In today’s episode, we discuss the steps involved in the publishing process: querying literary agents, rejection, selling your work, and asking for your first blurbs. We also dive deeper into artist recognition, choosing a college major as an artist, and finding your confidence to call yourself an artist/writer.

Guests:
(3:57): Carolina Ixta received her first Gold Medal in Novel Writing in 2012. Today, she is a writer from Oakland, California, and an elementary school teacher whose pedagogy centers on critical race theory at the primary education level. Shut Up, This is Serious is her debut novel.

(32:23): Mac Barnes is a 2022 Gold Medal Portfolio winner in Mixed Media. He is a gifted creator of quilted applique, the process of cutting out fabric pieces and sewing them directly on top of the larger quilt instead of seaming pieces. Through quilt-making, Mac concentrates on common themes of immigration and overcoming struggle, hoping to highlight the American experience.

(44:39): Alexandra Pechman is a writer and director living in Los Angeles and was our 2023 Alumni Microgrant Program juror. She has written and produced TV shows for Hulu, directed a debut short film called Thumb, which premiered at the 2021 Fantasia Film Festival and is currently developing her first feature film. Previously as a magazine writer, her writing has been published in Vogue, The New York Times, Artforum, Vanity Fair, and many other magazines. Please welcome, Alexandra Pechman!

Follow our guests!

Carolina Ixta:
/ carolinaixta
https://www.carolinaixta.com/
Purchase a copy of Shut Up, This is Serious:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/shut-up-...
https://www.harpercollins.com/product...

Mac Barnes: