Interview with Julie Hester Runner Up in the 2022 Q1 Creative Non-Fiction Essay Contest with "Lucy's Lips"

 Congratulations to Julie Hester and Lucy's Lips and all the winners of our 2022 Quarter 1 Creative Non-Fiction Essay Contest!

Julie's Bio:

Julie Hester has served progressive faith communities as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church USA, and is a freelance writer specializing in curriculum and faith formation. She leads workshops on writing through grief, and writing as a spiritual practice, and helps others discover the power of writing in company with a supportive group. Scattered in the pages of her composition books and computer files are the beginnings of a memoir, a couple of children’s books, and a novel draft that makes her laugh. Julie lives in North Carolina with a patient spouse, an anxious dog, and an open door for her young adult children to come home. Find out more about her work and subscribe to her weekly writing prompts at www.juliehester.com. This is her first contest submission.

 If you haven't done so already, check out Julie's talent in writing with the touching story Lucy's Lips and then return here for a chat with this talented author. 

WOW: Thank you Julie for sharing your essay. It's so inspiring to hear from our contestants - I always learn something! I'm sure you've got some great tips and tricks to share, so let's get to it!

Where do you write? What does your space look like? 

Julie:  I write all over the house. I have a favorite chair by a window in two different rooms, and I’ve gotten good at switching between my composition notebooks and my computer on my lap. I also have a home office upstairs, but my dopey senior dog Twyla prefers that I write downstairs with her. 

WOW: I love that you've got a companion writing with you - Twyla sounds like a lovely companion! What’s next for you? What are your writing goals for 2022 and beyond? 

Julie: In 2022 my goal is to choose between several ideas for a non-fiction book project, and make some progress on it—either one of two memoir ideas, or a writing guide and devotional for people who are grieving. Or work on the children’s book idea I have. Or pick up my NaNoWriMo fiction book again. Or take a poetry class. Like the space where I write—all over the house—I write all over different genres too. I’d like to actually finish something this year, as well as enjoy the process of writing whatever is most compelling to me in the moment. 

WOW: Sounds like you'll be very busy - all those options and ideas; you certasinly won't be bored!

What role has journaling and/or writer's groups played in your life? 

Julie:  I’ve been a haphazard journaler since my first yellow diary with the lock and key I had in second grade. Half-filled notebooks are my favorite item to collect. I discovered the power of writing in company with others when I reluctantly walked into a one-day writing workshop for bereaved mothers. I was five years past the death of one of my twin sons, and knew I needed some way to process my grief. The group of grieving mothers that met one another that day has now been writing together for nineteen years. We usually meet twice a year for a weekend, but we’ve also traveled to a French chateau, the desert Southwest, and Willa Cather’s Nebraska prairie. We’ve written a book, host a blog, and share what we’ve learned to help others heal. Our group texts have given us all life during the pandemic. My experience with that group of writers led me to train as a facilitator with Amherst Writers & Artists, and I lead online and in-person writing groups where I get to share the power of reflective writing with others. 

WOW: That certainly speaks strongly about the power of journaling and healing. Thank you for sharing in oh so many ways to help others.

This was your first contest submission - tell us what prompted you to submit? What would you like to tell other authors concerning contests and submitting their work? 

Julie: Just do it! It’s terrifying and thrilling at the same time. I’ve been thinking about “someday” for a long time. Someday I’ll polish that piece. Someday I’ll have something good enough. Someday I’ll find the right journal or website. What if today is someday? 

WOW: That right there is worth it's weight in gold - I hope others really follow you're great example!

How did you get started with your weekly writing prompts? What drives you in this arena? 

Julie:  I write better when I have a prompt to get started. My weekly writing prompts are as much for me as for those on my mailing list. They can be a starting point for morning pages, a prose essay, a poem, a journal entry, or an idea that writers just tumble around for a while in our heads until something unexpected comes out later. Choosing prompts to share has become a kind of spiritual practice for me. I’ve learned I need to slow down enough to notice what’s happening around me, and reframe it as inspiration for writing. Like the moment I wrote about in my piece Lucy’s Lips—it could have been gone and forgotten. Instead, the prompt to “write about something seen in a mirror” led to a memory I gratefully captured on paper. 

WOW: This has been so inspiring - thank you ever so much Julie for sharing your essay, and your time with us today! We look forward to more from you in 2022 and beyond! 

  Interviewed by Crystal Otto who just keeps on keeping on!

Check out the latest Contests:

http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php

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Taprina Milburn Writes Through Her Grief, a runner-up in our Quarterly Essay Contest

Taprina Milburn

Welcome to Taprina Milburn who will inspire you with her positive attitude despite her current dealings with grief and empty nest. She has managed to figure out a way to write through her pain, and we are glad she did. You can win her winning essay, "Gifts" here.

Here's a bit about Taprina: In her blog, reimaginingthislife.com, Oklahoma native Taprina Milburn shares stories of family, hope, and faith with readers who are redirecting their lives after big changes, just as she is. Mom of two grown and flown children, she is the author of two books, Scientists Use Rats, I Use My Family (2003) and We’re Not Being Raised Right: And Other Ego-Building Things My Kids Say (2011). She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and has written for newspapers and magazines throughout the years.

Today, she serves as a communications consultant for nonprofits and is working on a master’s degree in family and child studies. She loves to travel to visit her kids and their spouses, and admittedly spends an inordinate amount of time with her six-year-old female golden retriever, Scout, who the kids say is the golden child of the family. They may be right. (Scout has her own Instagram account, @thisgoldenchild).

WOW: Congratulations, Taprina, for being a runner-up in our Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest with your essay, "Gifts." It's about reframing loss after your husband's death, and we first want to say how brave it is for you to write about this subject and share your experience in your essay. The format you chose for this, organizing with four "frames" was very powerful. What made you write your story in this way?

Taprina: The short answer is that placing the gifts in frames helped me to be disciplined in my writing. I could say to myself, “Today, you are only writing within this frame.” It helped to organize my mind because grief can be unpredictable and can have your mind roaming all over the place. The long answer is that I also visualized an actual picture frame. If a picture or memento is important to me, I put it in a frame, hang it on my wall or put it on my fireplace mantel. I don’t want to forget the life I had with my husband; and I also don’t want to forget what I’ve learned and how I’ve grown during this time, even if it is painful. So, symbolically, these gifts/lessons are in a frame in my mind because they are important touchstones.

WOW: I love that the frames served two purposes. Sometimes when a subject is painful or overwhelming, tackling it in small chunks, or frames as you did, is a manageable way to accomplish a goal. Thank you for sharing that tip with us. Do you find writing essays about this time in your life part of your healing journey? Why or why not?

Taprina: Writing essays about this time in my life has not been easy but it has been helpful. My husband has been gone for three years. The first year after he died, I was in shock, felt numb and as if I was walking around in a fog. When I started to write about the experience of my husband’s death and suicide, whether journaling or writing essays, I noticed that I started to feel connected to my heart and emotions again and to think with more clarity. Yes, there is sadness, but putting pen to paper also has helped gratitude to bubble up. And gratitude is a master healer. I’ve always believed that writing helps me to better understand my life, my connection to God, and to others. It is a tool I’m definitely going to continue to use on my grief journey.

WOW: We hear that from so many of our writers. This is also why journaling or morning pages are so helpful to writers. We are also honored you entered our contest with all your great writing and publication success in your bio. Tell us about your books!

Taprina: When my children were small, I wrote a syndicated weekly column called For Sanity’s Sake (which I've always said, tongue-in-cheek, is the reason why I write, for my sanity). The column started out in my hometown paper and was picked up by King Features Syndicate and printed in papers in the United States and Canada. I wrote about the very normal, day-in-day out life of being a wife and mother—sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, but always heartfelt. My favorite feedback from readers was when they said that they could relate as a parent. The two books, Scientists Use Rats, I Use My Family and We’re Not Being Raised Right: And Other Ego Building Things My Kids Say were compilations of the columns I had written over the years. I’m proud of these books because they capture the stories of raising a family with my husband.

WOW: That is amazing. What great success and how exciting that your columns were syndicated and became books! And of course, we must ask about your Golden Retriever and his Instagram account! Do you use this as part of your marketing for your writing or is it a part of your hobbies?

Taprina: Scout, my female golden retriever, just turned six. She is named Scout after the little sister in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird. My kids joke that my husband and I got Scout as an empty-nest-coping-mechanism. They are probably right. She and I didn’t start off on the right foot, though. As a puppy, she ate reading glasses, food from the counter, and library books (this is the abbreviated list). Everyone would tell me to be patient because by three years old, I’d have a really good dog. I wasn’t sure she’d make it to three years. The month my husband died, however, Scout turned three, and by that time she had become a very good companion. I’m not sure what life would be like without her. My kids now call her my golden child, which is why I started Scout an Instagram account @thisgoldenchild. It’s just for fun but, yes, Scout is a very important part of my life and definitely shows up in my writing.

WOW: Look, puppies are no joke! I have one from the Humane Society, a "lab mix" who has to have some hound in her. She keeps me on my toes, and I keep saying to myself, "This will get better." So I can totally understand about Scout! Your story of her getting better at 3 gives me hope. To close, can you tell us about your blog and what's next for you on your writing journey?

Taprina: My blog is called Reimagining. A few months after my husband died, a good friend took me to lunch and told me that one day joy would return but that I would have to use my imagination to reimagine a new life. I respected that advice from her because she was also widowed. The blog is where I go to share stories about rebuilding and reimagining a new life. My hope is that as I put my stories out there about grief, widowhood, empty nest, etc, that someone in a similar situation as I am in may stumble upon it, and it might help them, too. I believe we have to help each other as we learn and grow. As far as my writing journey goes, I am working on a third book of essays (working title: What Now Scout? Reimagining Life with My Golden Child); and one day, I’d love to write a fiction novel. I’d also like to teach a writing class on the importance of writing through grief.

WOW: Taprina, we wish you the best success with your book and your novel. Thank you for providing such personal answers to our questions. We know readers will be able to learn from you and your experiences. You definitely top the list of brave and wonderful women writers. 

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