Karen Leslie writes fiction, lyrics, prose poetry, travel pieces, and leads Story Exchanges as a Narrative 4 Facilitator. As an Assistant Professor of English at Cumberland University in Lebanon, TN, she teaches courses in English and Creative and Professional writing. Her short story “Home Run” appeared in Menda City Review (Winter 2017). Her upmarket psychological suspense novel, When the Trees Go Silent, is currently out to agents (Let’s go!). Her writing has been published in Bucket List Publications, Menda City Review, The Contributor, INSP (International Network of Street Papers), BNT Touring Magazine, BNT Travelogue, Williamson Business, various trade magazines, and blogs. She earned an MFA in Writing (Fiction) at the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing Program, where she studied with Philip F. Deaver, Mary Yukari Waters, Kathleen Driskell, K.L. Cook, Jody Lisberger, and Eleanor Morse. She received her B.H. in Multi-Media Journalism, Marketing and Public Relations from Penn State University (roar). In 2024, Karen and a fellow Naslund-Mann MFAer, Carolyn Flynn, launched the Stories & Songs Retreat in Italy. She brings a decade and a half of travel industry experience into the planning.
Karen loves all forms of storytelling: novels, film, sculpture, art, and the natural world. When she spots the opportunity to guide unlikely writers into the creative and therapeutic art of self-expression, she takes it. Supported organzations: Belcourt Theater, Frist Museum, The Contributor, NPT/NPR, Naslund-Mann School of Writing. Karen grew up in rural Pennsylvania and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, songwriter Clay Mills. And, for the record, she considers herself a lifelong ex-pat Yankee and an Oxford comma kinda girl.
…Even online, I felt a better connection with her than any other professor thus far. She is, overall, an encouraging and patient human being who brought a bit of light into the semester.
Literature & Writing Student, Spring 2024
Writer’s Block
Do you ever experience writer’s block?
From an interview on on Spalding MFA Alumni blog: “A Day in the Life…”
No…I have plenty of long periods when I don’t write on paper. I’m always “writing” in my mind, so it feels like an endless ticker tape…At times, I am immobilized by the noisiness of life. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I don’t believe in writer’s block, at least, as far as I’m concerned. If I’m not writing, it’s usually a sign of having too much stimulus in my life, or too little life is being lived.
Recently Edited Books:
I believe in finding the flow and cadence an author naturally has when editing a project. Flow is my job. Supporting the hook when I edit, shoring up structure, keeping the metaphors from bumping into each other? My job, too. Some editors trim out the voice. I think they steal the author’s thunder when they do that. I love amplifying the writer’s voice while streamlining and/or correcting the mechanics.
