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Meet the Teaching Artist: Lillian Stone on Writing the Book While Keeping the Day Job
by Writing Workshops Staff
2 days ago
Forget the 5 a.m. alarm. Lillian Stone, author and humor writer with bylines in The New Yorker, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Onion, Slate, and BBC Worklife, wrote her debut book EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE while working two day jobs, freelancing, and living alone during the height of the pandemic. Her argument: creative constraints are not the enemy of good work. They might actually be the point.
In her two-hour seminar Don't Quit Your Day Job: Creativity When Life Gets in the Way at WritingWorkshops.com, the official education partner of Electric Literature, Lillian offers something most craft advice won't: a framework built for writers who can't quit their day jobs, and for those who simply don't want to. Drawing on the examples of Samantha Irby and Mark Rothko, who each produced significant creative work while staying employed, Lillian guides students through goal-setting, boundary-setting, and yes, the fine art of working around your boss when necessary.
Students leave with concrete, tested tools: a goal-setting framework, ready-to-use boundary scripts, and a progress tracking sheet. More importantly, they leave with a new way of thinking about creative time. Not as something to hoard or protect from the rest of life, but as something to work with.
Here is our Meet the Teaching Artist Interview with Lillian:
Writing Workshops: Hi, Lillian. Please introduce yourself to our audience.
Lillian Stone: Hi! I'm Lillian, a Chicago-based author, humor writer, and beagle wrangler. My first book, EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE, published via Dey Street Books in July 2023. I currently write for outlets like The New Yorker, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Onion, GQ, BBC Worklife, and Slate, and I'm working on my second book. I also run a Substack called THE BIG ONE: Creative Living When Everything Blows.
Writing Workshops: What made you want to teach this specific class? Is it something you are focusing on in your own writing practice? Have you noticed a need to focus on this element of craft? Or is this just your jam and you love it?
Lillian Stone: I think constraints on creative time can actually be good! I completed my first book while working two different day jobs, freelancing, and living alone during the height of the pandemic. For every full-time, fully-funded artist, there's an incredibly talented artist juggling *life stuff* while working to meet their creative potential. Also, a lot of craft advice points to, like, waking up at 5 a.m. to write, which I don't condone. I am here to prove that successful artists can also be sleepy.
"I think constraints on creative time can actually be good! For every full-time, fully-funded artist, there's an incredibly talented artist juggling life stuff while working to meet their creative potential."
Writing Workshops: Give us a breakdown of how the course is going to go. What can the students expect? What is your favorite part about this class you've dreamed up?
Lillian Stone: Students should come prepared with a lofty creative goal—something long-term, like writing a book, knocking out a screenplay, or making a short film. We'll then spend two hours establishing a framework to achieve that goal while working WITH, not against, creative restraints like day jobs. We'll talk about planning, setting boundaries at work and at home—and, yes, sneaking around your boss if necessary. Folks will leave this class with a crystal-clear framework to get their project done and dusted. Also, there *will* be jokes in my slideshow.
Writing Workshops: What was your first literary crush?
Lillian Stone: I wore the cover off my copy of Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl, which I probably read when I was about 10. If you're asking about my first AUTHOR crush, it has to be Shel Silverstein, who looked (still looks) incredibly dishy on every back cover.
Writing Workshops: What are you currently reading?
Lillian Stone: I'm researching my next book, so I have a huge stack of nonfiction on my nightstand for that project. On my own time, I just started Melissa Lozada-Oliva's book CANDELARIA, and I'm so excited about it—I'm a huge fan of her writing.
You have a lofty creative goal. Lillian has a two-hour framework to help you actually finish it. No 5 a.m. alarms required.
Enroll in Don't Quit Your Day Job →Writing Workshops: How do you choose what you're working on? When do you know it is the next thing you want to write all the way to THE END?
Lillian Stone: I'll start with a big, vague idea—like, "write something about being a hormonal 12-year-old," or "write something about Bigfoot." From there, I'll sit with that idea for as long as it takes. That means going on long walks with the idea; creating mind maps on paper; pondering the idea in the shower; noodling on it gently until a framework starts to appear. Once the idea comes to a boil—basically, when I know it has legs—it's time to start.
Writing Workshops: Where do you find inspiration?
Lillian Stone: I like to be outside as much as I possibly can. Not so much for eavesdropping purposes, although I do LOVE to eavesdrop—I just think it's easier to get out of my head when I'm out getting fresh air.
Writing Workshops: What is the best piece of writing wisdom you've received that you can pass along to our readers? How did it impact your work? Why has this advice stuck with you?
Lillian Stone: I'm obsessed with the 2016 "Haunted Elevator" sketch from SNL (fans will know it as the birth of David S. Pumpkins). You've got Kenan Thompson playing an elevator operator in a building that advertises "100 floors of frights," and the elevator passengers clearly aren't super impressed with the frights. At one point he's like, "It's 100 floors of frights—they're not all gonna be winners." I think about that all the time. To drill down into one good idea, you might have to navigate 100 floors of mediocre ideas first. Better get going!
"To drill down into one good idea, you might have to navigate 100 floors of mediocre ideas first. Better get going!"
Writing Workshops: What is your favorite book to recommend on the craft of writing? Why this book?
Lillian Stone: It's a little woo-woo for some folks, but I really got a lot out of Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic. Writing is 98% craft, but I think it's fun to sit back and enjoy some magic for the other 2%. It gave me permission to see myself as more of a creative and less of a machine cranking out opinions for $200 a pop.
Writing Workshops: Bonus question: What's your teaching vibe?
Lillian Stone: We're gonna have a warm, open, silly vibe in class. You don't *have* to have a silly vibe to enjoy my class, but it's certainly encouraged.
If Lillian's approach to creative work sounds like a relief, that's by design. The 100 floors of mediocre ideas, the sneaking around your boss, the jokes in the slideshow: this is a class built for writers who live in the real world, not a writing retreat brochure. Her two-hour seminar gives you the framework, the scripts, and the permission to stop waiting for the perfect conditions and start making progress with the ones you already have.
Ready to stop waiting for a writing residency and start finishing the project you've been carrying around? Lillian Stone's seminar gives you the tools to make it happen, day job and all.
Save Your Seat in Don't Quit Your Day Job →WritingWorkshops.com is an independent, artist-run creative writing school and the official education partner of Electric Literature. Since 2016, we've helped writers strengthen their voice, develop a greater understanding of craft, and forge a path to publication.
