This is one of our favorite things that happens post-HippoCamp. An attendee has an amazing time, learns a lot, and then submits a proposal to speak at the next one. That’s Linda Lowen’s story! We’re excited that she’s returning to Lancaster for our creative nonfiction conference, this time as an attendee AND presenter. She’s kicking off the first day of sessions with a talk on the micro memoir. We talked with Linda about the conference:
HM: Tell us a little about your involvement this year at HippoCamp.
LL: Until I started working with micro memoir, I was leery of the designation “all levels”; early-stage, intermediate and experienced writers each face a unique set of challenges, so how could anyone possibly teach a craft lesson that would be helpful across the board? But every writer, no matter their skill level, can benefit from tools that encourage brevity and increase impact. Many of us write to make sense of wounds inflicted long ago that still shadow some aspect of our lives. Whether they’re slight or significant, putting those wounds into words can make us vulnerable, so we’ll explore these issues while ensuring safeguards are in place. I also believe that establishing a human connection through the work is important; they’re just words on a page until the reader makes meaning from them. So attendees can test out ideas to see which ones carry the kind of emotional charge that engages a potential reader
Our motto is “memorable creative nonfiction.” Tell us about one of the more recent memoirs, essay collections, or individual essays you’ve read and why it was memorable. If it’s online, share a link!
Maybe this is giving away too much, but in the 6-8 week micro memoir classes I typically teach, I devote one two-hour session to discussing the essay “On the death of a friend” by Katrina Kenison. While she’s never called them micro memoirs, they are diverse vignettes, snippets, thoughts that thematically come together in a profoundly moving whole. And they illustrate how short concise moments have a power that longer ruminative pieces often lack. Kenison knows her stuff: she was series editor of “The Best American Short Stories” from 1990 through 2006, and co-edited with John Updike “The Best Short Stories of the Century (1999). The essay can be found on her blog.
What made you decide to participate in HippoCamp this year as a speaker? If you’re returning, how did your past experiences encourage you to want to come back?
During my long drive back home from Lancaster, PA, to Syracuse, NY, after attending my first HippoCamp (2018) I thought, “That’s a bucket list item right there — to present at Hippocamp.” Last year’s sessions and speakers provided many useful take-homes that subsequently helped me as both a writer and a writing instructor, so I wanted to be a part of that this year. And the scheduling gods have smiled on me — my session is in the first block so I can relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend as an attendee once I’m done. More great take-homes to fuel my writing life into 2020 and beyond.
What’s going to keep you busy between now and HippoCamp?
I’m ashamed to admit it — don’t take it as me spitting in the face of CNF — but I’ve always wanted to write fiction, particularly fantasy/speculative fiction. This year I asked myself ‘if not now, when?’ so I applied to Viable Paradise, an annual weeklong writing workshop well-known in science fiction/fantasy circles. Though I have nothing published in this genre, I sent them 4,000 words of a novella in which a pregnant woman notices her husband is glowing — and his brightness only intensifies as her pregnancy advances. They accepted me as one of 24 students in the VP23 class (the workshop’s 23rd year) and that’s coming up mid-October. So I’ve set a goal of writing 1,000 words a day on my first speculative fiction novel. It’s the story of three sisters who discover their mother has gone missing, and the youngest is convinced the mother has somehow disappeared ‘into’ the house. As of this interview (end of July) I’ve completed 24,000 words. I’ve had decades honing my craft as a CNF writer, so this summer has been my fast-forward-into-fiction-writer season. If I meet my daily goals, when you see me at Hippocamp 2019 I should be at 47,000 words – two-thirds done with the novel.
Since you’ll also be attending the conference, when you’re not wearing your “speaker hat,” what are you most looking forward to learning or doing?
I’m coming armed with my list of “I want to take another session with _____” because I got so much from their presentations last year. I also met a handful of attendees whom I thought would be fantastic presenters based on our conversations, and lo and behold, they are first-timers too like me, so I’m excited for their sessions. And once again I know I’ll come away with new writer friends; I connected deeply with five people last year, three of whom I’d previously known only online, and two who were serendipitous discoveries. Each of them are a permanent part of my life, and I’ve never had this happen before at a writing conference. Hippocamp fosters that environment with room in the schedule to engage socially and share meals. I told my writing students back in Syracuse how fantastic Hippocamp was in 2018, and now three are coming in 2019.
HM: We love introducing Lancaster to attendees. If you live here or have been here before, what would you recommend to other attendees?
Don’t leave Lancaster without going to the Lancaster Central Market — since it’s so close to the conference there’s no excuse. I’m now a steady Lancaster County Coffee drinker, and buy their regular and flavored coffees with Starbarn my daily favorite and Whoopie Pie the occasional treat.
The big thing that happened after you submitted your bio for the program?
My micro memoir “Letting Go of Signs” appeared in the New York Times under their Tiny Love / Modern Love column. Every week they publish five reader-submitted 100-words-or-less true stories about love, and mine was published June 4. One of the five makes it into that Sunday’s edition, and my story was printed in the Sunday Styles section of the June 9 edition. Here is the link to the online version.
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Linda, we’re happy to welcome you back to Lancaster, and we’re also so grateful you invited some friends along! Congrats on your recent Moden Love publication!
Reader, we have less than a week to go before HippoCamp: A Conference for Creative Nonfiction (from the date of posting), and we still have space! You can learn more or register here.
–post by Donna Talarico
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