We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jason Buchholz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jason below.
Jason, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
First, I learned by reading—finding authors I loved, and reading as much as I could, and trying to figure out why I loved their work, and how they did what they did. Once I decided I wanted to study the novel, I joined an MFA program (at the University of San Francisco) and spent two years reading, writing, and discussing literature with a cohort of brilliant teachers and classmates. Beyond that it was just lots of writing, followed by round after round editing, much of it informed by the feedback of some trusted readers.
As far as speeding up the process…I don’t think about speed. Things unfold at their own pace. And the arts offer endless opportunities for growth and development and exploration—there’s no finish line, so rushing would make no sense.
In terms of essential skills, I’d say that the willingness to persevere has been paramount—I started working on my current novel, The Cartographer of Sands, 30 years ago. But perseverance alone isn’t enough—I had to be willing to try things in different ways, over and over.
The biggest obstacles to learning are sloth, ego, lack of discipline.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m a writer—I published my first novel, A Paper Son, in 2016, and my second novel, The Cartographer of Sands, is scheduled for fall of 2025. I have a nonfiction manuscript in progress, which examines the intersection of silence, wilderness, solitude, and memory. I’m also an editor. With my partner and former publisher, Ben LeRoy, I own and operate Collaborist, a service that provides editing, ghostwriting, and book-coaching services. Many of our clients are memoirists who aren’t sure how to craft a book from their life experiences—we at Collaborist excel at helping them find, understand, and share the most pivotal, transformative moments of their lives. It’s a tremendous honor and a privilege to sit down with them, receive their stories, and help them craft their narratives. I also love working with fellow novelists, of course—I can talk for hours about plotting, character arcs, tension, pace, stakes, and everything else that goes into a gripping story.
Have you ever had to pivot?
One of my early writing jobs was in journalism. I covered technology and finance in Silicon Valley in the late 90s, just as wireless data was taking off in the consumer market. I had wonderful editors and learned a lot about writing, but I didn’t like the competitive aspects of it—the race to be the first to file a story. I discovered I was more interested in longer projects that would develop over years, rather than days, and would offer the freedom and openness to write something unique. That’s when I decided to take a stab at writing a novel. That very first attempt ended up in a drawer, but that experience led me to the MFA program and into books, where I’ve been ever since.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My current novel, The Cartographer of Sands, first went out on submission in 2019. It didn’t find a home, but I got some actionable feedback and went back to work on an overhaul, but that process was badly derailed by a divorce and the Covid pandemic, which unfolded simultaneously. I was able to keep making progress—albeit slowly—and five years later I was able to get back out on submission, when the novel finally found its home with Green City Books.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jasonbuchholz.com/
- Instagram: @jasondbuchholz
