As I wrap my season of residency as the Pima County Library Writer in Residence, I’m feeling reflective. Spending a season with the writers of Pima County has been an honor and a privilege. I’ve been working with writers in a lot of ways for a long time now—starting with giving my time and editorial work away in college, then working in my university’s Writing Center (where I learned how to give a clear, direct, rigorous note with kindness and tact), to consulting on manuscripts during grad school, and eventually professionalizing the creative services I offer. My tenure as Writer in Residence has been my first opportunity to work directly with the community, without the go-between of a college, university, or organization.
My residency at Flowing Wells library luckily coincided on many days with Toddler Story Hour, and I had the absolute delight of watching tiny hopeful faces stream in the doors, their eyes searching for where the stories might be found, their sweet high voices bouncing through the space. Back in Greenwich Village in the 1980s, I was a library kid, and I remember spending long afternoons tucked into the turrets of Jefferson Market Library, entering new universes between the pages of books. To witness a new generation of library kids get their sea legs (and sometimes their land legs!) in the stacks was an unexpected bonus of simply being on site at the library.
I started doing this work because I love talking to writers about process and craft. Whether it’s how to show a reader the complexities of a difficult character, how to structure a memoir, or how to write vivid details into a scene, craft has always been what draws me back to the page, as both a reader and a writer. Learning about the nuances and idiosyncrasies of a writer’s way into their subject universes is the hyperfixation of my entire life, and sharing a concept, text, or resource with another writer is one of my very favorite experiences.
My favorite part of my residency has been the sheer diversity of projects and ideas people have brought to my desk. I typically work only in the genre I write (creative nonfiction), but at the library I got to meet and talk with poets, novelists, short story writers, children’s book authors, multimedia artists, and playwrights as well as my beloved memoirists and essayists—I even got to consult on a poemoir! This work has reminded me of the generosity and perseverance of the human urge to make art, even and perhaps especially in times of strife and hardship. Witnessing the urgent thinking, dedicated labor, and sparkling minds of the writers of Pima County has been a balm during a very fractious moment in time, when, in my opinion, we all need a bit more togetherness and a bit more artmaking.
I’m deeply grateful to the Arizona State Library for funding the Writer in Residence program, and to the amazing team making it all happen behind the scenes and at the library desk (and the security desk—I appreciate you!)
With gratitude,
Margo Steines
