Author: Shyla Shehan

Marlene Olin was born in Brooklyn, raised in Miami, and educated at the University of Michigan.  Her short stories and essays have been published in journals such as The Massachusetts Review, Catapult, PANK, and World Literature Today. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of The Net, Best Small Fictions, and for inclusion in Best American Short Stories. Her flash essay, “The Percolator,” appears in our autumn issue.

Tell us about yourself.

I’m seventy-two years old and have been part of a writing group here in Miami for the last twenty years. I’ve always loved to write but being part of a group has disciplined me to write regularly. 

What unique or surprising detail can you tell us about the origin, revision process,  and/or final version of your piece appearing in this issue? 

The line often blurs between my fiction and nonfiction. “The Percolator” is broadly based on the life experiences of me and my friends. When I really want to spill my feelings, I dive into fiction. In fiction, you can hide everything.

What did you learn (about yourself or craft or life in general) through writing and revising it?

I try to set aside time to write every day. The next day, before I write anything new, I go back and revise what I wrote the day before. It’s a life lesson, I suppose. To review your behavior, critique it, analyze room for improvement.  

What do you hope readers take from the piece?

I am trying to write more pieces that deal with getting old. Literary journals are youth-oriented. I feel it’s important to share my voice, my experiences.

What fuels your desire to write (or engage in other creative outlets)?

I’ve long been a collector of handmade objects, crafts. I appreciate the time and effort put into one-of-a-kind things. I have a Haitian voodoo flag hanging on one wall, a painting of a Catholic saint hanging an another. I’m an admirer of the creative process. 

What has drawn you to writing creative nonfiction and/or what other genres do you write? 

I have two novels, several children’s books, and multiple collections of my short stories incubating inside my computer. I’m very good at producing literature but very bad at seeing it published. 

What have been the biggest influences in your writing? 

I constantly read. Books of fiction and nonfiction are always piled on my nightstand. 

I also have subscriptions to The New Yorker and The New York Times. Since I’m housebound a lot, these subscriptions expand my world. 

How do you make expression a part of your daily life or how do you find a balance between your writing and other responsibilities?

Finding time to write has been a challenge lately. But writing is very therapeutic. My stories get 100% of my attention. All of my problems fly out the window. Poof. Gone. 

What do you think when you hear, “the good life?”

I think a good life happens when you meet life’s challenges with dignity and grace. 

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Thank you, Marlene, for trusting us with your poigniant and heartfelt essay and for spending extra time on this Q&A. We appreciate you being a part of our growing literary community and wish you the best with writing and all life’s endeavors!

Rodrigo Toscano is the author of twelve books of poetry. His latest books are The Cut Point (Counterpath, 2023), The Charm & The Dread (Fence, 2022). Forthcoming is WHITMAN. CANNONBALL. PUEBLA (Omnidawn, 2025), a National Poetry Series finalist. His other books include, In Range, Explosion Rocks Springfield, Deck of Deeds, Collapsible Poetics Theater, To Leveling Swerve, Platform, Partisans, and The Disparities. His poetry has appeared in over 20 anthologies, including, Best American Poetry (2023, 2004), and Best American Experimental Poetry (BAX) His Collapsible Poetics Theater was a National Poetry Series selection. Toscano lives in New Orleans. 

Our autumn issue features two sonnets by RT. “Routines” and “Novella 14” which are part of a new collection of 100 sonnets that deal with the epic tension between conceptions of Cosmos and Mundus.

Tell us about yourself.

I was born in a place and time not of my choosing; I am living under historical conditions in flux; I shall die in an era before another era. 

What unique or surprising detail can you tell us about the origin, revision process, and/or final version of the poems appearing in this issue?

All my sonnets – hundreds of them, are made up of 10 syllables lines (or units). No exceptions. No cheating on line breaks, like just hitting the return key. Meaning units are integral to each other. The flow flows from a constructivist impulse. 

What did you learn (about yourself or craft or life in general) through writing and revising it?

Proportion, extension of proportion, violation of proportion, return to proportion. 

What do you hope readers take from the piece?

A piece of their life, like a 1’000^th puzzle piece—into to place. 

What fuels your desire to write (or engage in other creative outlets)?

A desire to enjoin in the playfulness of the earth’s productive and destructive power. 

What has drawn you to writing poetry and/or what other genres do you write?

I like doing dialogues with other poets. Written volleys back and forth until we reach a limit.

What have been the biggest influences in your writing?

Marxist Dialectical thinking and expression. 

How do you make expression a part of your daily life or how do you find a balance between your writing and other responsibilities?

I engage in continuous theft, ganking from one for the other. 

What do you think of when you hear, “the good life?”

Eudemonia. “Human flourishing”. Living a life that is deeply fulfilling, and true to your highest potential.

Thank you, RT, for your continued support of our growing literary community, and for spending extra time with us on this Q&A. We’re grateful for you and hope to read more of the sonnets in “Stumbles and Surges” soon. Cheers!

Simon Ashton is a former teacher and emerging writer, who was born in Scotland, grew up in England and has lived in various spots around the world from Turkey to Taiwan. Currently stuck in South Carolina, Simon is married with somewhere between 2 – 4 kids, and the best dog in the world. His brilliant short fiction story, Layover, is available in Issue #21.

Tell us about yourself?

I’m originally from Scotland but now live in the States with my wife, and Banksy, the World’s Best Dog. My two daughters and two step-daughters are scattered around the country.

Growing up our house was filled with books – every genre from German poetry to airport thrillers – but pride of place was reserved for my grandfather, who wrote a number of Hardy Boys-style books back in the 50s. I thought that was incredible, that an author could be somebody you knew, and I told everybody I was also going to be a writer when I grew up. Aged eleven I won my school’s story competition (the prize was a dictionary which, I was delighted to discover, contained all the naughty words), and then basically stopped for several decades because the stories I wrote were not as affecting as those I was reading. I only started writing again a couple of years ago once I gave up drinking and needed to find another, less self-destructive passtime. 

What unique or surprising detail can you tell us about the origin, revision process, and/or final version of your piece appearing in this issue?

When I lived in Taiwan two of my housemates were from Dunedin, New Zealand, which was how I learned they have a statue of Robert Burns in the centre of the town. There’s something so beautiful about that to me – these Scots sailed to the literal opposite side of the world and erected a statue of a poet. That he is facing a pub with his back to a church seemed too perfect.

What do you hope readers take from the piece?

The world can seem tremendously scary, particularly at this moment in history, but slowing down to carve out a little quiet for yourself is not only possible but essential. And, while I’m not a spiritual person I do believe, if we let it, life sometimes connects us with the right person at the right moment.

What fuels your desire to write (or engage in other creative outlets)?

The feeling of satisfaction which comes from creating something from nothing. 

I got very into cooking Indian food as there were no decent restaurants within an hour’s drive of where I live and, bizarre as it may sound, that helped me reframe how I looked at writing. I might never be a Madhur Jaffrey or Priya Krishna, but I can still whip up something I like and have a lot of fun doing so.

What have been the biggest influences in your writing?

I’m usually drawn to smaller stories, the ordinary dramas of life you find from writers like Maggie O’Farrell and Meg Wolitzer.  Roddy Doyle is a particular inspiration for the way his characters joke in even the bleakest circumstances. Humour is as natural a part of being human as sadness, but too often people think po-faced literary seriousness is more truthful. I disagree.

How do you make expression a part of your daily life or how do you find a balance between your writing and other responsibilities?

If anything, writing has helped provide more balance. I’ve worked from home for about twenty years and it’s very easy to blur that line between work and personal life. I’ve always been a night owl. I like to spend the evening with my wife and then, once she goes to bed, begin writing. The peace and quiet darkness brings is when I feel the least self-conscious and can allow my mind to wander more freely.

What do you think of when you hear, “the good life?”

One of the worst/best things about getting older is realising how many trite cliches hold true. I’ve floated in the warmth of the South China Sea, walked a frozen lake in Wisconsin, and had a thousand more wonderful experiences I never would have dreamed, but the good life is getting to share those joyful times with people you love.

Thank you, Simon, for being a part of our growing literary community and for spending extra time with us on this Q&A. We wish you the best with writing and all life’s endeavors!