Comments on: The Mother and Writing: an interview with Angela Hallstrom and Darlene Young

By: Kathryn Lynard Soper

Kathryn Lynard Soper — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:11:24 +0000

Thank you, Laura. And thank you, AMV, for hosting this interview. The staff of Segullah is indeed rich with talent as well as passion, and Darlene and Angela are two of our stars.

William, you’ve been very generous in your praise for Segullah. Can we make you our mascot or something? Do you know how to do handsprings?

Seriously–thank you.

By: Laura Craner

Laura Craner — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:44:31 +0000

This was the easiest interview I have ever done–not that I’ve done a ton, but, really, these women were so articulate! The thing I love about Darlene and Angela, and about Segullah in general, is how passionate everybody there is. You can tell that they believe in the importance of what they are doing. Passion is an essential element for good writing (along with an audience and publication opportunities) and Segullah does a great job of engendering it.

By: Darlene

Darlene — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:21:13 +0000

Thanks, Laura, for a great interview! And thanks for keeping tabs on Segullah, William.

By: Emily M.

Emily M. — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:53:11 +0000

I loved this–thanks for posting it! It’s great to have a perspective on how Segullah is viewed by the literary community. And we feel very, very blessed to have Darlene Young and Angela Hallstrom.

I echo your comments, William Morris, about how important it is to write knowing there’s a possible audience for your work. I remember a conversation I had with a writing teacher in a BYU class. I had just written an essay that got a near-perfect score, and I wanted to know what to do with it. Where could I publish it?

She didn’t have any answers for me. But if I were having the same conversation today, she’d tell me to send it to Segullah.

By: William Morris

William Morris — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:36:06 +0000

Thanks, Laura. This is great.

As for my writing, I can’t over-emphasize how valuable it is that when I sit down to write a poem about life as an LDS woman, I know exactly where it could possibly be published in order to reach an appreciative audience.

I want to over-over-emphasize the importance of this point. Being able to write with the possibility of publication and even more writing with an audience in mind is a very good thing for a writer to have. And I would say that it’s even more important for Mormon writers.

Yes, I do hope for works of genius that will be recognized for what they are and published by national publishers to great acclaim. Segullah is a vibrant literary circle AND a community-oriented project in a very classic Mormon sense. Writing for an abstract audience is fine. But a lot of the best fiction and poetry is written for an audience of peers.