Category: Writing (Page 1 of 5)

Publications and other fun things

It’s been a fruitful few months for yours truly, in terms of publications and other stuff, so here’s a li’l update!

In the summer, I published my first personal essay, “My Great Hunger,” in the Cincinnati Review. The editors at the CR were wonderful to work with, especially the Nonfiction Editor, Kristen Iversen, who helped me navigate some nasty blowback from a couple of my family members after the essay was published. I’ve learned that dealing with people’s negative (read: spiteful/abusive) reactions to one’s writing is trial by fire in becoming a writer of personal essay or memoir. I came out of the experience stronger, with clarity about who in my family has my back (most of them, actually!), and incredibly grateful for my mom’s generous, loving response to the piece. And I feel even more committed to sharing difficult, true stories. So many people reached out to me to tell me that they related to some part of the essay, or that they shared it with their mother, sister, best friend. Those responses mean everything to me. If, through my writing, I can help someone else feel less alone, then it’s worth all the pain and pettiness from my family (including having one aunt tell me she “looks forward to ignoring my self-published novel!”).

More recently, I had a story come out in Water~Stone Review, another journal that was a dream to work with. This was my story “Nojento,” which I wrote in 2021. I really believed in this story, but struggled to place it, at first. It was one of those “always the bridesmaid” stories that does well in competitions, but not well enough to get published. But it was one of my favorites — unlike with children, you’re allowed to have favorite stories — and so I kept submitting it, and when Water~Stone Review told me they loved it and wanted to publish it, I was thrilled. The icing on the cake? WSR has nominated this story for a Pushcart Prize. In all my years of writing, I’ve never had a story nominated for a Pushcart, so this was a big deal for me. I realize that a LOT of stories get nominated and the odds of winning are slim, but the fact that the journal believed in my story enough to nominate it, for me, is a reward in itself.

I have another essay coming out in the spring of 2025 but I am keeping mum on that one for now, but more soon.

And, finally, not a publication, but even better: I got to go back on one of my all-time fave podcasts, Extra Hot Great, to talk about, among other things, Sister Wives, Married at First Sight, and Instant Hotel. Give it a listen and let me know if I manage to convince you to invest your precious time and energy in getting up to speed on the Sister Wives extended universe! As I said on the podcast, sometimes you really do need to Do. The. Work.

And, finally, MFA update: I’ve finished my fourth semester and am now cruising towards my fifth and final semester. I have a complete (if not totally *finished*) draft of my novel, which I’ve been working on for three years, so I’m feeling good about that. As some of you may know, my program is located in Swannanoa, NC, which was decimated by Hurricane Helene. Because of the extensive damage in the area and slow recovery process, our winter residency was cancelled and we’ll be having it online instead (big sigh). In the meantime, Western North Carolina is still very much in need of people’s money as they continue to rebuild. If you are able, please consider donating to local organizations like Samaritan’s Purse.

Well, that’s all from me. ‘Til next time!

Highly Commended for the 2021 Bridport Prize

It’s been quite a week over here for yours, truly. I’m in the middle of a super-productive residency at VCCA, my story “Clarinet Lessons” won the 2021 Margarita Donnelly Prize for Prose Writing, I turned thirty-nine, and another one of my stories, “The Hall of Human Origins,” was Highly Commended for the 2021 Bridport Prize. The Bridport Prize is an annual UK award given out for novel, short story, flash, and poetry. I was chuffed indeed, as the British say, to have been a finalist. Judge Robert McCrum described my story this way: “‘The Hall of Human Origins’, an American story, is notable for its boldness, squarely set in the midst of the pandemic, with a marriage unravelling in an atmosphere of seething hysteria.” If that sounds intriguing, you can read my story in the 2021 Bridport Prize Anthology, available here. (I am also busily adapting the story into a novel as we speak. 25,000 words in, I remain energized and excited by the potential of this story, and can’t wait to share the longer version with the world). Well, that’s the report from here in Amherst, Virginia, where I am eight days into my residency, which has managed to be both dreamy and grind-y (in a good way). Cheerio for now!

Margarita Donnelly Prize for Prose Writing

I am proud to announce that my story, Clarinet Lessons, was selected by judge Charlotte Watson Sherman as the winner of the 2021 Margarita Donnelly Prize for Prose Writing. The story is now on CALYX’s website and will be coming out in the summer/fall 2022 print edition. I’ve also done an audio recording to accompany the text and will post that when it is available!

Stay tuned in the next few days for more publishing news from yours truly!

I’m a VCCA Fellow!

I am honored to have been named a VCCA Fellow for 2021!

In late October, I will embark on a two-week residency at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts in Mt. St. Angelo, Virginia. VCCA hosts writers, visual artists, and composers, providing them with three meals a day plus private studio space to work. I will be in residence along with 24 other Fellows.

The idea of having two weeks to myself to write is, frankly, mind-boggling. I couldn’t do this without Al, of course, and my mom, and our babysitter, Janelle, who will all be taking excellent care of Lucia, Ewan, and Calla while I am gone. The kids are bummed on my behalf that I am going to miss Halloween and my birthday (shh, don’t tell them that I do not care!).

This residency is coming at a perfect time, as I come off of two great writing conferences: Community of Writers, in June, and Bread Loaf, in August. These conferences have energized me, helping me to breathe new life into existing projects. I am bubbling over with ideas and enthusiasm, and can’t wait to have uninterrupted time to work.

Back to humor writing

It’s been a while since I’ve done any humor writing. For six years, I wrote humorous (I think!) recaps of trash television shows for the now-defunct Previously.TV, but when I started focusing more on short fiction, I put humor writing aside. I missed making fun of the dummies on reality television, but I wasn’t being paid to do so anymore, so… you know. But recently, a weird (and very stupid!) idea for a short humor piece, inspired by the überdumm The Bachelor, came to me and I decided to bring it to fruition, and voila! I give you: I Am Your Bachelor, and I Am Also Running to Be Your Governor, published in Points in Case. Enjoy!

Shortlisted for the 2019 Faulkner-Wisdom short story competition

Today I found out, rather belatedly, that my short story “Fourteen Meals” was shortlisted for the 2019 Faulkner-Wisdom short story competition. I had received an email from the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society back in early September announcing the winners, but I must have clicked on the wrong link/failed to read the fine print, because I missed the fact that my own name was among the short-listed finalists. Oops! Better late than never.

Big news!

I am so excited to announce that my story, Host Mother, was named one of five finalists in the 2019 Nelson Algren Awards, hosted by the Chicago Tribune. My story was one of 3,000 entries and went through four rounds of blind judging before being named a finalist. I am very gratified to be chosen. The best news is that the story is live on the Tribune’s site now and you can read it for yourself right here, and my bio is here.

A retreat at Porches

This past weekend, I drove 3 hours southwest from my home in Alexandria to Norwood, Virginia to stay at the beautiful, peaceful Porches writing retreat.

View from one of the porches at Porches!

View from one of the porches at Porches!

The idea of a writing retreat is to step away from all of the day-to-day distractions that prevent you from getting writing done, or from getting deep into your writing. The point is to sit in a room, be quiet, and let the words flow. No folding laundry, no packing kids’ lunches, no grocery shopping, no TV. Porches allowed me to hole up in a quiet room with my writing, my reading, and my knitting, and crank words out onto the page.

The house instructions included this quote.

The house instructions included this quote

I spent Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning at Porches and got more done in under three days than I would normally accomplish in a month. My daily goal, when I’m writing at home, is usually to complete one scene from my novel. At Porches, I wrote 26 scenes in the novel and finished up a short story. The biggest accomplishment was finishing up the draft of my novel revision that I’ve been working on since January. What a feeling!

My desk

My desk

I did miss Al and the kids, of course. I pestered Al for frequent photos of Lucia and Ewan and we spoke on the phone every day. But man, was it nice to be able to have nothing on my agenda except to write, eat, and sleep. My typical day at Porches went like this: I’d wake up around 8 am (LUXURIOUS), make a cup of coffee, write for an hour or so, eat breakfast, write for another couple of hours, eat lunch, read, knit, maybe go for a walk, then back to writing until 6:30, when I’d eat dinner.

Healthy dinner and a book - an introvert's dream

Veggies, chocolate, and a book – my dream dinner

After dinner, I’d read and knit until bedtime, which was ludicrously and satisfyingly early (one night I fell asleep by 9:30 and slept until 8 the next day. This amount of sleep is UNHEARD OF for a mother of young children and might actually be illegal?).

My room, again

My room

My room

My room, again

I wish I could go back to Porches every month, but that would be logistically challenging, to say the least. But here at home, surrounded by nagging chores and quarrelsome children, I’ll try to hold onto the renewed sense of purpose and accomplishment I got out of my brief retreat. Until next time, Porches!

James Knudsen Prize for Fiction Finalist

Hello, popping in from my typical hibernation to share a little bit of encouraging writing news. I was recently named one of two finalists in the James Knudsen Prize for Fiction (Bayou Magazine). Little near-victories like this keep me going as I continue to submit my short fiction and hope, fervently, to be published again.

In other writing news, I’ve booked myself a weekend at Porches Writing Retreat in early April. From the website, the place looks gorgeous and contemplative, and I’m hoping I’ll get some good work on my novel done over that weekend. I’ve been feeling kind of sluggish when it comes to working on my novel, and I’ve been putting much more energy and enthusiasm into my short fiction. I’ve learned from my past six years of writing that this process is cyclical, and that my energy for various projects will wax and wane, but as long as I am continuously working on something, it’s all good.

That’s all for now!

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