February flew by, settling us more deeply into 2022, which is shaping up to be as tense and chaotic and unpredictable as the past two pandemic years. Even so, WWS members continue to send out their work and publish in amazing places.
I’ve included an excerpt from published pieces (if available) or a blurb if the publication is a book, and a link (if available) to where the pieces can be purchased and/or read in their entirety.
Please join me in celebrating our members who published in February!
Congratulations to Donna Spruijt-Metz, whose poem “I Find This in My Mother’s Effects” appeared in Tab Journal. Please click here to listen to a recording of the poem.
Congrats also to Ryane Nicole Granados, whose essay “The Broken Crystal Ball and the Zombie Killer” appeared in Raising Mothers.
As a single woman, I walked through city streets, shopped at local stores, and strolled through Target, my eyes fixed on the red bullseye flyer advertising this week’s specials.
The piercing wail of an unruly child then abruptly interrupted my stroll down memory lane.
The crystal ball in my head once told me that when I have children, they will never behave this way.
Kudos to Laura Sturza, whose essay “How Writing in Community Rocked My World” appeared in Hippocampus Magazine.
I’m an unabashed fan of writing groups. By joining a community of writers, we can ward off isolation, forge friendships, and inspire collaborations. Members swap information about craft and publishing; and watch one another realize their big dreams.
In 2015, I’d reached a turning point in my writing life and realized a group might help me start my first book. I’d already benefited from studying craft in academic and workshop settings. I’d worked as a journalist, written and produced two plays, and taught students to write and give speeches. But I was unsure how I’d pull off my next goal—writing a memoir about getting married after 50 for the first time.
A big shout out to Li Yun Alvarado, whose poem “De luto y sin dopamina / Mourning Missing Dopamine” appeared in Raising Mothers.
When I’m knee deep in laundry and memories,
no one bothers with my title: Chief Executive
Home Officer. I juggle dishes, schedules, control
top yoga pants, the nursling. What this organization
lacks in goals and long term strategic plans
it makes up for in naps and races against time.
Llora el bebe. Suena la lavadora. Separo el tiempo
como ropa sucia. Días interminables. Mi memoria
gira como tu, Papito. Bailabas espontaneidad. ¿Planes?
¡Ja! ¿Qué te importaba ese título: “Director Ejecutivo
de Tu Vida”? En el caos se goza, ¿no? La organización,
que espere otro día Mami, me decías. Todo bajo control.
Congratulations to Désirée Zamorano, whose book review “One Fell Swoop: On Joy Castro’s ‘Flight Risk'” appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books.
Joy Castro’s FLIGHT RISK traces Isabel Morales’s journey from coal country to Chicago in a narrative that delves into the complex psyche of a woman who to all outward appearances has absolutely everything. When her estranged aunt calls to inform her that Isabel’s mother has died in prison, Isabel’s memories swoop between the past and the present as the reader learns that she is a flight risk for a reason. Castro’s novel is less a noir suspense than a psychological study. Isabel is a protagonist that embodies contradictions, evades clichés, and mines the past to make decisions about her future.