DWR Award Memoir and Blog Finalist Jenn McKee

This week’s Writer Wednesday is freelance journalist, essayist and DWR Award memoir and blog finalist Jenn McKee from Farmington!

Jenn’s work has appeared in Good Housekeeping, Hour Detroit, American Theatre, Michigan Alumnus, Communication Arts and more. She worked for more than a decade as a staff arts reporter/critic at The Ann Arbor News, earned an MFA in creative writing from Penn State University, and met her husband while playing in the trombone section of the Michigan Marching Band. 

She took 1st place in the blog category and 2nd place in the memoir category at the 2022 DWR Awards. Learn more about her below!

What is your favorite part of the writing process?

When I'm just starting to solve the puzzle of what I'm writing. One reason I eventually gravitated toward journalism and essay writing, after initially aiming to become a fiction writer, is that nothing brings me more satisfaction than figuring out exactly what it is I'm trying to say, and then determining how I can tell that story. It's like a brutal but totally engrossing game for me.

What does your writing workspace look like?

I don't have a dedicated workspace, sad to say, but when the weather's nice, I like to sit on our enclosed back porch's couch with my laptop and my cat, especially when it's sunny. During colder months, I work in either the big, worn yellow armchair in our living room, which has overstuffed floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that run along two walls; or I opt for the front room's comfy chaise lounge (my favorite reading spot in the house), which is surrounded by the clutter of family life (completed Harry Potter Lego sets, softball equipment, karate bags) but has a terrific overhead lamp. Good lighting is a thing.

Which piece did you enjoy writing the most for the DWR Awards: your memoir or your blog?

The memoir required personal research, since it was about a grad school writing workshop that happened twenty years ago. I poured through several of my old journals to locate my observations and thoughts in that particular moment, and boy, were they a revelation. I honestly don't think I could have written the piece effectively without this crucial memory-aid. That said, I still have some anxiety about the piece, both because my still-traumatized friend — to whom I sent a working draft — has (understandably) complicated feelings, and because the piece shows a highly esteemed, famous writer in a not-great light. So ... there's residual tension in that, but I feel like the story I share raises some important questions about the nature of writing workshops. The blog, meanwhile, allowed me much more freedom, in that it's unquestioningly my story to tell, and I could free-associate a bit, straying from its parenting-story starting point to my own personal history with "over-achievement." So the blog was more comfortable, but I also liked and appreciated the challenges posed by the memoir.

What is your favorite non-writing hobby?

For the last few years, I've been running with a neighbor two mornings a week; and while I'm a REALLY slow runner, this ritual unexpectedly brought close female friendship back into my life, at a time when I'd just about given up. It's so hard in adulthood, especially when you're a parent, to cultivate (and maintain) friendships, so this has been a godsend. In addition, I leaned into yoga and meditation hard during the pandemic — though having the whole at home make both a challenge — and I love getting lost in puzzles (both the jigsaw and crossword variety).

What is your favorite piece of writing advice?

At this point in my writing life, I feel like the best "advice" involves bits of hard-earned wisdom that weren't actually offered up to me: you have to have the patience and tenacity to find your own way (i.e., no one else's map will apply to you); and you have to not be doggedly rigid about your ambitions. As I mentioned before, I began by wanting to be a fiction writer, and I dedicated years (including earning an MFA) toward that goal; but when I got a newspaper staff job as an arts journalist, I gradually realized how much more excited and invested I felt while writing nonfiction, and when I had my first daughter, I launched a blog as a creative outlet (which ended up being a training ground for my current work as an essayist). The writer you wanted to be when you were growing up isn't necessarily the writer you'll end up being, and that's not a failure, or something to be ashamed of. That's just you figuring out who you are as an artist. 

What writing projects are you currently working on?

I've got a list of personal essay topics I'm itching to explore — including one about how my part-time library job recently shifted my thinking about my creative work — but I'm otherwise regularly writing book reviews (and arts-centric stories) for Hour Detroit magazine, and I'm currently working on a Concentrate story about a program in Washtenaw County that addresses the legacy of redlining (and other historically racist housing practices) in an inspiringly tangible way.

Follow Jenn on Twitter at @jennmckee and Instagram at @criticaljenn.