Claire Rudy Foster

At the Moment

2010-06-09T06:13:00.001-07:00

1/7/2012. I am back in Seaside, Oregon for my final MFA residency. There isn't much for me to do. I can: attend lectures on the craft of writing, walk in the rain, give my thesis presentation, and drink tea in front of my artificial fireplace. The pressure's off, so I brought the draft of the novel I'm rewriting, with the goal of adding another 50 pages by the time graduation rolls around.

With so few distractions (workshops, classes, interpersonal drama) and being away from home, I think this is a realistic goal. Rewriting, it turns out, is as much fun as the raw art of creating text. I am a natural tinkerer, a nudger of furniture -- though, if the three things on the coffee table are perfectly arranged, that usually means there are three weeks of laundry to fold. I have to work hard not to linger on a paragraph.

So this residency, for me, is a test of discipline. If I have nothing but uninterrupted time (the writer's most important resource), do I actually get anything done?

Bio

2009-08-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

Claire Rudy Foster lives in Portland, Oregon. Her short stories have been recently nominated for an AWP award, a Pushcart Prize, and a Best of the Web award. Her work has appeared in Vestal Review, The Ink-Filled Page and Fogged Clarity, among others. She is a graduate of Reed College and the MFA in Writing program at Pacific University.
Learn more about her through LinkedIn.

Contact

2009-08-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

You can contact Claire via email.
She is available for readings, public events, and performances.

Credits

2009-08-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Publication
"What You Expected." Sententia.

"Hurricane Season." Fogged Clarity Anthology.
"Pearls." Up the Staircase.
"Pieta." Porchlight, Issue 4
"Screenplay." Projector, Issue 2
"To Lewis." How I Found You, January 2010
"Birthday Party." The Women's Colony, January 2010
"Charles Osborne & His Childhood Companion." Vestal Review, Issue 34
"Roommates." ken*again, Fall 2009
"May Wedding." The Women's Colony, July 2009
"Hurricane Season." Fogged Clarity, July 2009
"Head Games." The Benefactor, Vol. 1 Issue 4, January 2009
"Blue House." The Ink-Filled Page, Winter 2009
"Pas de Deux." Toasted Cheese, June 2007
"Zen" and "The Circus." Reed College Creative Review, 2005

Projects
2009-2011, book reviewer for ForeWord Magazine
2009-2010, editor and co-founder of WORK Literary Magazine

Awards, Nominations, and Readings
2010, WFSA Small Press Award nomination
2010, Ink-Filled Page reading series
2009, Pushcart Prize nomination for "Blue House"
2009, Oregon Literary Review reading series
2009, NaNoWriMo finalist
2008, Best of the Web nomination for "Pas De Deux"