--interview by Marcia Peterson
WOW: Congratulations on placing as a runner up in our Q 2025 Creative Nonfiction essay competition! What prompted you to enter the contest?
Wendy: Thank you so much! This was actually my third time entering WOW's Quarterly CNF competition. The first time I was long-listed (a deliciously inspiring carrot dangling that suggested maybe this writing thing would work out); the second time...crickets. That essay was an attempt at humor, but deciphering why it didn't land provided a wonderful teaching moment. Lesson learned: don't sacrifice the tenants of good personal essay writing for "the bit." The structure was all over the place with no universal takeaway. I hoped to redeem myself, so I tried again. I'm delighted this effort connected in some way with the judges, and I hope it will with readers at large as well.
WOW: “Escapism: Leaning into My Inner Octopus” is an entertaining and encouraging essay (especially for those of us who might want to lean a little more in this direction). What inspired you to write this particular piece?
Wendy: Ha, wow I'm so happy to hear that a gelatenous escape artist inspired the WOW team, too! I can't remember how I came across the story of Inky, but his need to find a more suitable home resonated like an islander blowing a conch shell straight into my ear. Since I left on a year (or so) of slow travel several months ago, I've taken to referring to myself as an American escapee--a little in the sense that I'm running away from a country I no longer recognize until the listing ship rights itself, but mostly because I feel as if I've cast off the constraints of "normal" western-culture life for the freedom of experiencing the rest of the world. Once I began writing about the octopus' journey in relation to my own, other connections surfaced. I hadn't originally planned to include my years as a dancer-slash-magician's assistant, but it made so much sense when it showed up on the page. As did the side bar into the self-preservation getaways we women often have to employ. That tiny nugget allowed me to sneak in a universality that I presumed Women on Writing's (primarily) female readers might recognize in themselves, or a friend or family member. That at various times any and all of us can be escape artists.
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?
Wendy: Thank you so much! This was actually my third time entering WOW's Quarterly CNF competition. The first time I was long-listed (a deliciously inspiring carrot dangling that suggested maybe this writing thing would work out); the second time...crickets. That essay was an attempt at humor, but deciphering why it didn't land provided a wonderful teaching moment. Lesson learned: don't sacrifice the tenants of good personal essay writing for "the bit." The structure was all over the place with no universal takeaway. I hoped to redeem myself, so I tried again. I'm delighted this effort connected in some way with the judges, and I hope it will with readers at large as well.
WOW: “Escapism: Leaning into My Inner Octopus” is an entertaining and encouraging essay (especially for those of us who might want to lean a little more in this direction). What inspired you to write this particular piece?
Wendy: Ha, wow I'm so happy to hear that a gelatenous escape artist inspired the WOW team, too! I can't remember how I came across the story of Inky, but his need to find a more suitable home resonated like an islander blowing a conch shell straight into my ear. Since I left on a year (or so) of slow travel several months ago, I've taken to referring to myself as an American escapee--a little in the sense that I'm running away from a country I no longer recognize until the listing ship rights itself, but mostly because I feel as if I've cast off the constraints of "normal" western-culture life for the freedom of experiencing the rest of the world. Once I began writing about the octopus' journey in relation to my own, other connections surfaced. I hadn't originally planned to include my years as a dancer-slash-magician's assistant, but it made so much sense when it showed up on the page. As did the side bar into the self-preservation getaways we women often have to employ. That tiny nugget allowed me to sneak in a universality that I presumed Women on Writing's (primarily) female readers might recognize in themselves, or a friend or family member. That at various times any and all of us can be escape artists.
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?
Wendy: Oh boy, this one's a doozy. The joy and down side of full-time travel is the utter lack of routine. As slow travelers, my husband and I try to stay in one place for three to four weeks at a time, which allows me to work writing into the day, usually in the morning before we start sightseeing or supermarket trips or whatever's on for that day. But travel days can be insanely busy, so I take advantage of Sitting Still times. I've crafted my weekly Substack essays and query submissions on planes, trains, and automobiles--no joke. A four-hour bus ride through Portugal? Great time to write (except, perhaps, for the lack of space as I inadvertantly elbow my husband beside me while my fingers fly across my keyboard...sorry, Babe). I'd love to crow how disciplined I am, waking at dawn to grab a mug of coffee, a quick meditation to get the creative juices flowing, then chaining myself to my laptop until at least 1500 words appear onscreen. I ain't that gal. I write when my brain has deciphered and organized its whirling thoughts enough for my fingers to work, then I keep at it until the mud clears and I start making actual sense of the piece. Maybe someday I'll stick to a routine. One can only hope.
WOW: What writing projects are you working on right now? What’s next for you?
Wendy: I am deep in the query trenches at the moment, submitting my debut memoir about that time I moved to the Bahamas right as their worst hurricane in history wiped out the island--and I was stranded there with my husband. Think EAT, PRAY, LOVE meets THE PERFECT STORM, but with survivors. That event actually launched our current nomadic life, with a brief (four year) interlude of living on the water, cruising the islands full-time except during hurricane season, of course, when we'd tie up to a dock--stuck, waiting for our next escape. While waiting for busy agents to reply, I contribute weekly essays to my Substack, "Moving Forward", where I share adventures and lessons learned from the road and muse about midlife reinvention and other escapist-centric topics. I'm always noodling about travel articles I can pitch, or essays I think might work for other contests or literary outlets, or chapter ideas for my next memoir, a study of a three-generation mother/daughter/dance teacher legacy I'm co-writing with my daughter. (She's generation three.)
WOW: Best of luck with your memoir submissions! Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Wendy. Before you go, can you share a favorite writing tip or piece of advice?
Wendy: I only started my writing journey a few years ago, so it seems insane for me to be offering advice to anyone since I still consider myself an emerging writer. Though with each byline published and contest recognition, I'm slowly accepting the notion that I'm inching closer to Capital-E Emerging Writer, like I've earned an official title. I can, however, echo an oft-recommended piece of advice that has worked wonders for me: Read your work out loud at some point during the editing process. Prior to querying, I read my memoir manuscript to my visually-impaired mother--a central character in the book--and I was shocked at the typos, missing words, and clunky sentences in my so-called "final" version despite rounds and rounds of proofreading edits. Amazing how those little devils can sneak by. As for a favorite writing tip, I think as a memoirist or writer working in the personal essay space, the most important thing to keep in mind is the "So what?" question. Why does this essay need to be released into the wild? What's the takeaway for the reader? I think keeping that universality and writing not only for us to discover greater truths about ourselves, but for also the reader (dare I say humanity as a whole?) is the best way to avoid falling into the dreaded navel-gazing trap. I'd add keeping a little sense of humor, not taking ourselves too seriously, can help keep us grounded and maybe even boost self-confidence. You know, that high-value commodity writers always wrestle with. Thank you for this amazing opportunity. I'm humbled to be selected among such wonderful women writers and grateful WOW! provides a dedicated space for our work.
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