.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.
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.