madamelolasmarvelouslyamazingmedicineshow Archives • Eckleburg

Eckleburg: What is most rewarding about teaching the craft of writing?

Cathy T. Colborn: The most rewarding thing about teaching the craft of writing is seeing the students’ faces or remarks when they find their own voice. Of course, I want them to get good grades or take something educational away from my workshops. Finding their own voice means that I have given them the formulas to succeed, yet they discovered a new piece of themselves in the process. They did that. I helped them dig, but they uncovered the writing gold.

Eckleburg: What was/is the most rewarding experience as a student of writing?

Cathy T. Colborn: Same as above. The day my fellow classmates could pick out all of my writing pieces out of a classroom slush pile, I knew that I should keep writing, keep progressing, until I did the best I could do. But it wasn’t enough to create better works just to get published, I had to help others find their voice. Writing is an art. We paint with words. I want to hear what you are painting, I want you to hear that it is like no other.

Eckleburg: What is your favorite writing exercise or habit?

Cathy T. Colborn: I am teaching Short Short Fiction. My favorite habit is picking through a student’s piece until I find the magic. It is a challenge and a fight sometimes in getting them to that magical destination. I have to teach the art of brevity, and students tend to resist me. They want to succeed at flash fiction, they want to create, but they want to keep every word. It is hard to let go. But when the students start to trim the unnecessary words, they weave the remaining words into pure magic. I love witnessing it!

Join Cathy T. Colborn at The Eckleburg Workshops.

Cathy T. Colborn is the author of Madame Lola’s Marvelously Amazing Medicine Show, a steampunk adventure set in New Orleans. She is also the creator of Philly Flash Inferno, a literary journal with the ongoing theme of The Seven Deadly Sins. She has poetry published in the upcoming projects: Scars and Tattoos: Our Stories on Our Skin and Poetry to the Paintings of Gregory Prestegord. Currently, she is teaching Short Short Fiction online for The Eckleburg Workshops.

Eckleburg: What drives, inspires, and feeds your artistic work?

Cathy T. Colborn: I grew up in Philadelphia, PA. I love the city of Philadelphia, the beach towns of New Jersey, and the lovely city of New Orleans. I frequent these places as often as I can to boost my inspiration and creativity. People watching and interaction is key to developing believable characters. I also find inspiration by hanging out with other types of artists.

Eckleburg: If you had to arm wrestle a famous writer, poet or artist, either living or dead, who would it be? Why? What would you say to distract your opponent and go for the win?

Cathy T. Colborn: I would love to arm wrestle Emily Dickinson. I think I could take her. I would wait until she was going for the win and start telling her all about what women can accomplish in the 2000’s. That should distract her enough for me to take the win.

Eckleburg: What would you like the world to remember about you and your work?

Cathy T. Colborn: We all want future civilizations to know we existed. I will be long gone, and I am childless (aside from my dachshund). I would be happy knowing that my characters existed. They existed the moment I let someone else read their stories. That will never go away as long as I exist, and I won’t have much to say afterwards. If someone can relate to Madame Lola (or any of her friends and enemies), I will be satisfied. My characters may be in a magical setting, but they are flawed and beautiful. They are like us. They will live on, I’m sure of it.