This is the inaugural issue of the Writing Arts department newsletter I created as part of my Graduate Assistantship.

1. November 2011
Volume 1, Issue 1 Between the Lines
Upcoming Events:
• Novelist Joe
Samuel Starnes is
coming to Rowan
Barnes and Noble
November 10 at
6:30.
• Rowan Writers &
Poets Club
meetings:
November 11
November 18
December 1
December 9
December 16
• Email Heather
Mallette, Rowan
Writers & Poets
club president, for
details
ruwriters@gmail.com
Individual
Highlights:
Faculty Spotlight 1-2
Student Spotlight2-3
Poet’s Corner 3-4
Rowan University Writing Arts Department/ (856) 256-4345
Last year, Lisa Jahn-Clough joined the
Writing Arts faculty as a full-time
temporary professor teaching both
undergraduate and graduate creative
writing courses. “I just moved here
literally like two days ago and now I’m
here,” I remember her mentioning during
her introduction for Fiction Workshop, the
first of two graduate classes I would take
with her. Over the course of the year, I
grew to know Professor Jahn-Clough,
not only as a professor, but as a fellow
writer. This brief introduction is a chance
for the rest of the Writing Arts
department to do the same.
Professor Jahn-Clough attended
Hampshire College in Amhurst,
Massachusetts. “It was a very
unconventional school,” she explained.
“There were no grades and I got to
design my own major.” She wanted to
focus on art, theater, and writing, and
although she loved both art and theater,
she ultimately decided to pursue writing.
After completing a novel for her senior
thesis and graduating, Professor Jahn-
Clough took some time off to try to figure
out what she wanted to do with her life.
“It was really a dark time for me. My
father died, I wasn’t really working, and I
spent most of my time drawing, writing,
and reading in the library,” she said.
Faculty Spotlight: Writing with
Lisa Jahn-Clough
It was during this dark time that
Professor Jahn-Clough discovered
children’s books. “I didn’t really know
about writing for children until that time
between college and grad school,” she
explained. “I remember not having
enough money to buy my friend a
birthday present, so I made her this little
book—a glorified card really—and I
decided that’s what I wanted to do.”
Professor Jahn-Clough attended
Emerson College for her MFA in Writing,
and it was her mentor, Jack Gantos, who
encouraged her to keep making her
books. She explained, “A lot of my peers
sort of looked down on my wanting to
write for children, but he took me and
writing for children seriously. I ended up
writing a young adult novel for my
thesis.” Encouraged by Gantos,
Professor Jahn-Clough sent one of the
books she created to Houghton Mifflin,
which they accepted. By the time
graduation rolled around, Professor
Jahn-Clough not only had her MFA, but
she also had her first book, Alicia Has a
Bad Day, published. “Grad school
enabled me to immerse myself in writing
and that’s exactly what I wanted to be
able to do,” she said.

2. Writing Arts
“I’m not the type of
writer who has to write
every day. I’m more of
a binge writer.”
Lisa Jahn-Clough
After graduating, Professor Jahn-Clough
accepted an open teaching position at
Emerson. “I sort of fell into the position.
But teaching and writing work well for
me,” she explained. “It gives me the
energy to keep writing.” Professor Jahn-
Clough has been fortunate enough to
have been teaching and publishing ever
since.
On the subject of her writing, I asked
Professor Jahn-Clough to talk more
about her writing career and her writing
life. “I’m not the type of writer who has to
write every day. I’m more of a binge
writer. I need to fester, contemplate,
exercise, and do things totally unrelated
in order to process and pick my next
project,” she said. One of Professor
Jahn-Clough’s greatest pieces of advice
is to not take writing too seriously and to
do activities completely unrelated to
writing. “Art helps to keep my creativity
going, but it’s something that I’m not
totally vested in so I don’t take it too
seriously,” she said.
Professor Jahn-Clough’s career,
however, is something to be seriously
proud of. “I just turned in a book last
week,” she said when I interviewed her a
couple of weeks ago. “It’s something
Faculty Spotlight Continued
Think you’re busy this semester?
Kimberly Erskine is a master multi-
tasker. The 21-year-old dual English and
Writing Arts major with a concentration in
Creative Writing is already dipping into
professional world. With only a year left
before she graduates, Erskine is
franchise manager for BookRenter.com,
a position she acquired after applying for
an internship with the company on
www.internship.com.
The top 20 applicants for the internship
were posted on Facebook and the 2
interns chosen were determined by
Student Spotlight: Master Multi-Tasker
Page 2 of 4
completely different than anything I’ve
written.” Jahn-Clough mentioned that all
of her previous books have had a deep
personal connection to her life with many
autobiographical facets embedded
throughout the stories. “This book, Blue,
is not all that connected to me, which
kind of makes it more exciting. I wrote it
because my main character was
interesting to me. I wanted to know her,”
she said.
Rowan students at all levels benefit from
Professor Jahn-Clough’s experience and
passion for writing. She teaches a
mixture of both undergraduate and
graduate students. “Undergrads can be
more playful and willing to try new things.
Grads are usually older and come from
different experiences, so with those
classes it’s less professing and more
discussing,” she explained. Jahn-Clough
loves teaching creative writing classes
and is looking forward to teaching a wide
variety of classes in the future. “Most
students are interested in creative
writing,” she said, “and I love teaching
anyone who’s interested.”
Written by Julianna Lopez. Feel free to
email me with questions and comments
lopezj@rowan.edu.
popular vote. She lost the internship, but
gained the position of franchise
manager. Erskine chuckled and said,
“It’s been a long journey to get here, but
the experience I’ve gained has been
worth it.” Her daily responsibilities, now
that textbook buying season has passed,
include trying to implement
BookRenter.com’s first buy back system,
which will hopefully be fully functional by
the end of November or early December.
In her spare time, which she has little of,
Erskine enjoys writing, reading, and

3. The Poet’s Corner highlights the work
and success of Rowan’s student poets.
I recently had a chance to sit down with
MA students Samantha Brown and
Rebecca Force, both recipients of
Honorable Mention in the 2010 Denise
Gess Literary Awards. I asked them
about their award-winning poems, their
writing processes, and their advice for
fellow writers.
Samantha Brown, a 4+1 student in her
final year of the graduate program,
received Honorable Mention for the
2010 Denise Gess Literary Award for
Writing ArtsPage 3 of 4
anything to do with social media. Erskine
has taken her love of social media and
put it to use working with Web Services
director Jennifer Bell and assistant
director Frank Troiani as a social media
coordinator for Rowan. “Working as a
social media coordinator is really a lot of
fun,” said Erskine. “I update the
University’s Facebook, Twitter, and
FourSquare and post events happening
on campus. I love being able to interact
with all of the students and potential
students and to give them more
information about Rowan,” said Erskine.
Erskine has also worked with Rowan
Student Care, a club on campus
dedicated to educating students about
issues like drinking and suicide
awareness. She is looking forward to
getting involved with the group again,
noting “I haven’t done it much this year
because of conflicting schedules, but I’m
hoping to get back into it soon.”
In addition to her already full plate,
Erskine is trying to meet the requirements
to become a member of Lambda Pi Eta,
the Communication Honor Society. She’s
also trying to decide whether or not she
wants to continue her education or begin
looking for a job. Erskine explained, “I’m
looking for a program that is creative
Student Spotlight Continued
Poet’s Corner:
“Try everything. Even if
you’re not sure it’ll be a
good fit for you, you
might be surprised. I
was.”
Kimberly Erskine
writing and publishing both, but I’m trying
to decide if I can afford to go.”
Erskine’s aspirations for the future: she
would love to work for “Entertainment
Weekly.” “I love Hollywood, celebrities,
and entertainment,” said Erskine, “and
with feature writing you have more
freedom with the stories you write.” Her
greatest hope is to become a successful
writer, and to become successful Erskine
insists marketing is essential. She noted,
“Marketing is very important. You have to
be able to sell your stories and put
yourself out there. You can’t just write
anymore. Publishers expect you to be
able to write, market, and be a social
media expert.”
When asked what advice she would give
fellow students looking for jobs, Erskine
said “Look for opportunities online. There
are tons of internships available, most of
them don’t pay, but the experience you’ll
gain is what really matters. And try
everything. Even if you’re not sure it’ll be
a good fit for you, you might be surprised.
I was.”
Written by Julianna Lopez. Feel free to
email me with questions or comments
lopezj@rowan.edu.
her poem entitled “Phase II.” The poem
depicted Brown’s emotions upon seeing
her 11-year-old cousin, Alexa Brown, just
before she passed away. Alexa suffered
from medulloblastoma, a type of brain
cancer.
Rebecca Force, a Writing Center tutor
who will be graduating from Rowan with
her MA in May, also received Honorable
Mention for the 2010 Denise Gess
Literary Award for her poem, “Is It
Better?”. The poem, which Force was
able to read aloud during the award
ceremony, explores her emotions while

4. at her sister, Ann’s, bedside soon before she
passed away from an unknown cause.
JL: When did you start writing poetry?
SB: I was around 11 or 12-years-old when I
wrote my first “real” poem. It was just a
combination of words that I thought sounded
good together.
RF: I was 12-years-old when I wrote “Never
Say Never.” I remember feeling so excited
and thrilled about finding this whole new part
of myself.
JL: What inspired you to write these two
award-winning poems?
SB: My cousin was 11-years-old when she
died from cancer. We were never really close
because she lived so far away, but I saw her
right before she died. I don’t know if that was
my inspiration for writing, but I felt compelled
to write about that experience.
RF: This poem was actually a speech I had
written for Dr. Hausman’s Nonfiction class. It
wasn’t until I was finished with the
assignment that I realized that it looked more
like a poem to me.
JL: How many drafts did you write before you
decided it was finished?
SB: I went through three drafts with some
minor tweaking to the last draft.
RF: To me, no poem is ever finished, nothing
I write is ever complete. I obsess over the
words, sometimes taking hours just to find
Poet’s Corner Continued
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one right word. I don’t remember exactly how
many drafts, but I’m sure there were a few.
JL: How did you feel about submitting such a
personal poem for the contest and about
receiving Honorable Mention?
SB: Submitting was sort of difficult because
the poem was really personal. I mean, all
writing is personal, but this was something
really private. I was excited about receiving
Honorable Mention though. When I received
the email I was really, really happy.
RF: Writing about something painful is easy.
It helps me move past the pain. It’s a
cathartic experience. I can release all of the
pain and emotion and put it all in the poem. I
wasn’t nervous about submitting, but I was
nervous about the reading because it was
something I had never done before. It was
exhilarating. I was very excited about
receiving Honorable Mention. I’ve been here
since 2006, so I kind of wanted my writing to
be recognized before I finally graduate.
JL: Any advice you would give fellow writers?
SB: I write my poems, get all of the words
out, and then walk away. Because after I
finish writing, I always feel like whatever I’ve
written is great and there is no way I could
make it any better, but when I reread it I
always find things I can change.
RF: Revise, revise, revise. I find that writers
tend to get too attached to their first or
second drafts. You have to be able to let go
of certain parts, even the parts you may like
the best. Your work can always be better.