SR Pod/Vod Series – Authors Talk: Author Rena Lesué-Smithey

Today we’re proud to feature Rena Lesué-Smithey as our twenty-third Authors Talk series contributor, taking viewers behind-the-scenes of her own writing process in her vodcast “Keep Calm and Chew Gum.”

The vodcast opens with an examination of nonfiction writing, which Rena says incorporates “the moments in your life that haven’t faded,” and which may benefit both the writer and the reader. She then runs the gamut of situations that she and other writers often face while writing, exploring each methodically yet lightheartedly. She talks about regular “brain dumping” into a journal, the importance of tuning out distractions, and her dog Spike. She covers the stage she finds herself in her own writing career, an MFA program from which she gathers valuable feedback about her work, and jokes about stress gum-chewing: “I didn’t even realize that was a part of my process until I started making this podcast.”

Rena’s vodcast is a thoughtful exploration of the world in which a writer works, a topic that becomes richer with every participant.

You can listen to the podcast on our iTunes Channel, #208.

You can read Rena’s nonfiction piece “The Passenger” in Superstition Review Issue 16, and listen to her read it aloud in SR podcast #207.

 

More About the Author:
Rena Lesué-Smithey teaches high school English and youth writing camps at BYU. In 2011, she was a Central Utah Writing Project fellow and editor for the Utah English Journal. She has five years of experience as a journalist, including three as a correspondent for The Daily Herald, and this summer she’ll finish her MFA in Creative Nonfiction through Cedar Crest College’s pan-European program. Her prose has appeared in Touchstones, Warp & Weave, Segullah, Ruminate, and Gris-Gris. Rena was a semi-finalist for the 2016 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize and a finalist in the 2015 Heather Campbell Prose Contest. Rena grew up in Texas, Nevada, Missouri, and Mississippi and now resides in Utah with her husband, two kids, and their dog, Spike.

About the Authors Talk series:
For several years, we have featured audio or video of Superstition Review contributors reading their work. We’ve now established a new series of podcasts called Authors Talk. The podcasts in this series take a broader scope and feature SR contributors discussing their own thoughts on writing, the creative process, and anything else they may want to share with listeners.

Cass Murphy

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