ENDORSEMENTS

Though the ground shifts beneath him, Chip is able to keep his eyes on the broad ideas and ideals of the environmental movement, and gives them life.

— Aina Barten

Chip’s work as an editor matters. No higher compliment can be given to an editor.

— Brian Doyle

Chip Blake is one of the most creative and helpful editors I've ever worked with, rivaled in my experience only by the legendary Brian Doyle at Portland Magazine, and Hachette Book Group’s Michael Pietsch, editor of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, Donna Tart’s Pulitzer-winning The Goldfinch, and my new novel, Sun House. Chip too worked with me on Sun House throughout its sixteen-year gestation, reading its 370,000 words twice and much of the novel three or more times, offering fresh insights, raising important questions, and keeping me company on the most challenging effort of my life.

— David James Duncan

Chip takes teaching writing to a new level. With skill, knowledge, expertise, and humor, he guides all levels of writers to their most authentic selves. Chip is encouraging and supportive while at the same time offering constructive feedback that truly makes a difference. His knowledge of the publishing and editing worlds are invaluable to writers as well.  I can honestly say that Chip is the most effective and dedicated writing teacher I've ever worked with. His guidance has helped me not only to make my work submission-ready, but also to be accepted for publication. Working with Chip has made me a more confident and audacious writer, and that has made all the difference.

— Kim Hoff

Given Chip Blake's deep experience as an editor and his longtime role as a would-be "coach" to superb authors, he is highly skilled at helping authors develop, hone, and persist in their writing. Toward my own work, I benefit from his rational approach to writing challenges, his tender handling of content, and his unstinting wisdom and encouragement. Chip is the best sort of developmental and line editor: demanding but understanding in his expectations, precise but flexible in his suggestions, witty but incisive in his feedback, and always, always kind.

— Rochelle Johnson

I signed up for my first class with Chip because I knew he had worked closely with some of the writers I most admire. I hoped I could benefit from that experience in some small way, provided I could hang with the group. I needn’t have worried. In the class meetings, I have witnessed how Chip has cultivated a supportive community of writers while helping writers at different levels of development, with different goals, and in all stages of the writing process improve both their work and their practice. He has supported us in developing our own style while at the same time reinforcing qualities of effective writing such as strong, active verbs; concise sentences; effective transitions; strong opening lines. As a writing teacher myself, I recognize the tact with which Chip addresses what isn’t working in a draft, but over time I learned the tact is sincere and that I can trust Chip to ask the questions that help me move a piece forward, clarify its purposes, and either let go of what isn’t working or push through it to reveal underlying connections that I have not yet discovered. The questions that have been most helpful have been the ones I couldn’t answer, that let me know what a reader needed that my piece was not providing and where I needed to dive back in and work harder; what is landing with Chip as one reader as well as what isn’t; where the bird is visible singing on a branch and where the forest is too thick and silent, maybe clogged with lush invasive species that I need to do the work to clear out. I’m a stronger writer today because of Chip’s feedback and encouragement. Writer, you can trust him.

— Sabrina Kirby

Chip Blake is one of the bright lights of American publishing.

— Barry Lopez

I feel a little like I’m stabbing myself in the back as a writer. I mean, what will happen if every writer has an opportunity to work with Chip Blake? Working with Chip for two months filled in the considerable gaps left out of my two years in a renowned MFA program. His insights helped me transform a very messy first draft into my first published essay. Chip gave me the tangible (not theoretical) tools that helped nearly every essay I wrote after that win some sort of award, fellowship, or prize. So, what will happen if every writer has a chance to work with Chip? Well, I’ll be even more grateful than I already am. I crave reading strong, beautiful, smart writing, and Chip’s intelligent, rigorous, and compassionate approach to editing has not only improved my writing; it has contributed to so many fantastic essays, poems and stories shaping today’s literary landscape.

— BK Loren

Chip Blake is one of the best editors of the age, because he knows how to listen for what is most original and compelling in a given piece of writing and then how to help the writer translate that into a finished work. He is a wise steward and curator of voices from an impressive range of backgrounds and settings, the kind of editor who is always in your corner, wherever that corner might be.

— Christopher Merrill

Chip is a teacher who took me seriously as a writer, yet with lightness, and helped me grow to be able to show myself the same respect. He is even, wry, and compassionate. He accepts his students as they are and pushes gently to encourage their growth: as long as they are working on their craft, their craft will grow. He never blames, shames, or dissuades. He knows that what a student shows is only a fraction of what they’re capable of, pushes gently, and is pleased but not surprised as their efforts strengthen over time. With candid vulnerability, Chip also occasionally shares the growth paths he finds himself on, in reference to writing, reading, and editing, which helps build the trust of his students and an environment of honest reciprocity.

— Sarah Marika Pappas

Chip gives honest, direct, and mindful feedback. I've worked with him in group settings and one-on-one, and I've benefited from his input on my work and the writing life. He takes the work seriously, but he also routinely makes me laugh in our meetings, even when we're working on sensitive projects. Working with Chip has also helped me connect to a wider community of writers and readers. I couldn't recommend his skills and services more.

— Carolyn Pralle

Chip Blake is an extraordinary and generous teacher. He brings a rare depth of expertise as a magazine and book editor to his teaching, as well care, insight, and humor. Chip’s classes and individual sessions have helped me hone craft skills to take my writing to a higher level, publish new work, and make major progress on a book project. Working with him is productive, enlightening, and fun.

— Kim Ridley

Among the dozens of editors I’ve worked with in half a century of writing for publication, none has rivaled Chip Blake. His acute literary sense, his intellectual breadth, and his grasp of vital issues all helped me immensely as a writer. Anyone who works with him, as editor or teacher, will be in good hands.

— Scott Russell Sanders

Chip Blake has been a friend to the principles of creation in a generation of writers and artists, lifting us all to do better work than we might have otherwise imagined. His guidance as editor, environmentalist, and advocate for the best in every witness has lifted our latent aspirations into action.

— Kim Stafford

Chip is the most graceful and thoughtful mentor you’ll ever work with. He integrates a remarkable depth of insight with kindness and infinite patience, and I’m particularly struck by his commitment to the writer’s own voice—not to his own ideas about what a piece should do. His knowledge of the publishing world is vast, and he’s able to offer truly helpful examples and models from his wide connections with our time’s finest writers. Chip will help you immensely in polishing your writing—but even more important is his gift for helping you discover and clarify what is most important to you in your work. And through it all is his steady flow of humor, encouragement, and unfailing faith in you as a writer. Working with Chip will probably be the most important gift you can offer to your writing, and thus to your voice in the world.

— Trileigh Tucker

I am in danger of becoming a Chip Blake groupie. I have finished some of my best short essays in response to his assignments and the suggestions from the other writers in his classes.

— Heidi Watts

Working with Chip is an incredible joy! I am continually moved by the way Chip leads classes and one-on-one work with depth, skill, kindness, and good humor. In our classes we are able to explore with rigor and trust, and to grow as writers and as a writing community. It is a gift to work with Chip!

— Rebecca Reynolds Weil

Chip is a sentient, courteous, perceptive, thoughtful editor (and an excellent naturalist!). I consider working with him to be one of the joys in my life as a writer.

— Ann Zwinger