Q&A With WriteByNight Coach Heather Gluck

Heather Gluck (New York, NY) is a writer, poet, and editor. She received her MFA from Columbia University, where she directed the Incarcerated Writers Initiative, and her BA from Wellesley College. She is currently an editor at the literary journal Majuscule and has served as editor-in-chief at the publications Exchange and Some Kind of Opening. Her work is published or upcoming in Palette Poetry, Crosswinds Poetry Journal, Beyond Words, and Cathexis Northwest Press, among others. She also translates from French. See more at her website.

Where are you from?

New York City, born and raised, a little obnoxious about it.

Where did you study?

I received my BA in Women’s Studies and French from Wellesley College and my MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in poetry from Columbia University.

Who are some of your influences?

Without making the distinction between writers I love and those who influence me, because I don’t think there is a distinction: Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Brontë, Terrance Hayes, Maggie Nelson, Toni Morrison, Jane Austen, Natalie Diaz, Edith Wharton, William Carlos Williams, James Baldwin, J.D. Salinger (his work outside of Catcher in the Rye is excellent, I swear), Carmen Maria Machado, T.S. Eliot, Terese Marie Mailhot, Marie Howe, Virginia Woolf, and a fantastic book no one seems to have heard of, Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis.

I also loved the Wizard of Oz books as a child and now. Their inventiveness and their refusal to adhere to any literary conventions make them endless veins of joy and inspiration for me.

What is your favorite thing about educating writers at WBN?

I love to speak with writers about their writing, to hear them get excited and to help them understand the discrepancies between what they want to write and what they are writing. I find that just by providing my analyses, interpretations, and ideas for their work, the writer is re-inspired and remembers just how much potential exists in every piece of writing.

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Actually doing it. I don’t have much motivation to write, and I rely on friends, peers, and loved ones to hold me to it. Starting a new project always seems inconceivable, right up until I finally make myself begin.

Any words of wisdom for aspiring writers?

Learn to embrace editing and the world will open up to you. Treat your writing as wet paint on a canvas and splash it around. Your work is a host for hundreds of different ideas, and that is a good thing.

Interested in working with Heather? Request a free consult now

“I really loved the meeting. Heather was super helpful! I definitely feel like it will get me unstuck.”

— Ani O.

“I learned a bunch. Heather had some great points of interest to improve my novel.”

— Tim H.

“Thank you for such a great match.”

— Meghan E.