.WRITERS.ON.WRITING..Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #85
Rozalija Grace
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
I grew up in Alaska—which, in addition to being a former Russian colony, has a large Russian immigrant and expat population. My mother’s ancestry was partially Russian, but her family had long since lost the language and the culture. I, however, was drawn instinctively to everything Russian as a child, being surrounded by the culture the way I was, and the language was the most important part. It drew the crucial dividing line between being passively of Russian descent, like my mother, and being actively part of the Russian diaspora. My Russian is still imperfect, but the power I gained through learning the language has been the power to define myself. I wouldn’t be out of the closet, I wouldn’t be engaged to my miraculous fiancée, and I wouldn’t be writing as I do—even in English—without it.
Why did you submit this piece to Yellow Arrow Journal? Why this piece at this time?
The WONDER call struck me with its emphasis on the “interplay between curiosity and creativity.” What came to my mind was the people I have been curious about in my life—people who, by inspiring me to want to see them more clearly, have made me see myself and the world differently. Elisheva is someone it’s almost impossible to have a conversation with, without finding something new within or around you that demands expression. Our friendship actually started when I—just one of her many followers on Twitter at the time—wanted to respond to a draft she had shared, and my attempt to articulate what moved me about that piece accidentally turned into a poem of its own (called “Eagles”). She’s been making me write more and better poetry ever since.
How does the synergy of curiosity and creativity encourage your personal writing process?
In a very 2026 metaphor I’d say my writing process is like a two-stage ballistic missile. A spark of creativity—a desperate impulse to communicate something that ordinary speech and gesture aren’t enough for—is the first stage. It brings me to the edge of space—to a suspension of weight where I can turn an idea over freely and consider it from all sides, where all manner of possibilities are laid open. Then curiosity kicks in. I wonder how others have addressed this situation or feeling before. I wonder what other kinds of meaning have been attached to the symbols that the experience presents to me. I have often said that there is more research behind one of my poems or short stories than behind most of the papers I wrote in grad school, and that is often true. I crack encyclopedias, etymological dictionaries, biographies, histories . . . And out of this curiosity, I am propelled like the second stage of the missile; my creativity acquires velocity toward a specific target. Then, if I’m lucky, it explodes.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
I don’t think I have one of those.
Rozalija Grace is a Russian and Armenian diasporic writer, translator, and cultural activist from southern Alaska. Her poems, short stories, and essays explore identity, language reclamation, and inclusive orthodoxy and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and featured in Dappled Things, Rust & Moth, Room, and other journals. Her translations of early Soviet poetry have been nominated for Best Literary Translations. She currently serves as a poetry editor for Psaltery & Lyre and lives in Minneapolis as the fiancée of a great American novelist.
Her poem, “Guadalupe,” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal WONDER, Vol. XI, No. 1, Spring 2026. You can find Rozalija on rozalijagrace.com and Bluesky @rozalijagrace.com.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #84
Lace LAwrence
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
I think I have always understood that words held power but perhaps the best proof of this was found in one of my childhood journals when I was unpacking a few years ago. I found a contract I had written and made my older brother sign when he borrowed money from me. I was seven at the time because of course it was dated. I charged him with interest and had all of these legally binding clauses. I remember him trying not to pay me back and my mom making him pay me back with interest because of the contract. My parents were going through a nasty divorce at the time and legal language was everywhere. It really stuck with me in not just contracts but in everything.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
The same thing I tell myself now “Keep writing. Keep sharing.” As a kid, I was lucky enough to be a part of the Young Author’s program, which was a program that had kids write stories, which were judged, and the best got to go to a multiday writers’ program at the local community college. I tried every year and failed all but two years. It was devastating every time I lost and yet I just kept at it. Sometimes I think I just wore the judges down but at the end of the day I got in twice and that planted the seed for everything I am doing now.
Why did you submit this piece to Yellow Arrow Journal? Why this piece at this time to this place?
This piece is a deeply personal piece that has struggled to find a home with other journals. When I saw the theme of kitalo I knew that this was a good fit for “Death and the Hawk.” Grief is a complicated thing, and I wanted to make sure I put that grief in caring hand. This is why I was excited to find a journal that was so supportive of women and the voice of the writer for this specific piece.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
My inner writing voice can be so salty. I love her. She is definitely my biggest fan and gets pretty sassy when people can’t see my greatness. She believes that I have stories that need to be heard because for so long stories like mine haven’t been able to be told. I try to listen to her as much as possible although the world can get so loud at times I can’t hear her enough.
Lace Lawrence was raised on the Yakama Indian Reservation and is deeply influenced by her family’s tradition of oral history. She uses her story telling skills to craft compelling narratives for nonprofits, memoirs, and nature-based writing. Her work has been published in Sisu Magazine, Mountainflyer, and Mountaineers Books, and she was a finalist in the 2023 Barry Lopez Nonfiction Contest. Notably, Lace is the first known person to stand up paddle board the entire Willamette River Trail. When not working, Lace can be found out in nature with her two dogs,Trooper and Tokul, and her lime green camper van, Aurora.
Her poem “Death and the Hawk” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal kitalo, Vol. IX, No. 2, Fall 2024. You can find Lace on Facebook and Instagram @lacelaya.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #83
Caroline Bock
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
I’ve written a lot about my tumultuous childhood, however, these days I seem to be obsessed with the fiction and nonfiction versions of me in my 20s–40s.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
As a writer, I try to be conscious about overusing the same words, though my husband recently pointed out that I like “cacophony” quite a bit. It now appears only twice in my novel The Other Beautiful People!
What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?
I have a lot of to-be-read piles these days! On top of my poetry pile, because I love reading poetry as a break from writing fiction, is Diane Seuss’ Modern Poetry and You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World edited by Ada Limón.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Keep writing. You are not done yet. Your journey is far from over.
Caroline Bock writes micros to novels. She is the author of the short story collection Carry Her Home, winner of the fiction award from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and the critically acclaimed young adult novels, LIE and Before My Eyes (St. Martin’s Press). Her latest novel, The Other Beautiful People, a workplace love story about a movie-loving marketing executive, will be published in the summer of 2026 by Regal House Publishing. She is also the copresident and prose editor at the Washington Writers’ Publishing House.
Her poem “Yellow Is Disappearing” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal kitalo, Vol. IX, No. 2, Fall 2024, and is part of her work-in-progress, a hybrid collection, tentatively titled, I Should Have Slept With Them All. You can find Caroline online at carolinebockofficialauthorsite.wordpress.com, on Facebook and Instagram @CarolineBockAuthor, and on Twitter @cabockwrites.
The Other Beautiful People will be published June 2 and preorders are now available everywhere books are sold. Please join Caroline at her launch events at Politics & Prose (Connecticut Avenue, Washington D.C., store) on Tuesday, June 2 at 7:00 p.m. and at the Writer’s Center (Walsh Street, Bethesda, Maryland) on Sunday, June 7 at 4:00 p.m. Both events are free and open to all!
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #82
Ellen Zhang
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
Despite being born in America, I took English as a second language up until second grade. That experience has really shaped how I recognize how others view language, specifically diction and pronunciation, as tools of power. Now as a writer, I hope to use language to express my own thoughts and advocate for others.
What is your writing Kryptonite? Your most interesting writing quirk?
Mine is probably just being mentally tired from a long day of work. My most interesting writing quirk is that I take notes on my iPhone of phrases or ideas that I always try to incorporate into my pieces—thus, even when I’m not writing, I am actively thinking about doing so.
What is a good writing habit you have picked up?
I try to have myself write twice a week at least. I let myself pick which days work for me, but I always have it in the corner of my mind whenever I have time.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Write about what you know but also dive into knowing what you don’t so that you can write about it.
Ellen Zhang is a student at Harvard Medical School who has studied under Pulitzer Prize winner Jorie Graham, poet Rosebud Ben-Oni, and poet Josh Bell. She has been recognized by the DeBakey Poetry Prize (2022) and Dibase Poetry Contest (2022) and was a 2019 National Student Poet semifinalist. Her works appear or are forthcoming in Southword Literary Journal, Rappahannock Review, COUNTERCLOCK Journal, and elsewhere.
Yellow Arrow published Ellen’s “History Cultivated Itself” in Yellow Arrow Journal KINDLING, Vol. VIII, No. 1, Spring 2023. You can find Ellen online at zhangellen.com and on Instagram @In.writes.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #81
Cherrie Woods (aka Cherrie Amour)
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
It was in Toronto in the late ‘90s when a local poet, Dwayne Morgan, began to blow up as a poet with his Black conscious poetry. It was my first experience seeing a local poet become a celebrity.
What is a book you wish someone would write? That you want to write (or are writing).
A memoir about a double-woman immigrant from the Caribbean who fits in on the outside but feels awkward in two different countries—one that includes the pain and humor of not truly fitting in. Think of a book that combines Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah with Issa Rae’s Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
To keep working at my writing and take chances by submitting more.
What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?
What Have We Here? by Billy Dee Williams (I met him at the Pratt Library after a lifetime of adoration).
Cherrie Woods (aka Cherrie Amour) is a Baltimore-based award-winning poet whose candid, narrative style is shared in her book, Free to Be Me: Poems on Love, Life, and Relationships. Her poems have been published in the Paterson Literary Review, Understorey Magazine, Poet’s Ink, The Fire Inside: Collected Poems and Stories from Zora’s Den, The Pen Woman, Maryland in Poetry, and America’s Future: Poetry & Prose in Response to Tomorrow. She is currently seeking publication for her new poetry manuscript, Sit Comfortably Elsewhere.
Yellow Arrow published Cherrie’s “Island Girl” in Yellow Arrow Journal kitalo, Vol. IX, No. 2, fall 2024 and “Kid Bamboo” in Yellow Arrow Vignette AMPLIFY. You can find Cherrie online at cherrieamour.com and on Instagram @cherrie_amour_thepoet and @cherriewoods and Facebook @cherrie.amour and @cherrie.woods.
Cherrie is teaching a virtual workshop at the Baltimore County Public Library called “Public Relations for Authors with Cherrie Woods” on February 10 (Tuesday) from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Learn more and register at events.bcpl.info/event/15509927.