Niko Kolis and Spencer Hu
bi@uwyo.edu
“The entire story of life is work. There is almost no magic at all.”
This statement set the tone for an intimate brunch at Coe Library with Ann Patchett yesterday. A group of students, primarily English graduate students, gathered to engage in a frank discussion with the award-winning author of such titles as Bel Canto and The Patron Saint of Liars. The brunch was followed by a key note speech at the university’s Education Auditorium.
Patchett did not bandy her words when it came to the hardships aspiring writers, many of whom were in attendance, will encounter in their lives.
“You guys are facing something so much harder than I ever did,” Patchett said.
She went on to outline the true challenges she feels exist in a writer’s life – namely distractions.
“Getting email was one of the worst decisions of my life,” said Patchett. “I don’t even have social media so I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to allow yourself to find some breathing room in which to simply write.”
Drawing upon her life spent writing, Patchett was quick to dole out advice to students. In response to one graduate student’s query as to what Patchett’s fears had been when she began her career, the novelist responded bluntly.
“I don’t really have fears,” said Patchett. “I’m always surprised when a student tells me that they’re writing a novel and they’re very frightened that it won’t be good. What’s scary about writing a novel? Working with a band saw would be scary, but not writing.”
Because the brunch consisted of mainly graduate students who expressed future plans to become novelists or write full time, Patchett took the time to address whether or not it is more feasible for individuals to become successful writers by obtaining a graduate degree in one of the various subfields of English or to simply pursue creative writing by immersing themselves in a culture of creative writing.
“The problem with these communities of writers that exist in places like NYC is that you end up never really taking any time to write,” Patchett said. “If you end up coming to a place like Laramie, there’s not much to do, and you have people holding you accountable for submitting work you’ve written.”
The issue with pursuing a graduate degree, warned Patchett, is simply the accruement of debt that can haunt an aspiring writer for years.
“You are all so lucky to be in a program that’s fully funded,” Patchett said, commending the UW’s English graduate program.
The University of Wyoming Libraries Development Board presented the talk by Patchett after the brunch. The author’s speech, in comparison to the brunch, focused more on stories and anecdotes from her past.
“I’m never lonely when I’m around books,” Patchett said. “It’s a world of endless possibilities and opportunity to be in a building full of books.”
An introduction was provided by University of Wyoming President Richard McGinity. He admitted to not being much of a novel reader to Patchett.
“Ann has given me absolution for that,” joked McGinity. “I can read non-fiction, but she says that’s pretty typical for men.”
Opening the speech, Patchett said reading fiction is a practice in empathy while often times men have said to her they would rather learn about something factual.
“What we really learn from fiction is the experience of empathy, of being pushed into another person’s skin and looking at the world through their eyes,” Patchett said. “So knock yourself out, read some fiction – it’s good for you.”
The theme of the talk, however, was not literature, but rather altruism and her interest in it. She said her interest was kicked off by an email she received asking her about good deeds and their worth.
“Basically, what he’s saying is, if Mother Theresa really enjoyed taking care of lepers, does she get any brownie points in the larger scheme of things for it?” said Patchett. “That was her joy and if my joy was shoplifting, is it then really the same thing?”
Patchett introduced an anecdote about her bookstore’s current marketing and events director, Niki Coffman, as an illustration of one of her altruistic moments. She told the story of trying to navigate Coffman through several segments of her life until eventually Coffman decided to move in with Patchett herself. She said she at first wasn’t thrilled about having Coffman move in, but decided to allow herself to disregard this adversity in the name of being altruistic. Coffman became her assistant and eventually found what Patchett refers to as “the Tupperware bin.”
The Tupperware bin section of the talk was about the many jobs Patchett had before she became a writer. Her work went from being a teacher at an college to being a waitress at TGIFriday’s and eventually ending up as a writer for Seventeen Magazine, where she marks the beginning of her ascension into becoming a successful writer. She said her rise did not come from self improvement, but rather the improvement of her editors.
“My editor, Ilena Silverman got better, and she took me as a writer from Vogue to GQ,” said Patchett. “What really changed everything was when Ilena got a job at the New York Times. Without ever meaning to be more intelligent, I was suddenly more intelligent and I was writing for The Atlantic and for Harper in The New York Times.”
Through all of her writing jobs at Seventeen, Bridal Guide, Vogue and GQ, Patchett said she would save anything good and bad that she wrote in the Tupperware bin. Coffman took the bin and decided to compile her best work. She said seeing all of her best stories was horrifying, due to the personal nature of the essays she had written.
“It’s like this: you go to a party and you’re wearing a dress with a high neck and long sleeves, but it’s kind of short, and someone takes your picture and that’s fine,” Patchett explained. “The next week you go to another party and you’re wearing another dress and it has a high neck, and it’s long, but it has no sleeves and someone takes your picture and that’s great. The next week you go to a party and you’re wearing a long dress, and it has long sleeves, but it’s pretty low, someone takes your picture. Well that’s all fine, but if you put them all together, you are naked.”
Patchett said she refused to have the compilation published, but it prompted her to start thinking about the essays she was still writing and how she began to think about them as if they were in a book. This led to her writing an essay called “The Getaway Car,” where all writing advice she had would direct any aspiring writer to look at if they wanted her guidance.
The defining moment that changed everything for her, Patchett said, was the bookstore she had opened. This, she said, was her greatest act of altruism. Putting in all of her money and time into this bookstore, she became a spokesperson for independently-owned bookstores.
“Whose responsibility is it to open a bookstore in the city where you live?” asked Patchett. “If you can think the thought, it has already been answered – you have to do it.”
Patchett outlined the fact that her chain of altruistic acts led her to her unknown dream of owning a bookstore, and then closed her speech by encouraging the audience to support local businesses.
“People aren’t bad, people are stupid,” said Patchett. “It is my job to say, ‘Be thoughtful of the things you love, because we are driving the car.’”
“Good news,” she continued. “We are making the decisions – we decide who lives and dies. But you cannot go into a store and use the resources – the staff, and the wonderful comforting things it provides for you – and go home and order the same book for five bucks less on Amazon, because I will come to your home, find you, and re-explain it all again.”
