1. When did you start writing?
"I love this question. 

When I was a kid, about 9 or so, I used to spend a lot of time over at a fellow kid relative’s house. We must have watched the film Harriet The Spy (1996) until the VHS tape was destroyed. Like, I didn’t give a shit about the actors or the plot, if I’m truthful. My greatest obsession with Harriet’s notebook. Plain black and white composition sort of thing you can buy from any drug store. She carried it with her everywhere, heavy with penciled secrets and observations. It was a non-judging confidante. A cognitive processing tool. Perhaps most importantly, a safe space to bloom. Whatever it was lit a spark in me that never died. 

I traded babysitting money, lemonade stand earnings, and meager dollars from completing chores for dollar store composition notebooks and sharp #2 pencils. The pencils always tore the thin, cheap paper, but I didn’t care. I dreamt of becoming a writer. I wanted to know everything, to write everything, to see everything from varied lenses like stained glass. And in many ways, I am still that wide-eyed little kid. I appreciate her curiosity and her desperation to ask, ‘what if, what if, and what if?’ I love her ability to view numerous perspectives at once. 

So I’ve been keeping a journal since I was 9. I’ve kept all of them, and I love to read through them annually – usually in darkest phase of winter when it’s too cold to do anything outside. I cringe, cry, and laugh with my past selves. Journaling was also my original safe place to attempt poetry. My secret love for poetry led me to creative writing classes in college. And now here I am, trying like everyone else to feel like a ‘real’ writer, loving the journey as much as I hate it at times."

2. What is your method of writing? Notebooks, computer?
"For physical methods, it depends on the genre and where I’m at in the writing process. For journaling or general note-taking, it’s always pens (G2 Pilot – bold point) and paper. Occasionally, I will scratch out a draft on paper if I’m worried about the idea slipping away. I think since I started my Master’s program back in 2018, I’ve been more into composing drafts on the computer only because it’s so much easier to delete, replace, move, and change without making a mess of the page. I’d be a liar if I said moving from the page to screens didn’t make me feel traitorous. I still have feelings about this shift in myself. These days, I usually end up having to capture a draft of a poem in my phone’s notes app before I forget. For some reason, I am usually in the passenger seat of a car when these muses visit me. Nothing worse than telling yourself ‘I won’t forget this story/poem idea,’ and then totally forgetting."

3. Where do you draw inspiration?
"Nostalgia first and always. I find exploring old memories and past versions of myself fascinating and healing. Good for my soul. There’s a quote attributed to Anais Nin that goes like: ‘We write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospect.’ That’s 100% my writing credo. It’s the obsessive in me that loves looking at things repeatedly until I have completely scratched all the paint off of it and only the essence remains. 

A lot of my writing is admittedly sad, and I almost always write about real moments of my life. I like to look at the grit of life and lost love and relationships and the trauma we carry. The moments that really define one’s identity. One day, I will get around to writing from a space of joy (most definitely inspired by a lecture from Aimee Nezhukumatathil I was lucky enough to attend during my Master’s program). But I’m not there yet, and that’s fine by me. No pressure. 

One more thing (and it’s a small rant): inspiration has always been something that’s alluded me and really pissed me off. I tend to write/produce slow because I wait for inspiration to show up. I can’t just pull ideas from thin air. I am infinitely envious of my fellow writers who have an excess of ideas bouncing around in their heads or who can pound out drafts like it’s nothing at all. It’s not for lack of trying on my part: I’ve done the free writing exercises and prompts and timed writing and the schedules. The quality of writing I produce when I force myself to ‘just write anyway’ is objectively awful – usually unsalvageable. I’ve always wondered how to expand that little idea producing pocket within myself!"

 4. How do you know when a poem is done?
"With poems, I write a first draft and let it breathe. Sometimes, I can only make it through the night before the urge to have it looked over by friends becomes too strong. I am lucky enough to have a lovely, small writing community. Those folks help me determine what’s necessary and not. Where there is possibility for expansion or concision. Where I can be pushed do better. Where I can tinker and erase. I have some truly excellent writers in my life that help me grow. My favorite part of revision is scanning each word of the poem over and over to see if I can enhance the vividness of my work. Each of my poems goes through at least three rounds of comprehensive revising – sometimes many more rounds, of course. It’s hard for me to know when a poem is done, exactly. It’s usually a gut feeling I have. I know I’m getting somewhere when I’ve got my gang saying, ‘Damn, this piece is nearly finished!’ 

And like any other piece of art, sometimes you just have to let it go and hope it finds the right home."  
 
5. How do title poems?
"I’m an absolute sucker for a long, dramatic title. Like, let your title punch me in the face and ruin me with emotion. I’m very likely to title and re-title until the essence of the poem has been dragged out and perfected. However, sometimes the title makes itself known before the poem (or essay) had a chance to be born at all. Then, I’m left wondering what the poem might look like for such a title. Sometimes, titles allude me altogether, and I must turn to my writing community for brainstorming sessions. 

This is another one of those ‘it depends’ moments, I guess."

6. How did A Series of Little Damnits​ come about? When did you realize you had material for a poetry book? (Also, how in the world did you come up with a KILLER title like that for your poetry collection?)
"It’s a damn good title, I have to admit it. But I sort of feel I can only take half credit. A ‘little damnit’ comes from childhood shenanigans belonging to a loved one in which he proclaimed a mistake to be just a ‘little damnit’ instead of something more serious. The story always made me laugh. One day, I was sitting in my office during graduate school when I started thinking about the story more. I had this little epiphany about how life is honestly just a string of small “damnits” linked together like colorful garland or something. Again, my writing tends to be on the sad, emotional, and raw end of things. So, if I’m writing and compiling my damits to put them in a book, I thought ‘aha – a series!’ The title was born. And if I’m remembering correctly, this was one of those instances when the title came before the project was completed. 

A Series of Little Damnits truly took my entire Master’s program (that’s two years). It’s evidence of my growth and expansion as a writer. The poems inside the book encompass all the shit I learned from my graduate school family, my beloved office mates, and my creative instructors. The pieces are totally my blooming. When I graduated during the beginning of the pandemic, I took time to compile what I considered my ‘best work,’ revise the manuscript, and place the poems into an order that made me happy. Overall, the process took months. I started sending the manuscript out during Fall of 2020. The day I got the acceptance from Ghost City Press for their Summer Series was divine!"   

7. What project(s) do you hope to take on?
"I have a ton of writing goals. I’d like to complete another poetry chapbook and a full collection. I’d also love to put out a memoir or two someday (I am super inspired by Leslie Jamison and Mary Karr when it comes to essay writing). When I am not poem-ing, I am crafting creative nonfiction essays or flash pieces. Fiction is not my strongest genre, but it’s a muscle I continue to work on with the help of knowledgeable friends. Novels basically raised me, so I’d like to put a couple of those out into the world too. It’s always been my goal to be prolific and have an oeuvre of which to be very proud." 

8. What do you hope people take away from your work? 
"Tough question. I would say that I hope readers feel reached or seen somehow. Writing is really a conversation, and I hope someone can see my very naked soul on the page and feel like ‘damn, that was brave.’ And then maybe be inspired to do something brave for themselves – whatever that looks like. Even if it’s something as scary as feeling your feelings or being vulnerable or looking your authenticity in the eye. I’m about honesty and telling my truth in my writing. As long as I still have readers who can feel the rawness and tenderness of my work, I think I’m satisfied."

9. What writing advice do you find totally useless?
"I’ll narrow it down to my two lest favorite:

1) ‘Writer’s block is a myth.’
2) ‘Revision isn’t important.’ 
 
Absolute trash advice. And there is no ‘normal’ or ‘right’ way to be as writer. We just all have different ways that work or don’t, you know?" 

10. And finally, what do you enjoy doing that you don’t talk about enough. Tell me all about it!
"I think my favorite thing in the world is deep conversation. Like the sort of conversation where you lose track of time and you’re sharing all these secrets with someone you feel connected too. I’ve worked in customer/public service since I entered the work force, so I can handle small talk. But I hate it. Screw the weather or local sports. Tell me about your hopes, dreams, fears, scars, and all the things you love. 

If I can’t have a lovely conversation sitting on a porch with a beloved someone while drinking coffee, then it’s best to be walking aimlessly or with destination in mind. I get so wrapped up in my listening that I forget the ache in my feet after a while. These are the little things that make me feel alive and happy. 

A brief list of other things that bring me immense joy: my cat, my plants, coffee, reading (my secret romance novels), Gilmore Girls, astrology, personal development, travel, art, and Harry Styles’ album, Fine Line." 


Hear Maggie read her poem "In This One, I’m The Frightened Rabbit."

​Maggie Finch is a writer from Wisconsin. She received her M.A. in English from NMU. When she isn't writing, Maggie enjoys reading, making up songs for her cat, re-watching Gilmore Girls, and tending to her indoor plants. She dreams of living in Paris someday. She is the proud author of A SERIES OF LITTLE DAMNITS (Ghost City Press - 2021 Summer Series). More of her words can be found in Third Street Writers' Beach Reads: Paradise, Gravitas, Mistake House, Mineral Lit Mag, Hobart, and Pidgeonholes. 

1. When did you start writing?
"There were a few starting points for me! I started writing comics and short stories when I was really little, probably seven or eight I’d say. I started seriously pursuing writing when I was eighteen, and then I went to school for screenwriting. I got back in touch with my fiction roots right around graduation, and I haven’t looked back since."

2. Where do you draw inspiration?
"For me, it’s an interesting thing where each project is entirely different. I don’t know if 'method writing' is a thing, but if it is, then that’s what I do. I’m very research-oriented, so I’ll tend to dive into a subject and learn as much as I possibly can about it, immerse myself in it, before getting started. But once I’m in a project, I draw a lot from music. I make playlists for each of my projects that I cycle through while working. I take a lot of walks, too. No matter what I’m working on, being out in nature always helps. Getting outside of my regular environment and doing something that forces me out of my perspective, makes me remember how small I am in the grand scheme of things."

3. Could you share your process and thoughts on writing?
"My process tends to shift to suit the story. I wrote Here’s Waldo over the course of six years, and the first draft was written in little thirty minute bursts on my lunch break, mostly out of necessity at the time, but I’m actually glad it happened that way. I tended to write myself into narrative problems that I’d then have to either further complicate or solve the next day, and it helped for ramping up a lot of the tension and conflict that Waldo went through growing up. Then for The Brother We Share, I did this thing that I’ll probably never do again where I wrote the entire thing chronologically, in the same time period as the book. So the novel took place mostly from July 2020 to January 2021, and I wrote it from July 2020 to January 2021. I took a little break before going back and doing edits, but that first draft was nonstop, daily writing for six months. So yeah, it was a very different process from Here’s Waldo, which was a very different process from everything else I’d done up till then."

4. How did The Brother We Share come about? When did you realize you had material for a novel? 
"This was something I knew I had to write eventually. I couldn’t walk away from it. This is fictional, but every character in the book is a real person. It takes a real event, a suicide attempt that I survived back in 2016, and it looks at what could’ve happened if I hadn’t survived. How that would’ve affected my brothers, my friends who became brothers. So the book explores their grief and their recovery from each of their perspectives, with each chapter being from the POV of one of them. This was something I wanted to talk about and explore for a while, but I needed some time and distance from the event. Then, when the pandemic first hit and we were all stuck inside anyway, with all that early fear and uncertainty, I knew that it was time for me to do this. It just felt right. If I’m being honest, I wrote it for me, and for my brothers. I wasn’t sure if it would be picked up, but I knew I had to write it. Then, when Anti-Heroin Chic published my flash version of The Brother We Share, and Cleaver Magazine picked up an excerpt from the book, I figured I might be onto something. That it could maybe resonate with others who had struggled with issues of mental health, of grief, of recovery. This project scared me more than anything I’d ever worked on before, but I knew I had to do it. I felt like if I could survive what I survived, I had to do something with that. I had to make all that pain mean something. So this book is my reclamation."

5. You’ve written and published a novel before The Brother We Share. Was it easier writing a second novel after writing Here’s Waldo?
"I think it was a little easier, process-wise. And it helped having that experience, knowing that I could do it, that something could happen with the story once I was done with it. It was emotionally more difficult than Here’s Waldo, and Waldo was pretty tough. But God was it cathartic. I don’t think I could ever express the feeling I had when it was done. It was a story I knew I had to write. For five years, I knew that. So as hard as it was to face it, the words just poured out of me once it was finally time."

6. Tell me the origin story of (mac)ro(mic). What is your vision for the future of your magazine? 
"I had worked for some really incredible mags before I started (mac)ro(mic). I was Assistant Editor at The Citron Review and Associate Editor at Cease, Cows before that. I’ve said it before, but without those mags, (mac)ro(mic) wouldn’t exist. It was such a formative experience, and getting to work with Susannah and Chuck at C,C and Angela at Citron was just incredible. I had always had this dream of running my own mag, and so one day I just said screw it and did it. I made a site for it, solicited work from some writers I admired, opened up subs, and the rest was history. It’s been an absolute dream seeing what this magazine has become in three years. Just absolutely unreal. Then recently, I was so excited to get to make (mac)ro(mic) a paying market. That in itself was another dream come true, so the future of the mag will be all about pushing even further into what’s possible in the literary world, seeking out the absolute best work from folks (both established and brand new), and paying them to be able to feature it. I can’t wait."

7. What other project(s) do you hope to take on?
"I’m working on something now, actually! It’s a novel-in-flash, a perspective-swapping project that tackles love and memory, family and futures, and it’ll range from the distant past to the distant future, even post-anthropocene in places. It’s very different from Waldo and TBWS, and I think I did that on purpose. I had these two very personal, very hard works, and now I want to stretch my legs a bit and push myself again, but in a different way. I’m really excited to share, too, that one of the pieces in this novel-in-flash was just recently picked up by Sledgehammer Lit, so folks will get to read that in late October!"

8. What do you hope people take away from your work? 
"I hope my writing makes people feel a little less alone. I hope it helps them examine their own lives and memories and find just a little bit of peace there, whatever that looks like for them."

9. What writing advice do you find totally useless?
"Anything that’s overly prescriptive. My eyes tend to glaze over whenever folks get into shoulds or musts. I guess it goes back to my own process of not really having a set process, but I feel like whatever works for that specific writer on that specific project is correct. There are pieces and projects that I followed all the rules and advice for that went nowhere, then there’s work I just let come out of me, rules be damned, that landed. No one knows you and your work better than you."

10. And finally, what do you enjoy doing that you don’t talk about enough. Tell me all about it!
"I don’t know if this counts since it tends to make its way into my writing, but I’m very passionate about exploring the digital landscapes and worlds that exist in video games. It’s been a part of my identity since I was a kid, and it’s been so exciting getting to watch this go from something that was looked on as a nerdy pastime or 'just for kids' to becoming an artform in its own right, with sprawling, immersive worlds and top-notch writing and acting. It’s also a great mental reset for me. I played quite a bit of Fallout 76 while writing The Brother We Share, and it really helped to dive into a world that was so different from what I was working on. To have these two very different but complementary types of exploration. And then of course getting to go from writing my brothers reminiscing on when they used to play video games with me when I was 'still here' to actually getting to play online with them in this world where I somehow made it was such a victory. Such a happiness."


Hear Nick read an excerpt from The Brother We Share titled "San Andreas Heaven."

Nick Olson (he/they) is the author of the novels Here's Waldo and The Brother We Share and is the Editor-in-Chief of (mac)ro(mic). Originally from Chicagoland, he now lives in North Carolina. He’s been published in SmokeLong Quarterly, Hobart, Fiction Southeast, and other fine places. Find him online at nickolsonbooks.com or on Twitter @nickolsonbooks.

1. When did you start writing?
"I started writing around 2002, when I was 8 years old.  My first poems were about my Neopets.  I started writing about more serious topics when I was in middle school in 2007, around age 13, when I won a poetry contest in my English Class for a poem about the color red.  I have written consistently since then."

2. Where do you draw inspiration?
"Pain, mostly.  I have always written about pain, death, and space-taking.  I write about people and psychology.  I am very inspired by Amanda Palmer and Allie Hughes (a.k.a. Allie X), I reference their music a lot when I am lacking inspiration."

3. Could you share your process and thoughts on writing?
"Oftentimes, I don’t have a say in the process.  The poem either comes out all at once despite whatever else I’m supposed to be doing, or it comes out in agonizing trickles.  Typically, if I feel the desire to write, I try to keep Twitter or a Google document open to keep track of my lines or ideas for later.  I sometimes accidentally write an entire poem in a Twitter thread, usually in the mornings."

4. How do you know when a poem is done?
"Poems are never done… right? I guess I decide that it is done when adding or taking anything from it would affect the quality.  Once I’m down to deciding between one or two words or punctuation, sometimes I feel as though it was better before I changed anything, that it was done to begin with."

5. How did Aurelia come about? When did you realize you had material for a poetry book? 
"I had always said I would publish a book 'someday.'  My friends, especially my Internet friends, had asked about it for years in passing and were always very encouraging when I would talk about the possibility.  The idea for Aurelia was to include some of my most meaningful poems in one space, so that they could be consumed as a whole. To create something that was real to other people, the way that the poems had always been real to me.  I wanted my first book to show my analysis of pain, taking up space and womanhood especially.  I didn’t specifically pick a theme for Aurelia, but there are recurring themes throughout.  I chose the name after a discussion about my book ideas with my friend, Victor Carlesi, who illustrated the cover.  I had first heard the name Aurelia while learning about Sylvia Plath, and it just seemed like the perfect fit.  Aurelia means 'golden,' which is how this collection feels to me.

6. Why did you independently publish your poetry collection?
"I wanted to have complete control of formatting and the aesthetic, and I didn’t want any piece of it to belong to another person or place.  I enjoyed doing the hard work myself, it made it extra rewarding. I wanted to be able to choose my own editor, illustrator, and the team of people who helped me by reading my poems and providing feedback.  I just really wanted to make sure it felt like it was authentically me."

7. What project(s) do you hope to take on?
"I am working on my second book now, which will be Aurelia’s 'twin' collection that I intend to release later this year. I am also going to be part of a team of people from the Amanda Palmer Patreon community to put together a poetry anthology of poems written by people within the Amanda Palmer community.  Each year, I participate in National Poetry Writing Month in April and the Annual 24 Hour Poetry Marathon in the summer, where poets all around the world stay awake for 24 hours writing one poem an hour."  

8. What do you hope people take away from your work? 
"I hope that people find something within my poetry that gives them space to exist as they are, unaltered, unfiltered.  I spend a lot of my time seeking out art and media that makes me feel like I can exist without seeking permission and that is what I hope to give back with my own art."

9. What writing advice do you find totally useless?
"I suppose the phrase “write drunk and edit sober” has never applied to me because I’ve never drank.  I’ve heard people recommend going out into nature to find inspiration when facing writer’s block.  For me, nature isn’t particularly inspiring, only people are.  There are few things I want to do less than sit in the itchy grass, in the summer heat, near a tree, and listen to life’s noises.  For me, that is the most useless advice."

10. And finally, what do you enjoy doing that you don’t talk about enough. Tell me all about it!
"I like making lists.  I keep lists of everything including the books I’ve read, movies I’ve watched, concerts and musicals that I’ve attended, my Facebook groups and even my favorite foods.  It is very soothing to make lists and update them, to feel organized, and it’s something just for me and my own personal amusement and fulfillment."  


Hear Angel read her poem "ELEMENTS."
​

Angel Rosen is an autistic, queer poet from a small town in Pennsylvania.  She is the author of Aurelia, a poetry collection, and is currently working on her second poetry book, which will be titled Blake.  Angel spends most of her time with her dogs, writing and watching tv.  She is passionate about psychology, the Amanda Palmer community, and poetry. She can be found on Twitter @Axiopoeticus, instagram at axiopoeticus, and parapoeticus.wordpress.com, her author page.

1. When did you start writing?
"I remember being four or five years old, and writing a few very short poems that I was really proud of (at the time). I guess that was probably the first time I engaged in creative writing, and evidently I haven't stopped since. I started writing fiction when I was nine, pretty much exclusively speculative fiction. For me, writing became a form of escapism and of expression. I could sit in front of the computer for hours and hours— or in front of some notebook, even— and travel to a different world, where I made the rules (or lack thereof)."

2. Where do you draw inspiration?
"In the case of poetry, I usually write because of a feeling or thought I've had, that I can't shake. All of my poetry is, in one way or another, about things that have happened to me or that I've felt at some point. This works great when it comes to having a lot to write (because I am but a bundle of feelings), but it also means that I am vulnerable in every poem that pours out of me. This is especially true when I write about my experiences with transphobia, queerphobia, and trauma! Wordsworth used to say that poetry is ‘the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,’ and I think in my case that is definitely the truth.

In the case of fiction, I do still draw inspiration from my feelings and experiences, but I am also often inspired by other works I've read, by certain aesthetics, and by a curious ‘what if…’ (the latter especially applies to speculative fiction). For instance,  my first novel, The One and the Other, was inspired by the aesthetics of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, by my queerness and need for asexual and queerplatonic representation, and by the thought ‘what if vampires were oppressed and also really really gay.’"

3. Could you share your process and thoughts on writing?
"My process tends to be quite different depending on genre. When writing creative non-fiction or poetry, there are two common scenarios. The first, that I am struck by an emotion, a memory, or a thought that begs to be explored. In these cases I don’t entirely have control over what it is that comes out on the page. Instead, I let myself write and write and write until there's nothing left, and try and make sense of it later. This usually results in pages of less-than-tidy handwriting in my journal (or whatever notebook I happened to find first). This is eventually transformed into a piece, although sometimes it already emerges as a rough draft of a poem. The second scenario is that I recognize something in my life or mind that I need to write about, sit down at my desk with the intention of writing about it, and recollect all the aspects of it that made the biggest impression on me. Eventually, I'll have a page or more of random disorganized impressions, and usually a few lines or words will make something click and a piece is born.

For fiction, I'm a lot more organized. Usually, I will have an idea (e.g. ‘what if vampires but queer and also dystopian’), and won't be able to stop thinking about it for a long time. Eventually, the idea leads to main characters, and those lead to hints of plot playing out in my head — less like a series of events and more like snippets of moments (not always main events, either). A fragment of a conversation, a look between two characters, a phrase from the narrator. At some point, I dedicate time to writing a very detailed outline, and use that as a blueprint for the story. I do deviate from said outlines a lot of the time, though, which is bound to happen when I let a work of fiction consume me entirely.

I think writing is my greatest love. Not necessarily publishing my writing, nor being known, nor being read (although that always feels amazing)— just the creating itself. If there is any way to feel like a god (a terrible god, at times; a human god), it’s writing."

4. How did WORLDS APART come about? When did you realize you had material for a poetry book? 
"All poems but the first and last in worlds apart were written about a very dear friend of mine, who I became close to at a distance before ever meeting face to face. I never planned on putting together a chapbook about him and our relationship— and through it, my own relationship to my aroace-ness and to the concept of companionship and affection. However, eventually I realized that the poems I had written about him/us mapped a sort of journey from the curiosity of meeting someone new, all the way to the first meeting in person after a long, long wait. I decided to put a little chap together as a cute gift for his birthday, including the poems that he had already seen and which had been published, and the ones he hadn’t read yet. Then I thought 'wait...why not let everyone else read it, too.' 

I think part of what made me realize that I wanted other people to be able to read worlds apart is that platonic connection is so often seen as being lower in the socially constructed relationship hierarchy than, for instance, romantic and sexual relationships. This has been damaging for me as an aromantic and asexual person in the past— it sort of implies that the relationships I value the most are inherently lesser than the romantic and/or sexual relationships that I neither have nor want to have. It took me a long time to realize that my love for my friends is worth everything, indeed worth more to me personally than any romantic relationship I could possibly have (which would be a mask anyway, in my case). My hope is that other people will read worlds apart and recognize the value of their own platonic (and other non-romantic, non-sexual) relationships, and also that fellow aro-spec and ace-spec people will feel seen and relate to it."

5. Why are you self-publishing your poetry collection? 
"Honestly? Because I am a very restless person. When I get an idea in my head, and my emotional response is excitement and eagerness, it is very very difficult to keep myself from seeing it through ASAP. This is especially true when there is no real reason why I shouldn’t do whatever it is that popped into my head.

When it comes to self-publishing worlds apart, I didn't see any reason why traditional publishing would be preferable. For one thing, self-publishing would allow me to make all the design decisions myself without having to discuss it with anyone. For another thing, self-publishing yields the final product a lot faster than submitting the project to presses, since I don’t have to deal with submission response times and such. I did the same thing with The One and the Other, except now I wish I had done some things differently for that project (for instance, researched self-publishing platforms other than the one I used more in depth). Overall, though, self-publishing gives me control over the time frame and the design decisions of a project, which I appreciate. However, I do have a longer chapbook project that I am submitting to different presses. Let's hope I don't get restless with that one; I would love to experience what it's like to publish a project through a press!"

6. Tell me the origin story of warning lines mag. What is your vision for the future of your magazine? 
"warning lines started in late April, and I am actually super surprised that I didn’t start it sooner! For a long time, I wondered what it would be like to start a literary journal. It was really important to me that warning lines be dedicated to uplifting the voices of marginalized groups, because our work is often so underrepresented in the literary world— and everywhere, frankly. I chose to focus on queerness and neurodivergence not only because of how important those two identities are to me personally, but also because of how often they intersect. As someone who is both queer and neurodivergent, I find that the experience of being ‘other’ feels similar in both cases. Furthermore, so many people belong to both communities! This isn’t to say that all queer people are neurodivergent (or viceversa), but I think there are a lot of similar experiences when it comes to being different from the norm (or existing outside the norm).

In a couple of days, we’re about to close the submission period for issue 02 and announce the theme for issue 03, which is super exciting! I think the upcoming theme for issue 03 is my favorite so far. Every time I remember that warning lines mag is actually a thing, that people know it and read it and submit such amazing work to it, I get a little bit emotional. I really wish I could do this as my full-time job (and who knows! Maybe I will end up working in the publishing industry after my Masters). In the future, I would love to start offering our issues in print as well as digitally. It would also be a dream come true to start publishing limited edition chapbooks. However, this will probably not happen for a little while— at least not within 2021, since I study more than full-time and will be doing so for the next year or so.

Fun fact, which I don’t think I’ve ever explained: the ‘lines’ in ‘warning lines’ refer to the different colored lines in a rainbow. The rainbow is the most common symbol for queerness, and the rainbow infinity sign a symbol for neurodiversity."

7. What project(s) do you hope to take on?
"I have a few projects planned! I am very eager to write the sequel to The One and the Other— the partial outline is actually sitting in my dedicated folder, waiting for me to work on it. I also have a full outline for a separate novel which, much like worlds apart, is centered on aroace identity, self-acceptance, and breaking free from allo/amatonormative standards. Lastly (but not least..ly), I have a manuscript ready for a longer chapbook, this time about memory and trauma! I have been submitting it to some presses, so we’ll see how that goes."

8. What do you hope people take away from your work? 
"From my poetry, my hope is that people will experience strong feelings— that they’ll read my words and find that they describe something that already existed inside themselves. I hope people get a sense of 'oh, I’m not alone in this.' For some poems, my hope is that people will feel angry, feel subversive, and through that feel powerful.

When I write fiction, I think my goal is for people like me (that is, POC, queer, trans, neurodivergent people, and anyone who exists outside the norm) to feel seen, represented, and, again, powerful."

9. What writing advice do you find totally useless?
"‘Don’t edit while you write’ is entirely useless to me. Even when words and feelings are pouring out of me (as is often the case with poetry), I still instinctively go back and cross things out, replace words, et cetera and then continue writing. For me, it isn’t actually disruptive at all. In fact, it helps me. When I replace a word or rephrase something, and the new version represents what was in my head, it makes my words flow even better. If I were to force myself not to edit while writing, I think I would just get frustrated and abandon whatever the text was. 

I’m sure that advice works for some people, but my mind just doesn’t work that way. I think in written words, and if they aren’t right (even just in my head), I immediately edit them until they ring true."

10. And finally, what do you enjoy doing that you don’t talk about enough. Tell me all about it!
"Playing video games!! I love playing Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda, and any indie horror game with a pretty aesthetic. Especially in the case of Minecraft, some days I’ll create a new world (and even delete the old one) just to start from scratch. It’s strangely soothing, to be able to erase everything and start again from nothing.

Another thing I absolutely LOVE doing (and haven’t been doing enough, because of the pandemic) is going to secondhand stores and buying so many books and paintings! Since I live in Sweden, most of the books at secondhand stores are in Swedish, which I don’t speak. So, what I do is I spend hours looking through every single shelf and bin, finding all the books in English or Spanish, and then choose which ones to buy from that pile. That’s how I have obtained probably about 80% of the books I own." 


Hear Charlie D’Aniello read his poems "paper & tea" and "worlds apart."

Charlie D’Aniello (he/they) is a Latinx, trans/queer, neurodivergent author and incurable literature nerd. His work is published or forthcoming in Sledgehammer Lit, Poetically Magazine, journal of erato, Wrongdoing Magazine, and others. He is the eic at warning lines mag and author of The One and the Other and worlds apart. Twitter: @beelzebadger / @warninglines // charliedaniello.com

1. When did you start writing?
"I started writing when I was in first grade! My teacher had us write our own stories on this large, three lined paper and ideally, they were supposed to be 1-2 sentences, but my story ended up being, like, six pages long. I always loved creating stories (with dolls, toys, etc) and finally writing it down made it all click."

2. Where do you draw inspiration?
"Honestly everywhere. I get most inspiration from movies, TV, and just walking outside and seeing how people do things and communicate. I might notice an odd habit someone I know has and I might include it when creating a random character in a story or setting."

3. How do you know when to write poetry? How do you know when to write prose?
"Usually, I’m going to write prose before poetry. Sometimes I’ll have an idea for, say, someone who likes to pull their cheese off their pizza. I’m going to write that into a story. (I did that as a kid, by the way…) But occasionally, I’ll get an idea that doesn’t necessarily warrant prose or a story. I recently remembered a time in second grade where I knocked my teeth out during gym class. For some reason, the way I remembered it was so traumatic that it felt like a poem. I don’t know if that makes sense."

4. What is your method of writing? Notebooks, computer?
"Computer! My hand cramps too easily to write in a notebook."

5. You are a visual artist. How do you express that?
"Wow, that feels so professional! I do love visual art and I’ve started loving it more in recent years. I’m not the best at drawing, but I do love graphic design and making things look pretty. "

6. Tell me the origin story of superfroot. What is your vision for the future of your magazine? 
"Well, the four of us met through a creative community online a few years ago (Tumblr…) and became best friends super quickly. We’ve always wanted to do something creatively together and mulled over making a zine with our own work or doing a collaborative graphic novel or something. One day, I had the idea of starting a lit mag after looking through a list of mags to submit to. I noticed that there was a lack of bright, eye-catching visuals that I personally enjoy re: zines like I’ve seen in fandom art zines. A lot of the lit mags I was seeing when I first started submitting were academic, professional, or only published a few pieces of art, if any art at all. Since my friends and I are all some type of artists, I figured… why not create our own space for people who are looking for a magazine like that too? We want to show that lit mags can be fun, with vibrant colors and bubble letters and silliness. We want to create a friendship-based space with our contributors and submitters and readers!" 

7. What project(s) do you hope to take on?
"I would really like to release a chapbook soon, but I have to finish it first! Also a novel, but that’s been in the works since 2018, and it’s probably gonna be a bit before it’s done."

8. What do you hope people take away from your work? 
"I hope that people feel a mix of nostalgic, disturbed, and seen. I want my stories and characters to be weird enough that you hate them, but root for them, and maybe even see some part of yourself in them."

9. What writing advice do you find totally useless?
"Is it wrong to say most of it? I think my best advice is to just write what you like and how you like to do it. When I started using Tumblr to share writing, I saw so many posts dictating how your process should be, how often you should write, when you should write, what you should write. It just made me anxious and made me feel like I’m not a real writer. You don’t have to outline if you don’t want to. You don’t have to revise a piece 500 times if you like the way it turned out the first or second time. You don’t even have to have your work published to be a writer. If you write, you’re a writer!" 

10. And finally, what do you enjoy doing that you don’t talk about enough. Tell me all about it!
"I love miniatures! My best friend inspired me to start renovating an old doll house, so I started doing that last year. It’s been on hold for a bit, but it’s really fun to do and play with when I need to destress. I also really enjoy collecting things like Bratz dolls, toys, figurines, etc."


Hear Shyla read her poem "buttercup."

Shyla Jones is a Black writer from Boston, MA. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming in SmokeLong Quarterly, Fractured Lit, perhappened mag, Los Angeles Review, Four Way Review, and others. She is the editor-in-chief of superfroot magazine and graphic designer for Perennial Press. On top of collecting nostalgic toys and ranting, she’s also currently finishing her BFA and working on her first novel.