Women on Wednesday—Adela Crandell Durkee
Adela Crandell Durkee
1. At what age did you begin writing? Is writing your sole career or do you have other jobs in addition to being an author?
I “wrote” my first published piece (in The Flint Journal) when I was six years old. I dictated the story to my mother, who took it all down in shorthand. She taught me the values of trusting myself, and of self-editing. I remember her erasing her mysterious short-hand scratches when I corrected myself hand changed “the little girl lifted her hands like this,” to “the little girl lifted her hands over her head.” Mom clipped the story and saved it for years, giving it to me just a couple of years ago.
I always loved story-telling and writing. That said, I most of my career is in science: microbiologist, chemist, quality assurance professional. I held leadership positions in large and small pharmaceutical companies. There I honed my writing skills by creating protocols, reports and procedures. Writing instructions is a great way to build skills in writing details: turn the black knob one-quarter turn counter-clockwise or until you hear a faint click and see a faint stream of steam escape.
I also love my vocation as wife and mother, which requires a lot of upfront investment and pays wonderful dividends.
2. What are some of the struggles that you have faced in the writing process? How were you able to overcome them?
The hardest part is getting started, and the second hardest is stopping. I cannot write too close to bedtime, or my mind won’t relax. Sometimes just the process opens up a flood of ideas. This can have a paralyzing effect. Now I keep an electronic journal of ideas for later.
3. How do you see writing as an empowering experience for yourself and other women?
I just love to write, it’s part of who I am and how I ground my thinking. It’s a wonderful feeling to organize all the mish-mash of my thoughts into words on paper. Sometimes, just putting a pencil in my hand helps me to coalesce my thoughts. When recognizes me for my writing, it’s the best feeling in the world. The only thing that beats that feeling, is holding one of my newborns for the first time. Come to think about it, the process may be the same: lots of gestation, waiting, and wondering, and finally, something I can share with the world.
4. If you had to describe yourself in three words only, what would they be?
Tenacious (I loved it the first time someone described me as tenacious. My heart shouted out a big “YES!”)
Passionate (My sister pointed out that characteristic as so much more satisfying than emotional.)
Imaginative thinker (Sometimes I imagine what the squirrels and birds are thinking as they scamper around my yard. On a serious note, I love logic and following a thread to imagine various consequences, intended and unintended.)
5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
When I met my husband he promised we would visit the seven continents. We’ve gone to North America (!), South America, Europe, and Africa. I hope either Australia or India is next. (I know India is not a continent, but it surely warrants a trip of its own.) I’ll save Asia for last. And I’m not going to Antarctica, although I’m game for Alaska for my dose of the cold-cold climate.)
6. What can we look forward to seeing from you in the future? Do you have any exciting plans or projects coming up?
My first novel, A LAND OF MILK AND HONEY, will be finished by the end of March. I plan to get a boat-load of rejection letters because that’s the best way to get published. Anyways, that’s what Stephen King and Anne Lamott both tell me in their books on writing. I am putting my tenacity to work by submitting short pieces and I’m learning how to monetize my two blogs The Black Tortoise and Once a Little Girl. Eventually I plan to transform Once a Little Girl into a memoir. In my free time, I’m editor of my ASQ Chapter’s Newsletter (http://www.asq1212.com) and I love to garden, play with my grandchildren, adventure with my husband, George, and of course, read.
http://www.theblacktortoise.com
http://www.oncealittlegirl.com
http://www.facebook/TheBlackTortoise
Http://klout.com/Blacktortoise
@blacktortoise
Women on Wednesday—AJ Walkley
AJ Walkley
What was the impetus or inspiration to write your stories?
While my first two novels (Choice and Queer Greer) were primarily driven by social issues that also affected me personally in some way (abortion and the LGBT+ community, respectively), my newest book – Vuto – was inspired by my experience as a health volunteer in the U.S. Peace Corps. Stationed in Malawi, Africa, one of my most vivid memories from my time there involves my witnessing a teenager give birth in the health center of my village. I was in awe of the fact that she had to go through her labor and delivery alone, as tradition warranted. I was also incredulous to find out that the husband of the girl would not see the child for two weeks after the birth; if the child passed away during that period of time, the father would never acknowledge the child whatsoever – the burden of burial would fall on the mother and the village women. I knew there was a story in those traditions and it took me about five years since returning from Malawi to flesh that story out.
What were some of the struggles that you faced in the writing process? How were you able to overcome them?
My primary struggle was assuring that my memories of Malawi and Malawian customs were accurate. While Vuto is fictional, I wanted to make my descriptions as precise as possible. One of the ways to do this was to incorporate as much of the language of the country as I could into the story, weaving Chichewa vocabulary into the prose and the conversations of the characters. This was yet another struggle – to assure my use of Chichewa was correct in each instance. I sent my manuscript to several Returned Peace Corps Volunteers to read over before publication to make sure all of the aforementioned were as they should be.
How do you see writing as an empowering experience for yourself and other women?
For me, writing is about having an outlet for my creativity that I have complete control over. It’s about being able to enter any world and be any type of person on any given day. Writing is how I travel without a plane or a plane ticket. It’s how I can experience being both an all-powerful presence and the smallest, most vulnerable creature in a matter of paragraphs. Writing is experience and, for me, experience is everything. I have always been intrigued by people and places I’ve never been, desiring the ability to live an astronomical amount of lives within my own lifetime. As a writer, I have that seemingly impossible ability. For women and others with similar desires, or for those who may feel trapped in their current realities, writing offers a similar escape and a way to explore lives one might never have the chance to otherwise.
What is the most important piece of advice you can give to aspiring female authors?
Never stop writing. Write when others say you shouldn’t or you can’t. Write when you’re happy, angry, sad, ecstatic. Write every day. I can’t tell you the number of times people have told me I won’t make it or I won’t make a living as a writer. If you hear those same critics, ignore them, pick up a pen and write some more. You are your own biggest cheerleader when the critics grow too loud – press on through, keep writing and, one day, you’ll make it.
If you had to describe yourself in three words only, what would they be?
Passionate, idealistic and driven.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
It’s so difficult for me to choose just one place – I want to go everywhere and see everything! Believe it or not, though, ever since I left Malawi, I’ve felt pulled back there. I want to revisit without being a member of the Peace Corps to view the country with a new set of eyes. I want to go back and try to find my homestay family, whom I think of daily yet have had no way of corresponding with since coming back to the U.S. I want to give back in some way to the country that influenced me just as much as my native home.
What can we look forward to seeing from you in the future? Do you have any exciting plans or projects coming up?
I always have at least three books percolating in my mind at any given time. Right now I’m considering a follow-up to Queer Greer, perhaps turning it into a series. I also have a very rough draft of a novel from National Novel Writing Month 2012 that may or may not turn into something publishable. But I’m thinking that the book I’ve been writing off and on for four years, based on the life of the incarcerated Elizabeth Burke, might be next. I’ve been corresponding with Burke since 2009 and, after hearing her story and reading her court transcripts several times over, I believe she was wrongfully convicted of killing her son. The Innocence Project of Texas is currently looking into her case and their verdict might mean that Burke becomes my fourth novel.
@AJWalkley
Women on Wednesday—Alissa Johnson
Alissa Johnson
1. What was the impetus or inspiration to write your story?
I tried very hard not to write my story. In 2008, I started graduate school at the University of Western Connecticut MFA program. I was determined to become a witty travel writer—a David Sedaris meets Barbara Kingsolver out on the open road, if such a thing is possible! I swore I would never write about relationships or marriage.
Yet every time I sat down to write, my marriage—and my disillusionment and unhappiness—crept in. For my very first assignment I tried to write about a trip my husband and I took to Mexico. I wrote 30 pages to arrive at the 15 I turned in, and the piece was a mess. Luckily, my mentor, author Mark Sundeen, took the time to read carefully and discern that it was not really an essay about a trip to Mexico. It was an essay about a 30-year-old woman trying to figure out if she could reconnect to her husband and the life they’d built together over the previous 10 years.
She could not. I could not. Over the next two years, I found myself writing a memoir about my divorce as every aspect of my life unraveled. Time and again, I tried to write something else, but I was always drawn back to my own story. I learned that sometimes we have a specific story that needs to be told and there can be great power in heeding that. I know now that writing that story helped me save my own life and create a new one better aligned with my true dreams and values.
2. What were some of the struggles that you faced in the writing process? How were you able to overcome them?
Most of my struggles were emotional. I wrote as a way to find answers in my own life, often tackling questions and issues I hadn’t admitted out loud to myself or to my husband. This made writing an extremely emotional process layered with intense guilt—my ex-husband was not an evil man; I was the one hurting him by asking for a divorce. I was also writing about things still ongoing in my own life. I didn’t know how things were going to turn out, much less how to end chapters. Some chapters had to sit for months before I could give them a proper resolution. I also worried a great deal about writing a story that not only exposed my secrets and flaws, but also exposed my ex-husband and my family.
Three things helped me get through the process. First, I learned to focus only on the writing before me. I could worry about sharing it (and hence, the reactions of others) after I had a manuscript to show for my efforts. Secondly, I found a lot of freedom in the Artist’s Way, a book by Natalie Cameron that taught me to foster my own creativity and introduced me to morning pages—essentially, three pages of handwritten brain dumping to get ride of mental clutter and closer to my own truth. I learned to let the act of writing be a safe and creative space in my life and not something to fear.
I also had tremendous mentors who didn’t judge me. They provided a fair sounding board for my writing, and also cared about my well-being. They taught me that it was okay to let a story rest while I lived my life—that just like my life had it’s own timing and rhythm, the life of a story did, too.
3. Is there a place, routine, or ritual that you have when writing? Is there an environment that allows you to be the most creative?
For creative writing, I write best in the early morning hours. I like to wake up, let the dog out, get a cup of coffee and climb back into bed to start with morning pages. It’s best when it’s still dark out and I’m writing only by the glow of a bedside lamp. It creates the sensation that I’m in a safe cocoon, and it’s a signal to my inner censor that this draft doesn’t have to be good. It just needs to uncover the story. (I should add that I write all rough drafts by hand for the same reasons!)
Now that I’m in a new relationship, it doesn’t always work to take over the bed for writing. I’ve trained myself to write during the light of day now, in 90-minute increments (with the timer actually going). That’s long enough to get something done but short enough that it doesn’t feel like an overwhelming amount of time. I’ve also had great success writing first drafts on airplanes or waiting for airplanes—there’s no place to go and nothing else to do.
4. If you had to describe yourself in three words only, what would they be?
Determined. Adventurous. Homebody.
(I like to think the latter two can coexist).
5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
Rock climbing in Thailand. I moved from Minneapolis to Colorado after my divorce, and I now live 9,000 feet above sea level. I crave tropical forests and humidity! Not long after moving here, I met my boyfriend of two-plus years and he introduced me to rock climbing. It’s a physically and mentally demanding sport that in many ways parallels the writing process—you make progress by taking small steps and learning that you can move forward even when you’re afraid. That’s a life lesson I always need to be reminded of, and I would love to explore it in Thailand.
6. What can we look forward to seeing from you in the future? Do you have any exciting plans or projects coming up?
I’ve begun my first novel about a young girl in Northern Minnesota—the place of my roots—coming to terms with a newly created wolf hunt. I’ll admit, I love fiction after pouring my heart and soul into a memoir! I’m also launching a new business as a writing coach, and as part of that, a website called WritingStrides (www.writingstrides.com) dedicated to helping writers navigate the writing process. Not just the nuts and bolts of writing, but the emotional hurdles that come with it.
MAY I Please Have Some Literature In My Life?
Calling all book lovers! New York City always has something to do, and the literary community is no different. Here’s a list of some of the literary events happening in the city for the month of May to help you get out into the community, hear your favorite authors speak about their work, and maybe get some tips for your own. Most of these events are free or only have a requested donation, so you have no reason not to join the rest of those book lovers out there in New York City and share your love of all things literary.
April 29-May 5: The PEN World Voices of International Literature is an ongoing, all day, annual event to commemorate newly published authors, share success stories, get acquainted with publishers, hear lectures on how to get to that success stage in your own work, and meet other readers and writers from all over the world.
May 1, 7-8pm, Housing Works: The debut of Housing Works’ new monthly series of literary readings, beginning with Lucy Knisley, Max Messier, Sydney Kramer, and more. It is only a suggested donation, and not only do you get your fill of readings from contemporary authors, you also get to hang out with other book lovers.
May 2, 7pm, 192 Books: Get acquainted with Ken Kalfus and his new book Equilateral. Kalfus will be sharing parts of his intellectual, eccentric comedy based on the science and politics between Egypt and Britain in the nineteenth century, arguing for proof of life on Mars.
May 6, 8-10pm, Franklin Park: Come and celebrate the launch of Ben Greenman’s novel The Slippage at Franklin Park. Learn all about this new fiction novel and hang out with the author. With a $4 pint special, there’s no reason not to.
May 8, 6:30pm, Brooklyn Academy of Music: Hear the author of the popular comic Dykes to Watch Out For Alison Bechdel talk about her newest tragicomic memoir, Are You My Mother? Join the discussion on this book and learn about the future of her memoir series.
May 9, 7pm, PowerHouse Arena: Anton Nocito shares his experiences in his success from developing his own all-natural soda, following the release of his book Make Your Own Soda. Learn about the steps he took to succeed in his own company and how he translated that into a memoir.
May 10, 8pm, 92Y’s Poetry Center: Witness the rare poetry reading by W.S. Merwin and hear firsthand some of his brand new poetry following the release of his new collection.
May 13, 8pm, Franklin Park: A new monthly event starting at Franklin Park in Brooklyn! The Reading Series brings five authors to Prospect Heights to share pieces of their new works of fiction.
May 14, 7pm, The Strand: Tiziana Lo Porto presents his new biography, Superzelda: The Graphic Life of Zelda Fitzgerald.
May 15, 6:30pm, Symphony Space: Jane Gardam, British author of Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat, makes a rare appearance to New York City to present some of her work and discuss the future for her series.
May 15, 7pm, Barnes and Noble on 17th Street: Paul Farmer presents his new book To Repair the World: Paul Farmer Speaks to the Next Generation and his comments on how to solve the social issues in the world through the next generation.
May 18: In Cobble Hill Brooklyn, the annual Lit Crawl brings writers and readers together to appreciate all of the classics in the community of other lit buffs just like you and I through bars all around Brooklyn.
May 20, 7pm, Barnes and Noble on Broadway: Judith Regan interviews Laura Antoniou, author of The Killer Wore Leather and discusses the implications of this book and others on the use of sexuality in women’s literature in the modern age.
May 23-25 at the Radisson Martinique: The Backspace Writers Conference is a great opportunity, exposing writers to a community, publishers, and lectures to help them workshop their own books. Registration and payment is required for this event, but for writers looking to publish their work, this conference is a perfect local opportunity to get that jumpstart assistance.
May 29, 6:30pm, Brooklyn Academy of Music: Richard Russo presents his brand new, witty and award-winning memoir Elsewhere. Come and join the following and learn all about his switch from fiction to memoir, and learn all about his hilarious and emotional account of his childhood.
Women on Wednesday—Meghan Ward
Meghan Ward
1. What was the impetus or inspiration for you to write your story?
After spending nine years working as a fashion model at the height of the supermodel craze in the late 80s and early 90s—I spent a lot of time answering questions like, “Did you meet any supermodels?” “Do all models have eating disorders?” “Did you make a ton of money?” “Do all models do drugs?” I decided to write a memoir to answer those questions and to give women and girls an insider’s look at what it’s really like to work as a high fashion model in Europe and Japan.
2. Is there a place, routine, or ritual that you have when writing? Is there an environment that allows you to be the most creative?
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I work at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, which is a wonderful, supportive environment for writers. I have a quiet office where I write and the opportunity to dine with accomplished authors at lunchtime. It’s the perfect synthesis of calm and community. On weekends, I write in my garage-turned-office, where I sit on a sofa with my laptop and gaze out the window at the deer munching all the flowers in my backyard.
3. How do you see writing as an empowering experience for yourself and other women?
Throughout history, women have been denied a voice. (Women have had the right to vote for just 93 years, less than half of our country’s 237-year history.) Memoir and personal essay, which I write, empower women to tell their stories—whether they be of love, heartbreak, adventure, joy, parenting, careers, or struggles—and to share those stories with others.
4. What was the publishing process like for you? How were you able to bring your book to life?
My book is still in the fetal stage. It’s with an agent and on submission to publishers, and I hope to see it born into this world the way my daughter and son were three and five years ago.
5. If you had to describe yourself in three words only, what would they be?
Creative, Hardworking, Determined
6. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
I’ve done a lot of traveling—throughout Europe and Asia and to Central and South America—but there are two places I haven’t been yet that I want to go: Africa and Antarctica. While on my honeymoon in Patagonia, I met a man who had taken a cruise from Tierra del Fuego in Patagonia to Antarctica. I want to do that. And I’ve always wanted to go to Africa—both to the island of Mauritius and to Egypt and Kenya. There is so much to see in the world!
www.facebook.com/meghan.ward.author
@meghancward
Women on Wednesday—Vicki Addesso
Vicki Addesso
1. At what age did you begin writing? Is writing your sole career or do you have other jobs in addition to being an author?
I began writing when I began reading. I love reading. I remember being very young, and watching my father sit at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. I saw all the marks - which were letters - but did not know what they were yet. I felt like my father knew the secret to a wonderful mystery - I couldn’t wait until I learned that secret also. Learning to read was amazing!
When I opened a book, I was in another world. It did not matter what the book was about, but knowing what letters were and that they made words and words told stories - that was so exciting for me. So, it was a natural transition from being a reader to becoming a writer. Of course, as a child I wrote stories that imitated what I was reading. In my early teens, I began to keep a journal - not so much a diary, more like a depository of emotions and questions and ideas. Im my journal, I did toy with writing fiction, jotting down the beginnings of stories I hoped to one day write.
But my writing remained personal, and secret, for a very long time. I was too inhibited, insecure, to share my stories with anyone else. I thought they weren’t good enough.
So, in college I choose a major in art history. I continued to read voraciously. And I continued to write in my journal and hoped that one day I would figure out how to be a “real writer.”
I worked at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY for ten years, as Education Associate and then Coordinator of Public Programs. When I married and gave birth to my first child (I have two sons), I left my full-time career and took on a variety of part-time jobs. I worked in a book store, as a dental office receptionist, and did data entry for a home decorating company.
Obviously, writing is not my sole career. For the past fifteen years I have worked as a Personal Assistant to the founder and director of the Treeture Environmental Education Program.
In 1998, I registered for a memoir writing class at the Hudson Valley Writers Center in Sleepy Hollow, NY. That was the beginning of my “career” as a writer - meaning, it was then that I allowed myself to believe I could write something of interest and worth to share with others. I took many workshop classes at the center, and met some wonderfully supportive writers.
In 2006, I and three other women from the writers center started meeting on our own, every Thursday morning - we each were writing different material: fiction, journalism, memoir. We would bring in what we had been working on during the week, read it to each other, and critique the work.
During the first year or so, we continued to pursue our separate goals, but at some point , we began to bring in pieces about our relationships with our mothers. The subject of the mother/daughter dynamic became a focus, and we eventually decided to collaborate on a book about that subject.
2. What approach did you use in publishing your book—self, traditional, etc.? What is your involvement in the pre- and post-promotion of your work?
After we had finished writing all our pieces about our mother/daughter relationships, we worked for some time on the format of the book. Once we had put it all together, we wrote a proposal and began to search for an agent. Surprisingly, we found one rather quickly and for a year or so worked with her to reshape the book. Our agent had a different vision for it - she wanted to incorporate our writing group experience into the framework of the collaborative memoirs of our mothers. When we completed that transformation, she shopped the book out to large publishing houses. Rejection after rejection began coming back to us. It was discouraging, but very educational. We realized that the vision our agent held for the book was not the path we truly believed we should take. So, we went back to the beginning, worked on restructuring our book once again, and let our contract with our agent expire. It was then that we approached smaller, independent publishers. After about another year, we were picked up by Big Table Publishing (Boston, MA), a very small press. The editor there loved our book; she had the same vision for it that we had, so we moved forward.
Because Big Table Publishing is such a small press, there is no PR department. We decided to invest in a PR firm to help us promote our book. We found a local firm (here in Westchester County, NY) and negotiated a contract that we could handle financially. However, the time is limited and soon we will have to take up our book’s promotion on our own.
3. What is the role of social media in your publishing process? Who are your greatest fans, what are their demographics, and what social media platform do you find most useful in communicating with them?
We have had to school ourselves regarding social media. I have been on Facebook for several years and felt very comfortable utilizing that area for outreach. I now also use Twitter and Tumblr. I and my three co-authors schedule posts and tweets about our book. Our PR firm set up a Facebook page and Twitter feed for our book and post/tweet 3x a week. I also blog and post to SheWrites.
As our book just came out (March 1, 2013), so far our greatest fans are family and friends. However, we are doing many readings and events over the next three months, in Westchester as well as Manhattan and Brooklyn. Several local publications have featured stories about each of us and our book. NY/Metro Parents Magazine, which has a circulation of 400,000, featured an article about our book and an interview with us in their March issue. Appearances and interviews in other publication, and on television and radio, are pending. So, we are hoping, and expecting, our fan base to grow. Obviously, as the book is about the mother/daughter relationship, it is assumed that women would be most interested in our book. However, as a collaborative memoir about family, growing up, and relationships, we know our audience does not have to be limited to one gender, or even demographic.
I have found Facebook to be very useful. The connections that are made as friends share posts with their friends, and so on, snowballs. Twitter, also, allows for networking. With both platforms, I find that connecting our book to another’s work or interests is so important. It is not always the best route to “toot your own horn”, so often I will post and tweet about subjects not related to our book, simply to make connections and interact.
4. If you had to describe yourself in three words only, what would they be?
Optimistic shy extrovert.
5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
I would love to visit Iceland. The geography of that land is so interesting - it seems primordial. It seems so different from where I have always lived. And I love the music that Bjork creates, and that is her home. I imagine that place as a reflection of her creativity.
6. Tell us about your latest book.
If by my latest book you mean STILL HERE THINKING OF YOU - A Second Chance With Our Mothers, it is my first published book. It is a collaborative memoir. My co-authors are Susan Hodara, Joan Potter, Lori Toppel. From our press release:
In the book, the four of us, each from very different backgrounds, remember our mothers in a unique and captivating way: together. Having joined forces in a writing group in 2006, we began writing about our relationships with our mothers. In the process, not only did our understanding of one another deepen, but our perceptions of our mothers slowly transformed and crystallized. The book opens with “The Writers,” where we each describe the circumstances that led us to the writing group. “The Stories” then presents our four separate mother memoirs. In the epilogue, “Still Here,” we reflect on how sharing our memories affected us. Revealing pain, humor, tenderness, and, finally, empathy, Still Here Thinking of You taps into that universal pulse that never stops beating, the bond between mother and daughter.
Currently, I am at work on a collection of short stories. I have always wanted to write fiction. I think that writing the memoir about my mother and me was freeing - we had had a very close and complicated relationship. After her death in 1997, I knew I had to explore that subject. Now, I am ready to continue writing, as a career.
The collection I am working on (I have three stories completed so far) will be connected - they are based in the present, but reflect back on the 1970’s. I find myself doing a lot of research, as the stories relate to events such as the Vietnam War and the Women’s Movement, as well as the social changes of that era, and how those experiences follow the stories’ characters into the present.
www.stillherethinkingofyou.com
@VickiAddesso
Women on Wednesday—Elisabeth Kinsey
Elisabeth Kinsey
1. At what age did you begin writing? Is writing your sole career or do you have other jobs in addition to being an author?
I wrote my first story called “How California Got Its Name” about a Calif who was sad and travelled to a magical land called Ornia. That won me the Young Author’s Award in sixth grade. The rest is history. If you get praised for writing at a young age, you’ll do anything to keep going.
Writing is not my sole career but I would love to earn more with my writing. I teach writing online through Regis University and feel it is my calling besides writing. I learn a lot from my students. I also teach writing workshops. My plan is to convert these into an online forum.
2. Is there a place, routine, or ritual that you have when writing? Is there
an environment that allows you to be the most creative?
I meet so many writers who want to get together to write. I can’t do that. I need my coffee, silence or something quiet going in the background like Rachmaninoff, and my office with all my Yay-team writing snippets above my computer. It’s also nice if I have my full library to access other writers for inspiration. I write every morning for at least three hours. But, sometimes I’ll only get a page out of that if I’m editing.
3. How and when did you decide to become a writer?
I actually wanted to be an actress, even though I’ve written since I was 8. When I realized how “in my face” my acting colleagues were, I dropped out. I needed space. I went full force, taking writing classes in my twenties.
4. How do you see writing as an empowering experience for yourself and other women?
Women need to voice their every day lives! Through writing we create community. Through our stories, we are heard. I particularly believe that if we continue to tell our stories, all women will be able to have a voice: the down trodden, abused, nearly dead in Africa. This will take the normalization away from violence and belittlement of women.
5. If you had to describe yourself in three words only, what would they be?
Mercurial. Outsider. Tenacious.
6. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
Right now, it would be Altopascio, Italy to look up my Grandmother’s cousins and finish her line in the family tree. I’ve started a fiction work based on her life and would be able to gather stories that I could convert.
Look for my memoir - hopefully I’ll obtain an agent soon: The Holy Ghost Goes to Bed at Midnight: Half a Mormon Life.
Elisabeth Kinsey received her BA in Writing at Metropolitan State College of Denver and her Masters in Creative Writing at Regis University. She has published poetry in Wazee Journal, Metrosphere, Apogee, Emergency Online Journal, and creative non-fiction in The Rambler, YourHub.com, The Metropolitan, and Ask Me About My Divorce (Seal Press, 2009). She is working on three novels concurrently while fostering a hobby for birding. She lives on the road with her husband’s job, and totes a menagerie of pets with her.
Women on Wednesday—Jennie Nash
Jennie Nash is the author of three memoirs and four novels. Her most recent novel is the historical novel Perfect Red, a story about a young writer in McCarthy-era New York who goes after the story of the perfect red lipstick. Visit her at www.jennienash.com to order a copy of her most recent non-fiction work, a guide for writers called Blueprint for a Book.
1. At what age did you begin writing? Is writing your sole career or do you have other jobs in addition to being an author?
I got started as a writer when I was in fourth grade. We published a book of poetry at our elementary school. It had mimeographed pages and a cardboard cover, and students could submit as much poetry as they wanted for the book. I thought this was an amazing opportunity, and submitted pages and pages of poems. I can still remember the thrill of seeing my name in that purple ink, reproduced dozens of times, above the words I had written.
I am an author, a writing instructor (I teach at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program), and a private writing coach, so I spend all my time with writing and with writers – just in different ways. Sometimes I am alone in my office working on my own projects; at other times, I am in that same space, but I am immersed in the details of another writer’s story, engaged in helping them develop a marketing plan, or helping them through the ups and downs of the writing life. Several times a year, I am in a classroom helping new writers learn the ropes.
2. Is there a place, ritual, or routine that you have when writing? Is there an environment that allows you to be the most creative?
I work in a pumpkin-colored office at the prow of my house. I look out on the neighborhood – an elementary school, a park, a street where there is always someone walking a dog. I am very happy here. My routine varies, but I always have tea in a giant mug, so I suppose I could call that a ritual. I find that if I am in the chair at my desk, the work gets done.
3. How do you see writing as an empowering experience for yourself and other women?
The power of telling your own story has been a major theme in of all my work, including my memoir, The Victoria’s Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming and Other Lessons I Learned From Breast Cancer, and my four novels, so this question is right in my wheelhouse! I think our society tends to shut down women’s creativity. When we are young, we dance and sing and paint and write stories and make little clay animal kingdoms and bake elaborate cupcakes and spend hours frosting them, but when we grow up we stop almost all of it – well, except the cupcakes! To me this is an enormous loss, both on a personal level and a community level. We are creative beings! We are made to create. Writing is a wonderful choice to taking back this power. You can do it privately, at first, in journals, or in files on your computer that nobody sees. Gradually, you can begin sharing your work with the world – which is a way of respecting your voice, your observations, your whole way of being.
4. What was the publishing process like for you? How were you able to bring your book to life?
I was lucky as a young writer and fell into having an agent, and fell into my first book deal. I had wonderful editors and agents all along the way, and morphed from writing non-fiction to fiction. Recently, however, being a midlist writer at a big publisher house started to feel like purgatory, and so I tried to find as new publishing home where I could make the leap up the ladder. It didn’t work. I ended up publishing my seventh book, the novel Perfect Red. It is still early days so it’s hard to say how that will turn out or if I’ll do it again. Regardless, it was very fun to learn something new and know what the whole self pub world is all about!
5. If you had to describe yourself in three words only, what would they be?
Wife, mom, writer.
6. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
Greece and Istanbul, because my teenage daughter is going on a school trip to that part of the world and I am wildly jealous. I would follow their exact itinerary!
Source: jennienash.com
Women on Wednesday—Brittany Geragotelis
1. Can you tell us about your journey to becoming a published author with Simon and Schuster?
Sure! Well, I tried going the traditional route in getting published—getting an agent, the agent getting me a publisher, the publisher giving me a deal—and only got rejected. After 9 years of rejection, I decided to change my goals when it came to writing. I realized I write because I love it and feel compelled to do it, and all I wanted was to get my books out there to readers. And if this was my ultimate goal, then I wasn’t accomplishing it by letting all my books sit on my computer desktop.
So, I decided to give this website called Wattpad a try. Wattpad is like a YouTube for writers. Anyone can write and post stories on this writing community site and people can read them, comment on them, vote for them, etc. I began to write an original story called, LIFE’S A WITCH, January 1, 2011. It was a YA novel based loosely on the Salem Witch Trials but set in modern day. And it became really popular. After six months of having it up on the site, I had six million reads of the book. Then, after a year I had 18 million reads of it and people were asking where to buy it. So, I decided to self-publish.
Luckily, right around this time, a kind reporter from Publisher’s Weekly heard about my story and interviewed me for the site. Because of this article, the traditional publishing industry came calling, along with foreign publishers and Hollywood. After only about a month of having the book available for purchase, I went into an auction between four publishing houses and then ultimately decided to go with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers! And as they say….the rest is history!
2. What is your new book about?
WHAT THE SPELL? is the first book in my LIFE’S A WITCH series. It’s a prequel/spin-off to the book I published online, and takes place a year before LAW and with a different main character. In WTS, Brooklyn Sparks feels like she’s been invisible her whole life. Luckily, she’s also a witch—who’s about to come into her witchy powers—and can do something about it. So she gives herself a magical makeover, which catches the eye of the popular group at school, called “The Elite,” and the guy she’s been crushing on for like, ever. But Brooklyn quickly realizes that you have to be careful what you witch for, because your biggest dreams in life might not turn out to be a dream come true after all.
3. What kind advice would you give authors who are struggling to get their stories read?
Do whatever you can to spread the word. Tell everyone, everywhere that you write and about your stories. Include links on all your social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Wattpad, & other social sites), and if you’re not on social media, get on it. Consider it a necessary evil of running a business if you’re opposed to being on there to begin with. Interact with your potential fans….the more they feel they know you and connect to you, the more likely they’ll be to help spread the word.
And above all else…you need to write a good story. One that people actually want to read. If you can’t even get people to pick up your book because it’s about a topic that no one is interested in or it’s unedited, then it’s never going to become popular. If your book is riddled with spelling mistakes, incomplete sentences and a storyline that zigs and zags all over the place, it will take away from the experience of someone reading it. You never want a reader to put down a book after the first page or two, simply because you didn’t spell-check or get a trusted person’s feedback on the story first.
4. What’s next for you?
Well, WHAT THE SPELL? is available to buy everywhere now. LIFE’S A WITCH (the new and improved version) will be available July 9th, followed by THE WITCH IS BACK in January 2014. I’m also going to be at BEA (Book Expo of America) this summer, will be speaking on panels and at events, visiting schools in the tri-state area and will HOPEFULLY start working on a new series that I’ll be pitching soon. And then, cross your fingers…but I would love to get LAW made into a movie or TV show!
5. If you had to describe yourself in three words only, what would they be?
Determined, Goofy, Creative
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Source: brittanygeragotelis.com
Literary Spotlight: Anomalous Press
Anomalous Press is a literary journal that runs a variety of literature. We got a chance to speak with Sarah Kosch, editor at Anomalous Press, who talks about what it takes to become a successful author.
How long has your journal been running?
Since March of 2011.
What is the focus of your journal?
The diffusion of writing in the forms it can take, whether it is poetry, fiction, nonfiction, translation, or something in between.
What defines quality writing for you?
It’s hard to say. You know it when you see it. The main thing is something polished that took time and multiple drafts to mature and grow into the final piece.
How important is a support system for up-and-coming authors?
It’s important for writers to bring their individual drives and passions into a group where they can react to other ideas and experiences. Writers’ ideas can change and sharpen in collaboration. Also, it’s crucial to learn the logistics of survival in the writing world, whether it be from seasoned veterans or alongside peers searching out a path to success.
What resources do you recommend to writers looking to improve?
Read as much as you can, write as much as you can, and share what you create with people whose opinion you respect.
What’s the best way to purchase your journal?
It’s free! Visit us online at www.anomalouspress.org. The magazine is also available as an audiobook, PDF, and kindle download from the website.
Literary Spotlight: Atticus Review
Atticus Review is a weekly online journal with a unique sense of style and eclectic tastes. A subset of Atticus Books, the journal embraces unique writing of all kinds. We got to speak with Dan Cafaro, Chief Imagination Officer at Atticus, for his take on the industry. Writers looking to submit can head here, or can reach out to Dan with ideas for regular columns.
How long has your journal been running?
It’s been alive and kicking for 18 months. It’s still learning how to walk and most days resorts to crawling. But oddly enough it knows the tarantella. And prefers whiskey over mother’s milk.
What is the focus of your journal?
To patch together the imaginative tissue that the adult world has torn asunder. To shatter conventions and awaken the sleeping observer within. To reinvent fabric, shred fig leaves and mock fashionable wardrobes.
What attracted you to working on this journal?
I dig writers. And Katrina Gray and Libby O’Neill promised that they would do all the work. Then Jamie Iredell, Michael Meyerhofer and Matt Mullins stepped up and made it even better. And now all I need to do is look pretty and smile for the cameras.
Any advice to authors looking to get published?
Wait your turn. And then wow ‘em.
What resources do you recommend to writers looking to improve?
There are these things called literary magazines — you can hold ‘em in your palms or get ‘em on your palm tablet — they’re the latest craze, I hear. And if you act now, I think some editors are throwing in an apple corer and, in some genre-bending circles, an exercise pulley. They’re a wonder to behold — these bound and unbound reading devices — and they’re quite illustrious too.
What’s the best way to purchase your journal?
It’s free and easy, like the breeze at sunrise, only less predictable.
However, if you insist on buttering our bread, then by all means, please visit our deadbeat parent’s website, browse our titles and purchase some mind-altering, life-affirming material.
Literary Spotlight: Ascent Aspirations Magazine
Ascent Aspirations is a subset of independent publisher Ascent Aspirations Publishing, and runs both digitally and physically. Ascent is looking to educate and connect writers of poetry and short fiction; we thought they were a great fit with the Pubslush ideals. We got a chance to speak with David Fraser, editor at Ascent Aspirations, about writing and publishing.
How long has your journal been running?
Ascent Aspirations has been publishing on-line since 1997. There was period of time from 2006 to 2010 that we published two periodical anthologies per year in print, but now we publish one anthology separate from the magazine a year.
What is the focus of your journal?
The magazine published monthly on-line and presents poetry, flash fiction, essays, book reviews, visual art exhibits, and spoken word videos.
What attracted you to working on this journal?
In my career in education I created and worked with young people to produce newsletters, magazines and anthology print publications for use in classrooms. During that experience I started Ascent Aspirations in the early stages of publishing literary magazines on the Internet.
From there the magazine grew and attracted a wide range of writers. What motivates me is to be able to promote the writing of good writers and the art of professional artists with each issue. Many writers have commented to me that the magazine has been an inspiration in their writing careers, which have gone on the greater successes for them.
Any advice to authors looking to get published?
- Always read the full guidelines provided by the publisher.
- Try to read at least one previous publication to get a better idea of what the editor would like to see.
- Unless the publisher’s guidelines state otherwise, always use industry standard manuscript formatting.
- For novel/collection publishers, it is standard to submit a cover letter, synopsis, and sample instead of the full manuscript. Do this unless otherwise instructed.
- Include a SASE with all mailed submissions, queries, and requests for guidelines, unless the editor replies via or email or guidelines state otherwise.
- Be professional, patient and persistent.
What resources do you recommend to writers looking to improve?
For every poem you write, read 100 poems. This could also apply to any other genre. Write, and keep a journal. Re-write more than you write. Be a witness. Good writing is in the small details that make what you write come alive.
What’s the best way to purchase your journal?
The on-line journal is free and accessible on the Internet at www.ascentaspirations.ca. At that site there will be information regarding our yearly print anthology and past anthologies that would be for sale via PayPal or by check and snail mail.
Source: ascentaspirations.ca
