1.) When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve been fascinated with words and stories as long as I can remember. When I was very young, maybe six or seven, i remember telling my father I wanted to be a writer. For my next birthday, he bought a typewriter for me, which I used to write stories.
2.) What do you love most about the writing process?
Writing is thinking. Writing is discovery. Writing is moving from what you know into what you don’t know. What could be more fun?
3.) What do you love most about teaching writing?
I love helping others find their writing strengths. In every class and workshop, my goal is to build confidence in each participant. As writers, we have strengths we might not see on our own, and I love being a small part of this process.
4.) What are you reading right now?
Since I am currently working on an academic paper dealing with ways of describing physical pain, I am reading Pain Woman Takes Your Keys by Sony Huber, The Body in Pain by Elaine Scarry, and On Being Ill by Virginia Woolf.
5.) What’s your favorite writing quote?
This is a tough one. There are so many! I love Kurt Vonnegut’s humor, so I suppose I’ll choose something he said regarding confidence/humility: “When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth.”
For more on Martha and the workshops she’s offering, visit her bio page
