“Writers create something from nothing, stories and worlds on blank pages. We are conjurers. It’s magic, what we do!” —Kimberly Garza
On Saturday, November 29, Kimberly Garza will teach “The Art of Revision: Small Lines, Big Moves.” In this class, students will discuss the many stages of revision, including setting revision goals, pacing the rewriting, and strategically identifying what revisions a work needs. This class is a part of the Novel Writing Class Package.
Kimberly Garza is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Last Karankawas, a New York Times Editors’ Choice and an Indie Next pick. Her stories and essays have appeared in Electric Literature, Texas Highways, Copper Nickel, and elsewhere, and she is a 2024 National Endowment of the Arts Creative Writing Fellow. A native Texan—born in Galveston, raised in Uvalde—she teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she directs the Creative Writing Program.
Here’s what Kimberly had to share with us:
Who are your earliest influences? What people and books made you a writer?
Kimberly Garza: I come from a big family of storytellers. We love sharing tales from our lives or from the past and passing them down. Just when I think I’ve heard them all, I’ll spend a holiday or long weekend in Houston or the RGV and hear a couple new ones! I’ve loved reading all my life and am constantly inspired by what I read—THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET was one of the first books that blew my mind and made me truly think I could write. But I know my family storytellers are my first and best influences.
What writing challenges have you faced? What have these challenges taught you about your process?
KG: As a kid, I spent hours writing. It was the only thing I wanted to do. Nowadays my biggest challenge is just life taking up time. Family and friends, work, health—all of those are important, of course, but more and more I find myself allowing them to take up ALL the hours in the day. Our writing deserves time and energy too. When I write now, I try to channel that kid, who let nothing and no one keep her from the page.
From your perspective, what’s the most rewarding part about being a writer?
KG: Reading back over what you’ve read after a few days away, and feeling that flush of pride when it hits. Or even when it doesn’t. Writers create something from nothing, stories and worlds on blank pages. We are conjurers. It’s magic, what we do!
Who do you write for?
KG: I write about people from my corners of Texas and the world, many people of color or from communities that have always been on the margins and the borders. We’ve got so many things to say and share. So I write for them, for my family and communities, and for anyone who sees themselves in stories like these.
What do you hope writers will learn from your course?
KG: That rewriting is often the best and juiciest part of writing! Revising is so complex and multilayered, but it has always been where my vision and my strongest work come to life.
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Thanks, Kimberly!
Click here to learn more about Kimberly’s upcoming class.
