.WRITERS.ON.WRITING..Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #41
Andrée Rose Catalfamo
Do you prefer handwriting or typing?
Each of these kinesthetic acts stimulates a different part of my brain. I handwrite in my journal, especially when I’m trying to break through with an idea or when I’m feeling stuck. I also handwrite first drafts of poetry. I type when I am drafting or revising. I feel like handwriting is more circuitous and flowing, and typing is more direct.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Be honest. Tell the truth. Don’t be afraid. Do I need that comma?
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
I spent my preschool years in Highlandtown, East Baltimore, where my grandmother would babysit me while my parents worked. From the time I was old enough to sit on her lap, Grandmom would read to me. I remember the colorful, hard cardboard covers of the Golden Books she’d buy and read, time and again. Soon, I could read them for myself, and then Grandmom started taking me to the Enoch Pratt Free Library branch on Eastern Avenue. It wasn’t long before I realized that books had the power take me anywhere I wanted to go. I was especially attracted to any and every story book that had a foreign locale or where the protagonists were embarking on a trip. I’d check out books 10 at a time and beg to go back to the library two or three times a week. And not too long after that, I started writing and illustrating my own stories, which all of my friends in school wanted to read because I’d put kissing scenes in them. I realized then that as a writer, I had the power to make people feel things.
Andrée Rose Catalfamo is a writer and instructor working in creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Although she holds both a doctorate and a master’s degree in education, last year she returned to Wilkes University to begin a masters in creative writing. Somehow, she is managing to teach rhetoric and composition at SUNY Cortland while pursuing her studies and working on a memoir. A Baltimore native, Andrée misses Fells Point, crabcakes, and the Visionary Art Museum, as well as her family and friends. She lives happily with her husband, the poet Burt Myers, in Binghamton, New York. Her piece “Blooms” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. V, No. 2, HOME.
Andrée recently had a chapter appear in A Lovely Place, A Fighting Place, A Charmer: The Baltimore Anthology (2022, Belt Publishing), edited by Gary M. Almeter and Rafael Alvarez.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #22
Nichola Ruddell
Do you set writing goals for yourself? If yes, do you follow them?
I try and write every day. During this pandemic, I challenged myself to a poem a day, every day, for a least a few months.
Who is your greatest writing influence?
My father.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
My inner writing voice tells me to continue to write and explore my creativity.
Nichola Ruddell brought us on a beautifully descriptive journey with her submission “Movement in the Cinnabar Valley,” published in Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. V, No. 2 HOME. She joins the Yellow Arrow family from Nanaimo, British Columbia.
You can watch Nichola read “Movement in the Cinnabar Valley” by finding Yellow Arrow on Facebook or Instagram.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #18
Sarah Smith
What is the toughest writing decision you have made?
One resolution I made to myself was that I would not pass up an opportunity to read in public. Not in an arrogant way, I don’t run on stage and tackle anyone, but if I am somewhere and there’s an open mic, I sign up. I try. I am still nervous, my heart races every time, and I am far better than I was if I had not made that commitment to developing.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Continue. Even if I don’t share it with anyone, even if it never makes it out of a journal, even if it is just what’s going on while I drink a cup of coffee in the morning, writing brings me incomparable joy.
When I get to the point where I feel like I’m mopping words around on the page, not really getting anywhere, the voice also tells me that it’s okay to move on. In the moment, it’s tough to set something to the side. With time, though, I can revise with a clearer head.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
Grateful.
Sarah Smith contributed her poem “Hickory” to Yellow Arrow Journal’s issue HOME (Vol. V, No. 2). You can find out more about Sarah from her blog hampdenunicorn.com or by following her on Instagram @hampdenunicorn.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #17
Kashaf Ghumman
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
To be honest to what I feel about myself and the position I occupy in this world.
If you didn’t write, what would you do?
I am a medical doctor, so I would continue down that path, albeit a lot sadder and more stressed without the relief of writing.
What is a book you wish someone would write?
A book on my female ancestors.
Kashaf, from Lahore, Pakistan, is one of our incredible authors from Yellow Arrow Journal’s Vol. V, No. 2 issue HOME. Learn more about Kashaf in her HOME poem “The Mehndi on My Feet.”
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #16
J.L. Lapinel
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
I feel compelled to write about my adolescence and early 20s. I was born and raised in Manhattan but spent weekends and summers on a small family farm [Blackamora, described in HOME]. I am only now aware of the strange ingredients of my amalgamated upbringing. There is enough distance from it now to explore the landscape and harvest new understanding.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
It tells me to quiet down, listen, and take notes.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
There are certainly cycles when a word will continue to present itself in more than one work. More than words, however, are dominant images. Feet are in a lot of my poems. They are often a physical manifestation of choices, particularly those leading to change or a new direction.
Explore Blackamora with J.L. in Yellow Arrow Journal’s Vol. V, No. 2 issue HOME and dive into “A Wolverine Hiding Ribbons Under the Bed,” published in Issue 18 (June 2020) of Rabid Oak.
J.L., a Latinx writer, educator, and MFA candidate at UMass Amherst, can be found on Twitter.