A few weeks ago, English instructor Amy Newman visited the Barnes & Noble bookstore to read her newly published series of poems titled “Fall.”

A crowd of about 50 NIU students, faculty and friends came to listen to Newman read sections from her book, which was nearly sold out at the store by the end of the night.

Newman is not alone. The NIU English Department has several creative fiction and poetry authors maintaining their primary careers as teachers.

The balancing act

Teaching and writing can go hand in hand for some but necessitate two worlds for others.

Authors who teach agree that their students come first. Such priorities, unfortunately, leave creative resources off-tap.

“When it’s going well, teaching does foster your writing, but there are times when it takes it out of you,” said Sarah Hedborn, an instructor of four sections of English 103. Hedborn has been working on a novel for a number of years about a family of women. Hedborn notes she hasn’t been doing as much writing lately, but when she gets to, she enjoys it.

“It’s fun to sneak it in; you want more of it,” Hedborn said. “But when I have tons of free time, I don’t know what to do with it.”

To keep up their writings, some schedule time when they can write.

Ellen Thornton teaches one section each of English 105 and 250 and works 20 hours a week in the Writing Center. Currently editing a young adult novel set in 1957 about a general’s 12-year-old daughter, Thornton wakes up to write in the wee hours of the morning.

“I wake up at 5 a.m. every morning and eat breakfast,” Thornton said. “Then I usually have 45 minutes to an hour to put time into my work.”

An instructor teaching two sections of English 102, a section of 301 and one honors 105 course, John Bradley writes poetry sporadically, between breaks from grading papers and during scheduled days off.

“Teaching and writing are compatible,” Bradley said. “Student writing can inspire and we’re all dealing with language; we’re all writers.”

Katie Andraski teaches two sections of English 102 and a section of English 103. “I have to write and teach. My students support me.”

Dan Libman, currently teaching three sections of English 102, one section of 103 and one section of 104, wrote the poem “In the Belly of the Cat,” which won a Pushcart Prize in 2001.

“I wish someone would give me advice on time management,” Libman said. “Some people have page counts and set minutes, but that doesn’t work for me.”

Publishing poetry

Every author wants to be heard and teachers are no different. However, what they write and the process it follows to publication can take two different paths.

In order for poetry to be published, Bradley said, it is sent off to competitions and becomes prime material for publishing.

“There isn’t much money in poetry,” Bradley said. “Unless it won something, most literary magazines won’t publish it.”

“I send it to a variety of competitions and a variety of presses,” said Newman, who is on hiatus from the NIU English department. “But few presses look at it.”

Publishing a novel

Andraski has been laboring on a novel for nearly 10 years. Currently, she has hired her own editor and hopes to publish soon.

“I’m in the polishing stages right now and my editor feels I’m close,” Andraski said.

The story of Andraski’s novel, which deals with the death of Andraski’s parents while working as an agent for the evangelical right, has traveled a long road as it has undergone a series of edits and revisions. Andraski is optimistic about the revision process.

“One of the wonderful things about writing is that you get to revise,” Andraski said. “I’ve had a lot of time to grow on my own, at my own pace.”

Those in the department speak fondly of Andraski’s determination to be published.

“Don’t let her humbleness fool you. She’s got perseverance,” Hedborn said. “No matter what people say or what happens, she just gets closer and closer.”

Sometimes, being able to publish requires compromise. Keith Gandal, an instructor for English 382 and 583, published an offbeat novel in 2002, two years after arriving at NIU. His book, “Cleveland Anonymous,” is a love story about a boy and his step-sister growing up in the ’60s. Given the subject matter of the novel, Gandal had to publish with a smaller press to maintain the artistic expression of his work.

“I started sending out the book out in 1990,” Gandal said. “In the course of that time, I had three literary agents. I would find an agent and try to send it out to some big name, like Random House.”

Ultimately, bigger publishers didn’t take the book because it had no niche. Gandal settled with Frog, Ltd., a small publisher in Berkeley, Calif.

A Web site for the book on the NIU server has a section of praise in the form of rejection letters.

“I found that your book can be universally loved, but that doesn’t mean it will get published,” Gandal said. “It was heartbreaking at times.”

Thornton noted the surprise she encountered when taking her book to an April conference for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Editors in Woodstock, Ill. When an editor recommended a read related to the book she was writing, Thornton was floored.

“To get an editor to give you the time of day like that – that’s worth it,” Thornton said.

Support and First Fridays

The English department is conducive of a creative writing atmosphere that provides a network of support for its writers.

“The department has a lot of creative staff, and there are a lot of younger writers in it,” Andraski said.

“There are a lot of people writing here because there’s more freedom to do so,” Hedborn said. “You’re all working toward the same effort.”

Michael Day, director of the first-year composition program and an English instructor, is in charge of an event in the department called “First Fridays.” The event meets the first Friday of the last month in the semester and invites those who teach in the first-year composition program as well as others in the department to read their creative works.

“Good writers on our teaching staff are a real plus,” Day said. “They are the feather on our cap.”

Day said he believes writing and teaching are intertwined.

“Writing informs teaching,” Day said. “You can help students cope with the problems of writing and what to do when you’re faced with that blank computer screen.”

“A body falls like a story:

Beginning, middle, end. I am watching as she falls,

an equation: the earth’s rotation cleaved

as if by insects by this tiniest shift of breath,

the angle of the downward motion

factored in wing beat against the world’s rushing curve…” -From “Fall” by Amy Newman

“Mary Jane and I started going steady the year the Russian president took off his shoe at the United Nations. She wore pigtails, and I had a butch cut; our grandmother was wearing a black babushka; our mother was mumbling about World War Three, and forgetting to give us goodnight kisses. My first kiss with Mary Jane is somewhat hazy, but I remember we sat on the swing set in the back yard and ate breakfast cereal.”

-From “Cleveland Anonymous “ by Keith Gandal