Faculty Wisdom

Nuts & Bolts: Craft Guidance from FAWC Faculty

Our accomplished faculty share practical insights, techniques, and approaches that have shaped countless artistic careers. From revision strategies to finding your voice, these resources distill decades of teaching excellence into actionable guidance.

Featured Guidance:

“The best writing advice I’ve ever received came from Jane Hirshfield’s book Nine Gates. I like to remember, as I make the many micro-decisions in choosing each and every word in my poems, that “Choices of topic, image, and word reflect perfectly the self and all its history; every gesture is a clear lake in whose waters the whole ecology of self and culture swim.”

Didi Jackson on the best writing advice she’s received

“Writing comes from wanting to make sense of the world around us. It’s the small moments that catch your attention; it’s the way light falls through leaves, an overheard conversation on the subway, a memory that won’t let go. Personal obsessions play a significant role, too—those themes or questions you find yourself returning to again and again. Maybe you’re drawn to stories about siblings, or you can’t stop thinking about how people rebuild after loss. Good writing often comes from these preoccupations, these things that won’t let you go.”

Ruben Quesada on what inspires him to write.