Tag: Erin Wolf

Writing

A Writer’s Attachment to Things

ErinFWolf

I have a terrible memory.

Wait, let me clarify. I have a terrible memory for dates and timelines and names and historical events but I have a beautiful gift for sensory recall of emotions and space. I guess all humans have that to some degree, the feelings of nostalgia that wash over us when we hear a favorite song from long ago or smell the cologne that reminds us of that first crush in grade-school.

When I was 16 my dad bought me a used Toyota Corolla. It was green. I continued to drive that car, lovingly known as “The Green Machine,” for another 16 years until it met an untimely demise.

I cried real tears the day I had to say goodbye to that car. Not because I’m so obsessed with cars but because of what it represented to me.

I have come to believe, in my more seasoned years of life as a writer, that perhaps it is a by-product of the job, this “attachment” to things.

It isn’t so much the remembering that I relish in, but the retelling that allows a sort of reliving of the moment. I read somewhere that being a writer allows you to live life twice – once in the living and second in the telling. Continue reading “A Writer’s Attachment to Things” →

Editing

Criticize Me

ErinFWolf

When I sat down to write my first novel, I was alone.

From the first word to the last, I developed an intimate relationship with the story and swam deep in the waters of my own thoughts.

When I finished the book, I wasn’t relieved or proud or exhausted. I was still hungry. I simply thought to myself, “what’s next?”

My biggest fear at the beginning of this project was that I would obsess over every piece of minutia within the book, making it impossible for my little novel to graduate past the stage of a word document taking up storage on my computer.

So, I released it into the hands of another set of eyes. Continue reading “Criticize Me” →

Short Story Submissions

Fact or Fiction? – Short Story Edition

ErinFWolf

In the Fall of 2002, I sailed around the world.

While that is a fun sentence to type, and certainly an interesting fact about myself to bring up at parties, sometimes it’s hard to remember that I actually did it.

Have you ever told a story over and over again, so many times, that you become desensitized to it? Or, haven’t told a story in so long you don’t know if you even remember how it goes? I don’t know if I’m a forgetful person or if it’s just literally impossible for a human brain to hold too many things in it at once, but i’ll be damned if I can’t recall a specific detail about my trip around the world without some prompting.

Erin Wolf in Vietnam
Vietnam: Semester at Sea Fall 2002

Continue reading “Fact or Fiction? – Short Story Edition” →

Author Introduction

Pleased to meet you, my name is Erin.

ErinFWolf

It’s weird to say hello. To think that this is the beginning.

I’ve been writing to myself for so long, it’s surreal to comprehend that I’m voluntarily inviting the outside world to read what is essentially me thinking my thoughts out loud. And yet, here you are. How nice of you to stop by, pleased to meet you!

Why am I here? Well, I’ve recently joined the ranks of so many that have come before me as a first-time author. For years, I’ve poured my writer’s mind onto crisp white pages until they accumulated into something like a novel. I started at the beginning and wrote it until it was finished. And now that it is, I find myself overjoyed and entirely perplexed on where to go next.

“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”
-Winston Churchill

And like so many before me in this age of book publishing, I have come to realize that getting a book published isn’t always about the writing. For me, personally, it’s about the writing. Of course. If I could sit by my lonesome all day and write, that would seem like something close to heaven for me. However, if I ever want anyone to be able to read the damn thing, I need to go beyond my notes and my trusty laptop and the red pen edits scattered across my office. This I’ve come to realize. And as much as it pains me to periodically leave the comforts of my own head space, it’s a thing that all modern writers must do. At least in the beginning anyway.

Then there’s this blog. This digital meeting place where we can get acquainted, you and I, and I can meet you and we can talk about books we love, ideas we share, and if it comes to it, maybe I can tell you a little bit about the book I’ve written.

Thus, begins this journey. This is the part where I embark on a complicated process to the end of which I have only one goal. When I meet a stranger or fill out paperwork that requires me to state an occupation…I want to say with confidence that I am an author.

What credentials allows one to be able to call themselves an author, a novelist, or a professional writer, you might ask? Well, to be quite honest, I’m hoping to figure that one out myself. And perhaps share it with you, here, on this page of mine, that is, if you’re so inclined to read it.

So, if you’re a writer too and looking for someone going through the same trials and tribulations of publishing or if you’re just someone hoping to find a good book to read, stick around.

Oh, and nice to meet you. My name is Erin.