Author Q & A with Sally Quon

This week’s Author Q&A is with Sally Quon. Sally is a dirt-road diva and teller of tales, living in the Okanagan. She has been shortlisted for Vallum Magazine’s Chapbook Prize for two consecutive years and is an associate member of the League of Canadian Poets.  Her flash essay, “Street People – Portraits of the Opioid Crisis,” appeared in our latest issue of The Good Life Review.

We asked Sally what fuels her desire to write. 

Her response:  “In “On the Road,” Jack Kerouac wrote, “the fields were the color of love and Spanish mysteries.” The words put together created something beyond their individual meanings. What an amazing gift! I want that for myself, to create word-paintings capable of making others see what I see when I look at the world.”

We also asked how she knows a piece of writing is finished. 

Her response: “For me, a piece of writing is never finished. It may have been published years earlier and I’ll still stop and think, “Hmmm…” before changing a word or a phrase. But there is that moment when what I’m working on aligns perfectly with where my heat is at, at that particular time. That’s when I’ll send it out into the world.”

We then asked Sally how the pandemic affected her writing.  

Her response: “As the pandemic hit, I was certain I would spend all my time creating amazing work. I was completely unprepared for the mental anguish that paralyzed me, rendering me incapable of writing anything beyond my journal. To be fair, that journal was accepted into the National Women’s History Museum as part of their coronavirus journal project. But it took months of creating little rituals to help get me through the day before I was able to start creating again.”

And finally, as it is will all our artists, we asked what she thinks of when she hears the phrase “The Good Life?”

She responded, “When my daughter was small, she said, “We’re leaving the bad life and going to the good life.” Concerned, I asked her what that meant. It turned out she was referring to our upcoming move from a stifling apartment to a house with a yard. Ever since then, the good life, to me, has meant being in a place with easy access to the wonders of nature. Here in the Okanagan Valley, I’m definitely living the good life.”

That does indeed sound like a good life, and your blog is certainly proof of that!

Sally’s work has been published in numerous anthologies including Chicken Soup for the Soul—the Forgiveness Fix, BIG, Straightening Her Crown, and When Home is Not Safe. Her personal blog, https://featherstone-creative.com is where she posts her back-country adventures and photos.

Thank you, Sally, for participating in our Q&A and sharing more about yourself. Thanks also for being a part of our winter issue. Spring is just around the corner! 

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team