.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. #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.
Why did you submit this piece to Yellow Arrow Journal? Why this piece at this time to this place?
I had worked on this piece for over a year. When I saw the theme, grief, I thought I might have a chance and sometimes you have to take chances even though I have never submitted to Yellow Arrow Journal. Thank you for accepting it!
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.
.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. #80
Mansi Bhatia
Why did you submit your piece to Yellow Arrow Journal? Why this piece at this time?
This piece emerged from a season of deep introspection—a reckoning with old narratives, inherited silences, and the ways we unbind ourselves from the past. “In the Dark: Unbound, Unafraid” is about stepping into one’s own light after years of living in the shadows of cultural expectations. For me this essay felt like shedding the weight of inherited trauma while making space for a new way of being—for both myself and my daughter. I submitted it to Yellow Arrow Journal because UNFURL is a perfect match for this essay’s exploration of transformation, inheritance, and the intentional unmaking of outdated narratives. This piece speaks to the unique journeys women take when reclaiming themselves from cultural, familial, and societal conditioning. It aligns with the journal’s mission to amplify underrepresented voices—particularly those navigating complex cultural and generational identities. We are in a moment where motherhood, identity, and autonomy are at the forefront of cultural conversations. Whether in discussions about reproductive rights, intergenerational trauma, or the shifting expectations of women across cultures, this piece speaks to a collective reckoning—one that asks:
What do we carry forward and what do we leave behind?
How do we unfurl into our truest selves while honoring where we came from?
How do we rewrite the stories we inherit without erasing them entirely?
This piece isn’t just personal—it’s a reflection of a larger, urgent conversation about women’s agency, lineage, and self-definition. It’s about choosing to mother differently, live differently, and tell new stories that make space for freedom.
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
I return to the in-between spaces—adolescence, early motherhood, moments of transition. The times when identity is fluid, when belonging, feels both urgent and unattainable. The times when everything felt like it might break apart but somehow held together. These are the periods that shaped me, and I find myself revisiting them in different ways, through different lenses, in nearly everything I write.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
To let the words fall out, without self-censorship or judgment; to embrace the ugliness and the broken parts just as much as the beauty.
What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?
Making Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity by Maria Bowler.
Mansi Bhatia (Mansi) is a writer and creativity facilitator exploring themes of identity, human connection, and the ripple effects of kindness. Her work examines the complexities of motherhood, cultural boundaries, and personal transformation. She is currently writing a book on the intersection of art, storytelling, and everyday generosity, forthcoming from Schiffer Craft in Spring 2027. Through her work, she encourages others to embrace creativity as an act of self-trust and presence. She lives in California with her family.
An essay, “The Field Between Us” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Chicago Story Press. Mansi also has two essays forthcoming: “An Unwanted Inheritance: A Fractured Love,” which will be published by Pangyrus Literary Magazine, and “Easier to Let You Win,” which will be published by ManifestStation.
Yellow Arrow published Mansi’s essay “In the Dark: Unbound, Unafraid in Yellow Arrow Journal UNFURL, Vol. X, No. 1, Spring 2025. You can find Mansi at littletokensbigripples.com or on Instagram @littletokensbigripples.
.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. #79
Rebecca Hart Olander
Why did you submit this piece to Yellow Arrow Journal? Why this piece at this time?
My poem “The Last” is for my dear friend Jerica, who died in 2020 of breast cancer. My second full-length collection, Singing from the Deep End, has a center section of poems written in honor of Jerica and our friendship. The book will be published in February 2026, so I had a small window in which to send unpublished poems from the book into the world. Yellow Arrow Publishing, with its focus on uplifting the work of women, is a journal I’ve admired and felt like the perfect home for a Jerica poem. Friendship with Jerica altered me, as did her passing. She shaped me, and the path I walk on is forever bordered by both her presence and absence, so the theme of KAIROS felt apt. I’m grateful the editors agreed!
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
This question makes me think of the power of books and the magical way we get lost in them as young readers. Being transported as a reader is something I miss having as much as I once did, and I love those rare moments when I can reclaim that feeling. But I also think of my mother as storyteller, my stepmother as poet, and of music, the soundtrack of my childhood. Then there is the inverse power, the inability to put language to something, to name it, or being made to keep something silent. Or using language to judge. That whole “names can never hurt me” chant never rang true for me.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
I don’t think I know! I’m so used to training myself not to listen, as in to reject the inner editor, that I’m not sure I’m listening to her! Hmm. . . Much of my work stems from childhood, so I guess she is my memory, and she’s telling me to remember, or what details to unearth and share.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Be patient, but also, go looking for the sparks! As for patience, my first full-length collection, Uncertain Acrobats, was published the month I turned 50, in November 2021, and I had sent it out about 60 times before it was accepted. Also, I haven’t always practiced writing on a regular schedule, but I have been steadfast in my attention to poetry over time. Regarding the sparks, I used to think some muse had to hit me over the head to grace me with an idea. Now I know it’s necessary to, as Emily Dickinson famously said in a letter, go “out with lanterns, looking for myself.” For me this means engaging in poetry community, spending time inartistic spaces or in nature, responding to prompts to get myself generating, and reading the work of others.
Rebecca Hart Olander is a Women’s National Book Association Poetry Award winner and the author of three poetry collections: Dressing the Wounds (dancing girl press, 2019), Uncertain Acrobats (CavanKerry Press, 2021), a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award in Poetry and the Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry, and Singing from the Deep End (CavanKerry Press, 2026). Rebecca has taught writing at Amherst and Smith colleges, Westfield State University, and Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop, and she works with poets in the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. She is the editor/director of Perugia Press.
Rebecca’s poem “The Last” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal KAIROS, Vol. X, No. 2, Fall 2025. You can find her at rebeccahartolander.com, on Instagram @rholanderpoet, or on Facebook.