Anne Penniston Grunsted is a native Missourian who now calls San Diego home. Her writing focuses on parenting a son with a disability and healing from childhood trauma. She lives with her wife and son and various cats and dogs.
You can read her award winning piece of creative nonfiction HERE.
Interview by Jodi M. Webb
WOW: Congratulations on being a runner-up in the Q3 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest with "The Diagnosis". What made you choose this essay to enter in the contest?
Anne: I read past winning essays and was really impressed by the urgency of the writers’ voices. I selected an essay of my own that I felt had some of the same qualities. Much of my writing tends to go down the winding lane of introspection but this one, I felt, was much more in the moment - letting the action do the job of self-searching.
WOW: I think we all feel inspired by reading the winning entries, hoping to find that winning quality in our own writing. In your bio, you mentioned that much of your writing is about several challenges in your life. I'm curious about how you came to that focus. Were you a writer who developed a focus on your challenges or did you begin writing as a way to help you deal with your challenges?
Anne: I’ve always been a writer first. I just think that the challenging aspects of life are those that are most interesting to share with others. Which isn’t to say, of course, that writing hasn’t been a form of therapy for me, because it definitely has.
WOW: I think most of us can agree that we've used writing as therapy at one time or another. The problem for me is that my struggles often involve other people and I struggle with sharing writing that includes the story of other people's lives. Do you get permission or give a "heads up" to family/friends if they are in your essays?
Anne: I don’t ask my partner anymore. I think we have a good understanding of what can be shared. I do, however, struggle with writing about my son and have over the years reduced what I share about him because he’s got limited communication and can’t give his full permission for me talk about him.
WOW: What is the most difficult part of writing?
Anne: For me the most difficult part of writing is to trust the story I’m telling. It’s easy for me to go down the path of over explanation and not allow the events of the story to take their place in center stage.
WOW: I like that idea "allow the events to take center stage". Tell us a little bit about your life when you aren't writing.
Anne: I recently had a new challenge come my way - a cancer diagnosis. So right now I’m not writing but rather working on my recovery.
WOW: Thank you for taking time out of your recovery to share some thoughts about writing with us. I'm sure I speak for the entire WOW community when I say we wish you strength and success in your recovery.
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