Linda Hasselstrom
Linda M. Hasselstrom is a rancher, essayist, poet, teacher, and “permanent student of the Great Plains grasslands” whose most recent books include Between Grass and Sky (University of Nevada Press, 2002), Bitter Creek Junction (High Plains Press, 2000), Feels Like Far (The Lyons Press, 1999; Houghton Mifflin, 2001), Dakota Bones: Collected Poems (Spoon River Poetry Press, 1993), and Land Circle (Fulcrum, Inc., 1991). The year 1987 marked the publication of three earlier books: Windbreak: A Woman Rancher on the Northern Plains (Barn Owl Books), Going Over East: Reflections of a Woman Rancher (Fulcrum), and Roadkill, (Spoon River Poetry Press). In addition, Hasselstrom has co-edited, with Gaydell Collier and Nancy Curtis, three collections of writing by Western women: Leaning Into the Wind (1997), Woven on the Wind (2001), and Crazy Woman Creek (2004), all published by Houghton Mifflin. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in poetry. In addition to living and working on a family ranch until 1992, Hasselstrom wrote, started an arts magazine, ran an independent press, and taught writing and publishing workshops to students aged five to ninety-five. She currently conducts writing workshops for women at her ranch home and retreat, Windbreak House in South Dakota. You can find more information about Linda Hasselstrom and Windbreak House at www.windbreakhouse.com.

How and why did you become a writer?
I really became a writer when I moved to a ranch at age nine, and began taking notes so I could remember, and understand, my observations. Since then, I write most often about puzzling events; writing helps me interpret my own life and the world around me.

My first published book arose from years writing, frustrated by limited success in being published. My environmental reading led me to think ranchers might be driven off the land by misinformed environmentalists. Since I had begun keeping journals when I moved to the ranch, I realized that a yearlong diary might show how we cared for native flora and fauna as well as our cattle. The excerpts from my diary became my first published book, Windbreak. Responses from readers helped me realize that writing is my most important job; it helps me understand my life, but it also provides an example to others of how they might cope with their own troubles.

In which literary forms do you most often work?
I began writing fiction, but learned I am more interested in observable reality, actual experiences. Because of my ranching and environmental background, I write nonfiction about the Great Plains and the ways humans have inhabited the region, and will do so in the future. My poetry-- my other major genre -- often arises out of similar impulses, but allows me to experiment, to write things that are true, but not necessarily factual.

Who are some of your favorite writers?
In nonfiction: Loren Eiseley, John McPhee, Wendell Berry, Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, Frank Waters, Mary Austin, Kathleen Norris, Mary Clearman Blew, Teresa Jordan, Terry Tempest Williams, James Galvin, Sue Hubbell, Wes Jackson, Maxine Kumin, Aldo Leopold, Gary Nabhan, E. B. White, Molly Ivins, Barry Lopez, Ursula K. LeGuin, Dan O'Brien, Bill Gilbert, William Kittredge, David Quammen, Sharon Butala, William Least Heat Moon.

Poets: William Stafford, Kathleen Norris, Louise Erdrich, Wendell Berry, Walt Whitman, Mary Oliver, Roberta Hill, Leo Dangle, James Hearst, Bill Kloefkorn, Ted Kooser, Linda Hogan, David Lee.

Fiction: I read fiction rarely, but mostly regional writers: Lois Hudson, Dorothy Johnson, Mari Sandoz, Willa Cather, Louise Erdrich, Tony Hillerman, Leslie Marmon Silko, N. Scott Momaday, Garrison Keillor, Carol Bly, Norman Maclean, Ivan Doig, Sharon Butala, Linda Hogan.

How would you define a successful work of literature?
Anything that moves the reader, and makes him or her think more clearly. In my own writing, I describe true experiences while always attempting to enlighten readers, helping them evaluate their own lives in relation to mine in the grasslands.

What are the most rewarding parts of the writing process for you? What are the most difficult?
The most rewarding part of the writing process for me is the struggle to find words for my thoughts, and the subsequent joy of expressing precisely what I need to say. I also enjoy reading a piece I consider successful to an audience, particularly if I can see even one person who is understanding what I am reading.

The most difficult part of the writing process is talking about the process in front of an audience; I much prefer to read and let the written words speak for themselves.

In which parts of the world have you lived?
I was born in Texas, near enough to a beach to have good memories of the ocean, and to want to live in close proximity to an ocean again. During graduate school, I lived in central Missouri, but found that wet, tree-covered landscape confining; it induced claustrophobia. I also lived briefly in northern New Mexico.

For most of my life I have lived on a ranch in western South Dakota, on the shortgrass prairie east of the Black Hills, and find similar landscapes compatible. I like open sky, prairies, quiet. Ironically, I now live in a small city in Wyoming five hours south of my South Dakota ranch, so I am learning to experience another side of grasslands life, that of the growing city, and studying the effects of development on my grasslands environment.

Which literary forms do you prefer to work on with clients?
I prefer to work with clients on nonfiction and poetry, since those are the genres in which I have published most often, and in which I have honed my instincts while teaching.

I can and have worked with writers on fiction, but unless a writer wants my expertise on my region or subject matter, a first choice for a mentor should be a writer who practices in fiction regularly.

How much and what kinds of background or experience would you expect your clients to have?
Clients should have a strong desire to write, which does not necessarily mean they want to publish what they write. They should have an average working knowledge of the English language. If their grammar isn't perfect (and who can achieve that?) they should be willing to collect the reference works that will provide them with the ability to improve their writing. They should be persistent, willing to work on a piece of writing until it satisfies them.

In my own writing retreat, Windbreak House, I've worked with clients from all over the country, with varying interests and in varied genres. They seem to benefit most, and be most pleased with the results, if they are intensely interested in their own work. If a client is just beginning to think that he or she might like to write something, I suggest they write for a few years before seeking advice from a professional.

I provide comments in the form of suggestions, explaining why I believe, from my experience as a professional writer, my idea will help the student improve. I always make clear that while mine is an educated opinion, it is only one viewpoint.

Students need not have published work, or even be interested in publishing, in order to be serious about the desire to record their experiences and views.

Do you have some ground rules that you would expect clients to follow?
My home telephone number is unlisted in part because I particularly do not like to try to discuss writing by telephone. And since I work at home, I have an answering machine so my work time will not be interrupted by conversations. While I have written about some personal matters in my life, I would prefer that neither of us reveal more personal data than comes up naturally in the course of exchanging comments.

What advice would you offer prospective clients as they consider choosing a mentor?
Read as much of the writer's work as you can find. Read until you find someone whose writing moves you, inspires you, makes you start taking notes. Look for a writer who writes as you want to write, and who makes you want to engage in a written conversation with that writer, possibly about some of the same topics.