Since moving to Colorado Springs I have made some wonderful friends in a writing community that is very unfamiliar to me. Pikes Peak Writers are mostly fiction writers – fantasy, sci-fi, romance, young adult, women’s lit, etc. – and I wasn’t so sure I would fit in.
But, like with most things, we find our way, right?
Through my first PPW conference in 2013 I met the brilliant Kathryn Eastburn and I’ve just completed her eight-week memoir writing class (my first experience workshopping a piece – HUMBLING!) and met writer Anna Leonhard (more about Anna below). Last month I attended my second PPW conference and met a woman whose name I knew well: Kirsten Akens. She is a former associate editor at the Colorado Springs Independent and continues to freelance for them (she even fact-checked one of my freelance pieces for the Indy!). Kirsten and I are now writing buddies – we meet weekly to write and report back on our previous week goals re: word count, pitches, etc. In the midst of fiction writers I found my way to a non-fiction writing community.
Kirsten invited me to join the My Writing Process blog tour (#mywritingprocess) – you can read her answers here.
And here are mine:
What am I working on?
I’m just finishing up my first solo book project, Vegan Pressure Cooking. I’ve been working on it since November and it’s finally off to the designer. Currently, my essay “A Well-Rounded Vegan” (Ch. 8) – in which I talk about how I am not a skinny vegan – can be found in Running, Eating, Thinking: A Vegan Anthology
which is available in paperback and on Kindle. (You can listen to an interview with RET’s editor, Martin Rowe, on Our Hen House here.)
I’m writing a series of personal essays, with a nod to memoir, that I hope to serve as both stand alone pieces and – should a theme arise – a work on its own. In the meantime I’ve taken on – and considering more – freelance recipe writing.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Technically, I suppose, I’m a food writer and blogger. My work differs in that I don’t write fancy recipes and my photos are sub par. I went through a phase of trying to style my photos. You know what? I sucked. I think most people read this blog because I write about what I eat, what I learn, and how I feel. I occasionally luck out and snap an accidentally awesome photo.
Why do I write what I do?
I continue to write about plant-based food and a compassionate lifestyle because it brings me joy and it thrust me into my identity as an ethical vegan. I’m beginning to focus on personal essays because I enjoy writing and have a wide range of experiences that I want to share, as creatively as possible.
How does my writing process work?
If I have a deadline, I’m very linear because it’s within a word count construct that keeps me on task. I focus on the point and how to get there in as few, but wisely chosen words, as possible. For writer-inspired pieces – whether creative or for the blog – it’s far more about motivation. What moved me today? Anger, love, fear, joy? I try to start writing the feeling at that moment and then set it aside – my job, when I come back to it, is to be sure the original emotion is still alive.
And with that, I pass the #MyWritingProcess torch to:
Becki Davis is a co-owner of Davis Creative, a graphic design and advertising studio, in Colorado Springs, specializing in brand identity design, print collateral, and marketing. Locally her work includes logo and monument signs for First and Main Town Center, Cedar Heights, Mountain Shadows, Southface, Springs Ranch, Interquest, and the biggest challenge ever, graphics for a jet airliner. Throughout the years, she and her husband, John, have won numerous awards from Pikes Peak Advertising Federation, the Home Builders Association MAME awards as well as “Print Magazine” and the International Association of Public Relations. She has several published magazine articles, including a little blurb in “All You” magazine. Beck’s love for copywriting has led her back to her dreams of being a writer. She has completed a Middle Grade book, “Magic Before Mayhem,” which placed second in a rather prestigious writing contest you may have heard of (and yes, it was a while ago) and is one-quarter way through a Young Adult book. Find Becki at rebeccarants.tumblr.com.
Jennifer Lovett Herbranson, US Air Force Public Affairs Officer with 13 years combined active and reserve time, is currently IMA to the Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Air Combat Command. She is a Speechwriter and Team Lead for Director’s Support at the Defense Logistics Agency where she advises and writes for a three-star Navy Admiral on all things Logistics. When she’s not learning how to ferry fresh fruits to Afghanistan or airplane replacement parts to Korea, she’s working on a four-part romantic suspense fiction series dealing with hard-hitting Veterans issues. Find Jenny at livefrommycouch.com.
Alicia Howie is the author of Seven Days of Grace. She is from Danville, Illinois. While enrolled in a Fantasy and Mythology course at Danville Area Community College, a few wayward characters rooted into her psyche and the only way to get them out was to tell their story. She’s been writing ever since, a passion that continues to send her on interesting adventures, including a trip to Brazil. Alicia currently lives in Colorado Springs surrounded by her many writer friends. Of course, her family and friends in Danville are forever in her heart and never far from her thoughts. Find Alicia at www.aliciahowie.blogspot.com.
Anna Leonhard‘s journey began in West Africa, where she spent her childhood reading books in her favorite tree and imagining her way through foreign lands. Traveling sounded like the ideal career, so she earned a BA in Communications and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Anna’s post college plans to teach abroad morphed into teaching ESL classes for refugee women and children in Atlanta. That’s when she discovered a love for all things literacy. She headed back to school for graduate study before jumping into the K12 classroom. Besides teaching, Anna enjoys reading (surprise), cooking, asking questions, accumulating stamps in her passport, and spending time with family. Find Anna at www.rtgrow.com.
3 thoughts on “Running, Eating, Thinking: A Vegan Anthology (+ My Writing Process blog tour)”
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I think that there is a definite place for vegan bloggers who write about what they eat and like you said, whose photos are sub par. I love reading all kinds of food blogs though I lean towards vegan. When I see photos which look like they come out of a glossy magazine and require many ingredients you cannot name or buy ( if like me you live in a small, small town) I do not want to try the recipe. I can dream of trying to make it but the reality is I will not. What I hear is people want easy, quick and accessible. From the research I have done I know people want to try vegan but they are turned off if they think it is too hard. Good for you for owning what you are good at, for admitting that the photos may not be the greatest but at the end of the day you try and succeed. I love how honest you are in the writing tour. Very refreshing.
@veeveeseasyvegan:disqus, I can’t thank you enough for sharing your very thoughtful comment to this post. You “get” me! And I’m grateful!
I think we are not dissimilar at all and I love your blog. My point ( and I hope I made it without sounding like an..ahem..rant) is that there is a place for all sorts of vegan bloggers to get the word out. It is not all about the stylized photos which can some times make vegan cooking seem a little inaccessible. I love those photos, I drool over them often 🙂 though I would rather spend the time making the food than getting the lighting just right every single time.