Marian Mitchell Donahue is originally from College Park, MD and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. She is a graduate of The Catholic University of America and Stony Brook Southampton, and was a BookEnds Fellow from 2020-2021. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2022 and will be attending the Church at Sag Harbor Mixed Media Residency in 2023.

After being introduced to  Marian through the Catholic University English Department, I wanted to inquire about her education as an author, the joys and struggles of writing professionally, and her experience writing a novel. 

1. You studied English here at Catholic University.  Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Yes and no. I didn’t start writing for fun until high school, and I didn’t pursue it seriously until my senior year of college. My first love is reading, so I knew as a child that literature was going to be a big part of my life before I actually began telling stories myself. Now it’s hard for me to imagine life without it.

2. After graduating from Catholic University, you went on to earn an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Literature from Stonybrook University.  What are some ways that your artistic style grew and changed throughout the M.F.A process?

My style sharpened quite a bit in grad school. When I entered the program I had already been writing seriously on my own for a few years, so I felt I had a pretty good sense of my own voice and what I was interested in as an artist. My M.F.A helped me make the leap from intent to application. I knew what I wanted to do, and I had tried accomplishing it, but it wasn’t until I got into workshops that I knew what was succeeding, what was failing, and could begin figuring out why. The voice I walked in the door with became more self-assured, and the scope of my focus became tighter.

3. How would you describe your current writing procedure? How have you found balance between the artistic and practical considerations of writing as a career?

My writing practice has changed a lot over the years. In the first few years I focused on generation. I wanted to prove to myself that I had it in me to sit down for a whole year and write all the way through a first draft without giving up or going off the rails. After I felt sure I had the dedication, then I started really honing in on what I wanted to say to the world and how I wanted to say it. Some of the best advice I got in those early days was that every writer only gets one debut. Just one chance at a first impression. I wanted to make sure that my first novel was a solid introduction to the kind of writer I intend to be. Now that I’m settled into my writing practice, and I’m several years into working on my debut novel, I care more about improving the quality of the story with each draft instead of simply producing a certain quantity of pages each day and calling it done.

Balance between the artistic and practical aspects of the writing life is something I struggle with, and probably will struggle with for the foreseeable future. There is never enough time and energy to both work enough to support myself financially and write enough to feel satisfied. I doubt, though, that any one schedule will fit perfectly for everyone. And I’m not sure having more time to write would actually produce more writing. In a way the fact that I have to grab as much time to write as I can outside of working hours means I use the time better, and I’m less cautious in my artistic attempts. It’s easier for me to be bold in the thirty minutes I have while the washing machine runs, than if I spent an hour at my desk with nothing pressing me. 

4. You’re working on your first novel.  Can you tell us anything about it?

Boy can I! My novel Backstitch begins when my main character, Violet Snyder, reluctantly returns to attend a retrospective of her mother’s artwork, curated by her estranged little sister Marigold. Violet loops back and forth through each piece of art as she walks through the exhibit, reliving how their family came together and fell apart. In the past the parents, Alice and Arthur, struggle to balance their love of their family with their vocations, while in the present their adult daughters grapple with the painful truths behind their public narrative. It’s about how deeply flawed people can still manage to create something new from a past of destruction. At the moment the manuscript is finished and I am currently seeking representation.

5. Finally, in your journey as a writer and teacher, what has been most fulfilling for you thus far?

The most fulfilling aspect of my writing life so far has been the unexpected community I’ve found. Through my M.F.A, through the BookEnds Fellowship, through teaching, and through simply attending readings and book festivals I’ve found a tight net of people who are dedicated to supporting each other’s creative life in spite of difficult circumstances. Community takes the sting of loneliness out of writing and has often sustained me through those times when I’ve struggled most to stay inspired.

May 2023