ABOUT JOAN
ARE YOU A WRITER, TOO?
I've been serious about my creative writing writing since 2000, when I took my first fiction workshop at Grub Street Writers in Boston, and I've been writing ever since. My debut novel, This Is How It Begins, was published in October, 2017.
Teaching is a great way to learn, so after I earned my MFA in creative writing at Antioch University Los Angeles, I stayed on and also got my Post-Graduate Certificate for the Teaching of Creative Writing.
I've been teaching ever since, too.
If you've ever asked yourself any of these questions—
- Is my writing any good?
- Am I just wasting my time trying to become a writer?
- Can I actually create something worth publishing?
- How do I know where to begin to revise my work?
- Do I need an editor, or can I edit my work by myself?
—you've found the right place to get some guidance.
I believe that every writer can learn how to create valuable, publishable work.
Is it easy? No.
But is it possible? Yes!
Learning how to be a good (even a great) writers takes diligent, applied effort, perseverance, lots of practice and an honest willingness to cope with inevitable rejection. Creative writing is not for the faint of heart, but it is abundantly rewarding!
Let me know how I can help you on your journey.
Winner of the 2017 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers, and named by Poets & Writers magazine as one of “5 more over 50” writers to watch, Joan Dempsey is the author of the novel, This Is How It Begins, which won the bronze 2018 Independent Publisher Book Award for literary fiction. The novel is also a 2018 Lambda Literary Award finalist (gay fiction), 2017 Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award Finalist (historical fiction) and 2018 Sarton Women's Book Award finalist (contemporary fiction). Joan received her MFA degree and teaching certificate in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.
She was the recipient of a significant research grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation for her work on This Is How It Begins, a grant that took her to Warsaw for a month, and to Washington, D.C. for ten days to study in the archives at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Her writing has been published in "The Adirondack Review," "Alligator Juniper," "Obsidian: Literature of the African Diaspora," and "Plenitude Magazine," and aired on National Public Radio.
She lives in New Gloucester, Maine with her partner and their family of animals. Learn more at http://thisishowitbeginsnovel.com/.
