Welcome to who’s on fourth where we interview one member of the yeah write community and the interview will publish the fourth Monday of each month. Next in the series features Arden Ruth interviewing our very own editor-in-chief, Michelle Longo.
yeah write on yeah write: Arden interviews Michelle
It’s been three and a half years since Michelle first submitted to yeah write. She started off as a lurker, watching from the sidelines for a few weeks before entering her first essay in March of 2013.
It was yeah write #48. I was drawn to yeah write because of the community and because I wanted people to read my work. I wanted to become part of the team because it seemed like they were all having so much fun. I wanted to be a part of something dynamic like this and, after becoming friendly with some of the editors, I wormed my way in.
She was right. We do have a lot of fun. Michelle has held numerous roles since, but earlier this year, she took on our biggest title of editor-in-chief. She has spear-headed the effort of the growth of yeah write including the super challenge and many more exciting features we hope to unveil soon. Regarding Michelle’s writing, when I first met her, I knew I could always find her on the nonfiction grid. Since then, she’s evolved into a writer of many talents.
If you had asked me my preferred grid a year ago, I’d say nonfiction, hands down. It’s our flagship competition and I fancy myself a personal essayist. I enjoyed watching people going from journal-style entries into real storytelling and that was exciting. But now, I don’t know. I’ve got my eye on fiction. Mostly I’m fickle and I don’t stay in love with any one thing for long.
Don’t let her fool you. She’s just good at all the things.
Usually, at this point, I would ask my interviewee what advice they have for any yeah write virgins or lurkers, but for our staff interviews, I love to hear their advice on how to take constructive criticism. Michelle’s answer may be the best (read: most honest) I’ve ever received.
I like to start off with a good cry. Then I move on to anger at the criticizer (which I keep to myself because flailing that all around is not cool). Eventually that turns into much guilt and self-loathing which leads me to swearing I’ll never write again. At this point I eat my feelings. They usually taste like pizza. I watch TV and sulk. Maybe I sleep on it. Then I reread the suggestions of the editor and realize there’s at least some truth in it. I take a step back from my work and look at it objectively. Then I work the revisions and suggestions in, careful to stay true to myself while acknowledging that we all need to be edited. (My point is, get that ugly stuff out of the way and then get back to work. The only other option is to give up writing and that seems a bit extreme, no?)
Michelle started writing at a young age. Like a lot of us, it maybe didn’t start off with the bang that we’d hoped.
I began writing when I was little, maybe 7ish. I was writing this picture book series about a hamster (Harry? Henry? I can’t remember) and it was terrible. It was about being a good person or something like that. I moved on to terrible teen angst poetry and short stories that were all for shock value. I wrote my first personal essay as a submission to Sassy for their “It Happened to Me” section. It was not published.
Lucky for us, that was not the end of Michelle’s writing career. I hear snippets of ideas she has and projects she’s currently working on, and I simply can’t wait to get my hands on them.
I have a memoir I’m doing rewrites on and a fiction WIP that has yet to fully reveal itself to me. I’m also working on bringing new fun stuff to yeah write. I’m kind of all over the place so focus should probably be my real goal. Maybe 2017 will be my year for that. We’ll see.
Focus is overrated. It’s called being an exceptional multi-tasker.
When Michelle isn’t writing, running yeah write, or working, you can find her doing (surprise!) any number of things to keep her occupied.
I try to get to kickboxing class 2-3 times a week, but when I’m there I’ll tell you how much I hate it. Exercising does wonders for my mental health. I also like to hike, but with only 4 nice days per year in NJ, I don’t get to do it very often. I work a lot, and most of what sound like hobbies (reading, TV, movies) fuel my writing so I don’t think of them as hobbies. I’ve been married for almost 15 years but we’ve been together for almost 26. We have an almost-ten-year old human kid and an 8-ish year old canine kid who only came to us a few months ago.
In other words, I won’t complain about being too busy anymore…
Thank you Michelle for letting our community get to know you a little better here at yeah write. I think I can speak for the entire staff that we are very lucky to have you leading us! Make sure you check out Michelle’s website. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Oh, you want more? Well here are five things you never knew about Michelle:
- She cannot wink. Her eyes only operate together.
- She’s a complete slob, but she spends an extraordinary amount of time working to not look like it. The couch and desk in her home office and her car are dead giveaways though. Don’t look at them.
- She is really picky, and there are many classifications of food she won’t eat but if you serve them to her she’ll pretend she likes them so as not to appear impolite. Except mayo and anything from the sea. She will straight out tell you that stuff is gross.
- She once went over a year without getting a haircut because she couldn’t bring herself to call and make an appointment. (She really hates the phone. Please only text or email her.)
- Here are some things she’s pretty sure are true about mirrors:
- Things happen in them that aren’t happening where she is and she just doesn’t turn around fast enough to see.
- They portal to other dimensions.
- There are things in there that will try to come out and kill her (only at night though).
- There’s a good chance something might pull her in and then she’ll be trapped in there forever. (Thanks a lot. Now I’m terrified of mirrors. ~Arden)
Are you ready for the yeah write #285 weekly writing challenges opening this week? We hope so! Your badges await in the sidebar. Grab the code, paste into the text or HTML view of your post, then submit your post to the grids for a little friendly competition. We’re glad you’re here.
The next super challenge for all you fictioneers out there is now open for early registration until September 30 (this Friday!). All you need to know about the contest and registration can be found here. We are so excited to get this one started and hope you are too!
