Margaret Montet On The 5 Things You Need to Know to Become a Great Author

Perseverance! Don’t let rejections or minor setbacks deter you. Keep submitting and keep writing.

As a part of my interview series on the five things you need to know to become a great author, I had the pleasure of interviewing Margaret Montet.

Margaret Montet’s narratives of place feature music, memoir, culture and occasionally genealogy. Also a college librarian, Margaret holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, teaches public speaking, and presents multimedia music-centered lectures at lifelong learning venues. Her creative nonfiction has been published in many journals and anthologies, and her first collection of travel essays is Nerd Traveler (2021).

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path?

I’ve always enjoyed writing, and gradually got more involved in writing travel articles. I got bored with those and dreamed of writing more literary pieces. My travel-rich MFA program jump-started that, and I haven’t looked back. I realized, while traveling with that cohort, that I really am a nerd when traveling: I don’t just want to look at the outside of a building, but I want to examine the inside and learn what its…