by Laura I. Miller
There’s nothing more terrifying—and exhilarating—than turning in pages of personal essay or memoir to be devoured by fellow workshoppers. My heart goes aflutter just thinking about it. While we know the author may be a very different person from, say, the sixteen-year-old character she’s examining decades later, it’s never easy to expose those scandals and heartbreaks, even though it’s precisely what we know we must do. However, if you have an experienced and understanding workshop leader, your trepidation will diminish (though it probably won’t ever evaporate altogether). Enter Ellen Blum Barish, award-winning essayist and editor, and new nonfiction instructor with Lighthouse online. She teaches writing at Northwestern and North Park universities and works with people on various writing projects as a private coach.
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Ellen Blum Barish[/caption]
Check out some of her essays here or here, and read on to learn more about her teaching philosophy and favorite writers.
What current projects (writing or otherwise) are you most excited about?
Last year I launched an online literary publication, Thread, devoted to personal essays and photography and supported by live readings. The Summer 2015 issue is currently under construction for an early April release, and the whole process has been the culmination of a dream for me. Have a look at www.threadliterary.com.
How do you write? Do you have any rituals or routines?
It feels like I’m always writing, whether I’m tapping out notes for an essay on my iPhone or a scratching out a list of errands on the back of an envelope. I wish I did have a ritual or routine; I suspect that I would have better boundaries between my life and my work. For me, writing is like breathing, it may change pace and rhythm, but it’s a constant in my life.
What would you be if you weren’t a writer?
Ever since I first picked up a guitar and heard Joni Mitchell sing, I’ve thought about a parallel life as a singer-songwriter.
How would you describe your teaching style?
My goal is to create a warm and safe environment—be it physical or electronic—with room for the whole range of emotions—and an eye on limits. It’s from a feeling place that we write personal narrative. The creative process is hampered when we don’t feel comfortable and the temperature isn’t right. But it’s also my job to steer the discussion away from group therapy (which it often drifts into because we are human, after all) and keep our focus on how life experience can be turned into art on the page.
Who is the best author no one knows about?
I’m frequently drawn to the lesser-known works of well-known writers. In my Online Intermediate/Advanced Memoir and Essay workshop we will be reading some of these by some Bernard Cooper, Annie Dillard, Pico Iyer, Jo Ann Beard, Darin Strauss, Diane Ackerman, Jean-Dominique Bauby, and Kelly Corrigan.
Ellen will be teaching 8-Week: Online Intermediate/Advanced Memoir and Personal Essay, starting March 30. Stay tuned here for more lightning interviews with new instructors joining us in the spring!
Laura I. Miller is Lighthouse’s Program Assistant. She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Arizona where she served as co-editor-in-chief of Sonora Review and managing editor of Fairy Tale Review. She also teaches occasional workshops at Denver Writes and contributes to the Books section of Bustle.
