----------Interview by Renee Roberson
WOW: Congratulations, Kendra, and welcome! I know "Feelings Feeler Job Description" and its structure within a hermit crab essay will resonate with so many people, particularly women! How did you first get the idea to structure this as a job opening/description?
Kendra: I started writing hermit crab essays in a workshop with Chelsey Clammer that I found through WOW. It was my first time playing with the form, and I had so much fun seeing what could happen when you put something very personal inside a structure that was never meant to hold it. For this one, the idea was pretty simple: I didn’t want to feel my feelings. There was (and still is) so much going on in my life, so much "doing" that needed to be done, that I wished I could just outsource the "being" or feeling part of life. I thought it would be funny to create a job posting looking for someone willing to do that for me.
WOW: I love it. It's such a unique idea that nails the everyday internal conflicts within us all. How did the piece evolve from start to finish? What was the revision process like for you?
Kendra: I love Anne Lamott's idea of the "shitty first draft," and I often start with a pretty shitty rough draft. I brain-dump everything I’ve been thinking about the idea, see what I’ve got, and then keep taking notes as more things occur to me over the next few days. With this essay, having the form helped enormously. Once I started looking at the actual elements of a job posting—qualifications, responsibilities, compensation—I could explore the comedic possibilities within each one. Then revision was mostly cutting, tightening, and trusting the form to do more of the work.
WOW: You've studied writing screenplays and completed two of your own. How is writing for the screen different from other creative writing you’ve worked on? What is the process like for you?
Kendra: Screenwriting may be the ultimate box to work within, which I love. It has very specific rules for clear communication because you’re essentially trying to make a visual art form make sense on paper. You can’t simply tell us what someone is thinking; you have to give us something we can see or hear. I love dialogue, and I studied improv at the Groundlings when I lived in Los Angeles, so that part comes naturally to me. Plot is usually where the characters start making unreasonable demands.
WOW: How fun! Studying improv must have been very helpful to your overall writing process. What advice would you give other aspiring writers who are hesitant about submitting their work to writing contests?
Kendra: Done is better than perfect. Especially at first, I’m a big believer in paying for feedback from reputable places like WOW when it’s available. Submit, get the feedback, make the edits that ring true, and do it again. Lately I’ve tried to redefine failure for myself: failure isn’t submitting and not winning. Failure is letting something sit on my computer because I was too afraid to submit it at all.
WOW: That is such truth. Sometimes the toughest hurdle to get over is simply putting a piece out in the world. We can tell by your essay that your life is jam packed. How do you prioritize the time to work on your own writing projects, including your current novel?
Kendra: It comes and goes in waves. I got very little writing done during the second half of this summer, and eventually I had to accept that that was simply what that season of my life looked like. Now that my daughter is back in school, I can carve out more time again. I’m a mom and a real estate agent, so I’ve mostly given up waiting for the perfect writing routine. I try to protect the time when it’s available, stay connected to whatever I’m working on when it isn’t, and trust that I’ll find my way back to it.
WOW: That's all we can do! Thank you again for joining us today, Kendra. We look forward to reading more from you!
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