grief.

Question
Are you working on anything now? Tell us a bit about it.

Answer
I am always working on a short story to submit somewhere. There are so many contests and magazines that host regular contests; those deadlines keep me busy. I don't always have a story to fit the themes, but I just tried my hand at submitting an essay about dating to The Writer.

Question
Have you published anything? What are you working on now for future publication?

Answer
A few of my short stories have appeared in anthologies. I will continue with short stories, though I have about four novels sitting on a shelf, desperately needing editing. Also, I am working with a writer friend on a vlog/blog about life and just finished filming a few episodes.

Question
Do you have any writing goals?

Answer
I would love to see one of my novels published by a real house. I know so many have gone the self-publishing route, as I have in the past. But after so many years of dedication to this craft, I would love to experience the actual process. I don't know. I'd like to think I have some talent in storytelling, but all I can do is keep writing and fine-tuning the craft. I know they say not to give up, though sometimes it can get quite discouraging. Some days I do question what inspires me to continue writing, or what value I bring to it all.

Question
How did you find/hear of WVU?

Answer
I think just online. I tried a few classes, maybe twelve years ago? It was three years ago though when I committed to the MFA program in earnest.

Question
What is the biggest surprise that you have experienced at WVU?

Answer
How little I knew overall about the craft of writing. Yikes! Early on, I wondered how any of my stories ever got published. Perhaps a few authors feel that way about their early work, when they realize that they have grown, and the quality of their work has evolved. I'm glad I'm here. The moderators and classmates who I've "seen" these last years have been helpful and honest with their feedback.

Question
A writer's tip or two you'd like to share.

Answer
I think it is important to write daily and to try sitting in different settings to do so.
I also think it is a great idea to be a part of workshops. There have been times when we've had to read a novel or short story that we would never have picked up on our own because it is out of our comfort or interest zone. Learning comes from all perspectives and we never know when inspiration will present itself.  

Bio: Tats' fiction has appeared Kalyani Magazine, Momaya Press, Almond Press, a trilingual anthology So Spoke The Earth and at Writing Raw. Also a playwright, her play “A Tale Of Two Mommies” was featured in Miami at the Centro Cultural de Espana. She is the author of two children’s picture books. She has contributed to the Bad Ass Black Girl vlog. She lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.