Welcome to K.C's Corner

by Kelley Coyner

In an effort to cover more nonfiction on this blog (which I admit I don't do regularly), I've enlisted the help of member Kelley Coyner. She will post on the topic on the first Monday of every month (at least at the start). BUT there are ways for you to get involved too. Take it away Kelley.

Late one night my husband came upon my father digging through a bookshelf of history, biography, and travel logs like “a raccoon rummaging for food. “ I was not there, but I imagine that had my husband come upon Dad a bit later he would have found him in a corner of the living room with a circle of books around his chair splayed open on the floor. Dad would have scribbled in the margins and dog-eared pages. He likely chased Tim down with a word or a phrase or an entire chapter to share from a book.

Tim will tell you that the passion for good writing runs strong in the Coyner bloodlines as does the propensity to “ransack others’ bookcases to find something to read.” I am an omnivore in my reading, but a writer of nonfiction. My father was a poet, but preferred read nonfiction.

In many ways Washington is a mecca for nonfiction writing. As a lawyer, political appointee and policy wonk I have had plenty of chances to write nonfiction. Now Kyle’s now offered a “corner” of First Person Plural to blog about nonfiction. KC’s Corner will feature a range of genres including biography and history, nature and environmental writing, and long-form journalism, essays and flash nonfiction. I plan to blog about readings and conferences, trends in nonfiction publishing, ethics, and more. The editorial calendar is evolving, but here is the path I have sketched through summer:

Evolving Editorial Calendar
To begin some structure to KC’s Corner and related posts, I have charted out several months of subjects. I would like to feature some guest blogs each month. I hope to tie those to the main theme. This is the first cut. Stay tuned for details.

April : Flash Nonfiction
May : Biography
June : Nonfiction Beach reading
July : Nature/Environmental Writing
August : Travel Writing


Will you do one thing to help get this off to a running start?

• Comment here with a blog topic, a title of a favorite book on nonfiction writing, or a tip on upcoming reading, workshop, or conference on nonfiction;
• Guest blog about your work in progress, a local nonfiction event, or an interview of another writer;
• Send a work of flash nonfiction; or
• Review a new work of nonfiction.

Will you share this post with fellow writers?
Contact me (coyner.kelley AT gmail.com) with your ideas.

***

Kelley Coyner’s nonfiction writing includes The Viva List Latin America: 333 Places and Experiences People Love (contributing writer and editor), and articles in Americas, Mothering, Library Sparks, and Comet Magazine. She served as the (nonfiction) Writer in Residence at the American school in LaPaz. (By day she writes strategic plans, policy briefs and blog posts for public policy blogs.)