Today I’d like to introduce Heather Gerry Kelly, founder of the Writer’s Loft https://www.thewritersloft.org/ in Sherborn, Massachusetts. As a teacher, editor, author, and director, Heather strives to find ways to help writers become more prolific storytellers.
Welcome, Heather! Collaboration is a theme that runs through
all you do, from running the Writers’ Loft to publishing your remarkable series
of anthologies. Could you tell us why you think collaboration is so important?
Thank you so much for having me! I am so humbled to be
here with you! There are so many ways I could answer this question, but I’m
going to say that collaboration is so important for two reasons—one: this
writing thing is hard to do alone, and exponentially better when we do it with
others. When we think about the work we do with our fellow authors—critiquing,
supporting, cheerleading—something magical happens when we think of those jobs
as collaboration rather than simple support. Two: every single time I’ve
collaborated with another author, the outcome far exceeds my expectations.
Alone, I can shoot for the moon, and I can also get there, but when I
collaborate, I shoot for the moon and we find ourselves out on Saturn. I can’t
stress enough how amazing books can become when you add collaboration into the
mix. And it doesn’t hurt that you do so much less work when you collaborate.
Imagine finishing drafting a book in half the time, and it’s ten times as good!
I challenge every writer reading this to think about collaborating in some
small way with someone right now.
What exactly is the Writers’ Loft and what drove you to create it? How has the function of the Loft changed during the pandemic?
I started the Writers’ Loft in 2013, and it was such a
huge risk! I thought, if I am finding this writing business hard, I’m sure
other people are too! I wanted to be a support for other writers to find a
place to write, and start a community of serious and kind writers. We grew the
Loft by word of mouth, so that we knew the caliber of writers joining us. We
leaned on our roots with NESCBWI (I was helping to run the conference when I
started the Writers’ Loft) and will forever be grateful to that community. We
think of the Writers’ Loft as a yearlong conference, a place you can find
critique partners, knowledge, support, and access to industry professionals,
like agents and editors. We always wanted to have a virtual component to the
Loft, but we were way too busy organizing in-person events to figure it out (we
run exclusively on volunteer energy!). When the pandemic hit, we immediately
brought all of our features and events online and started to expand our
outreach to support writers no matter where they live. We’ll continue to offer
virtual events even after things return to normal; we always seek to protect
the most vulnerable among us. If you are writing, and are supportive and kind
to other writers, please seek us out!
You mentioned that you’re collaborating on a YA series with
Natasha Sass. How exciting! Can you tell us about it?
I LOVE collaborating with Natasha. She’s amazing. This
project started with a mentorship opportunity with the founders of Sterling and
Stone, and we met some blockbuster self-publishers along the way. Natasha and I
are writing a very cool dystopian series together, utilizing our different
skillsets—my favorite part of writing is world-building; hers is dialog. We
can’t wait to publish the series in 2021. The most important feature of our
collaboration is that every day, even when we are focused on our own projects
and not the Surge series, we are pushing each other forward. Right now, my main
focus is my non-fiction workbooks—Natasha helps me with those—while her main
focus is her amazing cozy mystery series, featuring the sassiest cat ever. (Check
her out under her pen name at JulieKoty.com—especially if you love cats with
attitudes.) We support each other’s careers on a daily bases, along with our
collaborations!
You’ve written two craft books for writers, Jumpstart Your Writing in 30 Days and another book coming out this fall, Jumpstart Your Querying in 30 Days. How did those books come about? Where can our readers purchase them?
I love helping other writers—especially on a one-on-one
situation. When the Loft was smaller, I used to try to support and mentor
writers when they walked in the door. Now that it’s grown so much (we have over
500 active writers and illustrators involved) I found I couldn’t reach all the
writers that I wanted to personally. My workbooks are a way to share my
knowledge and support with writers doing the hard work on a daily basis. You
can buy them anywhere books are sold—although the pandemic has certainly slowed
down their delivery! I’m also busy writing a revision workbook and a marketing
workbook. The workbooks follow the idea of small goals each day that make a big
change over the course of a month. Kinda like I’m there, holding your hand, as
you face the mindset, skillset, and knowledge barriers that can block the path
to writing success.
You created your own publishing house, Pocket Moon Press, to
publish these. How did you go about that? What special challenges did you face?
What joys?
The idea behind Pocket Moon Press (another collaboration
with my brilliant friend, Kristen Wixted) is that we all have moons in our
pockets—amazing secret stories that need to be told! I love to think outside
the box with publishing and I love the idea that I can be an entrepreneur and
control the creative aspects of my production. We have amazing teams that
assist in publication—editors, copyeditors, book designers (shout out to Bob
Thibeault of Teabow Designs), cover artists, etc. But to be clear, this is a
self-publishing venture. Everything that Kristen and I do, you can do too! We
are learning the ins and outs of Kickstarted right now, to push forward some of
our Pocket Moon Press ventures in creative ways!
Every two years the Writers’ Loft puts out an anthology created by its members. So far there has been three: An Assortment of Animals, Firsts, and Friends and Anemones all fine examples of creative collaboration. What is your process for pulling these anthologies together?
The Writers’ Loft Press is spearheaded by Kristen Wixted.
We do a call for submissions for poems (for Firsts it was a call for
short stories) in the summer and then we take the authors on a whirlwind
process of critiques, edits, copy edits, etc. In the winter, we put out our
call for illustrators and work with them on the same process—critiques, edits,
art direction and book design. Right now, we are in my favorite part of the
process—showing the authors their illustrated pieces. I can’t tell you how
beautiful Friends and Anemones will be when published Nov. 2020! We have
some blockbuster authors and illustrators involved—and that’s a part of the
thrill. New authors sit alongside Jane Yolen. New illustrators rest side-by-side
with Brian Lies.
You offer a number of workshops including “Creatively WIN
Your Writing,” “Nurturing Big Ideas,” and “Stick with your Buddy.” Who are your
workshops for and how did you develop them?
I’ve developed these workshops for several conferences;
Hollihock (which will be online October 24,25,26) and NESCBWI (April 30-May 2
2021), along with various workshops I give at the Writers’ Loft. It’s always my
goal to help writers become more effective and productive writers. I love
talking to a room of writers and helping them connect and get to the next
level! My workbooks are now an extension of these workshops and all the
mentoring I still do.
What is your background beyond writing and how did it lead
you to all you do today?
In high school, I was chosen to attend a journalism
conference with other young writers from around the United States—two students
from each state, I believe. One of the first speakers we heard from was Cornell
West. Right then and there, I gave up my idea of being a journalist or
novelist; I studied Sociology and Psychology at Colby College, instead of
English classes which had originally been my plan. I thought I could always
write, but I wanted to understand societal and psychological struggles and help
people. I was on track to become a social worker, but the work I was doing was
way too emotionally draining to also raise kids. So, I decided to put my mind
to writing instead! I’ve been producing novels for over ten years, and am
excited to start to see some of the fruits of my labor out in the world!
You are so prolific! Is there anything I missed? Anything
else you do? Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I’d like to say that writing is still hard. I commend
anyone who is on this journey. If you are looking for community, everyone is
welcome at the Writers’ Loft, regardless of who you are or where you are on the
road to publication. And now, where you live in the world! If you need
community, check out our classes and webinars at our website www.writersloftma.org or our Facebook
group: www.facebook.com/groups/writersloft/
Thank you so much for being my guest today! You can find out
more about Heather Gerry Kelly at https://www.heatherkellyauthor.com/
