Writing With a Broken Tusk
Writing With a Broken Tusk began in 2006 as a blog about overlapping geographies, personal and real-world, and writing books for children. Since March 2024, Jen Breach (writer, VCFA graduate, and former student) has helped me curate and manage guest posts and Process Talk pieces on this blog.
The blog name refers to the mythical pact between the poet Vyaasa and the Hindu elephant headed god Ganesha who was his scribe during the composition of the epic narrative, the Mahabharata. It also refers to my second published book, edited by the generous and brilliant Diantha Thorpe of Linnet Books/The Shoe String Press, published in 1996, acquired and republished by August House, now part of Reading Is Fundamental, and still miraculously in print.
Posts on this site reflect personal opinion and commentary protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Guest Post: Jesse Weiner on Embracing Uncertainty
Jesse Weiner holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where I taught for sixteen years and became, I’m convinced, a better writer for it. Among the awe-inspiring faculty members the year I joined was Norma Fox Mazer—quiet, clear-eyed, she wrote words that sang themselves off the page. Why do I raise this? When Jesse was a student at VCFA, she won the Norma Fox Mazer Award, which recognizes excellence in craft. Those are the kinds of overlapping circles that feel like gifts.
Jesse’s a cross-genre writer and poet. Her work has appeared in places like The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and Poetry Hall. Jesse is also a writing coach and developmental editor through her business, Inksational Editorial. She also runs a free newsletter with open submission calls, contests and grants, and other industry info. Click here to learn more and sign up.
I’m delighted to welcome Jesse Weiner to WWBT.
Guest Post: Mima Tipper on Kat’s Greek Summer
Post curated by Jen Breach for Writing With a Broken Tusk
When I began teaching at Vermont College in 2006, my hope was to show my students the gaps between their intentions and the words on the page. I wanted to offer a range of different ways to bridge those gaps, to point out where the draft words were pointing. Then the writer would find her way, would happen upon his own path, would craft the work they wanted to write. Whatever my students might have learned from all this, I’m convinced that reading their work and thinking about it taught me to hold my own work to standards at once generous and critical.
Mima Tipper was my student early in my teaching career. She was among those students who taught me how to teach. So I’m delighted to welcome Mima to Writing With a Broken Tusk to discuss her young YA novel, Kat’s Greek Summer
Guest Post: Caroline Carlson on Wicked Marigold
I smiled my way through Wicked Marigold, a middle grade novel by Caroline Carlson. In honor of Tell a Fairytale Day (February 26) I asked Caroline to tell me more about her experience writing this romp of a fractured fairytale. Here is her reply:
Old Narratives, New Worlds: Some thoughts on the long tradition of fracturing fairy tales
Guest Post: Ashley Wilda on The Night Fox
From Ashley Wilda’s guest post: “I don’t know if I can do this.” That’s what I said to my husband after reading the editorial letter for The Night Fox. There was one major problem - I had too many walls.