Her life stories began spilling from her pen in 1999—tears dripping on her writing blurring words on the page. Many have been rewritten and become published essays—a few with WOW! Women on Writing, of which she is grateful. Her memoir continues to be a work-in-progress—she’s lost count of the multiple titles and the times she’s called it finished. But her current study of the origins of patriarchy, the myths and misogyny, and how being raised to put men first is the underlying element not yet developed in her memoir.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest and feels it’s wasted on her since she’s not a big nature person. She’s less about what’s out there; more about what’s in here. But she does venture out for walks and occasional hikes with her partner of twelve years.
Her published essays and digital art can be found on her website www.carolovenburg.com.
--interview by Marcia Peterson
WOW: Congratulations on winning first place in our Q2 2025 Creative Nonfiction essay competition! What inspired you to write your entry, “The Goddamn Ceiling?”
Carol: I had joined other writers in a Zoom three-hour planning workshop and decided to use my time to write. I didn’t know ahead of time that I would write this little story about cleaning the ceiling. It must have been hanging out in the back of my mind while, of late, reading about the origins of patriarchy. As I wrote it, I began to see ceiling and ladder as metaphors and the story took on a fuller meaning for me. It was an aha moment and I ran with it. It wasn’t until I was almost finished with the rewrite that I played around with the structure.
WOW: What is the most difficult part of your writing process?
Carol: First, that I’ve written something worth reading.
Second, that I can turn my writing into something worth reading—something I’m proud of. I’ll remember what my writing mentor said—it’s not what you write but how you write it. In the re-write, I’ll focus on craft. This is perhaps the most difficult part of writing well, but it’s also the most fun—to look at the many ways you can say something without choking it to death.
WOW: You’ve been on a memoir writing journey, and I’m sure you’ve learned a lot along the way. Is there a particular memoir you think everyone needs to read?
Carol: Yes. There are a few. I think any memoirist needs to read Jeannette Walls’s, The Glass Castle and Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club: A Memoir. These two books were my first reads when I started writing memoir. I also love the more hybrid works—non-fiction mixed with memoir like Fire and Stone by Priscilla Long. Her book inspired how I want to re-write parts of my memoir. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Chelsey Clammer’s Human Heartbeat Detected, a powerful little book of memoir moments in essays. I read the stories. I study the structure of these memoirs. Right now, I’m re-reading Steven King’s On Writing - A memoir of the Craft because there’s good stuff in there about writing well.
WOW: In your bio, you also mention that you’re an Argentine Tango social dancer, traveling to various cities around the country. What do you think people might not know or may want to know about Argentine tango dancing?
Carol: This is a huge question, one that requires a lot of pages to answer. I’ll try to make it short. Bear with me.
People come to tango for a lot of reasons and often quit because it’s more difficult a dance than they thought it would be. It’s one of those dances that can (and usually will) reveal our deepest fears—insecurities, social awkwardness/anxiety, addictions, inappropriate attractions, breakups, jealousy, etc. I’ve been through most of these discordant emotions while learning this medium of creative expression, and I persevere because I know there is great depth to this dance. I feel deep connection and joy and humility and fun allowing my body to be in the flow with my partner, with the music, with the floor, completely in the moment, present, and complete. I also relish the social life tango events bring. I adore my tango sisters. There’s so much to tango that you will rarely find a group of tangueras and tangueros talking together about anything other than tango.
One thing people might not know about Argentine tango is it’s an improvised dance. We do learn sequences and steps, but the dance is never the same from one song to the next. The music generally dictates the improvisation. The same way a mood or circumstance dictates the words and phrases we use to form sentences that take on different meanings. This, to me is Argentine tango—a vehicle for surprise.
WOW: Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Carol. Before you go, do you have any tips for our readers who may be thinking about entering writing contests?
Carol: I’d say enter, but before you enter, make sure your essay is as clean as possible. If you don’t have a good writing group who can edit your piece before sending it in, you might want to spring for a critique, if offered by the contest. I find the critiques extremely helpful.
And, read prior winners to learn what your contest is interested in publishing.
So enter if you can—it’s good medicine.
And don’t let rejections discourage you. They’re your friends.
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