LBCC Instructor and Accomplished Author: Happy Endings

"That's very good-I love the humor," the writing instructor exclaimed as she leaned forward from her perch on an extra table. The student she was addressing looks pleased and sets down their paper, visibly encouraged by the comment and eagerly listening to the constructive criticism and praise that follows. Although time in the classroom can be restricted, their instructor urges her students to visit her in her office or email her to talk about their written works in further depth.

Karelia Stetz-Waters, the English Department chair for the last five years and a writing instructor for the last 10, as well as an accomplished author, is well known around campus to be a kind and effective presence to the students.

"What I like about working here...probably how all the faculty has the students' best interests at heart. We may not always agree on what that is," she said with a quick laugh, "But we all want to see them succeed and do what we can to help with that."

"She's someone I would go and talk to if I needed help with more than just writing," a student who wished to remain anonymous said, "She really cares about the students here and clearly enjoys her time spent with them. I've gotten a lot of encouragement from the way she approaches writing and her suggestions to my own."

Karelia teaches a variety of writing and English courses here at LBCC, but she's also been involved in Lutheran Ministry at OSU, and is an avid supporter of the Gay Straight Alliance Club. She grew up near Adair Village, born into an academic family, and with an overall appreciation for school. Her passion for story telling began as a child, and her family was supportive of her writerly habits from the beginning.

In the classroom, she is open about her experiences with life and her own habits that have pushed her to succeed.

"I try to make myself do something I haven't done before, like taking a hip hop class, or practice something I'm not great at, like a water colors class," she once said with a grin. "Push yourself, even in small ways."

For her, much of the passion in her writing comes from the desire to create happy endings. Karelia writes queer fiction, and related how her experiences in high school shaped her motivation to tell these stories.

"I'm a lesbian, and back when I was in high school, people like me-we were portrayed as evil, or as people who eventually reformed and married men. We didn't get happy endings like everyone else, and I think that shapes what I write-we all deserve those happy endings."

If Karelia were to give advice to aspiring authors, it would be to put in 'those 10,000 hours'. Really keep at it, write even when it feels impossible, and don't listen to what others are saying (including yourself) about whether or not you can or can't do it. Find what moves you to write, and really pour yourself into it.

Her advice to students, old and new, is similar to the advice she would give hopeful writers. "I have never, in my time as a teacher, met a student who didn't have the intellectual capacity to succeed. Oftentimes when I have to hand out a bad grade, it's not because the student is unintelligent-it's because of time. For some students, ten weeks isn't quite long enough to master course material, or they have many other things pulling on their time besides their classes. It's never a matter of intelligence-it's perseverance. The students here inspire me so much-too many to name-with their tenacity. They really, really inspire me."
At a glance:


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

From Room 93, to the Badlands, and into the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom

Memories...Do Not Open: Or Should You?