Memoirous

In the Low Honest Prayers for Dark Seasons by Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson There’s always surprises at the Festival, small delights and big discoveries around books and authors I’m not acquainted with—same goes for this year. I’ve often wondered: does timing matter? The algorithm is all over the place. Upon first arriving, the energy is there, while on Saturday the last day, the emotional levels are depleted. Am I more open to the universe at the beginning or end? Just like the Michigan spring—there’s no predicting. I picked up my name badge at registration and sat down to scan the beautifully designed program. Then I visited the Exhibit Room where there were very few literary journals represented. Hmmm, why? Time remaining before the noon plenary, I wandered over to the art space at Calvin, where Scott Erikson a Festival speaker had an exhibit. I wasn’t familiar with his work. Apparently, he is big on social media; his Instagram is wildly popular. The bio on the wall at th...

This has become a thing—for almost 12 years. I believe my first ride home from the Festival of Faith and Writing in the always unpredictable month of April—the weather, that is. I’ve had snow, sleet, rain (of course!) and sometimes too much heat. Heading home to Chicago, the ride took 4 days. It’s much more manageable going back to Okemos. Once again, I took Indian Trails up, prepped bike and took off for my host’s house—fabulously only 3 streets over from Calvin University, making getting back and forth during the Festival easy peasy. There’s always surprises at the Festival, small delights and big discoveries around books and authors I’m not acquainted with—same goes for this year. I’ve often wondered: does timing matter? The algorithm is all over the place. Upon first arriving, the energy is there, while on Saturday the last day, the emotional levels are depleted. Am I more open to the universe at the beginning or end? Just like the Michigan spring—there’s no predicting. The b...

  Once again, I am prepping for a familiar trek: To Grand Rapids for the Festival of Faith and Writing. I did a search and so much of this blog is dedicated to that biennial event where so many of my favorite things collide. Reading Writing Meeting other readers Staying with Andy and Natalie Quick convo with Luci Shaw—sadly now, no more Riding my bike home Starting in 2014, the first time I attempted to ride my bike home (then it was Chicago and took 3 days), I would bring a bicycle and commute to the conference. Now in 2026 at age 67 I’ll, again, be bringing a bike. I can bring it on Indian Trails and unpack at the station and ride to my host’s house. I’ll stay again with Natalie—except this time they have moved east of the city, so on Saturday I’ll journey to their house and then go on from there on Sunday morning on side roads back to Lansing. Rereading past posts at this blog about the FFW, I’ve remembered authors I was introduced to through the festival and decided to add ...

With the time change, it is completely dark when I get up these days. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf by getting up at 6 a.m. to write. It’s a bit aspirational as I don’t always get out of bed when the alarm goes off. But I am doing more butt in chair this week, at least. The problem was: Running out of time. You see the grandkids are much more mobile. The little one, especially, has figured out how to unlock the sliding door leading out to the cascade of decks and would randomly wander over. Sometimes with no diaper. I have to beat sunrise and the warmer temps before they are unleashed. So, for now, my plan is to arise early (enough) to get in a few undisturbed hours and then invite them over for a cracker or game or to just mess about. In other news, I got a random message from a fan of Woman of a Certain Age . It’s nice to know the story collection is resonating with readers. People ask where they can get a copy. It’s available everywhere—local bookstores can order it in ...

Rodham Curtis Sittenfeld Random House, 2020 My first introduction to Curtis Sittenfeld and their work was at the Festival of Faith & Writing at Calvin University in April. There are times I wish I could turn back the clock—before this year’s election. Sittenfeld’s novel does just that—providing a parallel universe in which to dwell, if only in our dreams. Again, in this sideways/circular moment in history, Rodham can perhaps be read as satire, a mesmerizing what-if. The premise of the book is that Hillary Rodham never marries Bill Clinton. The first third of the novel is devoted to Hillary meeting Bill Clinton at Yale Law School and their early courtship and sex life. A bit of this reads rather cringey—but I think that might have been intentional. I filed it under Too Much Information—at the same time trying to keep in mind this is all a made up story. But it’s hard to separate fact from fiction in this first part. Then comes their break up. Bill eventually marries, divo...

This is always fraught as I do not have a car. Years past I lived in Chicago and carpooled, usually in a minivan and could bring my bike. This time I live in Okemos/E. Lansing and could have possibly rode my bike to Grand Rapids had I not been out of shape and worried about the swings in weather we’ve been having. Which was never more evident at the Festival. Huge amounts of walking back and forth between venues, despite there being a shuttle, new this year, and a stormy Friday where winds exceeded 30 miles per hour. All this to say, I booked tickets on Indian Trails. Which, as it turned out, was a GREAT option. One never knows, and I emphasize the word never, what a driver or transit company thinks about bikes. They can decide to give you a hard time no matter what. I had called ahead to see what the regulations were. They told me it needed to be boxed (more on this later). I showed up at the E. Lansing pickup point by the Marriot and hugged my daughter good bye. Pray for me I sa...

Soooo back from Grand Rapids and the Festival of Faith and Writing. It has been 6 years since we met in-person. I was last there in 2018. Boy, has a lot changed. Of course, I’m/we’re older. I missed seeing some of the Calvin University faculty (Gary Schmidt, Karen Saupe) that used to introduce the speakers. Some of the intros were more informative than the actual speaker. This year, as the festival continues to regroup after the pandemic-induced hiatus, there were some measurable differences from past years. As I mentioned I missed seeing some faculty—and, especially on Thursday, I noticed venues were half full (I’m being generous in that observation). In past years I saw way more of the student body taking advantage of the festival. Maybe there are just less English majors. The humanities have certainly taken a hit. There is a “new” financial/business department supported by the DeVoss/Amway family fortunes that I walked through to access the Prince Conference Center. I doubt the ...

The Festival of Faith and Writing taking place in Grand Rapids, Michigan on the campus of Calvin University. Which used to be Calvin College when I first started attending the festival in 1992. The conference began in 1990, inaugurated by the Calvin English department, The first few festivals leaned academic with the presentation of papers, but evolved into a mainstream celebration of all kinds of literature that resonates with Reformed Theology—from their mission statement: [rooted] in common grace and the goodness of creation, the Festival of Faith & Writing creates space for meaningful discussion and shared discovery among people with different religious beliefs and practices. The festival is now hosted by the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. Through the years I’ve changed pews, but I’ve always held onto the belief that reading will save the soul. This year I will be presenting at a Festival Circle, basically a lunchtime discussion. My topic is Slow Looking: Freeing ...

I’d like to remind readers, both of you, about my seminar at Calvin University (Grand Rapids) coming up in April. If the schedule for the Festival of Faith and Writing wasn’t already jam-packed, attendees have the option to sign up for Lunch Circles where they pay for lunch and sit with others and discuss their writing in a casual, relaxed environment. It’s a nice way to 1. Have a lunch plan and not have to worry about what to eat or how to source it on the busy campus 2. Network with a group of others who have an interest in writing and literature, and finally 3. Not be the kid holding a lunch tray wondering where to sit or with whom. Festival Lunch Circles solves a number of “problems.” My seminar—I use that word because it will be a discussion—revolves around Sister Corita and her unique way of viewing the world and helping her students to see things from another perspective. We can all get bogged down in editing something over and over and not seeing the meat through the sauce. ...

In preparation for the upcoming Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin University April 11-13, I’ve been a mad woman putting books on hold at the library and checking titles off my Reading List. There are far tooooo many workshop leaders to read all the books, so I’ve concentrated on the main ones, the plenary speakers. This past week I read Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom . Several things put me off at first. If you judge a book by its cover—which WE ALL DO (it’s the relevance behind that axiom)—I hated it. There was a sticker Read with Jenna (not a fan), the colors—sort of a putty puke contrasted against a charcoal not quite black with the figure of a woman awkwardly praying. Nevertheless, I opened up to page one. I was reminded of Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon , there is an experiment using mice that will ultimately impact the story, the scientist doing the research, and hold parallels for the universal reader. I would also critique the first sentence—“Whenever I think of my ...

If you are attending this years Festival of Faith and Writing in Grand Rapids, please consider signing up for my Festival Lunch Circle. Slow Looking: Freeing the Mind to Observe This Circle introduces participants to Corita Kent, an Immaculate Heart sister known as the "Pop Art Nun," who captured the imagination of the 60s and early 70s with her free-spirited designs (her iconic LOVE stamp is still sold by the U.S. post office). Sister Corita helped her students to see the world a new way—in small bite-size pieces. Her “finder,” a small cardboard frame, reshaped the everyday and brought minutia into perspective. Jane Hertenstein  is the author of over 90 published stories both macro and micro: fiction, creative non-fiction, and blurred genre. She teaches a workshop on Flash Memoir and can be found blogging at http://memoirouswrite.blogspot.com/ Join this Circle Use this link to read more and sign up: https://ccfw.calvin.edu/festival/festival-lunch-circles/ From To Begin with ...

I’ve come to the end of the year, a busy year at that for publication acceptances. I’ve worked hard on revisions and submitting manuscripts to publishers, agents, and contests. I rode my bike up the Rhine River through Germany, France, and Switzerland. And, I’ve come to the end of new stuff to write about. So it feels like. Lately. Perhaps, I need to lower the bar or slow down. Part of my preparation for my talk at the Festival for Faith and Writing, Slow Looking, is about honing observation skills. Living in the moment. Creating a Zen-like attitude toward the world. Definitely not listening to the news. I never liked nature poetry. I relegated it to old ladies, to people who went to bed at 7 pm and asked for the senior discount at the donut shop. There was a 4 o’clock special at the Denny’s restaurant I worked at in Centerville, where we could count on the same retirees showing up with their potbellies and suspenders and pocketbooks full of half-used tissues and Hawaiian white g...

Last spring I submitted a proposal to the Festival of Faith and Writing for their upcoming 2024 conference—the first in about 6 years to be in-person—for a Festival Circle. My proposal was selected! Slow Looking: Freeing the Mind to Observe This Circle introduces participants to Corita Kent, an Immaculate Heart sister known as the "Pop Art Nun," who captured the imagination of the 60s and early 70s with her free-spirited designs (her iconic LOVE stamp is still sold by the U.S. post office). Sister Corita helped her students to see the world a new way—in small bite-size pieces. Her “finder,” a small cardboard frame, reshaped the everyday and brought minutia into perspective. Jane Hertenstein is the author of over 90 published stories both macro and micro: fiction, creative non-fiction, and blurred genre. She teaches a workshop on Flash Memoir and can be found blogging at http://memoirouswrite.blogspot.com/ Do I have a clue as to how I’m going to present? No—it’s slowly...

From the Corona Files So this is the week I would have been going to Grand Rapids for the Festival of Faith & Writing. Instead I’m sitting at home. Last week I realized that when I opened up my non-fiction project, made changes, and saved it—that I’d accidentally “wrote” over my file—thus the stuff I’d saved earlier before going on coronavirus hiatus was lost. Is any of this making sense? And, the only two “jobs” I’ve had lately: 1) running deliveries to our front desk upstairs to people in lockdown and 2) volunteering at the homeless shelter, serving dinner once a week—I will likely be giving up as I’ve been deemed high-risk. Does my life feel insignificant? Small? Yes. Even Thomas Merton at his hermitage (within Gethsemani Abbey) in Kentucky was able to work in his garden, break the intense isolation by walking down the hill. They say these next two weeks could be the worst (been hearing this for awhile) and that perhaps by early May things might loosen ...

I’ve been reading many authors and books getting ready for the Festival of Faith & Writing. FFW. I’m also part of a professional group called OCWW, Off Campus Writers Workshop run out of the Winnetka Community House. Established in 1946, OCWW is the oldest continuously running writing workshop in the country. I’ve presented there a couple of times and the membership is extremely generous and active. They come out! And, they are not mere, hobbyists, they are submitting work and take their craqft seriously. Finally, I am the Chicago city co-rep for SCBWI, Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. This past weekend I helped with our network house party where about a dozen of us got together to snack, drink, and talk about what we’re doing. I was impressed with the various kinds of writing all under the heading of for children. Members are working on podcasts, teleplays, poetry, novels and stories. We’re mostly working across genres and platforms to reach our audience. It...

I remember the first time I read/heard a prose poem and was suddenly enveloped with a sense of oh, okay, this is a thing. At Calvin College’s Festival of Faith & Writing I sat in an auditorium and heard Stephen Dunn in discussion with Scott Cairns about “At The Smithville Methodist Church.” I imagined this poem as a piece of prose. I saw how easily it told the story of a moment. Immediately I thought two things: 1) why can’t I do this? And 2) would this be okay? The answer to both is of course. We are “allowed” to try anything. I was also at this point deep into Robert Bly and the form called ghazal—and how it meanders and leads us back, round and round to a certain place. I imagined a prose poem much like a ghazal—that unwittingly tricks us into a small epiphany, by mostly juxtapositioning 2 seemingly unrelated ideas, the contrast showing them up more clearly and recasting them in a different light, possibly a third way. I love these moments. That crack us ...

I recently had new work published at a small online journal called Rejected Manuscripts. I'd only just started circulating Examples of Synchronicity, and while at Calvin College and the Festival of Faith & Writing I received a rejection. This in and of itself is no big deal. In fact I barely ever emotionally register a rejection. Mainly because I'm ALWAYS sending things out. I know the odds are I'll eventually get an acceptance. But it was WHY it was rejected that baffled me. The editor said dismissively--this seems like a bunch of random coincidences. And, I thought--well? yes--that was the point. It's sort of the meaning of synchronicity and the basis of the piece, a series of small flashes that detailed examples of synchronicity. I sort of thought that was evident, self-explanatory. I sat in on a session with the famous short story writer Joy Williams, who has her own book out containing what I might describe as flash essays/fiction/synchronicity/...

This pretty much sums up my aspirations to cycle home from Grand Rapids starting Sunday – Wednesday in mid-APRIL. Yes, I know spring can be iffy, that April showers bring May flowers, that one day it can be sun and the next cold. But certainly not ARTIC. I experienced a range of weather that would baffle and frustrate even Shakleton. My plan was to drive in a van with my friend to the Festival of Faith & Writing in Grand Rapids and then cycle back to Chicago. I’ve done this trip before. In brilliant sunshine and unseasonable warmth, and in rain and a douse of snow. And also in what might be described as “normal” conditions. What happened this past weekend defies anything close to what I’m used to. I’ve never had to cancel a bike trip, though there were times I should have. I ended up cancelling. 1) Wind, there were tree branches scattered everywhere after a night of high-winds that continued into the day and part of the next. 2) Rain. I commuted 2.5 miles to...

I’m off for a week at a conference in Grand Rapids called the Festival of Faith & Writing. This is my thing. I never knew how much I looked forward to FFW, but now it is a part of my spring ritual. (Actually it’s held every 2 years.) FFW to me are crocuses springing forth, the green blade arising. In the dead of cold, dark winter I begin to read the authors invited to the festival. I make itineraries and mock schedules. I reserve a car, I request a bed with a couchsurfing host. I’m so ready for next week. So ready for warmth, conversation about books, crossing the quad and seeing some of the same faces I’ve come to recognize. This is a time of renewal. Then I plan to cycle back from Grand Rapids. This is where things get tricky. The weather has been very unpredictable. Well, it’s spring you say. Yes, when you wake up to snow almost every morning this week, you begin to question the calendar. So good wishes, thoughts, light, vibes=send them my way as I ride ...

Recently been working on edits with my editor Nancy Sayre at Golden Alley Press for my upcoming novel Cloud of Witnesses (FALL 2018). This is one side of my brain. Also been working on a hybrid poetry slash prose chapbook about Art Week at Great Spruce Head Island. A project that has almost no future as a niche work. BUT if you know someone who loves the New York School of Poets and appreciates quotidian observations laced with melancholy let me know. I’m looking for a reader/critiquer/breathing person to give feedback. Maybe @Eileen Myles?! Then there’s also You Are Here: A Flash Memoir—that’s getting little to no traction. I produce enough work to keep a single critique group in motion. Yet this has been the year where I struggle to find that group. After several years of maintaining a circle of readers, I’ve suddenly been floundering. There have been some nibbles and false starts, but so far nothing has gelled. Still waiting to hear if “Arriving at Night” advances...