A poet friend and I were comparing notes on the writing process recently—sublime fun for nerds. I’m mostly a novelist/essayist, but I secretly write poems sometimes (I guess it’s not a secret now), and I was curious how real poets revise their work. I say “real poets” in contrast to weirdos like me, whose poems …
tl;dr A few recent podcasts where I share some (hopefully useful) thoughts on writing, publishing, and the creative process. ✶ ✷ ✵ ✸ ✹ Hello, friends 🕺🏼 ✹✸✵✷✶ I’ve been aspiring to a hushed autumn. Social media silence. A daily round that turns down the volume on the (beautiful but busy) spring/summer. It occurred to me, …
Jobs for Girls with Artistic Flair is now available at your local bookstore, at Bookshop.org, and all the usual big guys. It’s also an audiobook from Penguin Random House Audio, narrated by award-winning voice actor Jesse Vilinsky. If you’re interested in having me speak with your book club, high school or college class, or speak at an event, email …
tl;dr for the Quite Busy: I’m the author of a coming-of-age novel, just released in June. I’m doing some class visits this year, virtual and in person. If you’re interested, email june.gervais.writer@gmail.com. Dear Teachers and Educators, Hi there, and happy here-comes-another-school-year. I’m June: a writer, occasional teacher, mom trying to raise good humans, and author …
Delighted to say I have two new essays up this week—one at Lit Hub and one at Past Ten. Each tells the story of an uncanny coincidence. What a thrill to write for both of these publications! Lit Hub because jeez, it’s Lit Hub, that absolute behemoth of literary news/essays/criticism. Past Ten because it’s a …
When I was 19 years old, I started writing a novel about a tattoo artist named Gina Mulley. Over many years and 15+ drafts, almost everything about the book has changed. But its soul is intact, and Gina Mulley the tattoo artist is still here, and I’m here too, with this good news: My novel, Jobs …
I have observed: The raising of both novels and toddlers involves urgency and mess. Both yell cryptic phrases at you, which they expect you to decipher and translate to the rest of the world. Both involve days of difficult, unpaid work that is, for years, invisible to the rest of the world. Also: Both will …
If I’ve been posting seldomly, it’s because I’ve been living muchly. Expect some posts soon with juicy details on the following: Lady tattooers and bizarre coincidences. I’ve been overhauling my novel again. It’s about a young woman aspiring to become a tattoo artist in the mid-1980s, when there were few women in the field. Recently …
Sine proprio. It means “without grasping.” It’s Latin, a phrase used in the vows taken by Franciscan friars—or that’s what I learned from my friar friend, anyway. Specifically, sine proprio is the phrase used for the vow of Poverty. I would’ve thought they’d use a phrase like “without money” for a vow of poverty. But the point …