I'm honored to interview Brigid Boettler, one of our Summer '25 Flash Fiction Runner Up winners. We'll be chatting about the history that inspired her flash fiction story, "Girl Problems," her experiences entering contests, and more.
Before you read our discussion, be sure to read her story, "Girl Problems," then come on back. First, here's more about Brigid:
Brigid is a global health professional turned stay-at-home mom to twins. When she isn’t chipping playdough from couches or chauffeuring kids to ninja class, Brigid works on women-led grassroots initiatives in Northeast Ohio. Creative writing is her throughline as she navigates motherhood in an era of chaos and climate change. Brigid placed in the Top 10 in the WOW! 2025 Q2 Creative Nonfiction competition, and her children’s stories have made the shortlist in the 2024 WriteMentor Novel & Picture Book Awards and the 2025 Cheshire Novel Prize Kids Top 100.
-- Interview by Nicole Pyles
WOW: First of all, congrats on winning runner up! At the start of your story, it's shared that your flash fiction piece is "inspired by the survivors of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries." Can you tell us a bit about that history for our readers, and why you were inspired to write about that history?
Brigid: Ugh, it’s a devastating piece of history. The Magdalene Laundries were workhouses for “fallen” women and girls in Ireland (though there were some in the U.S. as well). They were run by a handful of Catholic orders from the late 1700s through to 1996 – essentially a 200-hundred-year legacy of oppression and abuse. To show how recent their operation was, Sinéad O’Connor spent time in a Dublin laundry at the age of 14 after being labeled a “problem child”. The Irish government was also involved, with state agencies committing women and girls to the workhouses and lucrative laundry contracts coming in from public services like hospitals and barracks.
Many of the women and girls were committed against their will and endured long hours of unpaid labor and often physical and psychological abuse. Particularly confounding is that much of the trauma was inflicted by nuns – women who themselves endured the misogyny of male-led religious and social systems.
Just as tragically, the narratives of the Magdalene women and girls were mostly silenced in the aftermath. I would encourage readers to visit jfmresearch.com, which is an excellent resource to learn more about the laundries from those directly affected by them. In particular, the Magdalene Oral History Project houses testimonies given by laundry survivors. The platform shares these long-silenced accounts in the hope that they “may form the basis for future essays, books, documentaries and creative artworks.”
I myself am Irish American. My great grandparents were Irish immigrants, and I’ve seen firsthand the trauma of colonial and religious oppression that permeates through generations, most especially for women. So when I came upon the Magdalene Oral History Project I was inspired by the portion of its mission that seeks to amplify unspoken history through creative works. Female suffering is too often diminished as silly or inconvenient “girl problems”, but we take back the narrative when we speak it out or write it down.
WOW: That's such important history you brought to light. I feel like you have an incredible gift of making sure each word had meaning and impact in your fiction. What was your process to add such prolific, detailed, and poetic descriptions and imagery throughout your piece?
Brigid: It feels good to hear that, because for so long that was a real weak point in my writing! I used to think that lush descriptions required a lot of fancy words, and I would often suffocate the impact of a piece with layers of unnecessary description. In terms of meaning, I would climb on a soapbox and project my message in a way that would end up coming across as cringe-worthy.
I started to find a better process after reading ‘See How Small’ by Scott Blackwood. His writing felt like verbal watercolor – vivid but soft and immersive, spreading everywhere but still creating a clear picture. His writing lived in my mind in this grandiose way and then one day I went back and reread a favorite piece from the novel and realized how few words he had actually used to create what was such grand imagery in my mind. It finally hit me that if you just use a handful of powerful words, it will cue the reader to build the rest of the image in their mind. That really helped me trust the impact of a smaller word count. In terms of meaning (and not projecting from a soapbox), I’m still a work in progress…but I think messages are most authentic when shaped by action and emotion, and always with a ‘less is more’ mindset. ‘Girl Problems is my first attempt at flash fiction, and it was a fun way to force myself to bring the creative ‘umph’ using a smaller word count.
WOW: How impressive it's your first attempt! I love seeing in your bio that you do grassroots initiatives in NE Ohio! Can you tell us a bit more about those initiatives and how they inspire your fiction?
Brigid: I’m lucky enough to be part of a wonderful (and sometimes snarky) coalition of female community organizers and activists here in NE Ohio. We focus our efforts on creating and amplifying the platforms of local women in leadership, breaking down voting rights barriers for historically disenfranchised communities, and supporting voter-led referendums to protect the rights of all Ohioans. The work involves a lot of door-knocking, signature collecting, and community education, which is NOT within my introverted writer comfort zone, but it’s a reminder in these polarized and disconnected times that in-person conversation and community connections are the only way we will figure out solutions that help EVERYone. From a writing perspective, the more people you talk to – and really listen to – in real life, the more material you have for your writing. My advocacy work has definitely exposed me to so many mindsets and outside experiences that I could never have otherwise brought into my writing.
WOW: That's so valuable. Also congrats on placing in the top 10 of our nonfiction competition! Are you pulled more towards nonfiction or fiction or both? And why?
Brigid: Thank you! These competitions were my first real attempt at essay-writing, and I’m so grateful to have found a platform as wonderful as WOW! to learn from. I think creative nonfiction is the most natural form of writing for me. But fiction is this truly unlimited vehicle for exploring the world and what it is to be human, so I really want to get better at writing fiction pieces. I guess I’m pulled to both!
WOW: How cool is that. Where do you like to write the most? Can you share pictures?
Ok, so most of the time I end up writing on my tiny phone screen from a park bench at the playground because, well, motherhood. But when I actually have control of my time, my favorite writing spots are 1) the neighborhood bakery with good WiFi, great coffee, and even greater cinnamon scones; and 2) the sunroom in my hundred-year-old house, from a 19th century tavern table that my dad and I restored together. Photos below :)
WOW: What beautiful places to write! Why did you decide to enter WOW's writing competitions?
Brigid: I decided to enter WOW’s competitions for exactly the same reason I was inspired to write ‘Girl Problems’. It is a platform to amplify voices that aren’t easily heard and to share stories that history often forgets to tell. When I worked in the field of global health we had a saying: “when you invest in a man, you make life better for that man. But when you invest in a woman, you make life better for whole families and communities”. I think that’s true of women in storytelling, too. When you share a female story, you preserve the love, pain, and complexity of the whole human ecosystem.
Thank you, WOW, for building this amazing platform!
WOW: That's so unbelievably true! We're so honored to have you part of our community. Thank you so much for entering our contests. We look forward to seeing more from you!
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