“The gap between my aspirations and my abilities is wide, and yet, my why helps me return to the page, even when I don’t feel otherwise motivated or I don’t get my work published when I want.” –Charlotte Gullick
This July, join us for our virtual 2025 Summer Writing Retreat featuring four classes on fiction, memoir, poetry, and revision, plus lots of special events throughout the month, including a Saturday Craft Seminar with Henry Lien (July 12), lunchtime craft presentations by notable authors, meet-ups with fellow writers, dedicated writing time, and our Student Reading Night.
Our revision class, taught by Charlotte Gullick, will focus on “The Joy and Discovery of Revision: A Step-by-Step Approach.” In this class, students will break down the revision process into specific stages, empowering themselves with strategic approaches to gain the required objectivity.
Charlotte Gullick is a novelist, essayist, editor, educator. In May 2016, she graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts with a MFA in Creative Nonfiction. She also holds a MA in English/Creative Writing from the University of California, Davis. Charlotte’s first novel, By Way of Water, was published by Blue Hen Books/Penguin Putnam, and her nonfiction has appeared in The Rumpus, Brevity, The Best of Brevity, Pembroke, Dogwood, Barnstorm Journal, Pithead Chapel, and the LA Review. Her other awards include a Christopher Isherwood Fellowship for Fiction, a Colorado Council on the Arts Fellowship for Poetry, a MacDowell Colony Residency, a Ragdale Residency, the Evergreen State College 2012 Teacher Excellence Award as well as the Gold Star for Teaching and Mentorship from American Short Fiction (2020).
Here’s what Charlotte had to share with us:
Scribe: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you write? How did you come to writing?
Charlotte Gullick: I write because it helps me understand myself and the world; it grounds me in empathy and a quest to understand people and their motivations. I grew up with stories as an important element in my life and stories have remained a constant companion through many changes. I came to writing because it helped me remain anchored to the people and place I came from: an extremely rural place with a vibrant landscape that informs my sense of self.
Scribe: In your own work, how do you approach overcoming the challenges that come with writing, be it writer’s block or craft or business-related challenges?
CG: I think about my why – why do I write? And when I return to my why—writing helps me understand myself and the world—I can connect to meaning and purpose which is key in overcoming challenges. The gap between my aspirations and my abilities is wide, and yet, my why helps me return to the page, even when I don’t feel otherwise motivated or I don’t get my work published when I want.
Scribe: Has there been a moment of epiphany in terms of your work, when you thought, “This is it! Now I know what I’m doing?” How long did that feeling last?
CG: That feeling has come every now and then, and it was the best 7 seconds of my life! It’s rare for me to have that kind of certainty; most of the time, it feels like I’m moving in a direction of maybe knowing, or maybe finding the right phrase or image – and I’ve learned to trust that movement.
Scribe: What piece of advice do you find yourself giving to writers again and again?
CG: Build community and accountability. The myth that we do this on our own, locked away from the rest of the world, is so inaccurate, counter-productive, and maybe even destructive. Finding a person or group that helps you commit and move in the direction of your creative goals is the reality I believe we all need to embrace. This isn’t necessarily easy but it might be required. ☺
Scribe: What excites you about teaching “The Joy and Discovery of Revision” for the revision track of the Summer Writing Retreat?
CG: Building the toolkit of the writers who take the Revision course. I think all writers need a robust set of strategies for tackling all of the elements of engaging storytelling—and participants will add to what they already have.
Scribe: How would you finish this sentence: If the students in my class take away one thing from the course, I hope it’s…
CG: That revision can be fun and empowering.
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Thanks, Charlotte!
Click here to learn more about Charlotte Gullick’s upcoming revision class during the 2025 Summer Writing Retreat.
