Staff Spotlight: Tatiana Ryckman

Posted by David Duhr in WBN News & Events      1 comment

Nov
5

Over the past few months we’ve been introducing you all to the wonderful consultants and coaches who help keep WriteByNight running like the smooth, well-oiled writers’ services machine it is.

Today, please join us in welcoming Tatiana Ryckman to WBN. Tatiana, an Austin-based editor and writer, is the author of the story collection Twenty-Something and has run writing workshops for UT-Austin and Badgerdog.

Below is a Q&A with Tatiana, followed by a brief bio.

Where are you from?

Cleveland, Ohio. A friend of mine once called it the New Jersey of the Midwest . . . and that feels true.

How did you get your start as a writer?

By subjecting my family, and anyone else I could corner as a five-year-old, with many long and rambling stories involving farm animals, day-time soaps, and classmates.

List some of your influences.

Lydia Davis, James Tate, Italo Calvino, Donald Barthelme, and Micheline Aharonian Marcom.

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Doing it. I have no problem writing in flashes, when I don’t give myself an opportunity to think too hard about what I’m doing. It’s those long days of sitting in the chair with the hopes of creating something wonderful that are so terrifying.

What is your strangest writing experience?

Trying to scribble down lines outside the bathroom at a party. It was one of those times when I just needed a few solitary moments to get the words out before they disappeared, but taking notes outside a bathroom invites a surprising amount of attention.

What’s the last book you read and what did you think of it?

Our Secret Life in the Movies by Michael McGriff and J. M. Tyree. I haven’t had time to think about it because I feel like I’m still inside it, still being consumed by the strange and honest images it projected into my head. (I guess I enjoyed it.)

What’s the last movie you saw that was based on a book and how was it?

I can’t remember, but because Our Secret Life in the Movies is made up of stories responding to films I watched Morvern Callar immediately after reading the sections based on that film. It was beautiful and difficult.

Any words of wisdom for aspiring writers?

Read and live. I find it impossibly difficult to write what I know when I don’t know anything.

Tatiana Ryckman is the author of the chapbook story collection, Twenty-Something, managing editor of the Austin Review, and assistant editor at sunnyoutside press. She was a writer in residence at Yaddo, and leads creative writing workshops through The University of Texas at Austin and Badgerdog. Tatiana’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Tin House, Everyday Genius, Boiler Journal, Keyhole Press, Carried Pigeon, and others.