Claire Guyton
Claire Guyton, from Lewiston, is the Maine Arts Commission’s 2012 Literary Arts Fellow. She is a freelance writer and editor in Lewiston. She serves as the co-editor of “The Writing Life” section of Hunger Mountain literary journal, where she started and now anchors “Another Loose Sally,” a blog on writers and writing; introduced journal contributor interviews that she produces as a regular feature; and edits and writes other articles and essays. Her fiction has appeared in Crazyhorse magazine (2010) and elsewhere, and her 2009 Hunger Mountain essay celebrating the short story was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In 2008 she participated in Spark, an international “cross-pollination” project pairing writers and visual artists who respond to each other’s work in their own genre. The short story she produced was exhibited alongside the artwork that inspired it at a gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. Claire is currently working on two linked story collections and developing an illustrated manuscript for a “story installation.” She earned her MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) in 2009. She has since returned to VCFA to serve as a graduate assistant to MFA students and to attend the Postgraduate Writing Conference.
crazyhorse number 77 contains
The 7 Stages of a Parental Visit
by Claire Guyton
“I have felt a bit out of sorts, lately. The change of seasons, the story I can’t seem to finish, too many deadlines at the literary magazine where I serve as an editor. Mainly it’s the dawning reality that I have to get a real job, that I should bring in a real paycheck… the kind that comes every two to four weeks. Why are we still living in an apartment? A little duct tape should fix that crack in the window….
“I write about ordinary people living extraordinary lives in the margins of things—so sidelined at times I fear they will never be heard by anyone but me. Of course, that one ear has to be enough. Thank you, Maine, for this focus. Right when I was so out of sorts, just when the voices were beginning to fade (replaced by my own anxious worries), you’ve challenged me to buck up by giving me exactly what I need. No excuses.
“Maine grows very practical people—so practical they never forget about all the ways a person must be nourished. And now Maine has given me another year to show up at my desk, to listen for my characters. I can’t think how to repay you other than to finish my first collection of stories. You can be sure I will be showing up. I will be listening.”
~~Claire Guyton~~
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