Writing Updates/Reintroduce Myself

Fellowships, conferences, and the like. A brief reintroduction of Ricardo Pierre-Louis for new folks.

Recently I posted a headshot on substack that went viral, and it’s equally parts flattering and embarrassing. Thank you for all the kind words and new subscribers. I’m grateful to each and every one of you. And since it’s been awhile and there’s a bunch of new folks here, I figured it would be a good time to reintroduce myself and share some of my recent, unexpected writing wins with you all.

I’m Ricardo Pierre-Louis, a writer who started his career about six years ago. I’ve been an avid reader and fan of fiction for awhile, but it wasn’t until 2020 that I tried my hand at it.

Over the course of a year or so I wrote a novel and started pitching it to agents. Even though I had no clue on what I was doing, I miraculously got a partial read from a big name agency and it was such a momentous occasion that I marked down in my calendar as “A Great Day in Ricardo History”, but that partial read failed to go beyond that and ultimately that novel sputtered out. Still, I kept the event in my calendar as a reminder of my past success, and then moved on.

Although it was quite a dispiriting start to my writing career, I’m too stubborn of a person to let something like that stop me, so I continued to read and write extensively for the next four to five years. I self-published a collection of short stories that received a positive review in Kirkus, I wrote a novella about christianity and cannibalism that is still sitting on my computer, and I continued to write in fits and bursts both here and elsewhere, chronicling my life and writing short stories for my small audience. Yet, even though I was writing my ass off, there were few successes or high points I could point to. Atleast until recently.

Around two years ago I applied to Story Studio’s Novel in a Year Program, and got in. It was my second or third time applying, and once I finally got in I cried on the bus ride to work. It was my first big break as a writer, and it was all due to these ten little pages that I wrote over the course of two weeks. I can’t say for certain why this novel intro I submitted was so well received compared to my other works, but as I reflected on it, there was one major difference between that writing and all the writing I’d down up until then. It was the first time I kinda said “fuck it“, and just wrote for fun. I spent less time worrying about whether the story was good or if it would be well-received, and more time on writing something that I would personally love to read. I just let loose and hoped for the best. Of course I edited and revised where necessary, but the spirit and passion of the first draft is what carried me through it all.

After that Novel in a Year program, I applied and got into the StoryBoard Conference where I learned from Deesha Philyaw and other incredible writers on how to write about sex and bodies. The conference was an incredible opportunity for me to share my work with so many folks who I considered much better writers than myself.

Hearing from your friends and family that your writing is decent feels good, but hearing from Deesha Philyaw that your writing is decent makes you feel invincible.

It was one of the first times in my writing life that I thought I was maybe underestimating myself. Maybe I should put myself and my work out there more, and see what happens.

This past January I finally finished the second draft of my novel and decided to put aside some time to apply to all the top workshops, conferences, and fellowships that I could find for unpublished authors. If I could get into even one of these things, then it would be a tremendous success, because remember, I barely had a writer bio up until this point. So I applied and applied, and in these past few months I’ve been far more fortunate than I could’ve imagined.

In February I received a fellowship to attend the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. It’ll be my first time on the Island and I’ll have the fortune of learning from Pushcart Prize winning author Joy Deva Baglio.

Come March, I learned that I was accepted into the McCormack Writing Center (fka Tin House) Summer workshop, where I hope to make some more writing friends and learn from the talented folks there.

Not long after that I found out that I was chosen to be a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, where I’ll be mentored by De’Shawn Charles Winslow!

And then recently I found out that I was selected to join the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.

This past year has been a colossal one for my writing career, and while I still have yet to get an agent or publish my debut, I can’t say I’m too worried about it anymore. At this point I’m trying to simply enjoy the successes that I’ve achieved without thinking about what comes next. There is always going to be another milestone or award or whatever to strive toward, but I don’t want to rob myself of happiness by focusing too much on the future.

I’m grateful for all of the folks who have helped me thus far, either by reading my work or otherwise providing support for my work. And I’d like to pay it forward, so if you’re an early career writer reading this, feel free to send me a DM. I’m still a novice myself, but I’ve learned quite a bit about applying to workshops, and novel writing in the past year and I’m happy to share what I know.

Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you to all my day ones, and to the new folks who have just joined us.

Hope you all have a fun and safe summer.