Hello from Pittsburgh, PA!

I’m way past my bedtime and I still have homework to do for Dinty W. Moore’s Master Class at the Creative Nonfiction Writers Conference 2015.

But the show must go on. And boy is it a show. Jennifer Niesslein, a founder of Brain, Child Magazine, discusses her latest venture, an online literary journal, Full Grown People and anthology of the same name. I interviewed one of Jennifer’s essayists,  the great Andrew Bomback in February, then I pitched her myself. She accepted!

Alyssa Sorresso. Photo by Jacob Boll.

In this interview, she explains how her life experiences fuel her entrepreneurial ventures and what makes a compelling essay about “the other awkward age.”

Plus, a Behind the Prose bonus interview with Alyssa Sorresso (the spelling of her name is so symmetrical; I love it) who had her first major break in the issue of Creative Nonfiction that hit the stands in June 2014. She’s got great energy and I suspect it will ride the airwaves right to you if you need a boost.

Listen below or subscribe to this writer’s resource on iTunes.

SHOW NOTES (Compiled by Walker Webb, Spring 2017 Editorial Intern)

• Ever turn one of life’s hardships into a business model? No? Well Jennifer Niesslein did, twice. Listen in at [3:58] to find out how.
• Belong to any groups for writers? Compare notes with the host on her experiences with Full Grown People’s writers’ community at [13:51].
• Alyssa Sorresso has a pretty unique way of composing your pieces. Go to [38:11], see if any of her methods might help you with your drafting.
• Ever had to step back from a piece to look at it more objectively? Alyssa shares a personal experience at [43:38] where doing just that helped push her writing to the next level.

 ABOUT JENNIFER NIESSLEIN

Jennifer Niesslein

Jennifer is a writer and editor in living in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her latest project is Full Grown People, a web magazine of essays.  She’s the author of Practically Perfect in Every Way and the co-founder of  Brain, Child magazine, where she worked for thirteen years. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Salon, and The Morning News, among other places. She’s a regular contributor to the Virginia Quarterly Review online and a contributor to The Nervous Breakdown. She sometimes leads workshops at WriterHouse, and she offers individual writing coaching for essayists.