Student Spotlight: Austin Smythe
Spring 2024
As far as you recall, how many Round Robin classes have you participated in, and what do you remember about your first class?
I’ve participated in the Round Robin at least ten times. At my first round, I can remember feeling hyped on the structure of accountability, that creative pressure to produce at least a little every day.
How has your writing evolved since participating in the Round Robin?
I started the Round Robin writing mostly poems and memoirish prose. I now write mostly prose on topics that interest me, but I do my best to keep them poetic. I’ve definitely become a better writer over the years.
What do you like most about the Round Robin? Do you write regularly during the times that you’re not participating in the class?
I write in sporadic spurts when I’m not participating in a Round Robin, despite loving writing. The consistent push the Round Robin gives me is what I love most about it.
Where do you tend to find ideas and inspiration for your writing?
Right now all of my ideas are coming from my work as a therapist. It feels great to finally take all the experiential learning I’ve gone through and shape it into words.
Are you working on a particular writing project right now, and if so, can you tell us a little about it?
I’m working on a collection of non-fiction essays about therapy and healing. I want to share the knowledge I’ve gained in a way that benefits others and hopefully entertains.
Austin Smythe is a Bay Area native now enjoying sunny Santa Monica. He works remotely as a therapist and spends his free hours dancing to trap music he’s almost too old for, biking along bodies of water, and trying to make people think and laugh in equal measure. His ever-present goal in life, aside from being good to the people he loves, is to strike that perfect balance between seriousness and fun, between meaning and nonsense, between drama and farce. He’ll never get there, but man it’s fun trying.
