“I will continue to write as I breathe.“
— Rachel Barchus
A member of the Writers’ League since May 2020, Rachel lives in San Antonio, TX.
Scribe: In what genre(s) do you write?
Rachel Barchus: Personal Essay/Creative Non-Fiction.
Scribe: What author would you most like to have a drink with, and what’s the first question you would ask them?
RB: I’d have a whiskey with my late grandmother, an aspiring writer who never was published, and ask her, “Why did you give me that blank journal for my 10th birthday?”
Scribe: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what book would you want to have with you to keep you sane?
RB: An instructional manual on how to escape a deserted island. Failing that, The Complete Sherlock Holmes.
Scribe: What have you learned from your association with the Writers’ League?
RB: Creatively, I’ve gained a sense of community by participating in the UnConference and One Page Salon. Practically, I’ve learned skills such as creating pitches/drafting query letters/finding an agent by attending webinars and office hours.
Scribe: Where do you see your writing taking you (or you taking it) in the future?
RB: I’d like to introduce my personal essays to more readers via my WordPress site. I’ve recently compiled “the best of” into a memoir-in-essay called FIGHT…like a girl. The next leap would be to secure a literary agent and get it published. Regardless, I will continue to write as I breathe.
Scribe: Here at the Writers’ League, we love sharing book recommendations. What’s one Texas-related book that has come out within the past year that you couldn’t put down?
RB: El Arroyo’s Mini Book of Signs Vol. One.
Scribe: Is there anything else about you that you would like to share with the world? An opportunity for blatant self-promotion!
RB: Here’s the pitch for my WordPress site, “Literary Facts:” As a personal essayist, I try to elevate life experiences—comfortable and un—to the literary level. Like a word choreographer, I aim to make facts dance. https://wordpress.com/view/literaryfacts.wordpress.com.
Here’s the pitch for my memoir, FIGHT…like a girl: It’s Sandra Cisneros meets Anne Lamott meets David Sedaris. In the style of Saeed Jones, my memoir-in-essay is a series of vignettes that capture my fight to find home—at the whim of a gypsy mother, at the hands of a raging father, in the forsaking arms of a lifelong husband. This journey spans five decades, with Texas as the epicenter that ripples to other parts of the country and beyond.
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Thank you, Rachel!
If you’re a Writers’ League member and you’d be interested in being interviewed for our Meet the Members feature, email us at member@writersleague.org for more information. It’s a great way for other members to get to know you and for you to share a bit about what you’re working on!
