WOW: Congratulations on placing as a runner up in our Winter 2025 Flash Fiction competition. What prompted you to enter the contest?
Katie: I entered the contest because I’ve been challenging myself to be braver in my writing this year. I wanted to take more creative risks, put my work out there, and see what could happen. This felt like the perfect opportunity to do just that.
WOW: Can you tell us what encouraged the idea behind your story, “Cynical Cake?”
Katie: I began working on this story years ago after witnessing an adult say something to a child that seemed to quietly take the wind out of their sails. It stuck with me, and I started thinking about how those seemingly small moments can linger in a child’s memory—how they’re absorbed, carried, and eventually recounted, sometimes years later, in unexpected ways. From there, my imagination took over, and a story was born.
WOW: We’d love to know more about your writing routines. Could you tell us when and where you usually write? Do you have favorite tools or habits that get you going?
Katie: I write daily—almost always in the late morning, afternoon, or late at night. My mind seems to wake up slowly; I spend the early part of the day absorbing and observing everything around me. By mid-morning to late afternoon, the gears start turning, and that’s when stories begin to form. It’s a rhythm that feels natural to me—living first, then writing from what lingers.
WOW: Are you working on any writing projects right now? What’s next for you?
Katie: I’m in the final stages of a labor of love: a hybrid novel that blends anecdotal, memoir-style reflections rooted in middle-aged womanhood and motherhood with a second half that shifts into entirely fictional storytelling. It’s a work that reflects both my lived experience and my imagination. A guiding phrase throughout my writing—and one that feels especially true for this project—is: “permission to wonder and wander.” Additionally, I just published an educational chapbook with Bottlecap Press entitled Margins of the Mind. That's a reflection of my first love in life, which is the classroom.
WOW: Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Katie. Before you go, do you have a favorite writing tip or piece of advice you can share?
Katie: Everything you write is valuable—every experience and every word is usable in some way, shape, or form. Stories like “Cynical Cake” sometimes need to sit for a while, collect a little dust, before they can be revisited and rewritten with a fresher perspective and renewed point of view. So, keep it all. Most importantly, feel the fear, but don’t let it stop you from sharing your work. I’m finding so much joy in facing fear head-on because on the other side lies gratitude and confidence.
WOW: Can you tell us what encouraged the idea behind your story, “Cynical Cake?”
Katie: I began working on this story years ago after witnessing an adult say something to a child that seemed to quietly take the wind out of their sails. It stuck with me, and I started thinking about how those seemingly small moments can linger in a child’s memory—how they’re absorbed, carried, and eventually recounted, sometimes years later, in unexpected ways. From there, my imagination took over, and a story was born.
WOW: We’d love to know more about your writing routines. Could you tell us when and where you usually write? Do you have favorite tools or habits that get you going?
Katie: I write daily—almost always in the late morning, afternoon, or late at night. My mind seems to wake up slowly; I spend the early part of the day absorbing and observing everything around me. By mid-morning to late afternoon, the gears start turning, and that’s when stories begin to form. It’s a rhythm that feels natural to me—living first, then writing from what lingers.
WOW: Are you working on any writing projects right now? What’s next for you?
Katie: I’m in the final stages of a labor of love: a hybrid novel that blends anecdotal, memoir-style reflections rooted in middle-aged womanhood and motherhood with a second half that shifts into entirely fictional storytelling. It’s a work that reflects both my lived experience and my imagination. A guiding phrase throughout my writing—and one that feels especially true for this project—is: “permission to wonder and wander.” Additionally, I just published an educational chapbook with Bottlecap Press entitled Margins of the Mind. That's a reflection of my first love in life, which is the classroom.
WOW: Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Katie. Before you go, do you have a favorite writing tip or piece of advice you can share?
Katie: Everything you write is valuable—every experience and every word is usable in some way, shape, or form. Stories like “Cynical Cake” sometimes need to sit for a while, collect a little dust, before they can be revisited and rewritten with a fresher perspective and renewed point of view. So, keep it all. Most importantly, feel the fear, but don’t let it stop you from sharing your work. I’m finding so much joy in facing fear head-on because on the other side lies gratitude and confidence.
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