Reading Den

Caitlin Barasch is the author of A Novel Obsession, which was named a Good Morning America “Buzz Pick,” a “Best Summer Read” byVogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and one of Buzzfeed’s “Best Books of 2022.” Born and raised in New York, Caitlin earned her BA from Colorado College and her MFA from New York University. A former bookseller, Caitlin is currently a creative writing instructor at The Writers Circle and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Colorado College. 

What’s the best writing advice you ever received?

You will become the person capable of writing the book you’re writing as you write it. Don’t rush that process!

Plus, some bonus advice from some of my favorite writers. Alexander Chee, in How To Write an Autobiographical Novel: “Writing fiction is an exercise in giving a shit … in finding out what you really care about…my first novel was not the first one I started. It was the first one I finished…because I asked myself a question. What will you let yourself know? What will you allow yourself to know?”

And from Annie Dillard: “Spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time…The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better…After Michelangelo died, someone found in his studio a piece of paper on which he had written a note to his apprentice, in the handwriting of his old age: ”Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio, draw and do not waste time.”’

Talk about your experience of the Colorado writing community.

 Although I live in NYC, I’ve spent a lot of time in Colorado recently as a visiting professor at Colorado College, where I was in undergrad from 2011-2015. Colorado will always represent the place where I came of age as a human and as a writer, and it’s been amazing to reconnect with former writing professors and meet other creatives here. It feels so nourishing and full-circle.

I’ve also been really appreciative of how intentional and inclusive the Denver & Colorado Springs writing communities are in contrast to NYC, where it can often feel clique-y, competitive, and over-stimulating. 

What is on your reading list right now? 

I’m reading a ton of short stories to prep for a beginning fiction course I’m teaching. The syllabus consists of old favorites I’m re-reading, as well as new voices I’ve discovered. As for novels, I’m currently reading The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. 

What will you be reading at the event and what is meaningful about this selection? 

I’ll be reading the first few pages of my debut novel, which I’ve always enjoyed reading aloud. They’re meaningful because these pages remained fairly unchanged throughout the five-year drafting and publishing process. I began with this image, this inciting event, and whenever I read it aloud I’m reminded of how exciting it was to hit on an idea that felt like it could sustain a novel. 

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