Interview with 2024 Q3 Creative Nonfiction Runner Up, Sayantani Roy

Sayantani Roy grew up in small-town India and writes from the Seattle area. Her work has found home in Alan Squire Publishing Bulletin, Ekphrastic Review, Emerge Literary Journal, Gone Lawn, Heavy Feather Review, The Hooghly Review, TIMBER, West Trestle Review (forthcoming), and elsewhere. This season, she is participating as a mentee in the AWP Writer to Writer Mentorship program. Say hello on Instagram or X @sayan_tani_r.

--interview by Marcia Peterson

WOW: Congratulations on placing as a runner up in our Q3 2024 Creative Nonfiction essay competition! What prompted you to enter the contest?

Sayantani: I came across WOW on social media and saw many of my favorite writers featured there—either as contest winners or as expert interviewees. I knew I had to enter!

WOW: “Longing, Belonging” is a poignant essay and the way you formatted it worked
well here. What inspired you to write this particular piece?

Sayantani: I wrote this in a class with writer Paige Towers, and she encouraged us to use a slightly offbeat form. I chose vignettes for this flash essay because I could cover several decades of my life and also leave readers to ponder over what was left unsaid. I was definitely influenced by Julie
Marie Wade and Brenda Miller’s book of essays, Telephone, which I was reading at that time. It
is a collaborative work of intertwined vignettes, and the style had a powerful effect on me.

WOW: Are you working on any writing projects right now? What’s next for you?

Sayantani: I am polishing a couple of old and new poems and flash pieces. I am also working on a slightly longer short story right now, which I am workshopping as part of the AWP (Association of
Writers & Writing Programs ) Writer to Writer mentorship program. I am so fortunate to have as
my mentor the writer Jennifer Savran Kelly, whose debut novel Endpapers was nominated for a
2024 Lambda Literary Award.

WOW: What are you reading right now, and why did you choose to read it?

Sayantani: I am reading “The Wheeling Year—A Poet’s Field Book” by former United States poet laureate Ted Kooser. It is a year-long chronicle of observations and insights. These are akin to short
journal entries that are “sketches and landscape studies made out of words,” as he puts it.
Some of these have appeared in magazines, but many are raw observations that make me
catch my breath. For example, the last entry in January is this—"In the long, low, ivory shafts of

January light, a crow, alone on the melting ice of the river, follows its shadow, pecking at it,
drinking it in.” How lovely is that? Kooser has filled six decades’ worth of such workbooks, and
these undoubtedly give shape to his poems. I picked it up to draw inspiration from it—to learn
how to look at mundane things because they are anything but.

WOW: You've gotten me interested in Ted Kooser's work! Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Sayantani. Before you go, can you share a favorite writing tip or piece of advice?

Sayantani: Thank you so much for this opportunity. It’s a great honor.

A writing tip that has worked for me is to write a relatively strong first draft. I suppose it depends
on what you call it, but my first draft is the one where I begin writing seriously. The famous
“shitty first draft” to me is what happens in the freewriting stage. I let it all out and then sit down
to write the real thing. I may take portions of the freewrite, but at this point, I am writing afresh
from memory. I hardly look at the freewrite anymore. I don’t stop every now and then to look at
grammar and diction for the first draft, but I do write in a structured way keeping in mind its final
shape. That’s not to say that I don’t shift things around or I can create a flawless structure from
the get-go. I do revise extensively. But, if my first draft is totally different than what I have
envisioned as the final form of the piece, or if it is very rough, it takes me ages to polish it, and I
lose momentum.

***

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Ask the Book Doctor: What Agents and Publishers Want

By Bobbie Christmas

Q: I just received an encouraging response from an agent I queried regarding my manuscript of fiction. The agent is requesting, among other things, a description (approximately one-page summary) and a synopsis (approximately two- to five-page-summary). 

I don’t want to blow it now. What do you think the agent is looking for in the description? Do you think it’s supposed to be just a more condensed version of the synopsis?

A: Congratulations on getting an encouraging response from an agent—a rarity!

A description is a summary of a novel, and like a teaser, it should entice a reader to want to read the story. Here’s a brief imaginary summary: 

What happens when a forty-seven-year-old woman finds herself divorced and destitute in Chicago? In 1942 Mary Devine, rather than become homeless, turns her abode into a house of ill repute. In 80,000 words The Escapades of Madam Devine, a quirky, irreverent novel, covers Devine’s adventures, challenges, setbacks, and triumphs with several hilarious twists.

The description might go on to compare the book to one by John Irving or some other humorous writer.

A synopsis, on the other hand, covers the entire plot from beginning to end. The synopsis never talks about the book, only about the story itself. It never asks questions, compares the book to other books, or teases the reader the way a description can.

Q: I’ve written a self-help book for people living with a specific chronic disease. Now I don’t know what to do next. I’d rather not self-publish because I’ve heard that a traditional publisher is more likely to get the book into bookstores. What’s my next step, though? Do I just send the manuscript to lots of publishers and hope for the best?

A: If you hope to find a traditional publisher, don’t send the manuscript anywhere until an agent or publisher requests it. You now need to know how to get them to request it. I’ll explain. You have a few major steps to take before you submit anything anywhere.

Your next step is to write a strong query and a full proposal. The proposal is a big undertaking, and before you start, research and learn how to write a proper book proposal.

Once your query letter and book proposal are ready to send out, research publishers that are interested in the genre of your manuscript. Although you can perform a search online, what worked better for me was to go to a bookstore. There I found the shelf that held books in the same genre as my book. I noted the companies that published them. I then researched those publishers to determine how they preferred to accept submissions. If they don’t accept unagented submissions, you’ll need to find an agent, which is another large and complicated step. If their information indicates that they accept unagented queries or proposals, send them whichever item they accept. If they respond and request the manuscript, only then should you send the full manuscript for consideration.

Yes, even though you may have finished writing your book, you have to write a query or proposal, and that’s a big step and a learning curve for new writers.

Here's a bonus for those who haven’t yet completed their nonfiction book. Some publishers will buy your book based on a strong proposal and give you time to complete your book. Your proposal will have to include a few sample chapters, as all book proposals do, but you can state in the proposal how long it will take to finish your book.

Always keep in mind that when a publisher shows an interest in your book, almost everything is negotiable. If the publisher offers you an advance against royalties, the amount may be subject to negotiation. If your proposal says you’ll complete your book is six months and the publisher wants the book in three months, you may be able to negotiate to a time closer to your original completion date.

Two final warnings: 

1. Traditional publishers never contact you before you contact them. Those that do may possibly be scammers. 
2. Beware of any publisher that asks you to pay for anything. The ones that ask for money are not traditional publishers. If you pay for any part of the production, you are self-publishing.

I’m not disparaging self-publishing; I’ve done it myself, but you said you don’t want to self-publish, so my information is for those who hope to sell a nonfiction book to a traditional publisher.

***

Bobbie Christmas is a book editor, author of Write In Style: Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing, and owner of Zebra Communications. She will answer your questions too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com or BZebra@aol.com. Read Bobbie’s Zebra Communications blog at https://www.zebraeditor.com/blog/.

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Can You Write a Winning Essay?

 

I help judge essays for WOW’s Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest. I love the art form because it gives the writer the chance to be incredibly creative and share personal and everyday moments in a way that will resonate with the reader. But writing creative nonfiction isn’t easy—I still struggle with how to do it effectively myself. In our contest, I see some themes reappear time and again. Sometimes these themes are executed successfully, and sometimes they aren’t. 

Writers are judged, in part, in how unique the subject matter of the essay is. For example, caring for family members with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia is a topic I see a lot with the essays. It’s a heartbreaking thing to go through, and a lot of us here can relate to it within our own families. But to effectively write an essay about it, you should consider your essay’s approach, and in addition to how it has affected you personally, what you want your reader’s takeaway to be. 

Carolyn Campbell took first place in the WOW! Q2 2024 Contest with her essay, “Blinking Lessons,” where she penned such lines in a list format as, “When your dad asks you to come back east because your mother has lost her mind in ways it can no longer be found, don’t blink. Pack. Fly. Drive.” Or “When your mother asks, “Are you the lady from church coming to take me for a ride?” it’s okay to blink. She’s kind to strangers.” 

I also read a lot about trauma in essay submissions, and I’ve used creative nonfiction myself to try and process trauma and frightening things that have happened in my own life. But it’s one thing to share 1,000 words of trauma on a page, and it’s another thing to organize it creatively in a way that leaves the reader impacted personally by the end. When I read “The Fist,” by Julie Lockhart, I loved the way she chose to structure it as a police report (also known as a hermit crab essay). 

Once I read the essay, which was a runner up in the Q3 2024 Contest, I completely understood why the suspect in the incident was listed simply as “The Fist.” She so succinctly described the mob mentality that can prove so dangerous, in this case, at the site of a campground with two rambunctious adolescent young men riding ATV’s and how the “crowd” were sure her husband was responsible for one of the boys wrecking his vehicle. It brought to mind other incidents featuring mob mentality in our collective history, like what happened in the aftermath of the Rodney King trial in the 1990s and most recently, the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Being a true crime writer, Tess Kelly’s “A Good Guy,” from the Q3 2024 Contest, struck me because I believe we all have people in our lives with deep, dark secrets, and we wonder if a person with violent tendencies can ever really change. Another essay that stood out to me a few years ago was “The Trailer,” by Mary Jumbelic, who wrote about entering the home of a 12-year-old suicide victim during her job as a county medical examiner. The details she shared about what she found inside the home and how she envisioned the boy spending the last hours of his day made were haunting. 

Other things that make an essay stand out are creative structure (I especially love essays arranged in recipe form!), sensory details, perspective, powerful opening and closing sentences, and a story that either makes me laugh out loud, nod vigorously, or shed a few tears. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you think makes a great essay. 

Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer and host/creator of the true crime podcast, Missing in the Carolinas.

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3 comments contest judging, Creative Nonfiction, essay contests, Renee Roberson, WOW! CNF Contests

Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo: Blog Tour, Interview, and Giveaway!

We here at WOW! Women on Writing are excited to launch the blog tour for Murder by Milkshake by returning author Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. This book is a perfect cozy mystery readers are excited to get into - and the best news is it’s the first book of a fabulous series! 

Read on to find out the author's inspiration behind this series in an exceptional author interview, and enter to win a copy! 

Murder by Milkshake is the first book in the Sweet Dreams (cozy YA) Series. If you haven’t read the other books by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo, you’ve arrived on scene just in time for this sweet treat and we are also accepting reviewers for book two (click this link to sign up today)!

Here's a bit more about Murder by Milkshake: 

Book Summary

Life is sweet for high school senior and ice cream slinger Genevieve Winterland. Her father owns Sweet Dreams Ice Cream Parlour, the cutest confectionery shop in their little town of Pinewood, Arizona. Genevieve loves her job, but when her father hires a broody newcomer with a dark past to provide extra security on her closing shifts, Genevieve bristles. Is this part of her father’s plan to send her away to college, when all she wants is to stay in Pinewood and run the family business? 

Meanwhile, everyone’s favorite new teacher at Pinewood High, Miss Love, is receiving death threats, and then she goes missing. Genevieve suspects the crabby substitute, Ms. Pierce, who seems murderous about being passed over for the position. Or is the culprit Mr. Garcia, the longtime instructor who Miss Love replaced after he was fired for assaulting a student? Just when Genevieve thinks she knows the answer, she stumbles across the dead body of another missing faculty member. 

Can Genevieve find the killer terrorizing the teachers in her beloved hometown—before someone else gets iced? 

Genre: Cozy Mystery 

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D94VG7L8 

Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 15, 2024 

Print length ‏ : ‎ 220 pages 

Best Sellers Rank: #897,102 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #413 in Teen & Young Adult Detective Story eBooks #3,672 in Teen & Young Adult Mysteries & Detective Stories #8,610 in Amateur Sleuth Mysteries (Kindle Store) 

Murder by Milkshake is available in print and as an ebook at Amazon. You can add it to your GoodReads reading list as well. 

About the Author, Elizabeth Maria Naranjo: 

Elizabeth Maria Naranjo is the author of The Fourth Wall, The House on Linden Way, and What Was Never There. Her stories and essays have been widely published and nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best American Essays, and Best of the Net, and her short story, “Windows,” was selected for Best Microfiction 2023. She lives in Tempe, Arizona, with her husband and two children.

#murderbymilkshakenaranjo 

Elizabeth and Murder by Milkshake can be found online: 

https://www.elizabethmarianaranjo.com 

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8124819.Elizabeth_Maria_Naranjo 

https://twitter.com/emarianaranjo 

 Interview by Crystal J. Casavant-Otto

WOW: Welcome back my friend! Thank you for allowing me, and the team here at WOW! Women on Writing to be part of the entire journey with the Sweet Dreams Series! It’s such a pleasure to welcome you back and support your fabulous writing! Let’s get down to business and the burning question: what first sparked the idea of the series? 

Elizabeth: Thanks, Crystal! The pleasure is mine; it’s always wonderful to be back on WOW, and I’m thrilled to launch the Sweet Dreams Series on my favorite writing blog. 

The idea for Sweet Dreams goes back to 2019, when I was reading a lot of young adult (YA) fiction and also a lot of cozy mysteries. One afternoon on a break at work I had the sudden idea to combine the two. I swear I actually felt the light bulb go off. There was this surge of giddy excitement, and then I thought, no way this hasn’t been done before. 

To anyone not familiar, cozy mysteries are light-hearted, funny, and PG-rated. They are murder mysteries with no gratuitous violence, sex, profanity, or drugs. Cozies feature an amateur sleuth, a close-knit community, and a theme centered around a job or hobby, like baking or knitting. They are written for middle-aged women, but I’m convinced they’d be loved by teens if the protagonists were aged down. 

I started looking for any examples of YA cozy mysteries, but there were none. All of the teen mysteries I found were dark, high-stakes thrillers that usually involved dead girls. I figured if anyone needed more laughter in their lives, it’s teenagers, so I decided to write a YA cozy mystery series. Something low-stakes, with humor, and no dead kids (all victims in Sweet Dreams are adults). Think Scooby-Doo, but with murder. 

WOW: That’s fascinating and a wonderful glimpse into your thought process. Thank you! What have you learned through publishing so many books? What tidbits can you share with others just starting out? 

Elizabeth: Starting out, I would say, write like a kid, and edit like an adult. Embrace that initial joy of a project with all the childlike enthusiasm it deserves. And when you inevitably lose momentum, be disciplined and commit to seeing your vision through. You’ll build confidence, and you will never regret finishing a project. 

One thing I’ve learned from publishing several books is there’s no point where you’re like, hey, I finally figured out how to write a book! Each one is different. For example, the second book in the Sweet Dreams series was the hardest book I’ve ever worked on. Editing it was a challenge, and often a slog. Murder by Milkshake, by comparison, was easily the most fun I’ve had writing a book. It took three months to draft, and every edit was a joy. In the end, I love them both, but you can never predict how a project will go! 

One tidbit I’d like to share is that you don’t have to edit in a linear way. Let’s say, like me, it takes you about a month to edit a book, and you edit that book at least three times. If you start with chapter one every time, two things will happen. One is you will hate chapter one. Two is chapter one will be absolutely perfect because it gets all of your best efforts and optimism. 

When I go in for a second or third edit, I start at different places. Maybe for edit two I start with the final chapter and work my way backwards. Edit three I start in the middle. In the end, each part of the book has had the benefit of me coming in fresh and energized, something that fades pretty quickly about a week into a tough edit! 

WOW: Thank you for that wonderful insight; I don’t know where you find the time and patience! Speaking of advice, this is a favorite question of mine: What would your current self like to say to the teenage Elizabeth? 

Elizabeth: I’d tell her not to worry, that the stories will still be there wherever she goes, and that she’s lucky to have discovered so early in life what she loves to do. I’d tell her “One day, you’re going to have a dedicated shelf on your bookcase filled with your own books, with pretty covers and your name on the spines, just like you always dreamed.” 

WOW: I’m absolutely a cover girl so I feel every part of those pretty covers - it’s all about drawing the reader in and getting them to read the book summary! Well done my friend. Your cover may have drawn me in, but your characters are the best! That leads me to the next question, or questions - tell me about your cover art and your favorite character in Murder by Milkshake! 

Elizabeth: Ooh, I love this question! For the cover art, I was very specific with my designer, Deranged Doctor Design. I wanted it to be cute and fun and girly—just like my MC. I wanted Sweet Dreams Ice Cream Parlour to be the main feature, so I described the shop in detail—the cheery atmosphere, the polka-dot tiled floor, the pink-and-white striped wallpaper. Like all cozies, I wanted the cover to be 90% adorable and 10% sinister, with perhaps one ominously oozing dessert. The book designer absolutely nailed it. 

As for my favorite character in Sweet Dreams, that’s my MC, Genevieve Winterland. She is everything I always wanted in a young adult female protagonist. She’s energetic, cheerful, adorably flawed, loves her small town, her father, her job, embraces her feminine side (Genevieve loves clothes and is never without her signature Cherry on Top lipstick), and is way too busy running the family business to even think about romance. Her friendship with BFF Brandon Summers is entirely platonic, something I’d longed to see in YA. 

Genevieve is flawed in that she can be impulsive and stubborn, but she is unfailingly kind and has such a positive outlook. She sees the best in everyone and believes most problems can be solved with a dish of ice cream. And even if you only visited her ice cream shop once, three years ago, Genevieve will remember your order. I love her. 

WOW: That’s deep and thank you for being so open with us here today! As we discussed, you’ll be back soon with book 2, Pralines and Creamed, (sign up to be an early reader/reviewer by clicking here), so tell us, what's next for you for 2024 and beyond? 

Elizabeth: My goal for 2024 was to publish all three books in the Sweet Dreams series. I’m so close! But Pralines and Creamed took longer to edit than I anticipated, and it’s more important to me to make sure each book is as good as I can possibly make it. So although Pralines and Creamed will be out as planned on October 1 (preorder here!), the third book is getting pushed to 2025. 

After that, I’m torn between continuing my micro memoir project, returning to motherhood essays (with my youngest going away to college next year I have so much fresh material!), or drafting a new novel. Whichever I choose, the common theme is literary. I’ve had a blast writing commercial fiction, but I am ready to embrace again the more melancholy and lyrical writing that’s defined the majority of my work. 

WOW: Thank you so much for letting us be part of your journey and I’m excited to find out more about your next book(s). Be sure to keep in touch with us; returning authors are important lifelong friends!

Elizabeth: I will definitely keep in touch! I’m planning a WOW reviews tour for Pralines and Creamed later this year (sign up for that by clicking this link), and when the third book is ready to publish, you’ll be the first to know! 

Check out this hashtag to stay up to date with this tour, the book, and it’s author: #murderbymilkshakenaranjo 

 ----Blog Tour Dates 

September 9th @ The Muffin 

What goes better with coffee in the morning than a muffin? Join us at the WOW blog to celebrate the launch of author Elizabeth Maria Naranjo’s Murder by Milkshake. You can read an interview with Elizabeth and enter to win a copy of the book. 

https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com

September 9th @ StoreyBook Reviews 

Leslie Storey reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers at StoreyBook Reviews will be dying to learn more about this cozy mystery! 

https://www.storeybookreviews.com

September 10th @ Goodreads with Karen Brown Tyson 

Stop by Goodreads and find out what Karen Brown Tyson thinks of the latest cozy mystery by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Murder by Milkshake will leave readers wanting more stories by this talented author! 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6741483799 

September 10th @ Rockin Book Reviews 

Lu Ann at Rocking Book Reviews shares her thoughts with readers about Elizabeth Maria Naranjo’s Murder by Milkshake - this is a fabulous cozy mystery readers won’t want to miss! http://www.rockinbookreviews.com

September 11th @ Book Woman Joan 

Joan Nienhuis - known as Book Woman Joan reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers won’t want to miss this opportunity to read more about this cozy mystery! http://bookwomanjoan.blogspot.com 

September 11th @ The Burgeoning Bookshelf 

Veronica Joy reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers at the Burgeoning Bookshelf won’t want to miss this opportunity to read more about this cozy mystery! https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogspot.com

September 12th @ Life According to Jamie 

See what Jamie has to say as she reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers won’t want to miss this opportunity to read more about this cozy mystery!

https://lifeaccordingtojamie.com 

September 12th @ Writer Advice 

Fellow WOW! Author, B. Lynn Goodwin reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Fellow authors leave some of the most helpful reviews - see how many stars Goodwin gives Naranjo! https://www.writeradvice.com 

September 12th @ Just Katherine 

Katherine reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers at Just Katherine won’t want to miss this opportunity to read more about this cozy mystery so they can add it to their own TBR pile today! 

https://justkatherineblog.wordpress.com 

September 13th @ What is that Book About 

In the spotlight today at What is that Book About is none other than: Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers won’t want to miss this opportunity to read more about this cozy mystery by this talented author! 

https://www.whatisthatbookabout.com 

September 14th @ Chapter Break 

Today’s guest author at Chapter Break is Elizabeth Maria Naranjo who is touring with her latest cozy mystery, Murder by Milkshake. Readers will delight with today’s post titled: YA Cozy Mysteries: A Perfect Pairing! 

http://chapterbreak.net

September 15th @ Finished Pages 

Renee Roberson is a big fan of Elizabeth Maria Naranjo who is touring with her latest cozy mystery, Murder by Milkshake. Find out what Renee has to say and how many stars she will give! www.FinishedPages.com 

September 16th @ Fiona Ingram Author 

Today’s guest author at Fiona Ingram’s website is Elizabeth Maria Naranjo who is touring with her latest cozy mystery, Murder by Milkshake. Readers will delight with today’s post titled: 5 Key Ingredients to Creating a Cozy Mystery. 

https://fionaingramauthor.blogspot.com 

September 17th @ Bibliotica 

Melissa reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers at Bibliotica won’t want to miss this opportunity to read more about this cozy mystery so they can add it to their own TBR pile today! 

https://www.bibliotica.com

September 18th @ Frugal Freelancer 

Sara reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers at the Frugal Freelancer won’t want to miss this opportunity to read more about this cozy mystery; others are raving about this fantastic read! 

https://saratrimble.wordpress.com 

September 19th @ Knotty Needle Creative 

Judy reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers at Knotty Needle Creative won’t want to miss this opportunity to read more about this cozy mystery! Enjoy! http://knottyneedle.blogspot.com 

September 20th @ Boy’s Mom Reads 

Stop by Boy’s Mom Reads and find out what Karen thinks of the latest cozy mystery by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Murder by Milkshake will leave readers wanting more stories by this talented author! https://karensiddall.wordpress.com 

September 21st @ Book Bunnies 

Gizem reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers at Book Bunnies will love this opportunity to read more about this cozy mystery! Enjoy! 

https://bookbunnies.blog/ 

September 23rd @ One Writer’s Journey 

Sue Bradford Edwards at One Writers’ Journey reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers will delight in this cozy mystery! 

https://suebe.wordpress.com/ 

September 24th @ Author Anthony Avina’s Blog 

Fellow author Anthony Avina reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Fellow authors leave some of the best reviews - don’t miss Anthony’s thoughts on this cozy mystery! http://www.authoranthonyavinablog.com 

September 27th @ The Faerie Review 

Lily at The Faerie Review reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers will delight in this cozy mystery and won’t want to miss today’s review! 

https://www.thefaeriereview.com 

September 28th @ Boots Shoes and Fashion 

Short and Sweet: The Joy of Bite-Size Books Today’s guest author at Boots Shoes and Fashion is Elizabeth Maria Naranjo who is touring with her latest cozy mystery, Murder by Milkshake. Readers will delight with today’s post titled: Short and Sweet: The Joy of Bite-Sized Books! https://bootsshoesandfashion.com 

October 1st @ Words by Webb 

Jodi at Words by Webb reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Readers will delight in this cozy mystery and won’t want to miss today’s review! 

https://www.jodiwebbwriter.com/blog

October 4th @ My Beauty My Books 

Nikki at My Beauty My Books reviews Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. Stop by and see what Nikki has to say about Naranjo’s latest! 

https://mybeautymybooks.wordpress.com/ 

 ***** BOOK GIVEAWAY ***** 

Enter to win a copy of Murder by Milkshake by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo! Fill out the Rafflecopter form by September 22nd at 11:59 CT for a chance to win. We will choose a winner randomly the next day and follow up via email. Good luck

 

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

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12 comments author interview, blog tour launch, book giveaway, cozy mystery, Elizabeth Maria Naranjo, murder by milkshake, series, sweet dreams mystery

Interview with Tina Engelfried: 2024 Q3 CNF Contest Runner Up

Tina’s Bio: Tina Engelfried has spent 53 of her 63 years playing with words. Because of WOW and the classes and contests they offer, she has gained enough confidence to find her writing identity. It will be a long time before she gets comma use done correctly. She unschooled her two children until they were ready for college and considers that time as the best years of her life. Her partner in all of her endeavors is her husband, Steven. 

If you haven't done so already, check out Tina's award winning essay "We Started with Walnuts" and then return here for a chat with the author. 

WOW: Congratulations on placing in the Q3 2024 Creative Nonfiction Contest! How did you begin writing your essay and how did it and your writing processes evolve as you wrote? 

Tina: I began to seriously consider writing about the subject of unschooling while taking classes through WOW. The guidance I received helped me to organize my scattered thoughts. Chelsey Clammer laughed in all the right places in the assignments for her class and made me realize that I don’t have to write in a straight line. Learning to take the time to write is a big hurdle that Kelly L. Stone helped me jump. The classes I took with Kimberly Lee and Kandace Chapple showed me how to recognize the beginning of a good idea. 

WOW: That’s fabulous that you learned so much from WOW’s instructors and used that to craft an award-winning piece! What did you learn about yourself or your writing by creating this essay? 

Tina: I always thought that when I sat down to write about unschooling it would be easy. I had so much to say, I had learned from trial and error and had buckets of information. But it wasn’t easy; it was too close to my grieving process over that time in my life being over. I knew I needed to approach this subject with a little distance. 

WOW: I love the style of your essay. Can you tell us more about your decisions to use this style and challenges and/or successes you experienced with it? 

Tina: I have written poetry since the age of 10 when my 5th grade teacher paid me a compliment and posted my poem on the class bulletin board. When I was having a hard time expressing myself through an essay, I went back to my old friend, poetry. Poetry welcomes random thoughts and I do best without structure. Once I had a poem, I could take it apart and present those thoughts as an essay. 

WOW: I find it fascinating – and helpful – to hear how writers use multiple genres to craft their work. Thank you for sharing your innovative process. Which creative nonfiction essays or writers have inspired you most, and in what ways did they inspire you? 

Tina: I am one of the many millions of fans who love Anne Lamont. Her sentences take a sudden turn and become poetry when the reader least expects it. She exemplifies how to be funny and serious at the same time. 

WOW: Oh yes, her writing is well-loved for good reasons. If you could tell your younger self anything about writing, what would it be? 

Tina: If I could go back in time to that 5th grade girl, I would tell her to read her poetry to anyone who will listen and to have faith in her ability to write stories. I would let her know that even garbage writing is valuable; getting the garbage thoughts out the door leaves behind shiny thoughts. I would use this analogy so that I could clean my room. 

WOW: Anything else you’d like to add? 

Tina: I have been entering contests through WOW and NYC Midnight for just a year and have now written something worthy of an honorable mention. So maybe the future me told the present me to keep writing. 

WOW: Thank you for sharing your writing with us and for your thoughtful responses. Happy writing! 

Interviewed by Anne Greenawalt, editor-in-chief of Sport Stories Press, which publishes sports books by, for, and about sportswomen and amateur athletes. Engage on Twitter or Instagram @GreenMachine459.

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Leave a Comment 2024 Q3 CNF Contest, Anne Greenawalt, Runner up, Tina Engelfried

Finding Inspiration in Everyday Life: When It Rains, It Pours, and Your Book Gets Challenged

 

Abdo, 2016

This last week has been a big bite in the butt. That’s not normally how I’d start a post for WOW! but I’m all about transparency. I was really struggling to figure out a compelling topic for today. I’d tried out several different ideas and even asked Chat GPT for suggestions. Chat GPTs ideas weren’t bad, and I’ll save them for later, but none of them felt like THE PERFECT TOPIC for today. 

I know that a big part of the problem is that the last week has been wicked. I had a book due which is normal enough. My son brought home a virus which he shared with me. Our principal vehicle broke down . . . again. And I friend went into the hospital with suspected CHF. The good news is that she doesn’t have CHF, and she is now home from the hospital. That’s actually not everything, but we’re reaching the point where if I added to the list, you’d just think I was making stuff up. 

I was half-heartedly considering writing about how to squeeze writing in when life happens in great abundance. Then a message popped into my inbox. Apparently one of my books, Black Lives Matter, is being evaluated in the Leighton, Pennsylvania school district to see if it is appropriate for a high school library. The short answer? Yes, yes, it is. I don’t write for adults so it is pretty much a given that if you match the book to the age level of the young reader, it will be appropriate. The district staffer who contacted me wonders if I would like to comment. Cue the semi-hysterical laughter. Oh, sweet mercy. You had better believe that I do. 

And just like that, I have something to write about! When you don’t know what to write about, take a deep breath and then look at your life. There are so many things that we could each write about. That said, I’ll have to come back to what to do when your book is challenged. I’m going to rewatch a video about fighting bans, download the resources, and get busy. I’m also going to contact my co-author who just happens to be a lawyer. I will write up a post about this when we get to the other side. 

But I did mean it when I said that we could each write about so many things based on our own lives. I could write about dealing with an unresponsive auto dealership “service” department. I’m sorry, I just can’t write that without the quotation marks. Or I could write about the value of an extended vehicle warranty. How long do you have to keep a vehicle for that extra expense to be worthwhile? I could write about modern wedding etiquette and what practices have gone by the wayside and what new practices have replaced them. Are e-mail invitations acceptable? What if you don’t want a destination wedding? Or gifts? I could write about what questions you need to ask the specialist when you get an unexpected diagnosis. 

See? Life feeds us ideas all the time. You may not have time when you’re in the middle of something but sketch out a few notes. That’s what I’ll be doing as I contact the editorial director, my writing partner, and a few other helpful people. Because . . . life. 

--SueBE

Sue Bradford Edwards' is the author of over 55 books for young readers.  

• To find out more about her writing, visit her site and blog, One Writer's Journey.  
• Click here to find her newsletter.

She is also the instructor for 3 WOW classes which begin again on October 7, 2024. She teaches:

• Pitching, Querying and Submitting Your Work 
• Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults 
• Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults 

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2 comments book banning, book challenges, ideas from life, Inspiration, life based writing

Interview with Julie Lockhart, Runner Up in the Q3 2024 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest

I was thrilled to chat with Julie Lockhart about her incredibly creative essay, "The Fist." It's a fantastic example of what writers can do with a hermit crab form, and I encourage everyone to read it and then join us for a craft discussion. Julie and I chat about changing people's names in nonfiction, the hermit crab structure, and how she uses her rejection letters to enhance her work.

Julie Lockhart loves an adventure in wild places. She spent most of her career in academics, where she published in peer-reviewed journals, such as Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation and Advances in Accounting Education. During the last years of her career, she led a grief support nonprofit, where she discovered the beauty and depth of personal stories, writing about her experiences to help grieving people feel less alone. Her essays have been published in The Journal of Wild Culture, bioStories, Feels Blind Literary, Minerva Rising (Keeping Room), and Witcraft. Julie has several times placed in the top ten in Women on Writing Essay contests. She is a Pushcart nominee. Born in the Chicago area, Julie has lived, worked and played in the Pacific Northwest since 1982. She lives in Port Townsend, WA. Find her at: julietales.com.

----- Interview by Angela Mackintosh

WOW: Welcome, Julie! Your winning essay, "The Fist" is incredibly creative. The police report format really complements the narrative in an interesting way. How did you come up with the idea for the format?

 

Julie: Thank you, Angela! Because this essay covers an incident that happened in April 2023, the trauma was still pretty fresh. I was taking Chelsey Clammer’s flash trauma class, so the essay needed to be 800 words max. I felt emboldened to write about the assault because of her class. This particular week she had us looking at perspective in writing about trauma. I tried a few different ways to write it, but nothing was working. I honestly can’t remember how I came up with this idea, but I did have a copy of my witness statement taken by the police, so I think that’s what spurred the idea. What I loved about using the format of a police report is that it allowed me to fit a complex story into a flash essay. The format also gave me some distance from the trauma, and I could play with perspective, thus satisfying Chelsey’s assignment for that week.

  

WOW: It's a delightful format to read, and it sounds like it provided the perfect container to write with some distance from the trauma. Well done! I also love Chelsey Clammer's WOW workshops.

Many creative nonfiction writers change character's names in their essays to protect the people they're writing about and/or themselves. You changed the suspect's name to "The Fist," and his friends to "fist people," which is really innovative and serves as an image and metaphor. What inspired you to change his name in this clever way, and do you change the names of all characters in your nonfiction writing?

 

Julie: When “the fist” assaulted my husband, neither of us saw who the person was that threw the punch. I suspect it was the father of the boy who fell off the ATV, because after the assault, that guy terrified me by coming over to our camping area pushing the bent-up two-wheeler screaming that someone owed him $600 to fix it. In figuring out how to craft the essay, the fist popped into my head as the suspect, so that I didn’t mistakenly accuse someone when I don’t know for sure. The people surrounding my husband were angry and aggressive, ready for a fight. “Fist people” seemed to be an appropriate way to describe them. 

About changing other names, sometimes I do. My husband asked me to use an alias, “Charles,” in this essay. Whether I change a character’s name has a lot to do with my intuition on whether using their real name would hurt that person. I will change a name to protect a person, or even to protect myself in a situation where I’m describing someone’s horrible behavior.

  

WOW: That's smart! I also noticed that the police report doesn't include the victim's statement. Was this because of the limited word count or an aesthetic choice?

 

Julie: The word-count definitely had me pick and choose what to include. The victim’s statement was similar to mine, so I left it out.

 

WOW: Your piece has a really inspiring message. To me, it's about those intense traumatic events that help us realize how much we love someone, and the importance of being there for each other, and the importance of love overall. I simply adored the last section ("Wife's Epilogue"), and could feel the emotional connection between you and your husband. What do you hope readers will take away from your piece?

 

Julie: I am so happy you got the message I hoped to share! My way of being in the world is to look for the lessons, the positive things, that can come from difficulty. It’s a spiritual practice, and I try to express my personal growth and insights in all of my writing about trauma and grief. When we as humans are in the midst of a tragedy, we may not be able to see our growth potential while bombarded by grief, trauma, etc. I don’t want to seem flippant about the enduring pain people find themselves in, but for me, it’s important not to get stuck there. In this situation, both my husband and I worked to move through the trauma after our experience. But what blew me away is how our connection deepened with this tragedy. That deepening of love, the expansion of our hearts, helped us to get on with our lives in the aftermath. It’s a real testament to the power of love. I am so blessed to be with him.

  

WOW: The reader felt that love, too! You did a great job of showing that, and "The Fist" is an exemplary hermit crab essay! What advice would you give to a writer who is interested in trying this format, but doesn't know where to start?

 

Julie: Thank you! The hermit crab essay is one of my favorite structures. I get my ideas after reading other hermit crab essays, which stimulate my creative juices to create something unique that fits what I want to write about. Author Brenda Miller has used the hermit crab structure, such as in her grief essay called, “Artifacts.” Also, Miller beautifully describes the various forms that can be used in her book: A Braided Heart: Essays on Writing and Form. I am also inspired by Eula Biss’s, “The Pain Scale.”

  

WOW: Oh I adore Brenda Miller and Eula Biss! I first read their work in one of Chelsey's workshops.

Last time we chatted, you mentioned a digital "pile" of rejection letters. I have those, too! But you do something creative with them—you sort through them to see if there's a different way to tell a story. Have you done this recently, and could you give us an example? This sounds like something I want to try!

 

Julie: Yes, if I gather enough rejections on a particular essay, I often try to figure out what else to do with it. For example, I wrote about an abusive situation with my first husband, but didn’t find a home for it. I decided to create a braided essay, instead weaving in the story of abuse I witnessed as a kid to show that my childhood experiences in a sense informed why I would end up in an abusive marriage. In another essay about the death of my second husband, I have rewritten it from his perspective (looking down from wherever his soul is in the afterlife). Neither of these has been accepted at a magazine, but I still feel good about how each turned out. And I love the creative process of making something different, and hopefully better.

 

WOW: Those essays sound incredible! Julie, I always love hearing about your nature adventures, and your essay's setting of Canyonlands and Moab, Utah, was simply gorgeous and immersive. Where have you been lately and what was the most memorable thing you've seen?

 

Julie: I often wonder if I should do some travel writing, so thanks for asking this question! There are oh so many amazing things I’ve experienced. In early April, we camped in the Hoh Rainforest on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. Some of the biggest drops of rain I’ve ever seen accompanied the steady showers, but weather did not keep us from hiking through the incredible mossy, lush, every-shade-of-green landscape. On our last morning, my husband stepped out of our truck camper and turned back around to tell me there was an elk. I grabbed my phone and joined him. As we peered around the campsite, we realized we were completely surrounded by a herd of about ten stately elk, munching away on spring’s tender leaves and fresh grass. Elk symbolism is about strength, stamina and pacing yourself. Their presence as they surrounded us felt powerful, especially in these times when there’s so much stress and chaos in the world. I can still breathe in their circle around us when I feel overwhelmed. While our health is still excellent, we hope to continue adventuring to beautiful places. In September, we’ll visit Taiwan and then South Korea. Maybe I’ll write a new essay from that trip!

WOW: That is such a surreal experience with the elk, and definitely essay worthy! I can't wait to hear about your trip to Taiwan and South Korea, too. I'm sure it will be amazing and inspire many creative works. Thanks again, Julie, for chatting with me today, and best of luck in your travels and writing! I can't wait to read more from you soon.

Writers, find out more about WOW's flash contests here: 

https://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php

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Leave a Comment flash trauma narrative, hermit crab form, julie lockhart, WOW! Q3 2024 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest