I’m a fiction writer living in Columbus, Georgia. My work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Gargoyle, Contrary Magazine, Clapboard House, Six Sentences, Storyglossia, Blogcritics, …On My Mind: A Georgia Writers Anthology, O Georgia: A Collection of Georgia’s Newest and Most Promising Writers, The Journal of Communication and The French Review.
My first novel, The Painting Story, placed on the Short List for Finalists in the novel category of the 2010 Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, and my second novel, Between Here and Gone, placed as a Semi-Finalist. For more information on these novels, take a look at my web site www.cynthianewberrymartin.com.
I’m in a writing group led by Pam Houston. I have worked individually with Dani Shapiro, Adam Braver, and Howard Norman.
Here is where I write.
For the past three springs, I’ve attended the Sirenland Writers Workshop. I’ve also attended the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, where I studied in 2005 with Charlie D’Ambrosio and in 2004 with Dorothy Allison. In the summers of 2001, 2002 and 2003, I attended the Fiction 3 master class at the New York State Summer Writers Institute, where I studied with Howard Norman, Andrea Barrett, Mary Gordon and Marilynne Robinson. In the summer of 1999, I attended the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, where I studied with Elizabeth McCracken.
To contact me: http://www.cynthianewberrymartin.com/contact.php.
“It’s hard to tell somebody what you mean to say. And that’s an idea that I’m obsessed with. It’s why I write. It’s why everybody writes.”
--Jonathan Safran Foer
When a writer friend compared me to Dorothy Allison, I immediately snapped up a book at the library. I just finished Cavedweller. I love when I’m compared to authors out of my league. I guess my only response to him would be “I wish.”
I saw you studied with her. What is she like? And how did you like the Tin House summer workshop?
What a great compliment to you! In case you’re interested in more specifics about what that means, Dorothy described her own voice as: “lyrical language, character driven, weak on plot, first person, people in trouble, guilt, sex, and traditional storyteller.”
She is an amazing teacher with a “take no prisoners” approach. We went over class time. We had “homework” everyday. We left nothing on the table.
About Cavedweller, she said, I screwed up. (not exactly what she said) “I wrote 2 different novels and I’m sorry.”
(As you can see, I love taking notes)
I very much enjoyed both my summers at Tin House–good writers, interesting panel discussions, small classes, a one-week format, and wonderful readings with a glass of wine under the stars.
Tricia,
You don’t have to wish. It’s true. And now I’m reading another author who reminds me a lot of your work:
Tallgrass – Sandra Dallas
Check it out.
I’ll check out Tallgrass, too. Thanks for the tip.
If there is something like the Tin-House here in Fresno, or its neighboring areas, I certainly don’t know about it. That sounds like a great place to spend a week with famous mentors.
Check out CSU Fresno (http://www.csusummerarts.org/courses.shtml) and also the back of Poets & Writers magazines. A writing workshop is a fun vacation too if that’s a possibility.
Hi Cynthia,
I love your blog!!! Your blog is what my blog wants to be when it grows up:)
Pam Houston? No way. I love her work.
That’s just about the nicest thing anybody has ever said about this blog. It makes it all worth it. I hope you’ll be back.
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Hey, Snailwriter–thank you!
I looked for this little snippet on your blog so I could reply there as well, but I couldn’t find it.
I love your blog! Thanks for your RT on the Lorrie Moore story on NPR. I will put your blog in my blog roll. Invite you to come visit me at http://www.100memoirs.com also. A net for catching days is a beautiful metaphor for my aspiration to live and write in the present moment.
Shirley, thanks for your thoughtful comment. I look forward to visiting your blog.