We're grateful to Tom Holm for his work as our 22nd Writer in Residence from January to April 2025. We were excited to chat with him after to learn about his experience working with writers in the community.
Can you tell us about a favorite moment from your residency?
I actually have several, primarily because of the ideas that some of the writers presented to me. One stands out. A gentleman came for advice on how to frame a children’s book with a javelina as the main character. We discussed what could be done over two sessions. My main advice was to make the main character fully developed, with quirks and emotions. He came back with a new idea. First, he found an illustrator and decided to turn the idea into a graphic novel. Javi the Javelina got lost from his family and struck out on his own. Secondly, he runs across a young girl who, as an undocumented immigrant, had been separated from her family. The two, Javi and the girl, travel through the desert. Javi basically shows the girl how to survive. The story is fascinating and certainly deserving of publication.
What was the most fulfilling part of your residency?
More than anything I think of the residency as a very great honor—an award, if you like—for my efforts as an author. In many ways, it also brought me back to teaching, something I’ve always thought of as a true calling. I met new people and a couple of my old friends and fellow tribal citizens that I haven’t seen in years. I was very happy to reconnect with them. The workshops were equally fantastic for me. The writers were always engaged, and I personally learned a great deal from them. Some of the suggestions I made were taken to heart.
Why do you think a program like this is important?
In my own mind, it’s impossible to measure its importance. For would be writers, simply to have a resource or someone who has published to talk to about ideas, possible publishers or publications, and story development is a plus. I was lucky to have as colleagues and mentors the likes of Vine Deloria, Jr. and Arrell M. Gibson, two noted writers with a large number of books. Both won prizes for their publications. The main thing they taught me was persistence and patience and those are the principles I tried to pass along in the program.
Of the projects brought to you, which stand out?
I mentioned the Javi the Javelina story in the first question. Two more stood out as well. The first would have to be the idea of writing a book that would change the game of Dungeons and Dragons to make it friendlier to women. The writer quoted the inventor of the game to the effect that the only way to add more female involvement was to bring in rapes and love affairs. The writer was correctly angry at the obvious miscegenation in his statement. I had to cringe as well. In any case, the writer’s solution was to rid the game of its male focus and modify some of the rules. In short, she proposed that the rules and the play be made less structured. “After all,” she said, “it is just a game.” Another was a Cherokee elder, whom I had met quite awhile ago, and his idea to write down some of the stories he (we) heard as children. Interestingly, I presented this idea in a workshop. All in all, most of the ideas were, in my opinion, readily publishable. I urged him to write up the stories as a collection of either flash fiction or short stories.
What type of writing did you encounter?
Nearly every type and genre was presented to me: fiction, nonfiction, mystery, shoot ‘em ups, biography, even picture books and poetry. I was just then experimenting with poetry myself and welcomed the back-and-forth discussion over types of verse.
What type of advice did you offer?
Most of the time I simply encourage the writers to be persistent and keep writing. Publishing is very difficult in most cases. I warned them about self-publishing as being costly, but several were willing to take the chance. I also advised several of them to look to local publishers, of which there are several in Arizona. If a topic was regional, I also encouraged them to look at publishers in a given state and even at university presses. One writer saddened me. He actually had a literary agent and had produced five manuscripts that the agent was not even trying to sell. The only thing that I could say, never having had an agent myself, was to keep writing and perhaps something will attract a publisher’s attention. I hope sincerely that persistence will pay off for him.
Can you tell us about the workshops you offered?
The workshops were, in my mind, well attended and stimulating, both for the participants and me. The first, held at Nanini Library, was as much a workshop for me as it was for the participants. I guess there were 25-30 folks in attendance. I wanted to present two writing prompts but was able to do only one. The main reason was that we got so involved in discussions that the time simply flew by. The discussions leaned toward publication, specifically where and how to publish. Writing for profit came up only once after I told them to write for the sake of writing.
The second workshop was held at the Tucson Festival of Books. The room was practically filled. This time, Matthew Landon led the discussion by asking questions of me more or less along the lines of the old television show “Inside the Actors Studio.” We were able to get a single writing prompt in that called for writing a paragraph on a character that each participant knew. The main point was that in fiction and even in nonfiction writing, character development is essential.
Martha Cooper Library hosted the third workshop. Again, we only got through a single writing prompt. And, again, the discussion dominated the workshop. Everyone, it seemed, had something to say. A few questions were raised about detail in writing short stories. I could only say that readers will pick up on details, such as getting the correct caliber of a pistol or the color of a roan horse. It all boiled down to being persistent and writing for the simple pleasure of writing and doing the research. Also, and this was important, was that reading was essential to being able to write.
What was it like conducting sessions at libraries?
Both libraries had good-sized rooms to hold the workshops and a smaller room for the consultations. I was very much impressed with the staffs at both libraries. They were friendly and always provided me with anything I needed to carry out my duties. Amy and Jennie at Nanini and Martha Cooper respectively were wonderful. Everything was well-planned and the workshop operations went off without a hitch. I can’t say enough about them.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
One thing that came over and again was the possible organization of group sessions for writers. The idea was that the participants would get together and either discuss books or introduce ideas for discussion. Personally, I’d like to see one or more of the libraries host open mic sessions so that participants can read poetry or examples of their own prose. Another notion would be reviewing a particular work for a group that might stimulate further reading of a book or of books written by a certain author. I think there are several of us in town that would be happy, indeed honored, to lead one or some of these group sessions.
Keep this program going.
