.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. #73
Majiq Vu Mai
How did you first publish your writing and what was it?
The first piece of writing that I published was a short fiction piece that I wrote in middle school about a young girl who struggles to break free from the chains that other people put on her. I published it by handing out multiple handwritten copies of my story to my classmates in the back of English class.
What is essential for good storytelling? What types of stories do you find yourself driving inspiration from and how do they manifest in your work?
A willingness to be a bad storyteller is essential for good storytelling. Oftentimes, what kills a good piece is the fear that prevents us from writing it. The type of stories I find myself deriving inspiration from the most include protagonists who learn to love themselves through the bitterness of life. I find inspiration in these types of stories because I’m someone who holds a lot of bitterness myself. This inspiration shows up in my writing in how I elicit medicine out of the bitterness of my life, through the alchemizing process of storytelling. Powerful medicine often tastes bitter on the tongue. We swallow it anyway because we trust that swallowing the truth will make us better on the other side.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
I find myself using the word “possibility” the most in my writing. If I don’t know what word to put down, I put down “possibility” as a placeholder until I could find a better word to use. There are so many possibilities when it comes to using words—maybe we struggle to use them not because we have too few words but because we have too much. But I also think that’s the fun of words, there are an infinite number of arrangements to be made with them.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
My inner writing voice tells me that my words matter, even when I feel like they don’t. Even if no one reads them. The worst thing that can happen is that I stop writing. How will I know what my heart has to say if I keep everything inside?
Majiq Vu Mai (they/we) is a multiplicity of madness, writing themselves alive with the words they have access to and the words they do not know yet. An alchemist of flesh and memory, Majiq writes whatever burns inside of them like a searing ache and finds relief in giving voice to the truths that no one else wants to hear. For Majiq, memoir is a form of self-constructed fiction—we write to recollect the pieces of ourselves we have lost along the way and remember our possibilities through the creative act of storytelling.
They are currently working on rebuilding the trust that they have with themselves again. They are working on finding the genuine in their voice. They are working on embracing love more than fear. They are working on completing their first collection of essays. They are working on their current reincarnation. They are working on their aliveness.
Yellow Arrow published Majiq’s piece “Metamorphosis” in Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. X, No. 1, UNFURL. You can find them on Instagram @themajesticmaij.
.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. #72
Emily Decker
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
I grew up as a preacher’s kid, so from my earliest years, I witnessed the very powerful—and often physical—responses words from the pulpit could elicit within the context of a spiritual practice. It was a formative experience, and although I’m not religious anymore, it did imprint on me an early awareness of the influence of narrative on our beliefs and the chemistry of words and faith.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
And. It’s probably a byproduct of my theater background, and it’s certainly a word I have to keep an editing eye on. But I love what it does for creating a cadence of continuity and rhythm within a phrase. I also love how it adds more breath and allows for the start a line or phrase in the middle of a thought.
What is a good writing habit you have picked up?
When starting a poem, I usually free-write in a narrative form. Narrative gives me a way into the poem that’s grounding and prevents me from falling into writing that’s too abstract or misses the higher calling of metaphor. I’ve also gotten better at cutting lines I’m attached to but don’t serve the poem—particularly at the ends of my poems. Sometimes, it’s just better to let the poem have its say.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Breathe deeper and be in the moment longer.
A former high school teacher turned communications professional, Emily Decker is a Virginia native who spent her childhood in Ghana and her growing-up years in Atlanta, Georgia. She now calls Baltimore home where, in addition to writing, she enjoys dabbling in the community theater scene, singing with the Cathedral Choral Society in D.C., and getting out on the water as much as possible. She holds a master’s degree in secondary education from Georgia State University, and her poetry has appeared in Yellow Arrow Journal, Full Bleed, Hole in the Head Review, 2023’s Bay to Ocean Journal, and Campfire Stories: Chesapeake Bay. Her first chapbook, Homing, will be released by Yellow Arrow Publishing in July 2025.
Yellow Arrow published Emily Decker’s piece “Boxing Day” in Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. VIII, No. 1, KINDLING. You can find her on Instagram @emadeck. We are excited to release Homing and are enjoying the publication process with Emily.
.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. #71
Kari Ann Martindale
How did you first publish your writing and what was it?
The first thing I had published was technically a sarcastic editorial I wrote to the local newspaper in high school about Pell Grants for prisoners, though I’ve changed my opinion since then. About the only good thing that came out of it was that I experienced the joy of having someone accept my writing and publish it. Otherwise, I wish I’d never mailed that letter.
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
I write about 2003 a lot, the time I spent in a war zone in Iraq, which was an unexpected turn in my poetry. And I’m always writing about THE NOW, i.e., current events.
Your most interesting writing quirk?
Unlike many people, I write to silence, with no music or noise in the background.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
To write even more, and to finish all the poems I’ve started!
Kari Martindale has been published in various literary journals and featured in festivals, ekphrastic events, and literature nights across Maryland. She sits on the Board of Maryland Writers’ Association, helped get EC Poetry & Prose off the ground, and holds an MA in linguistics. Her poem “The List” was a finalist for Line of Advance’s Colonel Darron L. Wright Award. A globetrotter at heart, she’s always planning her next trip. She prioritizes kindness over politeness and justice over peace.
Yellow Arrow published Kari Ann’s piece “Sightseer” in Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. VII, No. 2, PEREGRINE. You can find her on Instagram @karilogue and her website kariannmartindale.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. #70
Amanda Kooser
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
Childhood is a big one. It’s not so much that everything I write is set in my childhood, but that it explores the reverberations from that time. I have a constant sense of the past boomeranging around. I’m also very engaged in the present moment and with experiences in nature.
What is your writing Kryptonite? Your most interesting writing quirk?
I’ve been fortunate to have a journalism career, which means writing on demand and on deadline. That attitude has spilled over into all of my writing projects, so I never fear a blank page. When it comes to quirks, I brainstorm in the shower at night. If I’m stuck on a piece, I contemplate it while shampooing and figure it out. Then I jump out of the shower and get back to writing.
What are you currently working on (even non-writing things)?
Journalism-wise, I’m covering a lot of space stories involving NASA missions. I’m querying a historical literary mystery co-written with my mother and revising a speculative novel about drought, forgotten gods, and human women. I play guitar and write indie rock/Americana songs for my band The Dawn Hotel. You can find me in an Aikido dojo most week nights, training, and teaching and flying around. Journalism-wise, I’m covering a lot of space stories involving NASA missions. I’ve got a couple novels (one a portal fantasy and one a hybrid fiction/nonfiction postmodern metaphysical detective tale) I’m submitting. In poetry-land, I’m working on a series about the body and a series about the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico. I play guitar and write indie rock/Americana songs for my band The Dawn Hotel. Lastly, I’m trying to catch a pigeon with an injured wing that has taken up residence in my backyard so I can take him to wildlife rehab. So far, he’s evaded me, so I’m putting out food and water for him
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Oh, it’s a chatty beast and it’s fickle. Sometimes it whispers unkind things about the quality of my work, but I’m good at talking back when it gets like that. We’ve agreed not to dwell on the negative, so my inner voice is usually a swell of excitement that’s at its best when we can say “Hot damn, that was fun!” in chorus.
Amanda Kooser (she/they) is a freelance journalist and longtime contributor to CNET specializing in goofy rocks on Mars. They graduated from the University of New Mexico creative writing MFA program in 2022. Their work has appeared in the Harwood Anthology and Conceptions Southwest with upcoming pieces in The Twin Bill and New Mexico Poetry Anthology. Amanda cruises Route 66 in Albuquerque in a pink-and-chrome ‘50s car and plays a pink-sparkle guitar in indie rock band The Dawn Hotel.
Yellow Arrow published Amanda’s piece “Handsome” in Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. VII, No. 2, PEREGRINE. You can also find them on Twitter @akooser and at their website amandakooser.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. #69
Milan Harris
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
I’m very interested in writing about the present. I often turn to my current situations, experiences, and interests to inform my writing. If it’s not about the present, it’s certainly about childhood. More than periods of life, I turn to a lot of similar themes, but they can also be molded by the situational and environmental contexts I exist in. I find myself writing a lot about death, grief, and liberation, but also about love and connection—I think all of those themes are constantly interacting with each other, and I’m constantly interacting with them.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
Oddly enough, I use a lot of words relating to the body like flesh, blood, and bone. Much of my writing tends to be visceral and imagery—heavy, and I usually connect the body and the physical realm to the ideas I write about.
Why did you submit “we been been immortal” to Yellow Arrow Journal? Why this piece at this time to this place?
I write a lot about grief because grief has followed me in many ways, for many years. In 2024, grief has been especially present, as over 200,000 Palestinians have been killed. For me, grieving death is both personal and communal, individualized and politicized. A lot of my writing recently has helped me to process the grief I’ve felt for loved ones passing, but, it’s also helped me to grieve communally—“we been been immortal” is a direct response to seeing the deaths of so many Black people in Baltimore and the world. Though I had a specific context of why I wrote this poem over a year and a half ago, I think it can connect to oppressed people all over the world. I think it says that we can grieve in the ways most authentic to us, love intimately and uniquely, and we will still be here. We will always be here, immortal, transcendent, and eternal.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Mostly to get off my butt and stop procrastinating.
Formerly the director of an after-school program, Milan Harris now works as a researcher inequity-based education practices in Maryland. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, she has always been a lover of literature. She’s written for various online journals, but in 2020 she cofounded her own creative arts magazine, Amani Sol, with her best friend. They’re currently working on their third issue. When not writing, she can be found gardening, cooking, or doing yoga.
Yellow Arrow published Milan’s piece “we been been immortal” in Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. IX, No. 2, kitalo. You can also find her on Instagram @milanrougee_ and at her magazine’s website amanisolmag.com.