Posts by Lee Martin
Where Are You?: Questions for Storytellers
When I was a boy in the little town of Sumner, Illinois, many families had backyard vegetable gardens. I’m talking about the sixties and seventies, times that weren’t too distant from the Great Depression and World War II, those times of subsistence and victory gardens. My own father was sixteen when the stock market crashed…
Read MoreExtraordinary Dialogue: What Can One Say?
Friends, I must be honest with you; the world is really pressing down on me right now. Cathy is going through another period of debilitating fatigue, and I’m doing my best to care for her while also attending to everything that needs attention around the house—things like cooking and cleaning and all those other adult…
Read MoreThe Value of the Pause
Cathy and I have had a quiet day as we prepare for her second chemotherapy treatment on Tuesday. We went out for breakfast. I returned some books to the library. Then we drove out to our favorite produce stand and got some sweet corn, potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, green beans, and (we couldn’t resist) a…
Read MoreConnection
Since Cathy’s cancer diagnosis, we’ve been lifted by so many kindnesses, both large and small, from people all over the world. Maybe it’s a sign that we’ve done something right to bank so much love. Even if we haven’t had time to respond to your encouraging messages, please know we feel the connection with each…
Read MoreA Writers’ Workshop Ready to Welcome You
Amesville, is a village in southwest Ohio in the foothills of the Appalachians. The population at the time of the 2020 census was 171. The village is known for its Coonskin Library, a subscription library founded in 1804, named because the selling of animal pelts, mainly raccoon, purchased the library’s first collection of books. Amesville…
Read MoreCuriosity and Discovery: What Is Your Business Down There?
My cousin, Melanie, is a Professor of Early Childhood Education at Columbus State University. In partnership with the Columbus Museum of Art and The Childhood League Center, she created Wonder School, a laboratory preschool that nurtures curiosity and discovery in children ages 3-5. The school also serves as a training ground for future early childhood…
Read MoreFaith: Doing the Hard Things
Cathy and I are growing vegetables in our new backyard raised bed. We’re harvesting white icicle radishes right now, but I’m disappointed in how slowly the lettuce is growing. In the meantime, we have Kentucky Wonder pole beans breaking through, a tomato plant to nurture, and this year’s test crop—chickpeas. When I was a teenager,…
Read MorePay Attention: Simplifying the Writing
Life can often be difficult, but writing doesn’t have to be. Take for instance the recent news that my wife Cathy has breast cancer. We’re in the early stages now of a challenge we didn’t choose, but one we’re determined to overcome. It’s the most difficult thing either of us has had to face. It’s…
Read MoreWater, Ash, the Ticking of a Clock: Using Concrete Images
In 2003, I published a book, Turning Bones, as part of the American Lives series at Nebraska Press. The book was a hybrid of nonfiction and fiction. I took what I knew about the paternal side of my family and used the facts to imagine lives for ancestors I never knew. In one section of…
Read MoreAn Open Letter to My MFA Students
Last night, we celebrated another MFA graduating class at The Ohio State University. I feel compelled, then, to rerun this post from twelve years ago. I used to have an office with a long window ledge where I kept photos of each of you, my thesis advisees, and me at Epilog, the end-of-the-year gala reading…
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