In this episode, Julia F. Green and Ralph Walker welcome Penny Zang and Caroline Manring to discuss their experiences at the first Journey to Jupiter writing retreat in 2023. Penny and Caroline reflect on their favorite aspects of the experience, what it helped them uncover in their works in progress, and how it affected their approach to the writing process. They touch on the importance of rigor and routine, the challenges of revision, and the inspirations they drew from curated readings.
This conversation also explores the challenges of balancing daily life with creative work, the liberating power of rewriting from scratch, and what’s in store for this year’s Journey to Jupiter retreat. Tune in for a joyful conversation that underlines the magic and power of creative community and how transformative it can be to gather with other writers.
Books and authors discussed:
Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel)
Razorblade Tears (S.A. Cosby)
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube (Blair Braverman)
Lost & Found (Kathryn Schulz)
About Caroline:
Caroline Manring is the author of the poetry collections Ceruleana (NineMile Books) and Manual for Extinction (winner of the National Poetry Review Prize), and her new short collection, Coil, is forthcoming in fall 2024 from Herring Alley Pamphlets. She holds degrees from Cornell University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and writes the weekly humor series Notes from the Dishwasher Cafe on Substack. Her essays and poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Conduit, Denver Quarterly, New Ohio Review, Seneca Review, and elsewhere. She lives with her husband and twin children in Ithaca, New York, where she also plays fiddle in a family band.
About Penny:
Penny Zang’s debut novel, Doll Parts, is forthcoming from Sourcebooks in 2025. She is from Maryland and graduated with an MFA in Fiction from West Virginia University. Her work has appeared in the Potomac Review, Louisville Review, and Superstition Review, among others. She lives in South Carolina, where she teaches English at a two-year college. Find her on Twitter, Instagram, and Substack.
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Writing in the Dark is co-hosted by Julia F. Green (Substack, website) and Ralph Walker (Twitter, website) and edited by Aaron Fyler, with cover art by Jarmusch.
Season 2, Episode 7: Postcard from Jupiter