To some writing students, advice from a professional author is something they will never forget. 

English 101 teacher Mrs. Elizabeth Weizer hosted New York Times Best Selling Author Liz Moore via Zoom this past Thursday to speak about her book, Long Bright River for multiple classes of students as well as some teachers and administrators who wanted to listen in. 

Moore’s most famous book, Long Bright River, was on President Barack Obama’s 2020 Booklist and is a novel that takes place in Kensington, Philadelphia, during the opioid crisis. It follows the story of two sisters; one a police officer, the other a drug addict and when the latter goes missing while a string of murders is occurring, her sister makes it her mission to find the murderer as well as her sister before it’s too late. 

“[Moore’s] careful balance of the hard-bitten with the heartfelt is what elevates Long Bright River from entertaining page-turner to a book that makes you want to call someone you love” – THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

“It feels very real,” Weizer reflected on the book. “Unfortunately in this day and age, our students have a lot of experience with those kinds of issues. The setting is really gritty and really real and the sibling dynamic is very strong and realistic so I think there’s a lot of moments in it that they can connect with.”

Multiple students in Weizer’s class have already read the book and have had positive reactions to it, some even going further to lookup more books about the topic.

“It made me really interested in addiction, especially since Kensington is a local area so of course, I wanted to learn more about it,” Senior Maddie Morosky said. “I immediately started researching Kensington after that.”

Aside from being a writer, Moore is a professor at Temple University, however, she is currently on sabbatical, making it very easy for her to make time to talk with the students.

“I wasn’t even expecting a response because she’s big time now, let alone that she would come and do it,” Weizer said, ecstatic that she was able to contact Moore through mutual friendships “[I’m very excited about] hearing a day in the life of a writer because truthfully that would be my dream, to be a writer. And just to hear from someone who does it and someone who is from the area seeing if she has any advice for my writers.”

One of the main reasons Weizer wanted to have Moore speak to her students was because they sometimes struggle with their writing and that having a professional writer would increase their confidence with writing.

“Our class is very writing-intensive and we have written 3 essays this year,” Weizer explained. “Students have probably written six to eight pieces and I notice that a lot of them still aren’t confident writers, they have been told they’re not a good writer and just have this idea that they can’t do it. I think it would be a really good idea to have somebody who does this for a living but also probably does have struggles and days whether it does get difficult. So to hear that that’s a normal thing and there’s always a way to find your voice and write something, I think that’s really important.”

The event was mainly a Q&A format with students in the audience asking questions to Moore. Her ideas and advice for writing were eye-opening for the students and possibly inspired some to continue writing and to have more confidence in their writing.

“I make sure I have zero internet access which is a completely foreign concept for me at this moment in history but it’s necessary for me to get into the artistic zone of writing and its also necessary to completely shut down my internet access to get away from that cyclical process,” Moore expressed. 

 One of the questions asked by a student was “What is your favorite part of the writing process?” and Moore’s answer was probably unexpected to many students listening, making them realize that she struggles with her writing as well.

“95% of [writing] is a slog and it can feel boring,” Moore said honestly. “But the 5% of the time when I truly feel lit up with inspiration, I feel like I’m in this other zone that I can only access through creative writing. That is an incredible transformative moment and feeling and process and is unrivaled by anything else I’ve ever experienced.”

That transformative feeling of creation when writing is one that fuels a writer’s confidence and is the same feeling that makes a student into a writer. It was what Weizer was hoping her students would gain from Moore’s advice and what Moore is trying to express through her words as an author.