Author Of The Year 2024 Interview
Melissa Lemay
We offer this exclusive Q&A Interview with Melissa Lemay, Author of the Year of 2024, a writer whose multiple literary works have been featured on our Spillwords pages, as well as previously being Author of the Month of July 2024.
- Can you recall a pivotal moment from your early life when you recognized the power of language and writing?
I remember being recognized for the capacity and voraciousness I had as a young reader and writer. Speaking fluently and involving ourselves with literature were markers of intellect, things to be proud of. This realization signaled to me that language and writing were powerful vehicles of transformation, both in everyday life and long term.
- Does the act of writing invigorate you or leave you feeling drained?
Writing rarely, if ever, leaves me feeling drained. I could go on all day talking about writing and the joy it brings me. It’s as if writing is, not even an appendage or part of me, it lives in me. Sure, writing is a craft that can be cultivated. Some of us are born with natural giftings. Math, for instance, I didn’t get that one. Writing, editing, anything involving words excites, invigorates, pleases. I can’t imagine a world without writing in it. I wouldn’t want to be a part of that world.
- How much time do you dedicate to writing each day, and if given the opportunity, how many hours would you spend on your craft?
Well, I make my opportunities.
Ask any of my children. I make it very clear that when I am typing or reading on my phone, I am generally doing work—engaged in something pertaining to writing! Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Jetpack are three of the apps I use most if that says anything. “If I could lie in bed forever and write, I’d die a happy woman.” I want to be famous for that quote. Let’s make it happen.
- In your opinion, does having a strong ego benefit or hinder writers?
To answer this question, I think it is important to first look at what exactly “ego” is. It is “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance”. When something is strong, it can withstand force or pressure. So, I think having a strong ego would be a benefit to writers.
It took me a long time to develop my voice, to have this idea that I am of value as a person, just as I am, and not based on what I have to offer. In a world where it’s so often seen that people tear each other down, it takes strength and discipline to build ourselves up. Like anything else, we must operate strength with balance. Anything can be misused or abused. Along with knowing that I am of value, I must not overestimate or inflate, nor underestimate or deflate, my sense of value among others. Though it isn’t always a lived experience, there is an equality to being human. We are all specks on this giant orb when it comes right down to it. At a basic human level, we are very much the same. As a writer, remembering that enables me to operate from a place of humility, and one of love.
- What is your writing Kryptonite?
There isn’t anything that stops me from writing, or anything I won’t write about. Since I am born from what exists, and exist within that framework, then it also exists in me. I think we limit ourselves when we refuse to see or don’t allow ourselves limitless connections with what is around us. Most people have not fully tapped into their capabilities for language, for how far they can reach. I think this is a sort of Kryptonite, generally speaking. Every one of us is powerful. We each (and all) have a voice.
In a poem, forthcoming, I write:
“i want to be the dream
inside the head of the
cop who shot and killed
the black man –”
Black is not capitalized in this instance, because nothing in the poem is capitalized. This is a poem about resistance, about power, and about the cyclical nature of things. Having a voice within that framework. It can seem daunting. We have one, though.
- When it comes to inspiration, do you actively seek it out or does it naturally emerge during your creative process?
Both. I write in response to a lot of prompts. As a writer for dVerse Poet’s Pub, I create a monthly prompt there, and I respond to many of the prompts created by others. These are run on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. So, that’s possibly three days of the week that I am inspired to write in response to a specific concept. There are other places, like Medusa’s Kitchen, that run weekly ekphrastic challenges, and the like.
I think “writer’s block” is a figment of our imagination or something in our spirit that needs adjustment. There were years I didn’t write. Now, I look back, and I see so much inspiration that I continue to pull into my writing today.
I love going for hikes, and I’m always finding new inspiration there. The potential for inspiration in nature is itself limitless. That’s probably why there’s so much poetry written about it.
- How important is the encouragement and support of your friends and family in shaping your writing journey?
Most of us have at least “that one” person who we can pinpoint, and we fondly remember them for some pivotal thing they said to us, or some word of encouragement offered. I have a few. My seventh grade Language Arts teacher, Mrs. Del Corso. She had such a love of and respect for language. I always remember a history teacher from high school, Mr. Wright, who taught us that every great civilization destroyed itself when it stopped striving for excellence, in character and in relationship with the rest of the world. And my friend, Alex, who’s read my poetry since tenth grade.
Ultimately, other people’s encouragement and support only do so much for us. If we don’t love what we’re doing, and respect the beauty of it and what a gift it is, then what are we doing it for? And if we have no need for improvement or know it all; or if we’ve reached the top of the mountain, and haven’t turned back to help lift someone else up, then what is the point, exactly? But we do need at least that one person, who believes in us, to remind us of and be the mirror with which we see ourselves, when we forget.
- Do you ever Google yourself?
Of course I do. I may have Googled you, too. In fact, I probably have. Isn’t that what inquisitive minds do? I never understood people who aren’t curious or don’t wonder. If I don’t know something or if I want to know more about something, I’m looking it up. After I started being published in different places online, I got curious about whether it affected results in search engines when I searched for myself. I think it has. Now when I Google myself, I get a bunch of different results from different places.
I Google my literary journal, too. Collaborature, it’s called. Nigel Byng came up with the name, really. It’s a journal for collaborative poetry and fiction. In essence, each submission needs to incorporate two human beings in some way. The first time I ever Googled the word Collaborature, I got nothin’. Now, when I search for it, listings for it on different websites come up, along with things I’ve posted about it and things my friends have posted.
Anyway, Google is an amazing system. They are spying on us, though. You’d be surprised what kind of information you can find out about a person online. Go Google yourself right now.
- Could you offer any advice or tips to aspiring writers looking to improve their craft?
If you want to improve at anything, you should surround yourself with people who are doing that thing, and people who are doing it at all different levels. Don’t ever think there is someone or something you cannot learn something from. One of the things I ran into recently is that if the poem must tell you what it means, it has failed. Mind-blowing, right? But new for me! I did not “know” that before. It makes sense! It exemplifies how and why poetry, and writing in general, is a craft.
Take bits and pieces from everyone. A hard and fast rule for writing is to say the thing in the fewest words possible to get your point across. Write with clarity and precision in your voice. See how it’s a balancing act? We want to use descriptive imagery, but not too much. We want to tell a story, but without telling the meaning behind it. It’s written choreography, all the letters and words are tiny dancers.
Whatever you do, don’t think you’ve arrived, and don’t ever stop learning. Read all the banned books. Don’t let anyone who doesn’t know what the problem is tell you that you are a part of the problem. Learn the rules and break them. Resist. Break down doors if you need to. But don’t ever stop learning.
- What does being recognized as the Spillwords Press 2024 Author of the Year mean to you personally?
Between being a single mom, writing, and everything else, I have limited time. I do not get to read as much here as I would sometimes like. So, I had read some of the writing from other nominated writers, as well as some of the nominated publications. If I hadn’t read them yet, I went and read them. There were great writers and works nominated.
I’ve followed Dawn Pisturino, Mike Utley, Joni Caggiano, Smitha V, Barbara Leonhard, all for a while. I write with Barbara, too. I would have been happy to share in the joy with any of them. I was thrilled for Barbara and the little squirrel.
This might sound unbelievable, but a part of me gets sad, too, when I win, because I come to know and love my friends in our online writing community. I want everyone to be recognized and appreciated for their work. I hope everyone goes and reads some of their work if you haven’t already.
That is why I say I share this accomplishment with you. I know the dedication I have for my writing. I know the long hours I spend, looking up words in the dictionary and thesaurus, editing a piece to get it just right. I imagine lots of other writers do that, too. They are just as deserving.
Finally, I appreciate Spillwords. I’ve perused “the archives”, I’ve skimmed through its history from conception til now, it tells a story. It’s neat to see how a thing started, and what it’s grown into now. I am sure it is due to the hard work you all put in, and the love of language that we all share. So, thank you to Dagmara, Alexa, and the team at Spillwords. Thank you to the entire community. I wish us all many more years of success!
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