If you haven't done so already, check out Olivia's award-winning story "Contagious" and then return here for a chat with the author.
WOW: Congratulations on placing third in the Q2 2025 Essay Contest! How did you begin writing your essay and how did it and your writing processes evolve as you wrote?
Olivia: When my husband and I started thinking about having a fourth baby, I kept having this recurring thought – what if it's a girl? Most people would assume that a mom of three boys would want a daughter, and I did, but I was also nervous. Was I ready to usher another person into womanhood? Despite being a relatively experienced parent, it was something I had not had to face before. In my opinion, the experience of being a woman, and all the beautiful and challenging parts to it, is unique and different from the road my sons will walk. It's a path forged by the women that came before me, that I continue to trek while holding my daughter's hand. This essay was an exploration of the fears and insecurities I harbored while pregnant with her. She is here now, almost one, and a constant source of joy for all of us. When I read this essay now, I know that I've already evolved past so much of what I felt then. I'm glad I took the time to put the feelings into words and put those words on paper. This piece came together in a WOW course called "Writing is Revising" with Chelsey Clammer. I could not have done it with the help of my classmates and Chelsey's careful edits.
WOW: I think that reading your own personal essays years later is rewarding in many ways, and you’ve captured that feeling so well here. Thank you for sharing your experience with that. What did you learn about yourself or your writing by creating this essay?
Olivia: It took a lot of vulnerability to write this piece. I've always had a hunch that vulnerable essays resonate the most – and this piece proved that for me. It was originally published by Anti-Heroin Chic. They were so kind and supportive. And since coming in third in this contest, I've had other readers reach out to thank me for my honesty. I hope to continue to push the bounds of my own comfort while writing nonfiction in the future. It's where I find my best work.
WOW: Yes, it’s that honesty in personal writing that captures an audience’s attention and makes it resonate. You mention in your bio that you appreciate gut-wrenching prose, which I believe can be tied to honest writing. How would you define “gut-wrenching prose” and what draws you to it?
Olivia: The thing about "gut-wrenching prose" is that you know it when you see it. For me, it's pieces like Claudia Monpere's "The Violence of Grape Popsicles in the Fall," published in trampset. When I first read that piece, it literally took my breath away. I seek it out even still for inspiration, and to once again feel that original sense of awe. When writers manage to have all threads come together in the end, and keep the reader engaged all the way through, I'm always blown away.
WOW: Which creative nonfiction essays or writers have inspired you most, and in what ways did they inspire you?
Olivia: I happen to work closely with a brilliant essayist. My writing partner, Kaci Neves, manages to make the mundane both engaging and profound. See her essay for Bon Apetit, "Dining and Dreaming at the Blind Salamander RV Park", for a good example. I have the good fortune of reading lots of her work before it gets published, so I know firsthand that she has a lot of wonderful pieces coming out soon.
WOW: What a joy to have a writing partner who inspires you! If you could tell your younger self anything about writing, what would it be?
Olivia: My younger self was always sure she missed the boat. I was always, somehow, just a hair too old in my estimation to have any real writing success. Finally, in my thirties, I realized what a fallacy that was. The moment is now, the opportunities are there, and my age doesn't matter. My words do. The beauty of aging is the wisdom that comes with it.
WOW: I love that advice! Thank you for sharing your writing with us and for your thoughtful responses. Happy writing!
Interviewed by Anne Greenawalt, founder and 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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