Send Me Your Thunder in 50 Words

Is May bringing you flowers? Longer work hours? Soapy showers? Our lilacs are in bloom, and my lord, are they delicious. I don’t eat them, but if they were edible, I would.  They were my Grandma Yola’s favorite, and I can still hear her unique pronunciation of them. She’d push the initial L a tad harder and longer than most people. LLLilacs. 

Besides flowers, there’s a garden-full of news to talk about on my end. I recently took a position with Vine Leaves Press as the Editor of 50 Give or Take, their digital microfiction publication. Microfiction is about capturing a snapshot in time. It’s not poetry, nor is it a bunch of adjectives…please don’t send me a description of something. Listen, if anyone loves to read 50 words describing the vintage candy shop in a small town, it’s me, but that’s not what this is. 🙂 

Microfiction a punching, well-written, solid narrative of something that makes you wonder, think, squirm, and question. It’s called “fiction”, but of course it can be something that actually happened to you or someone you know. The publication reaches close to 1K people daily via a newsletter. Send me your sad, weird, and thunder. Send me your happy, your smiles, and your day at the blacksmith a century ago. It’s your chance to see your name and photo framed in a beautiful format of publication. 

Visit vineleavespress.com,  then find 50 Give or Take. If you’re not a microfiction writer, send me your longer prose at Cordelia Magazine! Speaking of, check out my newly published piece at Drunk Monkeys Press: https://www.drunkmonkeys.us

Thanks to all who’ve purchased my debut book already, and kindly show support by sharing the cover and a quick few words about it on your social media. Here is the link if you haven’t ordered it yet. It’s a work of the soul. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=italian+bones+in+the+snow&crid=2QJGQ4TYI6WE8&sprefix=%2Caps%2C109&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_2_0_recent

 I recently finished writing a first draft of the heart at 70K words—an actual full-length memoir about growing up with sensory issues/regulation and managing that smelly circus throughout my life. In the 1980s, these issues were not at the forefront nor really understood, and honestly…I think having them is one of the reasons I’ve always been a creator, so I can’t be mad about them never being labeled. I am glad for children now who have the resources and dialogue to work through them so they don’t affect learning. But again, I’ve finally embraced mine, and I am grateful they’ve allowed me to seek art for relief. Even if my family’s leather chairs always had holes from my baby teeth. Stuffing pushed out. Ruined. My mom’s station wagon headrest was particularly tasty. 

I’d like to use this platform to tell you about my friend Quentin Harrison, a talented and wonderfully kind music journalist out of Atlanta, GA. You can find his comprehensive collection of books at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Quentin+Harrison&crid=3CBIGNZD5U6FD&sprefix=quentin+harrison%2Caps%2C54&ref=nb_sb_noss: I’ve yet to meet a more passionate, more knowledgable source on artists like Donna Summer, Geri Halliwell, Madonna, and Kylie Minogue. His work is composed with love and energy. 

Finally, enjoy this interview with one of my colleagues at Vine Leaves Press. Roz Morris is a beautiful novelist and skilled writing instructor, and I encourage you to click her attached links. 

Tell me about your genres and your favorite genre to write. 

My biggest works are my fiction. 

I love a situation that is full of provocative meanings. My first novel is My Memories of a Future Life – imagine you go to another life by hypnosis, but it’s not your past. Who is your next life? Do they give you the answers you need now?

My second novel is Lifeform Three – imagine all the countryside has gone except for one oasis of fields and woods. Imagine you work there as a groundsman and have your mind regularly wiped. Imagine you begin to dream – of riding horses through the old lands.

My most recent novel is Ever Rest. Imagine a man trapped in a glacier on the world’s highest mountain, while the people he knew get older. Imagine he’s a rock star, still alive and young on videos and records, the songs of everyone’s youth. Imagine you were once his lover or his closest friend, and you’re waiting for his body to return. 

I also write personal essays because I have too much in my head. Hence my memoir: Not Quite Lost – Travels Without A Sense of Direction. It’s the least adventurous travel book you’ll ever read, but it goes in more than out and has fun along the way. I’m working on another.

Which do I prefer? They are one continuum. A novel is a personal essay for its characters, and personal essays are how writers navigate the world.

I also write books on writing craft – the Nail Your Novel series. Because I coach writers and I love to discuss how good writing works. 

Who is your favorite nusical artist and why? 

Kate Bush. Her first single, Wuthering Heights, came along when I was a teenager and I needed a muse. She wrote what moved her, invented her own style. And she did everything – wrote exquisite melodies and lyrics, sang, played, danced. She was the ultimate creative being. I still want to be her.

What is your favorite cuisine and why? 

I love unconventional pairings, so perhaps fusion is my favourite. When I cook, I overdo the spicing, especially spices with vivid colours.  

Any advice for new writers? 

Don’t worry if a piece of writing comes out rough. Revising is just as creative as writing. Oh, and read a lot. 

What is your favorite decade and why? (Even if you weren’t alive for it)

I always want to prefer the decade I’m in. To discover new things that bring me joy, new kinds of relationships and friendships and to improve at my favourite things – writing and horse-riding. That said, the 2020s are doing their best to make optimism a challenge.

An item on your writers bucket list?  (a project you swear you’ll conquer one day?

All my novels feel like that. Ever Rest confounded me for years. But now it’s there (like the mountain). I have several other books in process. They’re trampling into each other’s territories, even across the boundaries of fiction and non-fiction, so I’m wondering what belongs in which. That, I realise, is my method. A book is trying to discover who it is. http://rozmorris.org  https://tinyurl.com/rozmorriswriter

Enjoy the sunshiine and lilacs. 

Elaina xo