Hello creative nonfiction lovers! This month, the four authors I’ve chosen happen to be quite articulate about the nature of their own work. So I am going to allow them to describe their pieces themselves.In a personal essay that turns out to be very personal—and highly affecting—“Everything to Do with Faith”—Patty Somlo describes her younger self in this way: “I was fighting my own battle with depression, though I didn’t know it at the time. I did know that I wanted to be happy and was having trouble achieving that goal. I figured my misery entitled me to do whatever I wanted, including taking classes having nothing to do with preparing me for a career but which might be fun.”
Lyndsey Gillentine has this to say about “Daddy-isms”: “This piece is a collection of quirks, mannerisms, and sayings that my dad has used for as long as I can remember that make him special to me.”
Carol Jeffers describes her excellent piece, “The Sea Wall,” as “a piece of speculative nonfiction inspired by several surviving letters between my grandparents and a secret they shared to their deathbeds. Retracing his footsteps in Brittany, I hoped to connect with my grandparents as a young couple.”
Ernest Slyman says that the purpose of his piece, “The Gay Men’s Fallacies,” is “to lampoon the gay man’s fallacies. It’s a humorous fantasy. Such characters include the straight perverted majority who frowns on the gay revolution. The confusion that comes with multiple sexual identities. Various fantasies include the supernatural powers of the dress, lipstick, cosmetics in general. Clothes and fashions conspire to kidnap the eye. Their voices take us places where we don't want to go.”
Finally, I’m always interested in reading new work. I invite you to submit nonfiction on a topic of your choice. I’m looking for creative nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, memoirs, and personal essays—with the understanding that these categories often overlap—up to 10,000 words. Please submit work directly to me at [email protected]. I look forward to enjoying your work!