Richard Holinger figured out he wanted to be a writer at midnight, alone on an empty hockey rink in upstate New York, skating figure eights and crossing other careers off the list one by one.

More than 50 years later he's still at it most mornings with a coffee at his elbow and his fountain pen poised.

Here’s the story behind the poet, satirist, columnist, and longtime fixture of the Tri-Cities writing scene.

Holinger describes his decision to become a writer with his usual wit. 

He was a senior in college, alone in the middle of the night in Oneonta, New York, in 1971, when he had his "eureka" moment.

“Having no idea what I'd do after graduating, I skated figure eights around the empty, dark hockey rink, rejecting possibilities (grad school, a 9-5 suit-and-tie career, the army — high draft number!) until I came to writing,” he said.

He said he’d been asking his professors if he could write creative pieces instead of term papers, and most of them agreed. 

“Most gave me free rein — which I loved,” he said. “The moment I gave myself permission to be a writer, an elation filled me, changing my life forever.”

Holinger then spent nearly a year as a security guard, working a 4PM-to-midnight shift, which allowed him to write for four hours every morning. 

It was during this time that he naively submitted his first short story, "The Observer," about growing up in a Gold Coast apartment building in Chicago, to Esquire, which returned a handwritten note: "Loved the plot, but the telling leaves me cold."

As a poet, satirist, columnist, autofiction, and flash fiction writer, Holinger calls his muse "fickle," and he writes for many audiences across many genres and styles. 

Reading Elia Kazan's satiric novel "The Arrangement" at boarding school not only engendered his love of reading but also prompted much of his early ironic work. While he has expanded into many other genres, he remains convinced that wide reading is essential to good writing. Whatever he's currently reading often inspires his next piece.

"My favorite genre is the one I'm presently writing in, whether poetry, essay, or fiction,” he said. “It's great to have such a plethora of styles to choose from, and reading helps me decide, or helps move me, to one or another, as a book will inspire me or intrigue me to try something in this or that vein.”

His advice to other writers is simple:

“Read and write outside the genre you're used to; the imagination can always do with more exercise."

Holinger started writing nonfiction in the late 1980s, inspired by "The Literary Journalists," an anthology of essayists and nonfiction authors. When the publisher of The Geneva Sun, a newspaper startup, asked him — as facilitator of the St. Charles Writers Group — if he knew anyone who'd like to write a column, he answered, "Me." 

He has loved writing columns for Shaw Media ever since — now more than 25 years. Many of his columns, like so much of his writing, draw from his personal experiences.

In 1995, Holinger founded a poetry group at the St. Charles Library after receiving a Short-Term Artist's Residency (STAR) grant from the Illinois Arts Council. That led to the St. Charles Writers Group, where writers shared and critiqued each other's work in all genres, including song lyrics and one-act plays. 

"I loved the camaraderie, the give and take of ideas, the community of writers getting together with a common purpose to share their work and share their ideas in the spirit of helping one another,” he said. “I made many friendships that have lasted decades, and I learned much from the slew of astute writers who saw problems in my writing that I was blind to.”

In 2016, Holinger began Night Writers Workshop, a writing group based at the Geneva Public Library that continues to this day. 

He says the membership, "like the seasons, is always changing. People come, often learn what they needed to learn about writing better, and move on. Or move on for a myriad of other reasons." 

Ever the English teacher, Holinger insists on "clean, proofread manuscripts that are at least a second or third draft; constructive (although not always positive) critiques of the manuscripts; and an atmosphere that encourages everyone to participate, whether during the critique or diving into, for at least a short time, the topic under discussion." 

He admits the feedback process can be challenging, even as he works to keep it useful and kind.

"Above all, honesty must prevail when giving feedback, and tactful delivery of that task is often Sisyphean,” he said.

According to Holinger, his own writing has benefited from the group's feedback — sometimes members suggest a new direction for the piece he hadn’t considered.

His meetings aim to get everyone sharing their ideas honestly and empathically, resulting in a full discussion of each manuscript with members citing the text for support while taking notes and asking questions. 

Despite teaching these topics in university, community college, and high school creative writing classes, he’s still learning new things. 

"It's amazing how much I forgot and how much I relearned when reviewing and researching various topics, as well as benefitting from the group conversations, new and insightful commentary always presented," he said.

Many novice writers assume that serious or published authors — especially those with advanced creative writing degrees like an M.A., M.F.A., or Ph.D. — would happily read their newly finished novel without being paid for the time, education, and professional judgment it requires. 

Holinger quickly put that notion to rest while encouraging aspiring writers to be respectful of artists.

"Imagine walking into a dentist's office and asking them to fill a cavity gratis. This goes for artists, too,” he said. “Want to have your dog or house painted by a watercolorist? Pay up! Just because the writer or artist may make it look easy doesn't mean it is; it means years, most likely decades, of practice and education.”

After more than 50 years of submissions, Holinger is matter-of-fact about rejection.

“One becomes calloused; submit again, and again, and again, until the piece connects with the right editor or publisher, because the decision to publish is so subjective!” he said. 

For example, after more than 70 literary journals rejected one of his stories, the lauded Iowa Review published it. He acknowledges that rejection can mean the piece isn't as good as the writer thinks. 

"Give it some time, reevaluate it, maybe revise it a time or two, then feed it to the archives or the wastebasket,” he said.

As part of his decision-making process, Holinger reads a publisher's journals and books to see whether his manuscript suits the same audience, weighing subject, setting, tone, theme, and diction. 

"I've never self-published, as I've always wanted an impartial, objective professional editor or publisher to read, like, and accept my work — not someone who knows me to accept my work or to publish it because I'm paying for the pleasure of seeing myself in print," he said.

Holinger calls success a slippery term.

“One kind of success is to finish two or three hours of writing after beginning in the morning and turning out maybe two or three pages of good stuff. Or even bad stuff,” he said. “Another kind of success is hearing from a literary journal that they want to publish your poem, story, or essay.”

He goes on to add that when you publish your first collection of stories, essays, poetry, or a novel (he’s got four in his drawer), that’s yet another level of success. But the human element could be the most important of all.

“It might be hearing from a reader how they felt about what they recently read of yours,” he said. “That may be the height of success. But the money doesn't hurt. Or the recognition, such as it is — minuscule."

His work has appeared in many journals, including Cream City Review, Sundog, Vestal Review, Witness, Constellations, I-70 Review, The Iowa Review, and Midway Journal. Selected works were nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2025, Best Small Fictions 2025, Best Microfiction 2025 (accepted), and Best of the Net 2024.

Holinger took a Chinese brush painting class right after college, and he's taking it up again now. He'd like to pair some of these attempts with short, haiku-like poems, or maybe sonnets. 

He's also rediscovered photography and may accompany some of his photos with his own writing in book form.

Holinger encourages all writers to write and read as widely as possible. He tells of critiquing a poem that he did not consider successful and afterward asking the poet which poets she read.

Her response:

"Unimaginable Things and Other Stories" — short fiction Available at Main Street Rag

"Richard Holinger's stories are brief, piercing, and addictive — echoing Chekhov's clarity, Dybek's strangeness, and García Márquez's haunted magic."

— John McNally, novelist ("The Book of Ralph") and writer-in-residence, University of Louisiana, Lafayette

"Manure Dreams and Other Essays" — essays Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

"'Manure Dreams' reclaims all the pleasures of the personal essay — a delight in scrupulously observed detail, a reflexive intelligence, deliberately self-effacing, always willing to examine its own attitudes and motives, a delight in the unexpected weight of ordinary occasions."

— Michael Anania, professor emeritus, UIC, and author of "The Red Menace," "Riversongs," and "In Plain Sight"

"Down from the Sycamores" — poetry chapbook Available on Amazon or at Finishing Line Press

"North of Crivitz" — poetry Available on Amazon or at Kelsay Books

"Kangaroo Rabbits and Galvanized Fences" — humorous domestic essays available on Amazon or at Dreaming Big Press

You can find more information at www.richardholinger.com.

This piece was written by Ellen Jo Ljung, a longtime Geneva resident, author, award-winning educator, and glass artist. Visit her website to learn more.

Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] with questions or comments.

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