Yellow Arrow Publishing Blog

Kapua Iao 5/28/24 Kapua Iao 5/28/24

A Song and Dream: My Writing Process by Amaya Lambert

By Amaya Lambert, written February 2024

It begins with a song and then a dream.

I choose a song that stirs something within me, something that rattles my bones and plucks the strings of my heart. And when a song is chosen, a dream occurs, and a singular image appears to me that embodies the entire story I want to tell.

There’s nothing more that I love than sinking my teeth into a new idea, meticulously uncovering the secrets of a story, and putting it onto paper. My writing process is complicated, and I don’t fully understand it, only that my brain, while sleeping, seems to be dreamier and more vivid, grasping concrete ideas and breaking them down into themes and messages.

If I were told that I had to explain it in simpler terms, then perhaps I would say that I am an emotional writer, a writer that focuses on the inner aspect of stories that entwines the concept of their writing with a particular theme and identity.

I call what I write introspective fantasy. I love to write fantasy and add contemplative elements throughout the story.

My writing process involves deep meditation, a solitude mindscape that I only have access to. Yes, it typically starts with a song, a song that is elevating and emboldening, a song that unravels on its own and becomes a story. It comes out as fragments for me, pieces of a puzzle not yet complete, that I will put together into a finished story.

My writing process comes in five steps.

Step One: Choose Songs/Music

This is the structure of my writing process. This is where I begin to write.

I already explained the song selection. So, I won’t go into too much detail, but I can tell you the type of songs that are usually chosen for my stories. I go for calmer, emotional, and swelling songs. If they are upbeat and/or the lyrics run deep, I consider them perfect for both introspective and lyricism.

Some of my favorite songs to write to are:

“First Love” by Hikaru Utada
“Above the Chinese Restaurant” by Laufey
“Anna,” from the When Marnie Was There soundtrack by Yomirui Nippon Symphony Orchestra
“Merry-Go-Round of Life,” from the Howl’s Moving Castle soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi
“Enchanted Life” by Samantha James
“Dreamer” by TOMORROW X TOGETHER

Music is integral to my process. I can’t write without it.

Step Two: Dream

Then, my dreams will pair off with the music. I close my eyes and imagine my characters interacting with the world based on the intensity and lyrics of the song. When I open my eyes, I grab my phone and write down my dreams.

Usually, I write only a couple of sentences, nothing too big as it is meant for expansion.

“Dreamer” by TOMORROW X TOGETHER invokes this image of tiny stars floating about and the ripples of the milky night sky.

“Anna” from the When Marnie Was There soundtrack invokes the spring, clear ponds, long grass, and a young girl staring out into the distance. Longing. Yearning.

Step Three: Look for Aesthetics

Next, I look for aesthetics.

I am the daughter of artists and there’s nothing that makes my dream come to life more than looking up photos, quotes, concepts, and direction. I have a Pinterest account filled to the brim with secret writing/topic boards. I typically name them after a certain concept I want the story to convey. For example, one of my Pinterest boards is titled ‘divine,’ where I can explore spirituality and religion, especially when it comes to women.

My Pinterest boards show various concepts I’m playing with, for example, photos meant to represent certain themes, certain characters. I browse through the app, spending a lot of time sorting together a moodboard for my story. Once I’m satisfied with the board, I’ll leave it alone for a bit, though the board will likely go through several changes as the idea for my story comes into fruition. My current board destiny has three different names: kiss me goodbye, wishes, and oracle.

My mind is constantly moving, the gears turning for hours, I can’t go to sleep without being able to think about something.

Step Four: Finalize the Themes

Once I finish my board, I go deeper into the story. See, I like reading novels and dissecting themes. It is fascinating how many layers of complexity an author can write into their story. Concepts stacked upon concepts, intertwining messages. This is one of my favorite parts of my writing process.

I look up a list of literary themes and correlate them with the story I want to tell. My head buzzes with excitement as I read down, eyes scanning for the perfect piece.

For one of my works in progress, I have down identity, womanhood, religion, the role of man and woman, corruption, and love.

And once it is complete, I go to my final step.

Step Five: Add My Identity

Writers tend to put a piece of themselves in every story they create. It is almost alchemic, like pricking your finger and using the blood as the last final ingredient.

I am integral to my story; my identity is integral to the process as whatever stage of development I am in usually influences my writing. For both of my work in progress, I am currently developing the theme of identity and finding your place in the world, as this is something I am thinking about for myself.

As a young Black woman, I believe my perspective of the world is quite unique, and my view of certain themes and concepts differs from the norm. I tried to write like others, write like the authors I grew up reading; imitate their styles and viewpoints, but my writing dulled. The tip of the pencil was flat, barely making any marks, as I carefully tried to trace the words of others.

I grew stagnant, colorless, until I realized the missing component: me.

I remember a conversation with my father who pushed me to write stories about people who looked like me. I was hesitant, but eventually, I came around, and now my mind is full of possibilities for potential stories. I want to write stories for my people, for young Black girls who dream too big.

Our stories are shadowed, pushed to the sidelines. I wish to bring them to the forefront. I research Greek mythology and notice the similarities of the women in myths to Black women. I notice how I can spin the myths into a fresh, intriguing concept with a Black person on the cover because we aren’t usually centered in those retellings.

And once I put myself into my progress, once I intertwined writing with my identity; only then did it grow.

And this is my writing progress. This is what I do before I sit down and pump out words. It is important to me that these steps are followed, because without them, I wouldn’t know what to do, nor would I know what to write.

Amaya Lambert is a senior at Towson University, studying English and creative writing. She loves a good book, slow music, and tasty food. When she isn’t reading, she’s writing, lost in her inner world. Amaya tutored for her high school’s writing center and the elementary school across from it. One of her proudest accomplishments is winning second place in a writing competition in the seventh grade.

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Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women-identifying writers through publication and access to the literary arts. You can support us as we AMPLIFY women-identifying creatives this year by purchasing one of our publications or a workshop from the Yellow Arrow bookstore, for yourself or as a gift, joining our newsletter, following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, or subscribing to our YouTube channel. Donations are appreciated via PayPal (staff@yellowarrowpublishing.com), Venmo (@yellowarrowpublishing), or US mail (PO Box 65185, Baltimore, Maryland 21209). More than anything, messages of support through any one of our channels are greatly appreciated.

Kapua Iao 5/21/24 Kapua Iao 5/21/24

The Thing I Needed but Didn’t Know Why I Needed It: Reflecting on the ELEVATE Issue

By Jennifer N. Shannon

When Yellow Arrow Publishing Editor-in-Chief, Kapua Iao, emailed me asking if I’d take on the role of guest editor for Yellow Arrow Journal’s spring 2024 issue (Vol. IX, No. 1), without much thought I said yes.

1)     Yes, because it was Yellow Arrow; I used to be on the board, and I have deep respect for the organization and its mission.
2)     It would allow me to be immersed in other people’s writing, given that my own writing had been stagnant.
3)     I’d be the guest editor for a literary journal . . . how many times would I get that chance? Of course, I said yes.

After I sent the Yellow Arrow team several possibilities, the theme that was chosen was ELEVATE. It was right up my alley. Elevate means “to raise or lift (something) up to a higher position,” which is what I had been trying to do in my life and career. There was no better time for me to explore the subject for myself, than through the lens of others.

Once the call for submissions went out, my immersion into other women’s work was busy and delightful. I read with a hunger I hadn’t had in a while. I was blown away by the talent I was witnessing and happy that I would be the one to make the final selections, and that I’d get to fulfill my vision for ELEVATE.

So much of what I was craving for myself I found in the words I read, the artwork I saw, and the collaborations with the Yellow Arrow readers, who were heads down, also reading and exploring the 181 submissions sent in. I was inspired to write and pursue my own dreams more wholly just as the women who sent in their work were doing. Even if writing wasn’t full time for them, I realized that it was the kind of elevation I was looking for: to hike a mountain and reach its summit, aka start a new venture called Creative Communion and make sure I get to the top.

I’ve refined my writing skills and reaffirmed several truths during my time as guest editor for Yellow Arrow Journal:

1)     I figured out how to meet deadlines even though my world already seemed overwhelmed with time constraints.
2)     I was reminded that putting in the work of sitting down and writing is what creates the space and energy for more writing, and more ideas.
3)     I realized that my intuition is still undefeated. Whenever I’ve trusted my gut over what others wanted or thought was best, things have always worked out better than imagined. The same is true for ELEVATE.

Becoming a guest editor and working on every aspect of the issue has done so much to move me forward while pushing me to take chances in my creative life. This experience was exactly what I needed to be doing to jump start my writing and to encourage me to create the things I want to see in the world.

I’m thankful to Yellow Arrow Publishing for this opportunity. I’m also grateful for the incredible women-identifying creatives who furnished the stories and artwork for this awesome issue. My hope is that everyone who reads ELEVATE will be inspired to pursue something more wholly, push fear out of the window and soar.

If you haven’t already got your copy, order ELEVATE at yellowarrowpublishing.com/store/yellow-arrow-journal-elevate-paperback. Thank you for supporting independent publishing.

Jennifer N. Shannon has published three books: Silent Teardrops; for the LOVE, short stories and poems, vol. 1; and for the LOVE, short stories and poems, vol. 2. Her poetry, short stories, photographs, and essays have been in an anthology and literary magazines, including North Dakota Quarterly, Yellow Arrow Journal, Deep South Magazine, Auburn Avenue, and others. Jennifer was a 2022 Baker Artist Awards finalist, a poetry fellow at the Watering Hole, and in 2023, she was selected as a Maryland State Arts Council Triennial Artist for Literary Arts. Jennifer is a proud South Carolinian and Gamecock who lives in Maryland with her son and fiancé. Visit jennifernshannon.com or follow her @writerjns on Instagram and Facebook.

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Kapua Iao 5/14/24 Kapua Iao 5/14/24

Meet a Staff Member: Leticia Priebe Rocha

Yellow Arrow Publishing would like to (re)introduce Leticia Priebe Rocha, a reader for Yellow Arrow publications. Leticia is a poet, visual artist, and editor. She is the author of In Lieu of Heartbreak, This is Like (Bottlecap Press, 2024). Leticia earned her bachelor’s from Tufts University, where she was awarded the 2020 Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she immigrated to Miami, Florida, at the age of nine and currently resides in the Greater Boston area. Her work has been published in Salamander, Rattle, Pigeon Pages, Protean Magazine, and elsewhere. Leticia also served as guest editor for Yellow Arrow Journal’s EMBLAZON issue (fall 2023). For more information, visit her website at leticiaprieberocha.com.

It’s been a joy getting to know Leticia and working with her. She says, “I deeply value spaces like Yellow Arrow which prioritize uplifting underrepresented voices and empowering us to be heard. As a writer (and human!), I seek to align myself with publications that truly live their values. I have witnessed the staff embodying this at Yellow Arrow, and I have had nothing but good experiences as a submitter, contributor, and editor. I believe that this speaks to the tremendous dedication and care that Yellow Arrow has for this work. It has been a privilege to make contributions to their mission of uplifting women creatives and I am incredibly excited to continue to do so as a reader!”

Tell us a little something about yourself:

My first chapbook, In Lieu of Heartbreak, This is Like, (highlighted in Her View Friday!) was recently released with Bottlecap Press (2024). I have been writing poetry since I was in high school and fantasized about being a writer long before then. Having a poetry collection in print is a literal dream come true! Aside from writing and surrounding myself with as much poetry as possible, I also love collaging. Since I don’t have formal artistic training, I did not think of myself as a visual artist for a while, but I am leaning into that label now. Outside of my creative pursuits, I am really into film and television. I may have a slightly unhealthy obsession with mafia-related media, and I could talk about The Sopranos for hours!

What do you love most about where you live in Medford, Massachusetts?

I love how many opportunities for cultural engagement there are in the Greater Boston area. Poetry readings, museums and galleries, music shows—I am constantly surrounded by art, beauty, and community. It is such an expansive place to live!

How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow and why did you want to join the Yellow Arrow team?

I became involved with Yellow Arrow when my poem, “Lost In,” was published in Yellow Arrow Journal’s PEREGRINE issue (fall 2022). Later I served as guest editor for the EMBLAZON issue, which is how I became familiar with Yellow Arrow’s process for reviewing submissions. I greatly enjoyed reading submissions and collaborating with a team that invests great levels of care into every piece sent. I had such a wonderful experience that I applied to join the Yellow Arrow team as a reader!

What are you working on currently?

Now that my first chapbook has been published, I am finding ways to build my audience and share my work more broadly through readings, interviews, and being in community with writers. Writing-wise, I am exploring directions for a full-length manuscript and seeing where the poems take me.

What genre do you write or read the most and why?

Poetry. Even before poetry found me, I’ve always had the disposition of a poet, gifted in the art of observation. I love the possibilities that poetry opens up, its inherent subversiveness, it’s ability to dismantle language and experience, rebuild with love.

What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?

Diannely Antigua’s Ugly Music.

Who is your favorite writer and why?

Ocean Vuong. Whether he is writing poetry, fiction, or an Instagram caption, Ocean strings words together in a brilliant way, with utter clarity that illuminates what it means to be alive.

Who has inspired and/or supported you most in your writing journey?

I was lucky enough to take poetry classes with Natalie Shapero while I studied at Tufts University. She fostered an incredibly nurturing workshop environment, helped me solidify my identity as a poet, and her lessons on craft hugely influence my work. I also feel immensely inspired by the writing community at MassPoetry, an organization that supports poets and poetry in Massachusetts.

What do you love most about writing?

Writing has always been an outlet for untangling life’s messy and miraculous experiences. It has served me as a form of resistance and is always a labor of love.

What advice do you have for new writers?

Find ways to be in community with other writers, which is so vital to learning and growing as a writer. If you have something to say and feel the urge to write, you have to listen to that—listen to your intuition, keep going, no matter how many rejections come your way.

What’s the most important thing you always keep near your computer or wherever you work?

I keep a pile of poetry collections at hand so I can read poems outside of myself whenever I feel stuck with my own work.

What’s your vision for Yellow Arrow in 2024?

Having laid such a steady and nourishing foundation, I envision Yellow Arrow increasing our reach. A wider reach in the creative world means amplifying more voices and consequently increasing our impact!

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Kapua Iao 5/7/24 Kapua Iao 5/7/24

Life’s extraordinary moments: Yellow Arrow Journal (Vol. IX, No. 1) ELEVATE

But isn’t that how life is? Full of moments when we are so high that we are enjoying a different type of air, and others where we feel like we’re falling fast and furiously toward a diverted destination.

Jennifer N. Shannon, guest editor of just released Yellow Arrow Journal Vol. IX, No. 1 ELEVATE, is so thankful to the women-identifying writers who submitted to the issue and to those who joined the Yellow Arrow community by letting us include their pieces on our pages. She writes in the introduction to ELEVATE:

“From the poignant cover of ELEVATE to the brilliant words that adorn each page, this issue is like flying above the clouds, in a never-ending sky, over terrain that’s both foreign and familiar. Work that’s about overcoming and accepting where we are. Stories about loss and love. There are poems that allow us to be in the sky while we march here on the ground. And creative nonfiction that gives us permission to cry and proclaim that we are not afraid.”

We are excited to release the latest issue of Yellow Arrow Journal and happy to share the voices included within our ELEVATE issue. Paperback and PDF versions are now available from the Yellow Arrow bookstore. Discounts are also available (here) if you would like to purchase copies for friends and family (minimum purchase of five). You can also search for Yellow Arrow Journal on any e-book device or anywhere you purchase print and electronic books, including Amazon and most other distribution channels.

Jennifer N. Shannon has published three books: Silent Teardrops; for the LOVE, short stories and poems, vol. 1; and for the LOVE, short stories and poems, vol. 2. Her poetry, short stories, photographs, and essays have been in an anthology and literary magazines, including North Dakota Quarterly, Yellow Arrow Journal, Deep South Magazine, Auburn Avenue, and others. Jennifer was a 2022 Baker Artist Awards finalist, a poetry fellow at the Watering Hole, and in 2023, she was selected as a Maryland State Arts Council Triennial Artist for Literary Arts. Jennifer is a proud South Carolinian and Gamecock who lives in Maryland with her son and fiance. You can connect with Jennifer by visiting her website at jennifernshannon.com or follow her @writerjns on Instagram and Facebook.

The artwork on the cover (cover design by Alexa Laharty), “As I Am” by Lizzie Brown, was created of acrylic on canvas. According to Lizzie, her painting “depicts a woman embracing her flaws and scars, represented by a gold-filled crack down her back,” inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi. “As I Am” is an incredible “reminder that our imperfections make us beautiful, and our scars tell a story of what we’ve overcome.” Don’t forget to check out a conversation between Jennifer and Lizzie on the Yellow Arrow YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/AOSpTHqvs7k.

We hope you enjoy reading ELEVATE as much as we enjoyed creating it. Thank you for your continued encouragement of Yellow Arrow Publishing and the women involved in ELEVATE. On June 26 at 8:00 p.m., please join Jennifer, Yellow Arrow, and some of our contributors for the live, virtual reading of ELEVATE. More information is forthcoming.

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Kapua Iao 4/30/24 Kapua Iao 4/30/24

Stitching Stories: A Conversation with Sara Lefsyk, Editor of Ethel Zine & Micro-press

By Melissa Nunez, written November 2023

I was the heart being held, holding the heart, all the other hearts. I didn’t know if I could do it. - “The Doll,” Wild Apples: A Flash Memoir Collection with Writing Prompts by Joanna Penn Cooper

For many people, publication means a printing by one of the “Big 5,” a place on the shelves of a brick-and-mortar store like Barnes & Noble, or an appearance in digital libraries of Amazon’s Kindle readers. They think fast and mass produce. But for people like Sara Lefsyk, publishing means something more: The art of handcrafting the cover of a collection with the same painstaking precision as picking the perfect words to create the world held within the pages. Each stitch designed and carried out with diligence. Sara started Ethel Zine & Micro-press in 2018. She puts out twice yearly zines and publishes collections of writing in many genres (poetry, flash fiction, flash memoir, and more). Melissa Nunez, Yellow Arrow Publishing interviewer, and Sara recently discussed the creative inspiration behind this press and the motivation to maintain a space that promotes a more personal publication experience.

What inspired you to start Ethel Zine & Micro-press?

Since I was young, I have always had to be making something, keeping my hands (and mind) busy. After I received my MFA, I’d often ask my poet friends for poems that I would then sew into little books, for the fun of it, and give out copies to each author. My friend Joanna Penn Cooper had the idea in 2018, when I was very unhappy and unstimulated, working 50 hours a week as a prep cook, that I start a small press and handmake the books. So, I did.

What is the inspiration behind the name?

When we were in grad school together, Joanna, my classmate, and I became friends. She would have me come visit her in New York City often, where she would make me eat and perform fake rituals that really worked to help pull my spirit halfway back into my body—I was dealing with a lot back then. During one of those trips, she just started calling me Ethel for no particular reason. When Joanna suggested I start the press, she also suggested I name it Ethel.

What is your mission as an indie press?

My main mission is to bring book publishing away from being mass produced by machines in some warehouse . . . back to each one being almost completely handmade [though] I do get the book innards printed by a local print shop. [With Ethel,] I also want to publish as wide a range of styles and voices as possible.

Maybe I haven’t written these stories yet, because it feels more sustainable to write about something else, anything else. – “Stories I’m not writing,” Predator/Prey by Frances Cannon

Why handmade journals and books? What sparked your desire to go this route?

First, as I said above, it was a hobby before I started the press. I love finding various objects, papers, and images and sewing them together. I didn’t really know or think much about the publishing world before I started Ethel, but as I began to understand it more and more, I realized that barely anyone is hand making books anymore. I like being able to offer a different way of being published to those interested.

I’ve read several collections from your press and there are so many styles of writing from lyric poetry to CNF snapshots set alongside writing prompts to magical memoir. What do you look for in a submission?

I honestly am not looking to publish anything in particular but want to represent as wide an array of authors and writing styles as possible. I suppose every person has their particular likes so really in reading [submissions] it’s just whether I like it and it excites me or not. Personally, I like strangeness and the unexpected in writing, I like the grotesque, I like things I haven’t seen or thought about before. That isn’t to say that is all that I publish, but that is just what excites me.

What is your favorite part of publishing?

A few things, I love the process of working with the authors to come up with a cover design and the process of making it. I also like publishing people who otherwise may not have been published. I have heard from authors that if you’re not part of the writing community—and especially the community or those who have an MFA—it can be hard to be noticed or published widely, but there are so many amazing voices that aren’t part of that world and that deserve to be read. I think this is why the micropublishing world is so important. That and the fact that micropublishers are the ones who are saving the art of bookmaking.

What is the hardest part of publishing?

Money. Sometimes I am afraid I can’t keep Ethel going financially. I personally don’t make any money off the press, all the money that comes in goes back into making more books, but when I have a couple months of low sales, it can be really hard to keep running. There are a lot of costs involved in running a small press, from printing to supplies to postage to website costs.

What female identified writers does your press admire?

Outside of books that Ethel has published, lately I have really been getting into the work of Kim Hyesoon, translated by Don Mee Choi. I have also been reading the short stories of Leonora Carrington. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria E. Anzaldúa is another book that I love and continue to read. I also love and admire Inès Pujos’ book of poetry Something Dark to Shine In.

tell me: that i don’t sleep to white noise, learn to whisper lies to myself. that i don’t pretend, that i am not the daughter of an alien. – “burning haibun in white lies,” Moongazing, ephemerally. by Kayleigh Sim

What other female or BIPOC-led presses do you admire?

Bloof Books, Gutslut Press, Porkbelly Press.

Are there any especially cool collections forthcoming from Ethel that readers should look out for?

The next in line to be released are Juliet Cook’s Your Mouth is Moving Backwards, Hal Sansone’s Wild Garlic, healing poems for my root system, Ariel Moniz’s Nostos Algos, and Anne Whitehouse’s Being Ruth Asawa.

What advice would you share with other editors/artists?

Ooooh, I guess I would say do what makes you happy but don’t get in over your head like I did. Leave yourself space to also be able to focus on your own work.

You can find the latest issues and collections coming out from Ethel Zine & Micro-press on their website at ethelzine.com. You can also get glimpses into their publishing process and news on their submission cycles on Twitter @the_ethelzine.

Sara Lefsyk is Editor-in-Chief of Ethel Zine & Micro-press, through which she hand makes/sews/binds chapbooks and an annual journal of art and writing. Sara has one book of poetry available from Black Lawrence Press—We Are Hopelessly Small and Modern Birds—and chapbooks with Dancing Girl Press and the Little Red Leaves Textile Series. She hopes to be able to delve more into the art of bookmaking and artist’s books in the future, starting (and ending) with an unending accordion book called The Doll Tome.

Melissa Nunez makes her home in the Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas, where she enjoys exploring and photographing the local wild with her homeschooling family. She writes an anime column at The Daily Drunk Mag and is a prose reader for Moss Puppy Mag. She is also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review and interviewer for Yellow Arrow Publishing. You can find her work on her website melissaknunez.com/publications and follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez.

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Kapua Iao 4/24/24 Kapua Iao 4/24/24

Meet a Staff Member: Isabelle Anderson

Yellow Arrow Publishing is excited to (re)introduce Isabelle Anderson, Vignette Assistant for 2024’s Yellow Arrow Vignette AMPLIFY. Isabelle (she/her) was a publications intern at Yellow Arrow in 2022. She is a poet and fiction writer from Baltimore, Maryland. She recently graduated with a BA in English from Washington College where she was a finalist for the Sophie Kerr Prize and the recipient of The Pfister Poetry Prize through the Academy of American Poets. When she is not reading or writing, she can be found on a nature walk, checking the trees for good spots to hide golf pencils à la Mary Oliver.

Submissions for Yellow Arrow Vignette AMPLIFY are open April 1-30 and will be shared in August, ending with the AMPLIFY reading in the fall. Unlike past issues, this issue of Vignette does not ask submitters to send in pieces on the theme of AMPLIFY; rather, staff at Yellow Arrow are using the idea (our 2024 yearly value) in house as a reminder to continue to share and amplify women-identifying voices. We want to return to some of the earliest goals of Yellow Arrow: sharing and amplifying the creative work of voices and themes that aren’t heard loudly enough. And this summer, the Vignette series is dedicated to emphasizing those women who aren’t often heard enough, and the stories, essays, poems, themes, and topics that are too often missed. Better yet, we’re focusing on Baltimore itself and want to hear from all our women-identifying creatives currently from or lived in the area. Learn more about our focus, our guidelines, and how to submit at yellowarrowpublishing.com/vignette/submissions.

We are happy to have Isabelle rejoin us for this year’s Vignette series. She says, “I’m looking forward to reading for the upcoming issue with a level of general excitement, to see what the women of Baltimore are working on, and to revel in all the beautiful creativity happening around me.”

Tell us a little something about yourself:

For a long time, my genre of choice was fiction, and, in a way, my love for poetry snuck up on me. I didn’t read much poetry until a few years ago, and discovering many contemporary women writing poetry really sparked my interest in writing it myself.

What do you love most about Baltimore?

Within the last few years, I’ve worked at a couple small businesses around Baltimore County, and I love the ways they intersect with the community. From working in local food service and creative spaces, I’ve met so many neighbors and found information on book clubs and writing groups I might not have otherwise.

How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow? Why did you want to join the Yellow Arrow team?

Initially, I worked with Yellow Arrow as an intern in 2022, but my current role is as the Vignette Assistant for the upcoming issue. I wanted to rejoin the Yellow Arrow team because my internship had been such a positive experience and I’ve always admired the mission of highlighting women-identifying writers.

What are you working on currently?

Lately I’ve been trying to refine some work (mostly poems) for MFA applications and potential publication along with working on a long-form fiction project about sisterhood.

What genre do you write or read the most and why?

Poetry! I love the freedom it allows, and how it can give a home to my detail-obsessive brain.

What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo—I haven’t committed to it yet, but I’ve heard great things and really love to see the ways LGBTQ+ experience have been highlighted in the Yellow Arrow space in recent years.

Who is your favorite writer and why?

Olivia Gatwood. I hugely credit her poetry collection Life of the Party for cementing my interest in poetry and informing a lot of my earlier attempts at writing poems myself. Her poems are often heavily narrative—which appealed to the fiction writer in me—and simultaneously manage to take on such an etherically musical quality.

Who has inspired and/or supported you most in your writing journey?

My three little sisters Madeleine, Genevieve, and Juliette inspire and support me every day in writing and beyond by being the hilarious, imaginative, and lovely girls they are.

What do you love most about writing?

That it’s a quiet act while quite literally being anything but quiet. I’ve always been fairly self-contained, so I think as a child I was drawn into writing largely because it is an activity that can be done alone and can be silent, yet it produces something expressive and something through which people can connect.

What advice do you have for new writers?

To follow what feels good about writing. While I’ve had an interest in writing fiction for quite a long time, I started experimenting with poetry not that long ago and found the genre just seemed to fit me well. As I’ve learned more about form, it’s started to help me make sense of certain patterns of mine—like what details I find interesting and how my ideas develop—and I think the best way for a newer writer grow and better understand their own process is to first follow what’s enjoyable and interesting, then move from there.

What’s the most important thing you always keep near where you work?

A cup full of colorful markers and highlighters—I love color-coordinated notes!

What’s your vision for Yellow Arrow in 2024?

My vision is a continuation on the preexisting mission to give space to women-identifying writers, and I hope we reach even more women in the Baltimore area with Vignette specifically.

Baltimore creatives who identify as women: check out our call for Yellow Arrow AMPLIFY at https://www.yellowarrowpublishing.com/vignette/submissions—we would love to read what you write! Submissions are open through April 30.

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Kapua Iao 4/23/24 Kapua Iao 4/23/24

Meet a Staff Member: Dr. Tonee Mae Moll

Yellow Arrow Publishing is thrilled to introduce Dr. Tonee Mae Moll, Vignette Managing Editor for 2024’s Yellow Arrow Vignette AMPLIFY. Tonee Mae (she/they) is a queer and trans writer and educator who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. She holds a PhD in English from Morgan State University and an MFA in creative writing & publishing art from the University of Baltimore. Tonee Mae is an assistant professor of English at a community college in Maryland. Her debut memoir, Out of Step, won a 2018 Lambda Literary Award and the 2017 Non/Fiction Prize. It was also featured on the American Library Association’s annual list of notable LGBTQ+ books. Her latest poetry collection, You Cannot Save Here, won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from Washington Writers Publishing House. Tonee Mae’s poetry has also received the Adele V. Holden award for creative excellence and the Bill Knott Poetry Prize. It has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and Tonee Mae was recently a finalist for the Baker Artist Award in Literary Arts. She is a Gemini.

It’s been a joy getting to know Tonee Mae as we planned this year’s Vignette series. She says, “I was lying with my partner, exhausted after a long week, when I got the news that I’d be working with Yellow Arrow this year. I bolted up in bed as I read the email, told them the news, then immediately started crying. Big heavy sobs. That partner doesn’t work in writing, but they got it anyway—they could see how important it is for a women’s publication to select a trans woman for such a role. This should be normal by now, but it remains exceptional, and I’m excited to be part of a team that celebrates trans women and is making sure we’re not squeezed out of the conversation during a period of heightened transphobia, both in the U.S. and globally.”

Tell us a little something about yourself:

I am a queer and trans poet and essayist living in Baltimore. I have a couple of books, and they’ve won a couple of awards (including a Lambda Literary Award). I grew up loving D&D, punk rock, and in-line skating, and somehow, I’ve become an adult who loves poetry, Queer theory, and feminist epistemologies.

What do you love most about Baltimore?

I LOVE Baltimore. I tell people everywhere I go about how amazing this city is. It’s even on my dating profile. What I love most is the fact that the doors are wide open. Anyone can show up with any wild idea, find a scene that’s eager to have them, and start making something: music, literature, visual art, performance—whatever. Like, did you know that Baltimore is known for being a hub for puppetry? It’s also a town that is very Queer and very trans, and there, too, folks can just show up and there’s someone here with open arms. It’s not without its challenges, and it's a city that deserves better than we get sometimes—our lawmakers, our reputation, the attention our brilliant communities and artists receive—but those challenges are part of the atmosphere that make it what it is.

How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow? Why did you want to join the Yellow Arrow team?

I met founding editor Gwen Van Velsor years ago through the Baltimore literary scene, and I’ve been following Yellow Arrow since it began! For years I’ve watched all the cool stuff that has been developed, and this winter, when the posting for managing editor came across my social media, I felt for the first time like I was in an ideal space to get involved. I joined because I believe in the work that is being done to amplify and champion women’s writing, and I was eager to jump in!

What are you working on currently?

A year and a half out from my last book, I have three big writing projects, and they’re all sort of fighting for the “front burner.” Beyond my own writing though, I’m currently in the throes of helping to organize the 2024 CityLit Festival. The CityLit board supports the director, Carla Du Pree, in making all that festival’s many moving parts possible, and it’s a HUGE effort.

What genre do you write or read the most and why?

I’m sort of skeptical of the firm boundaries that are put around genre and that’s mostly because I write a bit of everything. Rather than thinking intentionally about genre, I try to just make interesting, emotionally honest things, and let an editor figure out how to categorize it. That being said, my MFA thesis (along with my first book) is labeled “creative nonfiction,” and my PhD dissertation (and second book) is categorized as poetry. I mostly write where those two waters meet, and I tell folks that I write lyrical work that tends to be true and is often about gender.

What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?

I’m currently finishing up Stephanie Burt’s We Are Mermaids, and up next is the work of one of my colleagues, Susan Muaddi Darraj. She’s a Palestinian-American author whose latest novel, Behind You is The Sea, is getting some much-deserved national attention. I can’t wait to dig in.

Who is your favorite writer and why?

I think Toni Morrison is THE Great American Novelist. Her work—its beauty, its violence, its ugly, its honesty—tells the story of America otherwise erased or ignored by earlier writers, scholars, and historians. She is unparalleled.

Who has inspired and/or supported you most in your writing journey?

I’ve had incredible mentors and educators, particularly in my graduate education. Among the people who helped mold me as an artist are Kendra Kopelke, celeste doaks, Marion Winik, and Betsy Boyd. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention my writing workshop, a small group of friends who have been meeting monthly for nearly a decade; they played a big part in getting my first two books ready for the world!

What do you love most about writing?

Sometimes I remind my students that when we daydream of the magic in some of the fantasy worlds they read, we should be reminded that writing is the closest thing we have to it here. Writing is marks on a page (or screen) that have been cast down by someone who has studied their craft deeply for years, sometimes decades, that sit there until such a time that someone else reads it, and the feeling, meaning or idea that the creator left in those marks is passed to the reader, across distance and time. Those ideas that are passed on can create new possibilities in the reader’s mind: new worlds, new concepts of self, new optimisms, even new notions of “we.”

What advice do you have for new writers?

The writing is the thing. There are countless people who want to say, “I have this idea for a novel,” but it’s not the idea that makes a book. It’s showing up to write, to hone your craft, to gather and consider feedback, to revise—all the things it takes to actually finish a manuscript. An idea doesn’t make an author, work does.

What’s the most important thing you always keep near where you work?

Water. I’m sure I should say something cooler, but all of us should be hydrating more. (Check in: when was the last time you had a drink of water, reader?)

What’s your vision for Yellow Arrow in 2024?

I’m excited about this year’s value being AMPLIFY, and I hope we can make Vignette continue to do exactly that this year. Part of what this year’s theme means to me is remembering that the goal of publishers, journals, and literary organizations isn’t to speak for those who aren’t heard loudly enough, but to pass the mic and help amplify those people as they speak for themselves. That’s one thing that Vignette and Yellow Arrow can do: turn up the volume on the important words of women who don’t get heard often enough, loudly enough, frequently enough.

Baltimore creatives who identify as women: check out our call for Yellow Arrow AMPLIFY at yellowarrowpublishing.com/vignette/submissions—we would love to read what you write! Submissions are open through April 30.

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Kapua Iao 4/16/24 Kapua Iao 4/16/24

Gratitude is a Divine Emotion: Yellow Arrow Interns

“Gratitude is a divine emotion: it fills the heart, but not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever.”

from Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

One of the many ways Yellow Arrow Publishing encourages women writers and women in publishing is through inclusion within the organization itself. We welcome (and thrive with) our volunteers and interns, not only for our own benefit but to also (hopefully) provide a prospective future publisher with some necessary tools and knowledge about the publishing world. And even if a volunteer/intern does not plan to continue within the publishing world, the tools and knowledge of working in a women-led, collaborative organization. One that champions the different and the unique. One that looks for partners and allies rather than simple connections (see our growing list of partners here).

It would be impossible to organize, create, and publish without the incredible help of our volunteer staff and interns. They provide the thought process behind each journal by picking each issue’s theme and reading/voting on each submitted piece. They then read through the chosen submissions and edit them carefully and thoughtfully, not to change the voice of the author but to ensure that the voice flourishes. They provide continuous feedback and proofread the final product before release. And the same goes for our published chapbooks; the process of forming something for publication is thoughtfully long but fulfilling, nonetheless.

We try to find each volunteer, each intern, space in our organization to grow and flourish in the area they are most interested in (and of course where we need the most help!). Past staff members have worked at our live events and at Yellow Arrow House. They hand bound our publications and put as much love and tenderness into each copy as we could hope. Now that we are a mostly virtual publishing company, they focus on copyediting and proofreading as well as writing blogs and press releases. They create promotional material and images for our authors and create marketing campaigns. They help at live and virtual events and readings. And above all else, they support. Not only the Yellow Arrow team but our authors as well. I am so thankful to have had them with me on this journey.

So let’s introduce the spring 2024 interns. Each has our appreciation.

Amaya Lambert

Program Management Intern

From Baltimore, Maryland
*What do you do*? I am an intern for program management alongside the executive director, Annie Marhefka. I assist in the management and assessment of Yellow Arrow’s programs, including social media content, workshops, and events.
*Where do you go to school*? I go to school at Towson University. I am a senior and will be graduating May 23th.
*What are you currently working on*? I am working on completing my English and creative writing degree at Towson. I am still in the planning stage for my novels but have a goal of drafting one of them during the summer! Besides that, I am spending time with my sisters, playing video games, and listening to new music.

Amaya Lambert is a reader, writer, and storyteller. There’s nothing more that she loves than stories with profound messages and themes written in fantastical backgrounds. She likes to describe her writing genre as fantasy and introspection combined, a story that makes one think and dazzles them with an intricate world. You can find Amaya on Instagram @mayamackenziee.

Her future plans after graduation is to start a career in social media marketing while working on her books. Also, Amaya plans to sign up for some summer internships and a program for those who are interested in working in publishing. She wants to make a stable income to support herself and her family.

Why did you choose an internship with Yellow Arrow?

I chose this internship because I like the values of Yellow Arrow, especially their commitment to women-identifying and marginalized voices. While working here, I’ve discovered a passion for reading poetry and creative nonfiction, and how people are comfortable sharing their stories because they’ve fostered a safe space for them. As I explore the industry, I am often confused as it is contingent on female-presenting voices and yet suppresses them. I am glad to see a publishing company run by women-identifying people for women-identifying people.

Mel Silberger

Publications Intern

Currently in Baltimore, Maryland, for school, but from Long Island, New York
*What do you do*? While an intern at Yellow Arrow, I am responsible for the monthly .W.o.W. and Her View Friday (HVF) posts along with blogs and general social media graphics promoting past publications. I also focus on reading and copyediting upcoming chapbooks, including *Beyond the Galleons* by Isabel Cristina Legarda, which was released in April, and the journal issue **ELEVATE**. Lastly, I create social media content for celebration days, such as weekly posts for Women’s History Month with my fellow intern, Amaya, and general writing holidays.
*Where do you go to school*? I am currently a senior at Loyola University Maryland, and I will be graduating in May of this year!
*What are you currently working on*? I am currently working toward receiving a bachelor of arts in psychology and writing. I also have two jobs at Loyola University, one as a residence hall desk assistant and the other as a rock wall attendant.

Amelia (Mel) Silberger is a senior at Loyola University Maryland majoring in psychology and writing and minoring in political science. When she is not working, she enjoys writing and rock climbing. Mel has spent the past two summers living in Orlando, Florida, while participating in the Disney College Program. She has loved creating stories since she was six years old, and hopes to continue to grow and build with other writers in the future. You can find her on LinkedIn or email 108amelia@gmail.com.

Her future plans are to continue to gain experience through the publications and editing fields.

Why did you choose to do an internship with Yellow Arrow?

Yellow Arrow’s mission of not only elevating and amplifying female identifying writers, but also recognizing the widespread effects these creators have throughout the community, inspired me. I wanted to be a part of an organization that focused on both writing and the impacts these works have on others.

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Thank you to everyone who supports these women and all writers who toil away day after day. Please show them some love in the comments below or on Yellow Arrow’s Facebook or Instagram. If interested in joining us as an editorial associate or intern, fill out an application at yellowarrowpublishing.com/internships.

Kapua Iao 4/9/24 Kapua Iao 4/9/24

Experience, Treasure, and Know: Beyond the Galleons by Isabel Cristina Legarda

Yellow Arrow Publishing announces the release of our first chapbook of 2024, Beyond the Galleons by Isabel Cristina Legarda. Since its establishment in 2016, Yellow Arrow has devoted its efforts to advocate for all women writers through inclusion in the biannual Yellow Arrow Journal as well as single-author publications and Yellow Arrow Vignette, and by providing strong author support, writing workshops, and volunteering opportunities. We at Yellow Arrow are excited to continue our mission by supporting Isabel in all her writing and publishing endeavors.

Beyond the Galleons by Isabel Cristina Legarda is a meditation on Filipino experiences of colonization, ancestral connection, alienation, and the ghosts that haunt people living in geographic or psychological diasporas. Isabel juxtaposes historic moments from the days of Spanish and American colonial rule with threads of real women’s lived experiences, to raise awareness of multicultural histories that might be less known or talked about.

Isabel was born in the Philippines and spent her childhood there before moving to Bethesda, Maryland. She holds degrees in literature and bioethics and is currently a practicing physician in Boston. Beyond the Galleons first looks at the complicated interactions between Filipino natives and their colonial subjugators, shifting from Spanish to American imperialism, and culminating in imagined individual voices descended from those who lived through these histories. Tagalog, baybayin, Spanish, and English weave together to help tell a sometimes forgotten, sometimes ignored history. Isabel’s poems contemplate longing, resilience, and the need to hold on to memory while moving forward beyond pain.

The cover design and interior images were created by Alexa Laharty, Yellow Arrow creative director. Isabel stated, “I am in awe of what [Yellow Arrow creative director] Alexa Laharty produced and absolutely love the cover. With no visual art ability or aptitude, I had only vague ideas as to what a fitting design would be, and she brought together images that really capture the themes of historic memory and cartography, literal and figurative, that I try to explore in many of the poems.”

Paperback and PDF versions of Beyond the Galleons are now available from the Yellow Arrow bookstore. If interested in purchasing more than one paperback copy for friends and family, check out our discounted wholesale prices here. You can also search for Beyond the Galleons wherever you purchase your books including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. To learn more about Isabel and Beyond the Galleons, check out our recent interview with her.

You can find Isabel on Instagram and Twitter @poetintheOR and connect with Yellow Arrow on Facebook and Instagram, to share some love for this chapbook. You can also share a review to any of the major distributors or by emailing editor@yellowarrowpublishing.com. We’d love to hear from you.

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Kapua Iao 4/2/24 Kapua Iao 4/2/24

Meet a Staff Member: Samantha Pomerantz

Yellow Arrow Publishing would like to introduce Samantha Pomerantz, a reader for Yellow Arrow publications. Samantha (she/her) is a writer and a lover of stories. She is studying English and creative writing at Elon University until mid 2024. And then she will do other things that will likely also involve reading and writing. She is the poetry editor of Colonnades Literary and Art Journal and the second-place recipient of the 2023 Frederick Haartman poetry prize. Samantha has spent most of her life in Germantown, Maryland, hugging trees and learning how to be a person.

Samantha was the summer 2023 publications intern for Yellow Arrow Publishing. She says, “I very much look forward to reading the work of women-identifying people from all over the world and all walks of life. Connecting with these stories and helping to share them feels so transformative and important.”

What do you love most about Baltimore?

I split my time between North Carolina and Germantown, Maryland. In both places, what I love most are the trees. At my school in North Carolina, there are huge oak trees everywhere, and fallen leaves cover the brick paths year-round. In Maryland, it is the maple trees in my neighborhood that are my favorite. They add so much character.

How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow and what do you do for us? Why did you want to join the Yellow Arrow team?

I began at Yellow Arrow as a publications intern. I am now transitioning into a role as a staff reader. I was so inspired by Yellow Arrow’s mission and values, which align with my own. I love literature and reading the work of women-identifying people. When I read Yellow Arrow’s tagline “every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling,” I felt a resounding ‘yes!’

What are you working on currently?

I am super focused on health right now, and how to better manage stress. I am also working on my undergraduate degree in English, creative writing. And learning French, just for fun.

What genre do you write (or read if you don’t write)?

I mostly write poetry. I love to play with the mouthfeel of words, the way they sound and look on a page to convey layers of meaning. I also love the freedom of poetry, and the ability to cut deep into the heart of the human condition. I am also an avid journaler, which helps me organize my experience of life.

What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?

The House of Belonging by David Whyte and Discover Your Dharma by Sahara Rose.

Who is your favorite writer and why?

My favorite authors are Andre Aciman and Glennon Doyle. I love the way that both write about the human condition—it is so beautiful. They write with such vulnerability and truth that comforts and inspires.

Who has inspired and/or supported you most in your writing journey?

My favorite authors, a plethora of poets, and my high school and university writing professors have inspired me significantly. Their encouragement and example have fostered my love of reading and writing.

What advice do you have for new writers?

As a new-ish writer myself, I have found the most difficult part to establish a consistent writing practice. But I hear this is important. Also, trust yourself! “Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling” :)

What’s the most important thing you always keep near your computer?

Positive affirmations! I have ‘love’ notes on my desk from people who have read my work and who have shared how it has impacted them. These remind me why I write and help quiet the ‘you’re not good enough’ voice.

What’s your vision for Yellow Arrow in 2024?

As a reader, I want to help elevate and amplify the voices that feel the most true and vulnerable. When we amplify underrepresented voices, there opens space in the world to heal. These stories are important and deserve to be celebrated and shared.

*****

Kapua Iao 4/1/24 Kapua Iao 4/1/24

Yellow Arrow Vignette 2024 AMPLIFY Submissions Are Now Open!

Welcome to the first day of open submissions for Yellow Arrow Vignette! Now in its third season, Yellow Arrow Vignette is an online creative nonfiction and poetry series developed to better feature women-identifying writers and share their voices beyond Yellow Arrow Journal and our single-author publications. This year, submissions for Vignette are open from April 1 to 30 and will align with the 2024 Yellow Arrow yearly value AMPLIFY.

(Please note that this issue of Vignette does not ask submitters to send in pieces on the theme of AMPLIFY; rather, staff at Yellow Arrow are using the idea in house as reminder to continue to share and amplify women-identifying voices.)

We’re here this year to showcase our authors to a bigger audience, to increase the conversations around our published creative works and their themes, and to increase the understanding that our audience has about these works, their writers, and the issues that matter most to them. And for Vignette AMPLIFY, we want to hear specifically from creatives who live in or are otherwise connected to our home base of Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore is a big, diverse, beautiful city, and we want to see its diversity represented in Vignette AMPLIFY. From Highlandtown (our starting point!) to Hampden, Pigtown to the Black Arts District, we want our readers to experience the spectrum of voices that Charm City offers. If you currently live, grew up in, or recently lived in the Baltimore area and are a creative who identifies as a woman, read the guidelines and submit at yellowarrowpublishing.com/vignette/submissions.

We’ve been making some exciting, behind-the-scenes updates to Vignette this year! One such change is that Vignette AMPLIFY will be curated and created by Vignette managing editor Dr. Tonee Mae Moll and Vignette assistant Isabelle Anderson. Tonee Mae (she/they) is joining the team this spring and summer from Baltimore, the place where our story started and the focus of AMPLIFY. She holds a PhD in English from Morgan State University and an MFA in creative writing and publishing art from University of Baltimore. Tonee Mae has worked for a number of literary organizations and publications throughout the region, including Mason Jar Press, Washington Writers Publishing House, The Sable Quill, Welter Literary Journal, CityLit Project, and more. She is the author of two books, Out of Step: a Memoir (Mad Creek Books, 2018) and You Cannot Save Here (Washington Writer’s Publishing House, 2022), and the former cohost of the literary podcast Lit!Pop!Bang!

Isabelle (she/her) is a poet and fiction writer, also from Baltimore. She recently graduated with a BA in English from Washington College where she was a finalist for the Sophie Kerr Prize and the recipient of The Pfister Poetry Prize through the Academy of American Poets. When she is not reading or writing, she can be found on a nature walk, checking the trees for good spots to hide golf pencils à la Mary Oliver.

For Yellow Arrow Vignette AMPLIFY, we’re looking for creative nonfiction, poetry, and ‘cover art’ by writers/artists who identify as women and have a connection to the Baltimore area. For more about what this means and for information on how to submit, please visit yellowarrowpublishing.com/vignette/submissions. Let us amplify your voice and ensure that it rings clearly, truly, and beautifully. Let’s show how proud we are of Charm City and all that our incredible city has to offer.

If you have any questions, send them to submissions@yellowarrowpublishing.com. The online issue will be released on August 6, 2024, and a reading will follow in the fall.

We look forward to reading the submissions for Yellow Arrow Vignette and sharing stories with you. Since its founding in 2016, Yellow Arrow has worked tirelessly to make an impact on the local and global community by advocating for writers that identify as women. Yellow Arrow proudly represents the voices of women from around the globe. Creating diversity in the literary world and providing a safe space is deeply important. Every writer has a story to tell, every story is worth telling.

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Kapua Iao 3/29/24 Kapua Iao 3/29/24

Her View Friday

Yellow Arrow Publishing supports women-identifying writers from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes us stronger. Women’s voices have historically been underrepresented in literature, and we aim to elevate those voices and stories through our programs, publications, and support.

Part of our mission in supporting and uplifting women-identifying creatives is to promote the Yellow Arrow community’s individual accomplishments. We’d like to further expand that support and promotion outside of our Yellow Arrow publications. Twice a month, we’d like to give a shout out to those within the Yellow Arrow community who recently published:

single-author publications
single pieces in journals, anthologies, etc., as well as prizes/awards, book reviews, and podcasts/interviews

You can support our authors by reading this blog and their work, sharing their news, and commenting below or on the blog. Congratulations to all the included authors. We are so proud of you!

Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling

“TENding” by Heather Brown Barrett from Virginia

Genre: poetry

Name of publication: The Ekphrastic Review

Date released: February 2024

Type of publication: online

ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-challenges/kelly-austin-rolo-ekphrastic-writing-responses-with-kate-copeland

Meet Heather on Instagram @heatherbrownbarrett.

Yellow Arrow (past and present) board, staff, interns, authors, residents, and instructors alike! Got a publication coming out? Let us help celebrate for you in Her View Friday.

Single-author publications: here.

Single pieces as well as prizes/awards, book reviews, and podcasts/interviews: here.

Please read the instructions on each form carefully; we look forward to congratulating you!

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Kapua Iao 3/26/24 Kapua Iao 3/26/24

Writing in my Neighborhood

By Mel Silberger, written February 2024

Writing in a variety of places throughout the year, depending on where I am in the United States, allows me to find inspiration through the numerous people, places, things, and ideas that surround me. I was raised on Long Island, New York, go to school at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, and work at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Here are the top places I prefer to write, depending on where I am and what project I am working on that day.

Home: Long Island, New York

I was raised on Long Island, New York, and visit home during school breaks and occasional weekends. Over the years, I found myself seeking new places to write as I grew as a creative, looking to find inspiration in places other than my desk at home.

My favorite place to write in my hometown is at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, home to President Roosevelt’s house, multiple walking trails, and a path to the nearby shore. Sagamore Hill is only 30 minutes away from my house, so on warm days, I love making the drive (sometimes with my dog!) out there and sitting on Roosevelt’s porch to write. I can see miles of land in every direction and feel the sun and a slight breeze on my face. I find this to be a great place for all kinds of writing, whether it be for a journal entry or a draft of a story or poem. Afterward writing for a bit, I walk my dog down to the shore and we go in the water, which makes for a relaxing but fun day.

Alternatively, when home, I love working while in the presence of my three younger siblings, so I am often found writing in our loft. The four of us will sit together, the three of them completing their homework while I write creatively. I especially love writing about our relationship and effortlessly find inspiration through them. Admittedly, we get sidetracked every once in a while, but I love writing in the presence of others, theirs above all else.

Work: Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

Living in Florida provides countless opportunities to write in places that I wouldn’t get anywhere else, the first and foremost of these being Walt Disney World itself. On days that aren’t too hot, I find myself writing inside one of the four Disney parks, typically at outside seating areas nearby major attractions.

While at first I found it difficult to concentrate in loud, busy places, I discovered that I could shift what I was writing to better accommodate my surroundings; for example, I try to mainly focus on outlines and journals instead of in-depth, intricate stories or poems. I enjoy sitting in high traffic areas and letting the ongoing traffic consume me. I’ve realized that it is easy to find inspiration through people watching, especially in a place as busy as Disney World and use what I see to generate story outlines, especially for fiction.

I also find that over time, and with repeated exposure, I have gotten used to working in loud environments. Taking simple steps, such as wearing headphones to eliminate background noises and turning my phone on to ‘do not disturb’ have allowed me to concentrate despite the business of my surroundings. I find that I can focus better when listening to instrumental music than songs with lyrics (I’m currently listening to The Nutcracker on repeat), and I try to minimize distractions from my phone.

When I am interested in writing alone, my top two spots are next to our apartment community’s pool or in a hammock. I always bring a journal with me to the pool (and also find that it’s a great place for reading)! Because I live in Orlando in the summers, laying in the sun gets hot very quickly, so I take breaks between reading/writing by going in the pool (who wouldn’t love that!). Sometimes, I even read while in the pool (keeping my book dry, of course).

I typically write in a hammock after the sun has gone down (which isn’t until 8:00 p.m. in the summers). I love letting the crickets chirping and the light breeze consume me while I stare at the stars; it feels magical, and I constantly take inspiration from my surroundings. Being outside, completely immersed in nature (especially at night) puts me at ease, and I never struggle to come up with ideas for new stories and poems.

School: Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland

I am currently a senior at Loyola University Maryland and spend most of the calendar year in the amazing city of Baltimore. I spend most of my time here on Loyola’s campus, and within it are an abundance of places to write—my favorite one being outside on our Quad! Nothing beats a pen, journal, and picnic blanket on the grass during a warm, sunny Baltimore day. I love letting the breeze and nearby chatter of people and animals consume me while I either complete homework assignments or journal about anything on my mind.

As many from the area may know, the weather of Baltimore is often unpredictable, so I never go too far from our campus Starbucks. Loyola’s Starbucks is my favorite place to write because I love the background noises of a coffee shop while also seeing my friends as they pass through. When I need to concentrate on my assignments or editing a piece, I am sure to sit toward the back to minimize disruptions while still feeling immersed in my surroundings. On the other hand, sometimes I enjoy sitting in the middle tables so I can bounce plot ideas off friends walking by.

For complete silence and concentration, I can be found writing in our school’s library. I love being surrounded by books of all kinds with minimal distractions. I can spend hours in our library without realizing time has passed; there have been too many occurrences where I go midday and leave when it is past sunset!

Final Thoughts: Where do You Write?

Overall, there are many great places I like to go to write, and the place I choose to go to for the day often depends on the type of writing I am doing. As much as I love the busy-ness of my loft, the amusement park, and Starbucks, I also love the serenity of Sagamore Hill, the pool, or the library.

Some other writing tips/ideas to keep in mind suggested by myself and fellow Yellow Arrow board/staff are to first, always keep a notepad next to you for anything work related while you are trying to write. This way, if anything separate from your writing comes up, you can write it down to do later, rather than distracting yourself during the writing process. Additionally, it can be great to bring a notebook to a coffee shop just to jot ideas down to go back to later, allowing for a wide range of inspiration. Lastly, whether it be for a collaborative or individual piece, writing in the presence of others can help everyone remain on task with minimal disruptions.

So, my question to you is where do you enjoy writing? What environment do you seek out when it’s time to put pen to paper?

Amelia (Mel) Silberger is a senior at Loyola University Maryland majoring in psychology and writing and minoring in political science. When she is not working, she enjoys writing and rock climbing. Mel has spent the past two summers living in Orlando, Florida, while participating in the Disney College Program. She has loved creating stories since she was six years old and hopes to continue to grow and build with other writers in the future.

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Kapua Iao 3/19/24 Kapua Iao 3/19/24

Taking the Reins Back: Reframing Rejection

By Diann Leo-Omine, written September 2023

The sun is up, and I’m up doomscrolling. I catch the concise subject line of the morning’s first email: “(Publication title) Decline.” It’s a simple form letter rejection. I nearly burn myself with my coffee, and I can’t discern whether the hot coffee stings more than the rejection itself.

Conventional wisdom advises “to get back on the horse” right away. ChatGPT suggests the phrase involves reapproaching “a difficult or challenging situation with renewed determination and optimism.”*

Don’t take it personally.

Importantly, DON’T RUMINATE.

I scrawl “good enough” in my notebook. The gravity of those words weighs on me. I lean into writing about the thing I most want to avoid, a technique gleaned during my Tin House workshop with Cyrus Dunham.

To ruminate is to deeply reflect.

Good enough good enough good.

To ruminate is perceived as negative.

Rejection triggers competition. Well, so-and-so was able to get into this publication, or that workshop, or a residency. Then, why am I not good enough?

What if:

instead of hopping back on the horse right away . . .

I catch myself, like tripping on upturned cement. I name what’s happening. I know in my mind this is scarcity mentality, the concept that “everyone exists along a spectrum of competition instead of collaboration.”**

What if:

I sit for a second, to listen?

I analyze where the news of this rejection lives in my body. It strikes me in the solar plexus and the belly. I feel sadness in the key of grief. Underneath sadness festers fear. Digging deeper, the question gnaws at me, why do I write anyway? I don’t have to write.

To ruminate can refer to the ruminants.

Maybe my writing just isn’t good, good enough?

Ruminants are creatures, such as goats, that munch on partially chewed food.

I tune in to The Write Attention podcast, whose fourth episode focuses on rejection and failure. Fourteen minutes into the episode, cohost Jeannetta Craigwell-Graham suggests that rejection can be an indication to shift focus elsewhere. This resonates, as my shoulders are still tingling, a sensation I name as frustration. I click the stop button on the episode, for now.

To ruminate is colloquially “chewing the cud.”

Good is following the rules.

When my grandmother was alive, in the limited village dialect of hers I could understand, she would always ask if I had been “good.”

Good enough enough good good.

Horses are hindgut fermenters, nonruminants; goats are foregut fermenters, ruminants.

Rejection spurs past memories of times I was not “good enough.” Maybe I sit too close to that fire, remembering: the dream college with the amber fall leaves and the renowned creative writing program; the summer internship in New York I was deemed too “West Coast” for; the love interest who left me at the transit station to trace the tangle of blue and green and yellow bus lines back to Portland.

Horses don’t ruminate.

I remember how sad I felt then, even as years pass into decades. Yet through fire, the leaves crunch, the sticky July air dissipates, the lines on the bus map crumple.

To ruminate is “room.”

Rejection triggers scarcity, I name it in its tracks, again. There is not enough room for everyone, so I have to be good. And it’s hard not to think about scarcity in publishing, an industry as a whole that tokenizes marginalized writers.

To ruminate is “innate.”

I understand in my body, as my shoulders hunch over my soft belly, a protective bird over her nest. My ribs clench like a metal cage. This stony emptiness in my belly is fear.

Room, period.

Rejection. Scarcity. Good (enough). Fear. I’ve started identifying fear as a trauma response, a protective mechanism. I duck, I cover. I think of the ways I’ve held myself back, especially the ten years I didn’t write, because I was afraid of not being good enough, of failing.

I am tired of fear being my default reaction, the driver of my narrative.

Innate, period.

I am tired. Of. Being. “Good.”

Room-innate.

My friend shares that her new essay has been published. Instead of doomscrolling, I read it. I become engrossed in the conviction of her words. In my heart space, I feel a smile spreading, warmth. I realize I can concurrently hold space for both grief and joy, mourning and celebration.

What if:

the horse is not as anxious as they say.

Another email arrives, this time regarding a residency, the words “I’m sorry” in the subject line. I still feel the inevitable gut punch, but my shoulders feel a little looser. I take a walk, I move. This time I finish the rest of The Write Attention episode on rejection. Around the 18 minute mark of the episode, cohost Brittany Felder offers a candid declaration, one I paraphrase until it rings true:

“I still know what I want, and I’m going to make that happen.”

What if:

rejection can be an invitation to revisit my work.

Good enough enough good.

What if:

rejection can be a reminder to celebrate the eventual wins, for myself and other writers.

This I know:

the horse is paddling its feet, back and forth.

What if:

rejection can be an ask to reconsider what it is I really want, if I still want it.

This I know:

I trust the horse will not leave, until I take the reins.

Does rejection change my desire to tell my story? No.

Will I still write, even if my work isn’t chosen? Yes.

The horse will be there.

*AI-generated answer by ChatGPT, accessed 9/20/23

**scarcity mentality definition by Studio ATAO.

Diann Leo-Omine (she/her) is a Pushcart Prize-nominated creative nonfiction writer born and raised in San Francisco, California (Ramaytush Ohlone land). A grateful alum of Tin House and Rooted & Written, she is currently devising a manuscript centering her maternal grandmother. Visit her website at sweetleoomine.com.

*****

Kapua Iao 3/12/24 Kapua Iao 3/12/24

Dwelling in Possibility: A Conversation with Isabel Cristina Legarda about Beyond the Galleons

We are the vowels of our villages’ lives,
supplying meaning and depth, sometimes invisibly,
but ever-present in the stories unfolding.

“Reading Tutorial for a Jesuit Missionary, 1668”

If home is where the heart is, as the saying goes, for many people of diasporic communities, that heart is found within the stories of generations past and carried in the contemporary voices descended from that resilience and strength. Isabel Cristina Legarda is one of these voices. She is a writer and practicing physician residing in Massachusetts whose work speaks to her Filipina heritage, the lived female experience, and the multifaceted nature of identity.

Isabel’s debut poetry chapbook, Beyond the Galleons, is forthcoming from Yellow Arrow Publishing and will be released in April 2024. Beyond the Galleons is a meditation on Filipino experiences of colonization, ancestral connection, alienation, and the ghosts that haunt people living in geographic or psychological diasporas. This collection combines reflection on the echoes of historical events and rumination on the character of culture with a tribute to the strength of women the author admires, both known and unknown.

Beyond the Galleons is available for preorder (click here for wholesale prices)! Follow Yellow Arrow on Facebook and Instagram @yellowarrowpublishing for Friday sneak peeks into Isabel’s incredible words. Pick up your copy today and make sure to show your love to Isabel in the comments.

Melissa Nunez, Yellow Arrow interviewer, and Isabel engaged in conversation where they discussed the creative inspirations behind this collection and the process of forging compelling poetry from themes both delicate and complex.

What inspired this project? Can you talk about how this idea developed into a poetry chapbook?

These poems were written over a couple of years, many of them in workshops led by poet Caroline Goodwin, a beloved mentor. (Shout-out to poet Diane Lockward, whose craft books we used and whose prompts generated so many poems in these workshops.) Being Filipina emerged as an important, recurring focus in my writing, and when I had a critical mass of poems written, I started grouping [them] together around that focus.

The dates, locations, and historical details included in your poems are a powerful thread throughout. What did the research for a collection like this entail?

I’ve had an interest in the Philippine-American colonial period for a long time. A few years ago, I found an eye-opening collection of political cartoons from that period entitled The Forbidden Book, some nonfiction work about the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and first-hand accounts by American women who went to the Philippines as schoolteachers, including a diary I was able to physically handle and read at the Schlesinger Library [at Harvard University]. Those [words] inspired me to keep searching for articles about that period online as well as contemporary photos. I’m interested in Spanish colonialism, too, of course, and one day stumbled across what Father Alcina wrote about women being good readers, which made me want to explore those centuries as well. I could spend hours happily falling down these rabbit holes.

There is a strong message of feminine strength that simmers among these pages. Can you share a little of your personal experience with this strength and why it is important to share?

My widowed maternal grandmother got her PhD at Stanford [University], then became a respected professor of history at the University of the Philippines, all while raising my mom as a single parent. Years after her teaching career was over, her former students would rave about what a phenomenal teacher she was. My paternal grandmother, who came from a tiny island near Palawan, was a suffragist and a civic leader. Both of my grandmothers were wonderful writers. My mother started [medical] school at 17 and was a practicing pediatrician by her mid 20s. My mother and grandmothers are all survivors of war. I have another role model in an older first cousin, an attorney, who prosecuted a congressman for sexual assault of a child and won. I’ve been fortunate to have grown up surrounded by such exemplars of tenacity, integrity, and courage. When I’d feel discouraged or nervous about something, my mother would often remind me that the genes and spirit of these brave, intelligent, hard-working women are part of me. I’ve always seen women as strong-willed and capable of anything. I think it’s important to remind the world—and ourselves—that that’s who we are.

Orange clouds: not sunset,
but Manila burning in the distance.
//
How can I be brave like you . . .

“Far from the Tree”

Who are some female-identified writers who have inspired you and your poetry?

The first woman author who inspired me was Natalie Babbitt. I read her novel Tuck Everlasting when I was nine, and it was life changing. She showed me what language and story could do, in ways I had never encountered or imagined. I had the privilege of meeting her at a Q&A for kids at a bookshop I [now] miss, The Cheshire Cat in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Growing up I idolized mostly fiction writers: Madeleine L’Engle, Isabel Allende, Flannery O’Connor, Edith Wharton, and Zora Neale Hurston. For poetry there are so many now—almost too many to name. I’ve been inspired by Sandra Cisneros, Lucille Clifton, Paisley Rekdal, Pattiann Rogers, Caylin Capra-Thomas, Leila Chatti, Michelle Peñaloza, and of course my mentor Caroline Goodwin.

What was your process for capturing such strong experiences and emotions in such small spaces?

My writing almost always starts with an image I can’t stop thinking about. Sometimes it’s a line I “hear,” but most often it’s something I “see” in my mind—I’m a very visual thinker. If the image stays with me and really won’t go away, I eventually have to write about it. Usually there’s something about it that carries significant emotional charge, and if I keep close to the image while I write—follow its energy closely—that emotional charge can find a habitat in the emerging words. My poem about Saint Lorenzo Ruiz is one example of that process. He came and stood in a corner of my living room with his rosary and wouldn’t leave till I wrote that poem. Not literally or paranormally, of course—I don’t see ghosts or anything like that. But in my mind he waited there, patiently, silently, until the words were down. I was supposed to be working on a poem for a workshop based on a totally unrelated prompt, but I ended up turning in Lorenzo’s poem instead that week.

There is a rich discourse on language in the lines of your poetry. To what extent do you think a language shapes a person’s identity?

I think language and identity are inextricably entwined. (When I see people who are not genetically Filipino or Austronesian speaking a Philippine language fluently, I perceive them as having real insider understanding of our culture in ways that ethnic make-up can’t automatically provide.) I was raised in three languages—English, Spanish, and Tagalog—and I think that gave me early exposure to the way language not only forms but also reflects cultural difference and how we relate to the world. Language can shape our very reality, or at least how we think about it, depending on the language we use, but it also arises from the way we live in that reality in the first place. In the communitarian Tagalog culture, there’s not a great word for privacy as we know it in English; we have to borrow the English word, alter a Spanish word, or use an inexact Tagalog word for it. In English there isn’t an equivalent for gigil, sometimes translated as the uncontrollable urge to squeeze something cute, or nakakagigil, an adjective meaning “making you grit your teeth together out of delight,” for instance when seeing a cute baby (do non-Filipinos clench their teeth together when they find a baby cute?). Growing up with a word with no exact equivalent in other cultures, a word for a particular idea or experience, must surely shape a person’s self-concept and perception of the world.

(I actually just published a whole essay on this topic, in case you’re interested: herstryblg.com/true/2023/02/24-poetry-in-a-second-language-why-i-cant-fully-decolonize-my-life.)

No mere condiment, bagoong becomes a meal’s soul
in the way mere salt cannot, the secret of a dish’s complexity,
an ocean spirit possessing the food.

“Bagoong Alamang”

I appreciated the vivid descriptions of Filipino dishes and delicacies in your work. Can you expand on the relationship between food and culture and its importance to the diaspora?

Food is most definitely a love language in the Philippines, and for Filipinos in exile, it is a lifeline home. We need to eat to survive, but we love to eat because of the sensory pleasure, contentment, and sense of home food has the power to bring us. I feel that sense of home, that kinship, any time I share a bowl of rice or a coconut milk-based dessert with someone, and we both close our eyes for a moment just savoring the morsel in our mouths. No words needed. Full understanding of a lifetime of experience in one moment. Shared moments over food bring a little warmth from home into our colder diasporas, console diasporic loneliness, and can restore a sense of identity and community when we feel a little lost or alone.

We released the gorgeous cover of Beyond the Galleons with this interview. What do you think about the final version?

I am in awe of what [Yellow Arrow creative director] Alexa Laharty produced and absolutely love the cover. With no visual art ability or aptitude, I had only vague ideas as to what a fitting design would be, and she brought together images that really capture the themes of historic memory and cartography, literal and figurative, that I try to explore in many of the poems.

What would you like your readers to take away from this collection?

I would like us Americans and us Filipinos to be aware that our shared history includes Americans putting Filipinos in a human zoo in Saint Louis as well as thousands of Americans dying on battlefields while helping us during World War II. I would like readers to understand that having your homeland or language or physical self or mental or spiritual self devalued, dismissed, assumed to be inferior, or taken away hurts deeply, but moving past trauma with dignity and grace can be redemptive, just, and peacebuilding. I would like people to know that Philippine women are a force to be reckoned with and deserved the power and equality they had before white men started to fear and subjugate it. Finally, I want readers to know that by virtue of our geographic reality as an archipelago that’s been a crossroads for so many cultures traversing the globe, Philippine history is complex and Philippine culture multifaceted, dynamic, flawed yet beautiful, worth caring about.

Are there any future projects you would like to share?

I’m trying to find a home for a second chapbook (a collection of poems I’ve written about the writing life). I’m also pursuing a years-long dream of completing a short story collection. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll go back to a novel I started working on but put away last year. I dwell in possibility.

You can find more about Isabel and follow her publication news on Instagram and Twitter @poetintheOR. You can order your copy of Beyond the Galleons from Yellow Arrow Publishing at yellowarrowpublishing.com/store/beyond-the-galleons-paperback. We’d love to get this collection out far and wide! If you know of any bookstore in your community or local school that would be interested in adding Beyond the Galleons to their shelves, please add a comment below or send an email to editor@yellowarrowpublishing.com.

Isabel Cristina Legarda was born in the Philippines and spent her early childhood there before moving to Bethesda, Maryland. She holds degrees in literature and bioethics and is currently a practicing physician in Boston, Massachusetts. She enjoys writing about women’s lived experience, cultural issues, and finding grace in a challenging world. Her work has appeared in America magazine, Cleaver magazine, The Dewdrop, The Lowestoft Chronicle, Ruminate, Sky Island Review, Smartish Pace, Qu, West Trestle Review, and others.

Melissa Nunez makes her home in the Rio Grande Valley region of south Texas, where she enjoys exploring and photographing the local wild with her homeschooling family. She writes an anime column at The Daily Drunk Mag and is a prose reader for Moss Puppy Mag. She is also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review and interviewer for Yellow Arrow Publishing. You can find her work on her website at melissaknunez.com/publications and follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez.

*****

Thank you, Isabel and Melissa, for sharing your conversation. Preorder your copy of Beyond the Galleons today. Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women-identifying writers through publication and access to the literary arts. You can support us as we AMPLIFY women-identifying creatives this year by purchasing one of our publications or a workshop from the Yellow Arrow bookstore, for yourself or as a gift, joining our newsletter, following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, or subscribing to our YouTube channel. Donations are appreciated via PayPal (staff@yellowarrowpublishing.com), Venmo (@yellowarrowpublishing), or US mail (PO Box 65185, Baltimore, Maryland 21209). More than anything, messages of support through any one of our channels are greatly appreciated.

Kapua Iao 3/5/24 Kapua Iao 3/5/24

Meet a Staff Member: Sydney Alexander

Yellow Arrow Publishing would like to (re)introduce Sydney Alexander, an editorial associate. Sydney is a junior at Middlebury College in Vermont studying English and geography. She grew up in Maryland, near Baltimore. Her work has been published online in Hunger Mountain Review and Mulberry Literary.

Sydney says, “I am most excited to continue reading and editing the work of women and helping in their process of publication. I enjoyed working on many of the publications in 2023, and I am excited to see what 2024 holds for us. It is very inspiring to be a part of the Yellow Arrow community, and I look forward to helping in any way that I can.”

Tell us a little something about yourself:

Most recently, my story “Homebody” was published in Mulberry Literary, where it won first place in their Fresh Voices Award.

What do you love most about Baltimore?

One of my favorite things about Baltimore is Atomic Books, a comic bookstore located in Hampden. In addition to their vast array of comics, they also have a really good selection of general fiction.

How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow and what do you do for us? Why did you want to join the Yellow Arrow team?

I joined Yellow Arrow in spring 2022, where I served as the events and community engagement intern. After my internship ended, I joined the staff as a reader, and I also continued to write blogs. Now, I am excited to be an editorial associate. Something I really love about the Yellow Arrow team is how dedicated everyone is to our mission. I am constantly inspired by the community of women I have met while working at Yellow Arrow, from the authors to the staff.

What are you working on currently?

I am currently taking a gap semester from college to pursue new publishing opportunities and work on my own creative writing. I am interning at Galiot Press, a brand-new publishing company. In February, I will be moving to Portland, Maine, where I will be interning at Portland Monthly Magazine as well.

What genre do you write and/or read the most and why?

I enjoy reading and writing literary fiction and magical realism, and I especially love reading short story collections. I like literary fiction because I find the daily lives of ordinary people to be compelling and often relatable; I think there is a lot of richness to be found in the most commonplace events. I like magical realism because I think that an added fantastical element often makes the lives of normal people a little more interesting.

What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?

The book at the top of my to-be-read pile right now is The Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang. Last spring, I read her other novel How Much of These Hills is Gold, and I loved it. I am very excited to read her newest novel.

Who is your favorite writer and why?

I have a lot of writers I admire, but the two who are always at the top of my list include Karen Russell and Carmen Maria Machado. I really admire their creative and idiosyncratic stories, which are so unique. Their use of language is also really impressive.

Who has inspired and/or supported you most in your writing journey?

I think my dad has supported my writing journey the most. Since I was in middle school, he has edited my stories and encouraged me to pursue writing as far as I want to take it. Somehow, he is even okay with the idea of me pursuing a creative writing MFA after college.

What do you love most about writing?

What I love most about writing is the opportunity to play with words and language. I am really interested in finding unexpected combinations for metaphors and other figurative language—for me, this particular challenge is the most fun part of writing.

What advice do you have for new writers?

One of the best things you can do as a writer is to network. Attend festivals, join staff of literary magazines or publishers, and try to meet as many people as you can.

What’s the most important thing you always keep near you when you work?

I am always listening to music while I work, so either headphones or a speaker. I also like to reference specific books that I’m thinking about, so I usually have books on my desk as well.

What’s your vision for Yellow Arrow in 2024?

My vision for Yellow Arrow in 2024 is another year of growth. I hope that we can continue to reach more and more women writers, finding new ways to bring them together and sharing their voices.

*****

Yellow Arrow 3/1/24 Yellow Arrow 3/1/24

Her View Friday

Part of our mission in supporting and uplifting women writers is to promote the Yellow Arrow community’s individual accomplishments. We’d like to further expand that support and promotion outside of our Yellow Arrow publications. Twice a month, we’d like to give a shout out to those within the Yellow Arrow community who recently published:

single-author publications
single pieces in journals, anthologies, etc., as well as prizes/awards, book reviews, and podcasts/interviews

You can support our authors by reading this blog and their work, sharing their news, and commenting below or on the blog. Congratulations to all the included authors. We are so proud of you!

Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling.

Author: Susan Ayres

Tell us about yourself: Susan Ayres is a poet, lawyer, and translator. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in a wide variety of literary and scholarly journals including Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Sycamore Review, Cimarron Review, and Valparaiso Review. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and teaches at Texas A&M University Law School. Visit her website at psusanayres.com.

Her poem “Pimiento Cheese” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal EMBLAZON (Vol. VIII, No. 2).

Where are you from: Fort Worth, Texas

What describes your main writing space: light, horizon of trees, scent of rosemary

Tell us about your publication: The prose poems and lyric verses in Walk Like the Bird Flies (Finishing Line Press, December 2023) invite you to explore identity, history, nature, myth, and art. From Judge Roy Bean to Medea, from Étienne Trouvelot to Princess Di, these poems walk like the bird flies, traveling an emotive journey through love and loss, in imagined and actual landscapes.

Why this book? Why now? How did it happen for you: This collection about journeys to different parts of the world helped me survive the isolation of COVID.

What advice do you have for other writers: Be persistent!

What else are you working on/doing that you’d like to share: A series of poems about the Mexican Revolution.

You can find Susan on Facebook @susan.ayres.589.

Author: Leticia Priebe Rocha

Tell us about yourself: I am a poet and have been writing since I was in high school. I am also a visual artist, focusing primarily on mixed media collages. If I am not creating, then I am experiencing the creations of others by going to readings, museums, shows, and the theater. Creativity and art sustain me! I first joined the Yellow Arrow family when my poem “Lost In” was in the Yellow Arrow Journal PEREGRINE (Vol. VII, No. 2) issue. I was the .W.o.W. #46 (March 2023), served as guest editor for the Yellow Arrow Journal EMBLAZON (Vol. VIII, No. 2) issue, and am currently part of the team as a reader!

Where are you from: Medford, Massachusetts

What describes your main writing space: vibrant, expansive, home

Tell us about your publication: In Lieu of Heartbreak, This is Like (Bottlecap Press, February 2024) untangles the messy, heartrending, and always miraculous experience of love in all of its forms. It is a love letter to feeling, to aliveness, to loneliness, and to the self, ever reaching for radiance.

Why this book? Why now? How did it happen for you: I started writing this book almost two years ago in the aftermath of a heartbreak I resisted labeling as a heartbreak for some time. Poems flowed out of me in my hurt, and I had a manuscript put together fairly quickly. Initially, I thought I was writing to the beloved who hurt me. Slowly, as I explored my pain, the poems changed. I unearthed other forms of heartbreak that I had buried deep. I found a profound appreciation for having experienced the fundamentally human experience of love, no matter the outcome. Above all, I found the well of love within me is not tied to one person—it is abundant and can be turned inward. The book is almost entirely different from the first manuscript I wrote, and I am so grateful for the doors that closed so that this one could open. Above all, I am grateful that I listened to myself and did not give up on this project—it truly feels like it landed where it was meant to because I reached the place I needed to be.

What is your writing goal for the year: To write more consistently, specifically drafting or editing at least one poem every week!

What else are you working on: I’m in the beginning stages of my first full-length collection—seeing where the poems take me!

What advice do you have for other writers: Keep going. The writing life is fraught with rejection at every level of one’s career. Swat the ‘nos’ away like flies and follow your intuition to the next ‘yes.’

For more information, visit Leticia’s website leticiaprieberocha.com or find her on Instagram @letiprieberochapoems, Facebook @leticiaprieberocha, and Twitter @LetiPriebeRocha.

Yellow Arrow (past and present) board, staff, interns, authors, residents, and instructors alike! Got a publication coming out? Let us help celebrate for you in Her View Friday.

Single-author publications: here.

Single pieces as well as prizes/awards, book reviews, and podcasts/interviews: here.

Please read the instructions on each form carefully; we look forward to congratulating you!

*****

Kapua Iao 2/27/24 Kapua Iao 2/27/24

Amanda Montell: A favorite emerging author

By Cecelia Caldwell, written June 2023

I had never heard of Amanda Montell when I saw a flyer announcing that she’d be coming to my school, Middlebury College, to give a talk on Valentine’s Day in 2023. I had heard word of her critically acclaimed book Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism (2021) through the BookTube grapevine, but I had neither read Amanda’s work nor knew anything about her as a human being before taking a seat in the crowded classroom in which she was to talk. If I’m being honest, what compelled me to go was simply that I had heard of this woman, and how could I not attend a talk by someone who was well known? Snow flurries danced outside the windows as a woman bundled in a swath of pink tulle and ruffles strode up to the podium.

What followed was 50 minutes of enchantment. Amanda, infinitely younger, bubblier, and more charming than I ever could have imagined, was there to speak about her 2019 book Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language. Part history lesson, part manifesto, and 100% hilarious, Wordslut looks at the gendered language we use (and have used throughout history) and tracks the ways that it functions to reinforce antiquated and offensive gender stereotypes. Amanda doesn’t shy away from profanity in her work, though. She embraces it. From proudly using the words “bitch” and “cunt” in her daily vernacular, to openly discussing the array of names people use for their genitalia, Montell demonstrates how we can reclaim the language that was once used to oppress us. I strode out of that lecture a changed woman and, clutching my free copy of Wordslut in my hands, vowed to read everything that Amanda Montell writes until the very end of time.

Amanda, a Baltimore native, discovered her passion for linguistics while studying at New York University. Blending that love with a love for writing and social justice, Amanda describes her area of expertise as Pop Linguistics, and through her writing, she hopes to educate others and drive social and institutional change.

This brings me to her more recent book, Cultish. In this book, Amanda manages to analyze the language employed by cults to lure and enamor followers before applying this linguistic framework to argue that many widely accepted cultural institutions of today are, in essence, cults of their own. From Crossfit to multilevel marketing schemes to wellness influencers, by employing these effective linguistic ideologies, individuals and organizations are, in turn, cult-ish. Now, I was expecting to enjoy this book given how transfixed I was by Amanda’s quirky and cute, yet strikingly intelligent persona (also, I’ll admit that I’m a huge linguistics nerd), but I never expected how incredible this book would be. She can explain such a breadth of information and present it to her readers in a way that is simple, yet thorough (and funny!). I learned about suicide cults, Soulcycle, and everything in between.

To me, Amanda Montell’s work is the epitome of what educational nonfiction should be. It’s engaging. It challenges previously held notions and stereotypes. It makes arguments that are well-researched and supported. And, of course, it does all of this through biting, snarky humor. Montell inspires me not only as a writer, but also as a satirist, activist, and citizen of the world.

I could’ve easily not gone to Amanda’s talk that day. But wow, I’m glad I did. If you’re looking for something to read this summer, I implore you to look no further than Amanda Montell. And please—if you have the chance to hear an author speak, do it. You might be surprised.

Both books were published by Harper Collins Publishers, Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language in 2019 and Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism in 2021.

Cecelia Caldwell is at Middlebury College studying English on the creative writing track. She is minoring in Anthropology and Spanish. An avid reader and lover of words, Cecelia is passionate about publishing, editing, storytelling, literacy, and the diversification of all these fields. In her free time, Cecelia enjoys writing satire, working out, cooking, and tending to her garden. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her mom and two dogs, Ollie and Ernie.

*****

Yellow Arrow 2/23/24 Yellow Arrow 2/23/24

Her View Friday

single-author publications
single pieces in journals, anthologies, etc., as well as prizes/awards, book reviews, and podcasts/interviews

You can support our authors by reading this blog and their work, sharing their news, and commenting below or on the blog. Congratulations to all the included authors. We are so proud of you!

Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling

“1964,” “in That Pho,” and “Morning Love” by Martha Klein Henrickson from canada

Genre: poetry

Name of podcast: Boomer Bedtime Stories

Date released: February 2024

Find the podcast at boomerbedtimestoryradio.com/post/how-do-i-love-thee

Meet Martha on her website at marcharhenwritesitdown.wordpress.com, Facebook @martha.henrickson, LinkedIn @martha-henrickson-b64b521b, and Instagram @marthahenrickson.

Note that Yellow Arrow author Ellen Dooling Reynard (No Batteries Required) also participated in the podcast!

Yellow Arrow (past and present) board, staff, interns, authors, residents, and instructors alike! Got a publication coming out? Let us help celebrate for you in Her View Friday.

Single-author publications: here.

Single pieces as well as prizes/awards, book reviews, and podcasts/interviews: here.

Please read the instructions on each form carefully; we look forward to congratulating you!

*****

Kapua Iao 2/20/24 Kapua Iao 2/20/24

Meditation, Walking, and a Writing Prompt

By Margaret Flaherty, written November 2023

This past September [in 2023], I attended a writing retreat at Zigbone Farm in Sabillasville, Maryland. Every day began with a 20-minute silent meditation. After the meditation, I would walk past fields of feathered grasses and spiky wildflowers: goldenrod, chicory, Queen Anne’s Lace, false buckwheat, and lavender thistles. It was heavenly. On my first walk, these lines appeared in my mind:

I’m afraid of silence. / Every time I draw near, / tears fall.

I was so surprised. I love silence. Why would I be afraid of it?

Later that day, back at Zigbone Farm, we were prompted to observe something natural—a tree, a flower, a rock, an animal—and write a poem describing what we’d observed as precisely and concretely as we could. I paid close attention to the lavender-flowered thistles that towered over weeds and wildflowers along the road. Somehow, the line I’d heard about silence engaged with the image of thistles and, voila, I had the start of poem I never would have imagined absent the meditation and the prompt. I found this intriguing. Every day thereafter at the retreat, when I meditated and took my walk, I would notice that phrases or lines of poetry would effortlessly appear. Was this a coincidence or had I stumbled on a connection between meditation, movement, and poetry?

Like most writers, I’ve always noticed a connection between walking and coming up with lines or words I can use in a poem. But I was less familiar with meditation. I canvased other poets and asked if they meditated, and if they did, what effect, if any, does it have on their writing. A few reported that meditation helps clear away distractions so they can tune into their truest voice. One said silence allows her to unburden her consciousness, so she has access to her most creative self. Another cautioned she goes so deep in meditation; she sometimes loses her words and has to wait a while for them to return.

Religious friends told me about “centering prayer,” a form of meditation in which you repeat a sacred word. I tried this and, after a few false starts, landed on “peace.” This turns out to be a fruitful meditation practice for me, especially in this unsettling time of war. The susurrating repetition of “peace” calms my anxious mind and I find myself more aware, more open to the phrases or possible lines of poetry that bubble up.

Recently, I’ve added the following three-step prompt (adapted from an online class) to my meditation/walking practice:

1. Write a poem that utilizes only end-stopped lines, then reconfigure the poem using enjambment. Notice how it changes the poem.
2. Write the poem in any lineated style, then reconfigure it into unlined prose.
3. Reconfigure the poem from prose into a new lineated form without looking at the original.

Did your intention or goals for the poem change during these iterations? To which I added, did you discover something hiding in the poem you didn’t know was there?

I'll admit, following this prompt practice is a lot of work, and I don’t have enough time to follow it for every poem I write. But I like how it forces me to pay close attention to the flow of the lines, the narrative undercurrents, and the poem’s rhythm. It also helps me spot when I’m leaning on a pattern or structure that is keeping the poem from going where it wants to go. As a retired lawyer with an ingrained habit of imposing logical structure on what I write, questioning pattern and structure helps me to loosen up.

James Baldwin wrote that “every writer has only one tale to tell, and . . . has to find a way of telling it until the meaning becomes clearer and clearer, until the story becomes at once more narrow and larger, more and more precise, more and more reverberating.” At least for me, a meditation/walking practice combined with an iterative prompt, like the one above, helps me to dig more deeply into the tale I write to tell and offers a path toward making what my poems mean clearer and more precise to me, and hopefully, to readers.

Here is the poem that came out of my meditation/walking practice:

Transmutations

I fear silence; if I draw near, tears fall.
I’d rather be brave as chicory, roadside sentry,
aster blue vagrant. Or evasive

& crouch under glitter-webs & false
buckwheat’s seedy chandeliers; camouflage
my self a savage shade of purple.

Should silence spot me encircled
by goldenrod & spiked grasses, I’d make my
edges sharp as bristled lavender

thistle, armor my center with braided
brambles from briar thickets girdling Grimm’s
gray castle. I’d be opaque as

the ancient portcullis guarding the keep where tears
fall, condense & transmute to jewels in silver caskets.

Maggie Flaherty began writing poems in high school but stopped for a busy 50 years or so. In 2016, after retiring, she attended a workshop taught by the poet and essayist Lia Purpura at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. There, her interest in poetry returned like a homing pigeon. In 2020, she graduated from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University with a masters in poetry. These days, Maggie works in the garden or watches the birds. That’s where many of her poems begin: in the always-changing weather. She has published poems in Passager and Yellow Arrow Vignette AWAKEN. Maggie recently won first prize in the Bethesda Urban Partnership’s 2023 poetry competition.

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Publications Intern

Currently in Baltimore, Maryland, for school, but from Long Island, New York

Where do you go to school? I am currently a senior at Loyola University Maryland, and I will be graduating in May of this year!

What are you currently working on? I am currently working toward receiving a bachelor of arts in psychology and writing. I also have two jobs at Loyola University, one as a residence hall desk assistant and the other as a rock wall attendant.

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