Meet Misty Urban | Author, Editor, & Writing Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Misty Urban and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Misty, alright, let’s jump in with a deep one – what’s you’re definition for success?
I used to define success as extrinsic reward–the book awards, the contest prize, the sales statistics. Now I tend to see those as goals–targets I might want to shoot for–but not indicators of my worth. I’ve learned, as a matter of life satisfaction as much as personal motivation, to focus on the sheer joy of creating, and to protect that joy from being diminished when I compare my results to someone else’s. Comparativitis is a deadly disease. I’ve learned to focus on my own path and share the stories I have to tell, and the reward lies in the ability–the absolute privilege and gift–to pursue an activity I love. My definition of success has become much more relational, much more about what I contribute rather than what I earn. Did I help someone publish their book? Did I encourage a young writer to follow their dream? Did I help a student find their voice or recognize how to shape their story? Did my book make someone laugh, dream, shed a tear, gain a new insight into a human struggle? Did I help someone else create a piece of writing they love? A “yes” to any of those reassures me that my work has value, and that’s the success I want to achieve.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I am a late bloomer, and still blooming. If you, too, feel like you’ve been working on your craft for a long time and are just now starting to get it, please come sit in my section. We have chips.

My brand as an author grew out of the scholarly interests I pursued for my Ph.D. in Old & Middle English Literature. For my MA thesis and then dissertation, I studied medieval narratives about monstrous women, all these outrageous and rebellious women who defied the conventions of their world. I like to say that my historical romances are for people who want history in their romance; I want to write a happy ending, but I also want to layer in the rich cultural and material textures of a historical time period.

The short stories I wrote in my graduate programs were always about protagonists finding their way through grief. Writing stories was–is–how I process the tough emotions in my life, the recalcitrant injuries, the festering wounds. My contemporary romances share in that obsession and feature women who, in a variety of ways, heal from past hurts and open themselves to love. These aren’t original tropes, but this is the territory that fascinates me. I gravitate toward romance because I want the worlds I create to reward my characters for all their hard personal growth with nurturing relationships and satisfying careers.

The hardest lesson I’ve learned as a writer is to stop measuring myself by other people’s yardsticks. The best lesson I’ve learned is that everyone has their own voice, their own sensibility, unique as a fingerprint. There’s room for everybody. Tell your story.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Well, I’m a history nerd, so the first thing we’ll do in Muscatine, my friend, is grab a coffee downtown and climb the Mark Twain overlook to watch the sun rise over the mighty Mississippi. We’ll walk the riverside trail to the end of the Great Bend, and then we’ll walk back through Second Street downtown, visiting the furniture stores, the jewelry stores, the thrift stores, and every restaurant we can find. Then we’ll wander through the Pearl Button museum, which tells the unique history of the pearl button business in Muscatine, which at one point produced a large number of the world’s buttons.

After that I’ll take you past Trinity Episcopal Church, one of the oldest churches West of the Mississippi, and we’ll browse the local author shelf at Musser Public Library so I can show you my books. Then we’ll swing by the Art Center to wander through the Musser House and see what’s on display, which I promise you will be amazing. After that, because you’re eager to be outdoors, we’ll hop on our bicycles and enjoy the bike paths that circle the city, taking our time through the Muscatine Arboretum to picnic in the gazebo and walk the labyrinth. I’ll let you choose where you want to go for dinner, though I’ll be likely to nudge you toward Salvatore’s for pasta or Guadalajara for Mexican cuisine.

For our evening entertainment, there will always be something going on: a lecture or play at the Muscatine Community College, a performance by the symphony orchestra, or maybe a reading at the library hosted by Writers on the Avenue, the local literary collective. You can head east to the Quad Cities or west to Iowa City and have big-city entertainment within 45 minutes, but there’s a lot on offer in this little pearl of a city.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are crowds of writers who have mentored me along my path, and for the most part, I’ve been able to thank all of them in person, except for one. Lysley Tenorio taught a creative writing workshop I took through the University of Wisconsin Madison when I was a few years out of college, struggling with the business career I’d chosen, pretty sure that writing was the hobby that would save my life. When I met with him for a conference, he gave me excellent advice on revisions for the story I’d brought to class, and then he asked me, “So, what MFA programs are you looking at?” I knew I wanted to write, but I’d never considered writing as a career I could pursue until he laid that possibility before me, and moreover, regarded me as qualified for it. Lysley, thank you for treating me as a professional, for giving me terrific advice, and for pointing me down my path. And also, congrats on becoming a literary superstar. It was an honor to be your student.

Website: https://www.mistyurban.com

Instagram: @authormistyurban

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/misty-urban-28a296106/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormistyurban

Other: Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/misty-urban

Image Credits
Misty Urban