Ramona Ausubel's Practical Advice

Author Ramona Ausubel sits down with TW creative director John Vogel to talk about her new craft book and write's guide. In Unstuck: 101 Doorways Leading from the Blank Page to the Last Page, Ramona lays out exercises and strategies to maintain momentum throughout a writing project. Much of the advice centers around a few different themes, such as forging a relationship with the ever-present self-doubt, deeper exploration of the internal world of the artwork, and keeping the fun alive during the writing process.

Ramona has written three novels and two short story collections while maintaining an active teaching schedule, with a faculty position at Colorado State University and teaching summer workshops for several organizations including Writing by Writers and the Breadloaf Environmental Conference.

Unstuck is published by the Tin House imprint, which was recently acquired by independent publisher Zando. Ramona also attended the Tin House Writing Workshop at Reed College shortly after finishing graduate school, and taught there during the online era of COVID.

During the interview we talk about more about Tin House, how her short story writing both fueled and provided respite from her novel-writing, and other personal experiences behind the strategies.