I’ve been an MFA student, a writing instructor, and an author. I discovered as a student and as an instructor that the limitations of the teaching were that they focused heavily on the writing part of writing. There was little about getting published, and even less about the industry-specific failures and successes authors experience in the publishing world. The 5 On series is designed to educate, possibly bring down to earth, encourage, and entertain writers – those with relatively little experience with the business end of the business (including marketing and self-promotion), as well as those who are more than familiar with the process and who are interested in the experiences of their contemporaries.The series is also designed to introduce readers to the interviewed authors, their work, and their frame of mind (do they still feel pressure to succeed? do they get nervous? what challenges do they face?). The series strives to provide a realistic, clear-lens picture of the writing life.
Kristen Tsetsi is the author of the post-Roe v. Wade novel The Age of the Child, called “scathing social commentary” and “a novel for right now.” She is also the author of the novels The Year of Dan Palace and Pretty Much True (studied in Dr. Owen W. Gilman, Jr.’s The Hell of War Comes Home: Imaginative Texts from the Conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq). Kristen’s interview series at JaneFriedman.com offers behind-the-scenes insights into all things writing and publishing.
