In 1987, John Rember returned home to Sawtooth Valley, where he had been brought up. He returned out of a homing instinct: the same forty acres that had sustained his family's horses had sustained a vision of a place where he belonged in the world, a life where he could get up in the morning, step out the door, and catch dinner from the Salmon River. But to his surprise, he found that what was once familiar was now unfamiliar. Everything might have looked the same to the horses that spring, but to Rember this was no longer home.

In Traplines, Rember recounts his experiences of...

By exploring the relationship between the writer and love, grief, place, family, race and violence, John Rember helps you see how to go deep in your writing. He also tells you what you'll find there and how to get back. Along the way, you'll learn how to see the world as a writer sees it."If you have real talent," says Rember, "and choose to go it alone without learning from all of the thousands of writers who have gone before you, for a long time you're going to write like Grandma Moses paints." MFA in a Box will help you take language from translucency to transparency, and make your readers...