Alumni Spotlight: Renee Nicholson and Sarah Beth Childers
WVU Alumni Spotlight
by Rebecca Doverspike
For this fall’s Alumni Spotlight we chose to focus on two wonderfully talented alumni who were granted fellowships after their time here in WVU’s MFA program, Renee Nicholson and Sarah Beth Childers. When I sat down to talk with Sarah Beth she recalled at first being shocked about receiving the Colgate fellowship because she said in a remarkably competitive field they usually choose people from the University of Iowa or Columbia University. This goes to show that WVU’s MFA community develops its share of finely tuned craft as well. It was quite inspiring to converse with two such writers.
Renee Nicholson graduated from WVU with an MFA in 2008 and currently holds the Emerging Writer-in-Residence Fellowship at Penn State Altoona. While her genre of study was technically fiction, she took workshops in all three genres and went on to publish in all three. During her time here, she received the Rebecca Mason Perry Award for Outstanding First-Year MFA and the Russ MacDonald Prize for graduate fiction. Her stories, essays, and poems have since appeared or are forthcoming in many places including Chelsea, Mid-American Review,Paste, Dossier, Naugatuck River Review, ABZ, Poets & Writers, Prime Number, The Superstition Review, The Gettysburg Review and more, as well as anthologies Not a Muse, and A Generation Defining Itself. Her work has been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prizes, and her essay “Five Positions” earned a Special Mention. She has also been a semi-finalist for the Raymond Carver Short Fiction Award. From 2007 to 2011, she has served as the Assistant to the Director of the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop.
I was only able to communicate with this talented writer through e-mail and was extremely intrigued to read about the connections between Ballet and writing in her life. Certainly, I will be seeking her work now, and continue to look for it in the future.
Renee provided a lot of responses to my questions, but here are some elements of our exchange:
What fuels your writing?
Before becoming interested in writing, I trained in classical ballet and eventually ended up dancing professionally. Dance became the central interest in my writing while in the MFA program and beyond. I retired early in my career when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, but recently have found both more effective therapies to manage the disease, and underwent a knee replacement surgery. Between the two, I have been able to be more active in ballet again, and have earned teaching certification through American Ballet Theatre, which I funded with a professional development grant from the West Virginia Commission for the Arts, and teach in WVU’s Dance Program. I also teach in WVU’s Multidisciplinary Studies program, and I enjoy both very much.
How did you discover this fellowship? What motivated you to apply?
The Emerging Writer-in-Residence at Penn State-Altoona was posted last Spring in the AWP joblist. I keep up my membership with AWP, and look for interesting opportunities from time to time. The Emerging Writer position at Penn State-Altoona rotates through genres, and last spring the faculty wanted to bring in either a fiction writer or nonfiction writer. I applied as both, because I not only work in both genres, but had two projects, one in each genre. In fiction, I’ve been drafting a novel, and in nonfiction working on a memoir about my past and present involvement in ballet.
What was the application process like?
The application included a writing sample, a letter of interest (cover letters are so important in these applicationsit’s really where you get the chance to shine), my c.v. and letters of recommendation. I keep a dossier with AWP’s career services, which helps streamline the process. I was then interviewed by three members of a committee that was tasked with choosing the Emerging Writer. The interview was by phone, which is tough because keeping three people distinct while not being able to see them is challenging. But I could also tell the interviewers were enthusiastic about the Emerging Writer, which made me even more excited for it. The program has been going on here for over 10 years, and so far every Emerging Writer except one has published a book soon (a year to 3 years) after the residency. I keep telling myself that I don’t want to break that streak!
How long is your residency?
The residency was for the Fall 2011 semestereach year the emerging writer is on campus in the falland this appealed to me because I had these projects, and because the time was a more manageable time-frame for being away from my husband, Matt Bauman, who is a CPA and Senior Financial Analyst at Mylan Pharmaceuticals in Morgantown. Matt has been very supportive of the residency, and we see each other on the weekends. A longer residency would be nice writing-wise, but it would be tough to be away from home (both Matt and my beagle, Emmie, as well as our constantly renovated house in First Ward) for a longer time.
What does your fellowship entail?
As the Emerging Writer, I’m given a lot of time to write. I do teach one creative writing class, and am asked to give two public readings, and be available to students on campus interested in creative writing. I’ve been supporting the efforts of the creative writing club, as well as Hard Freight, the campus literary magazine. When the magazine recently had an open mic, over 100 students showed up and nearly 30 participated by reading or playing music. It was a fun evening, and exciting to see so many undergrads interested in and supporting writing.
Since arriving on campus in August, I’ve finished a draft of the memoir and have made significant headway on the novel draft. Two New York-based agents are considering the memoir manuscript, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but mostly I don’t focus on that. I write for the bulk of the day each day, which is an amazing luxury. I’m also taking a ballet class at a local company’s school while I’m here, and so it’s really fueling the work, too.
Do you have any plans after your residency?
This summer I’ll be returning to American Ballet Theatre to finish my teaching certification. These trips to New York always yield interesting essays, too. This spring I’ll teach in WVU’s MDS program and Dance program, but I’m cutting back on some teaching to continue to work on my writing. Dance and writing always vie for my attention. In addition to the dance classes I teach for WVU, I have many private lesson students, and often get asked to guest teach at places like Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, which I love to do. I am looking at jobs in creative writing, but I tend to be selective in applying. Last year I was a finalist for a position at Duquesne which was part creative writing, part composition. Having the on campus interview last year prepared me well if other opportunities arise, but I’m not sure that an academic job is 100% what I want. Although finding the balance is difficult, I like being able to move back and forth between dance and writing. And in that way, I’ve been really blessed. I keep working on publications, both in the journals and now book-length, but I try not to obsess over them. Instead, I try to have writing projects I’m working on as I send work out. I’d hate to lose the sense that my best work is still ahead of me. On the dance side, I’ll be busy getting students ready to audition for competitive summer programs. Last year, I had dancers at programs ranging from ABT to Florida Ballet, all accepted via competitive audition and application processes. It’s been pretty fortunate to get to focus just on the writing this fall. Like many others, my writing often gets juggled with all my other commitments and activities, although I do try to write at least 2 hours 5 days a week most weeks. I suppose the self-discipline I learned as a dancer is what saves me as a writer.
Sarah Beth Childers, already a good friend though I am new to the MFA community, was kind enough to meet with me during the busy mid-term week for delicious custom made omelets at Morgantown’s Blue Moose CafĂ©. Sarah Beth graduated from WVU with an MFA in creative non-fiction in May of 2007. Her work has been published in SNReview, Paddlefish, and the Tusculum Review. She is currently an adjunct at WVU and is simultaneously working on her manuscript while teaching four sections of English 102. She applied for a Fellowship at Colgate in her last semester as a graduate student here at WVU, the spring semester of 2007. When we sat down for a late lunch of decadent breakfast, she described the beauty and luxury of Colgate in its architectural elements as well as the intellectual motivation of her students.
Here is part of our Q & A:
Generally, what was your time in the MFA program here at WVU like?
The MFA gave me a great opportunity to work with inspiring faculty. My work completely transformed during my time at WVU. My voice stayed basically the same, but that’s about itI learned so much in terms of structure, imagery, syntax, and what quality/kind of writing actually might eventually publish. When I came in, I had the discipline to be a writer (I wrote 2 novel manuscripts in undergrad), but I’d mostly read eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British fiction, and I’d taken a bit too much inspiration from writers like George Eliot and Sir Walter Scott. In my first class at WVUfiction with Gail Adams, I started reading some of the writers who have become my new inspirations, like Alice Munro (though I still do read plenty of old novels). From Ethel Morgan Smith, I learned to love James Baldwin (“Equal in Paris” is one of my favorite essays ever). From Mark, I learned so much about being a teacherI really learned how to comment on essays and structure a workshop from mentoring in his English 418 class and from taking his fiction workshop. Ellesa High challenged me, rightly, to think more about my Native heritage, much of which has been sadly forgotten because my great-grandmother was an orphan. And of course I can’t say enough about what Kevin Oderman taught me about revisions, structure, and salvaging your life through essays. During my fellowship, I mostly met other writers who had gone to Iowa, Columbia, or the University of Michigan, and while they get more opportunities based on the clout of their program, I can’t believe that their professors are any better than the ones I worked with here at WVU.
What was the application process for your fellowship?
It was the least stressful fellowship applicationI didn’t have to write a cover letter, and I was scared by those at the time. I still find them difficult. I managed to eke some stress out of the application, thoughI did my application on the last possible day when I was home (in Huntington) for the weekend, and I had to go to two different libraries to find a computer without an elderly woman on facebook on it, and then I made it to the post office less than 5 minutes before it closed. What got me the fellowship was “My Dead-Grandmother Essay,” which Kevin Oderman recommended I write after I told him that was all I was thinking about at the time (my grandmother had just died about 6 months before), and that I had a lot of funny and strange stories about her. The search committee had read too many normal dead-grandmother essays as teachers and enjoyed the play on the dead-grandmother genre. You never know what will catch their eye.
What inspired you to apply?
The requirements sounded a lot more plausible than the rest of the jobs I was applying fora book project but no book, just a few years out of grad school, etc. I’d never lived that far away from home before, so I figured it would be good for me as a writer if I got it, and it was. I got a new clarity about Huntington and some freedom from the family voices that are always in my head. I can still feel their presence from a 4 hour drive awaythat magnetic feeling was weaker from 14 hours away. Also, I wanted the opportunity to live in a tiny, very snowy town in upstate New York. I’d never seen so much snow! It felt peaceful to have malls, shopping centers, and fast food at least a half-hour drive away. I rode my bike a lot and learned how to jog.
What did your Fellowship entail? What were some of the highlights?
It was one year, and I taught one introductory class in my genre each semester at Colgate and gave a formal reading from my manuscript at the end of the year. It really helped me that I’d gotten to teach intro to creative writing at WVUI was a lot more confident from that about how to set up workshops and select readings. I really loved teaching creative nonfiction at Colgatesome of my students were amazing writers, and almost all of them always had their reading done, even though it was generally 40 pages. The best thing about the fellowship was the people I met. The university is so small (2,000 students) that there is a great community of professors that crosses department lines. I had friends in the art department, foreign languages, drama, and more. Also, the creative writing faculty helped me out and treated me as a colleague in a way I wasn’t expecting. Something I learned from Jennifer Brice, the nonfiction writer at Colgate, was when I should call a family member the name I called them (like Granny), and when to use the actual first name. It seems like a small thing, but of course improving as a writer comes from little breakthroughs like that. Jennifer Brice also showed me how to properly select my silverware at a fancy dinnerI ate much fancier food than I was used to, with some fascinating writers, including Yiyun Li (who likes to matchmake), and Elizabeth Strout, who had just won her Pulitzer for fiction. I also got to go to England for the first time on a research grant to study the Brontesthat was as important to me as the writing time, for sure. I got to take a walk on the moors on a rainy dayout beyond where they are any powerlines or carsit must have looked very similar when the Brontes walked there. I ended up completely soaked; if I was a Bronte, I would have gotten tuberculosis.
How was the adjustment from receiving an MFA from WVU and embarking on this fellowship?
Not terribly difficult, except that I was lonely at first. It was a good bridge from the support and writing community you get as an MFA student to the isolation (and sometimes despair) you can feel when you have to adjunct for a few years. I’d had some fears that I wouldn’t find the time or motivation to write after I graduated, and this fellowship enabled me to write almost as much in a year as I wrote during my entire time at WVU. I was able to establish writing habits that I’ve been able to continue for the most part since I’ve started adjuncting, and that’s helped a lot.
What piece of advice do you have for anyone wanting to apply for such a fellowship or one like it in the future?
Edit your writing sample mercilessly, and select pieces that are striking in some way. My essay that got me the fellowship was organized in a way that made it visually stand out in the slush pile, and my voice was clear from the first line (“When Granny felt fancy, she doused herself in Interlude?”). It’s painfully random, though, of course, just like we’re used to from sending out to journals.
My main advice is to not despair if it doesn’t work out. Not getting a fellowship you want does not mean you have no chance at publishing or continuing to write. It is definitely possible to make time to write while adjunctingin most cases, you get a couple of days off a week, and you can get up on those mornings and devote a few hours to your writing. And I’m sure there are jobs other than teaching that leave you with enough mental energy to writeprobably a lot better than teaching during the hellish midterm week.
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