creative nonfiction – Andrew Careaga

Something I’ve been itching to tell you

My responses to 10 questions from The Itch Lit

Last week, The Itch Lit published a 10-question interview with me about memory, inherited beliefs, storytelling, and what I’ve learned from writing nonfiction, among other things. You can read it here.

The Itch Lit is relatively new to the online literary scene. On its about page, the editors describe it as “an online literary magazine devoted to the stories, poems, and essays that won’t leave us alone. We believe the best writing follows readers home, tugs at their sleeves, and demands another look.”

I’m grateful to The Itch Lit for publishing my creative nonfiction piece “Killing Machine” last June. This up-and-coming magazine is publishing some captivating writing. Check it out.

Paying homage to the ‘old daddy of rebel writing’

Remembering Missouri writer Jack Conroy, instigator of the proletarian writer movement of the Great Depression

Who could imagine, in these times, that my beloved deep-red home state of Missouri once harbored one of the leaders of a radical, left-wing literary movement that gave rise to some of the late twentieth century’s most acclaimed writers?

A man sitting in a chair, reading a paper, with a thoughtful expression, in a room with a window showing a cityscape. — “Jack Conroy in Repose,” photograph by Wayne Barker, Works Progress Administration Photographer – https://collections.newberry.org/asset-management/2KXJ8ZS9NT6VZ, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=157761215

In the heart of Little Dixie, a self-taught writer’s words took him from the rubble and rabble of Monkey Nest, a coal mining village just outside my hometown of Moberly, Missouri, to literary fame during the Great Depression. Jack Conroy‘s novel about the working class, called The Disinherited, took him to the pinnacle, but too quickly he fell into neglected writer status. Too independent for Communist Party orthodoxy, Conroy butted heads with what he called the “New York intelligentsia,” and eventually his brand of Heartland socialism fell out of favor. I hope my recent essay about Conroy will help raise awareness of his crucial role in creating an important literary movement in America.

New essay: ‘Secondhand Guitar’

A 500-word micro-essay published in Pittsburgh Review of Books

Some artifacts of our lives become lost to time but live on in our memories. Such is the case of some hand-me-down guitars I once owned. These were the beginner’s instruments that blistered my tender fingers and spurred me to continue to practice as I dreamed of rock’n’roll glory, until I became a guitar player of some competency, if not proficiency.

My essay, “Secondhand Guitar,” is a 500-word piece about some of the guitars that shaped my growth as a musician. It was published earlier this week in the Pittsburgh Review of Books as part of its Object Lessons Impressions series of mini-essays–or “essayettes,” as PRoB calls them–“on the hidden lives of ordinary things.”

I wrote “Secondhand Guitar” thanks to the encouragement of Dr. Margret Grebowicz, the Weiner Distinguished Professor of Humanities at my former employer, Missouri University of Science and Technology. Margret also created and leads the Public Scholars Network at Missouri S&T, and last spring invited me to join the group. The network includes academics, mainly, who want to get their work out into the world beyond academia. I’m all about that, so I readily agreed to join the network, and I’m happy to add “Secondhand Guitar” to my growing list of music-themed writings. I hope you’ll give it a read and let me know your thoughts.

Cover image via Pexels.

A four-point play

Three short stories and one short creative non-fiction piece published this week–and it’s only Thursday

The stars must be aligning for me this week, as I’ve had four pieces published.

It began with Tuesday’s publication of a short nonfiction piece called “Killing Machine” in The Itch Lit. This piece was inspired by a sign outside my town’s lone pawn shop and some of the shop’s stock in trade. A reader on Threads wrote, “That first paragraph was a masterclass of clever misdirection, hooked me from the first line.”

Then came three short stories today:

“The Sixth Pallbearer,” a dark story published by a place that specializes in the darker stuff, DarkWinter Literary Magazine.
“Driving Grandma to Bingo,” one of several micro-fiction pieces published today by the Twitter lit mag Mythic Picnic. Each author in this issue is also a contributor to the forthcoming anthology of Warren Zevon-inspired crime stories, Bad Intentions. “Driving Grandma to Bingo” is the fifth story in this issue. To find it, scroll down this post. But be sure to read some other great stories posted there while you’re at it.
“An Earthquake in China,” a short story I started some 20 years ago or more that I’ve been tweaking and revising over the past couple of years. This was published by The Leafline Magazine. Leafline‘s editors called it “a powerful, quiet story about what happens when a leader loses touch with his people. Through simple conversations and the memorable story of the ‘“’feed box,’”’ the author shows how easily a good person can let an obsession ruin a community. It is a relatable look at how fear can drive people apart rather than bring them together.”

I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Photo by Abbas Zaidi on Pexels.com.

Friday Five: Faith-Ann Dalton on her memoir of faith

A Q&A with the author of the raw, unflinching pro-life memoir ‘In This House We Lived’

The subtitle of Faith-Ann Dalton‘s debut book In This House We Lived–“A Faith Journey of Choosing Life Again and Again”–is more than a play on her first name. The memoir, which comes out May 8, is a raw and moving account of this first-time author’s struggles to move from a harrowing childhood through an unplanned pregnancy and many other personal trials to establish a life centered around her faith in God and herself.

Cover image of Faith-Ann Dalton’s memoir, *In This House We Lived*. Image via Anointed Colony Media.

The publisher, Anointed Colony Media, describes In This House We Lived as “a raw, redemptive memoir of trauma, crisis, faith, and the slow, intentional construction of healthy habits. “

“With unflinching honesty and hard-won clarity, Dalton traces her story of becoming a mother before she was ready, learning to choose herself without abandoning her soul, and discovering that healing doesn’t always mean getting it right—it’s about refusing to give up.”

Now a licensed cosmetologist, married, and a mother of four, Faith-Ann lives in St. James, Missouri.

Read on to learn more about Faith-Ann and her memoir. But first, please read this disclaimer: