An Interview with Tatjana Mirkov-
by Brigitte Whiting
Tell us something about yourself. What do you bring from your background into your writing?
I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where I emigrated from the former Yugoslavia (now Serbia) in the nineties. English is my second language and mastering it is an ongoing journey. The guidance and encouragement I've received from my generous WVU writer-friends
I am an electrical engineer by vocation, but visual art (painting) is my second career and my main passion. Check out my art website http://mirkov-popovicki.com/. I've been an avid reader all my life. I started my literary fiction-writing journey just a few years ago with the intent to write my late mother's memoir. This goal has since evolved into a collection of fictional short stories set in Serbia and Canada.
The first thing I did when I got the idea to start writing was to seek a good online writing course. That's how I stumbled into WVU and I’m so glad I did. The lessons I learned first in F2K and then in the WVU classes have propelled me toward a serious pursuit of the storytelling craft.
What do you write? Specific genres?
I write literary fiction in the form of short stories. I enjoy drawing inspiration from anecdotes that spur my creative process and take me into the realm of fiction. Writing a collection of linked short stories is more fun than attempting to write a novel because each story can be a separate, relatively short project. Each can remain a stand-alone piece or become a part of a collection. Since I’m not constrained by the structure of a novel, I feel free to use different approaches and styles for the individual stories.
What classes are you taking at WVU, and how have they helped your writing?
I completed my first F2K in 2014 and took a series of short WVU courses on the basics of the craft. I’ve also taken the metaphor class, the LaPlante series, Narrative Design, literary short story courses, and the occasional class since I want to prioritize my writing. I’m also a member of the Sweethearts of the Rodeo Group.
What is the biggest surprise you've experienced at WVU?
My biggest surprise happened when I wrote a short story that came to me very quickly and effortlessly and my WVU friends encouraged me to submit it to literary magazines. I feared that something that took so little effort had no chance of being published, so I was shocked when this story was accepted simultaneously by two magazines, received honorable mention by a literary magazine, and has since been published in two anthologies. If it wasn't for WVU, I would have never been able to write it and I certainly wouldn't have submitted it.
Have you published anything? What are you working on now?
I’ve submitted stories to literary magazines, competitions, and anthologies. Several of my stories won awards and have been published in literary magazines and anthologies in Canada and in the United States.
I’m presently working on my first short-story collection, a novel in stories, that is linked by a female character, Bistra, and set in Tito's Yugoslavia where I grew up. I document every step on my writing journey in my blog: http://writer-tatjana-mirkov-popovicki.blogspot.com/ and I also maintain a Facebook page,
There are a number of WVU members for whom English is a second language. What can the rest of us do to help you, and these other students, with completing the classes? Do you have any suggestions on how to navigate through the difficulties? Any resources that you could share?
For me, the key to learning a second language is to use it as much as possible in as many ways as possible, the more sophisticated the ways, the better—reading books, and taking classes at WVU and elsewhere. Most of all, having a group of knowledgeable writer-friends with a talent for providing valuable feedback is a true gift. I am forever grateful to everyone in WVU with whom I’ve crossed paths and especially to my SOTR Group. It's incredible how generous everyone has been with gentle corrections and suggestions. I couldn't have dreamed of a better place and more stellar group of people to help me on my learning journey.
A writer's tip or two you'd like to share.
I would like to advise people to not take so many classes it prevents them from having enough time to do their own writing. I used to do this when I first joined WVU. This worked initially because I needed to learn the basics in order to start writing anything anyone would want to read. But after a while, when I kept throwing myself into more and more classes, I realized I wasn't digesting the material and I felt perpetually rushed with my writing. At some point, I decided to never take more than one course at a time and to leave generous time gaps between them. This helped me with studying crafts more thoroughly and to make satisfying progress with my story collection, and even to have some stories published.
