We like the sound of our own keystrokes as much as anyone, but sometimes, one just wants to hear from other people.
Author and small press owner, Laura Stanfill, is a powerhouse in the literary scene. Publishing is a hard business to get involved with in any way, but starting a small press is notoriously hard. She dove in headfirst and found community in a satisfying way. Meanwhile, she was writing and editing and waiting for the right time to become an author in her own right.
Today, Laura shares thoughts on the word success, ways in which she adds disability into her writing without feeling confined (something we just love to see here—especially in May, of all months), and what a circler is.
As a writer, what made you decide to break into the tough industry of publishing? And what is the secret to Forest Avenue’s success?
(We want to steal—we mean borrow—it, is why we’re asking…)
I didn’t know any better. I find that hilarious, but it’s also the truest answer. If someone had tried to explain the industry’s complexity, the potential financial risk, and the long lag times between sales and payment (for distributed presses like mine), I don’t think I would’ve had the courage to venture beyond one experimental book. But, as the daughter of an entrepreneur, I had an idea and I went for it.
Brave on the Page, our first title, is long out of print but it taught me that I could build community around gathering writers and readers together inside independent bookstores. That’s been my mission ever since 2012. I’m not always great at prioritizing myself, or my limited energy, but because I started Forest Avenue to uplift authors and create good experiences for them, that motivates me to keep going. Even when it’s hard.
As far as success, I have spent a lot of time unpacking the term and trying to reframe what that looks like in a fraught industry. The recent, sudden closure of Small Press Distribution has left a lot of presses scrambling to reclaim their warehoused books and trying to figure out what to do next. I feel for all my colleagues because my press is the same size—or smaller—than a lot of them. So many publishers are now scrambling to figure out where to warehouse their books and what business model might work to help them keep getting their titles out to readers. There are possibilities in the works, and likely new ones will materialize to fill the vacuum SPD left behind, but it’s indicative of the perils of this industry. Getting books to readers is about so much more than just making good books.
What do you write, and what drew you to your current style or genre?
I’ve always considered myself a literary writer. I love a twisty, bendy sentence and the surprise of a well-placed adjective. I also love genre blending, merging my love of language with fantastical elements, historical objects, and plots that make me happy.
But what I write doesn’t fit neatly into a literary fiction box. Writing historical stories with magical elements allows me to explore disability and neurodivergence without the insistence of diagnosis or the expectation of treatment. As someone who is continually mystified by my body and its differences from able bodies, I love exploring health from the perspective of just existing. My characters don’t need to be labeled; they just are. And that means the plot never centers on healing or overcoming—tropes that are all too common with disability narratives.
I am also working on a middle-grade project because I think my sensibilities fit that age group and the parameters for the genre. I’ve had novels rejected in the past because the characters seem too “immature,” and by that, they mean neurodivergent. But also: I love putting wonder and silliness on the page. And not all adults like that kind of play in their reading. I’ve had the incredible privilege to mentor an eighth-grade writer this year; her stories always make me gasp with happiness. She’s really inspired me with her talent and her willingness to lean into strange happenings and let them exist for what they are on the page. Working with this incredible student makes me remember why I became a writer in the first place: that kind of discovery. The surprise and humor. Curiosity that soars. I had planned for this project to be another magical-historical adult novel, but then I took a class at Terroir Writing Conference with Melissa Hart, and her exercises unlocked this idea. Middle grade: why not? It might be the right genre for me.
How do you share your work?
I love submitting my essays and sometimes write to a prompt, if a call for submissions kindles a creative flame and I decide to feed it some kindling.
My debut novel, Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary, came out from Lanternfish Press in 2022. That was the biggest event to-date in my writing life. I grew up wanting to be a published author and now that I’ve done that, I have more books to write because I’m always writing—not because I’m trying to fulfill a lifelong goal.
Imagine a Door: A Writer's Guide to Unlocking Your Story, Choosing a Publishing Path, and Honoring the Creative Journey is my first full-length nonfiction book, due out next year from Forest Avenue. Assuming I finish these revisions! It makes sense to put this book out from my press because so much of the narrative is framed by my experiences as a publisher.
What is your favorite piece of writing advice?
I struggle with advice like this because the best thing writers can do is commit to the work and guard their hearts against rejection and all the everyday life, and much of the advice on how to do that isn’t one size fits all, but it gets presented as such. I guess that’s my favorite piece of advice: there’s no one correct way to be a writer.
And your least favorite?
Writers with disabilities and those with aging parents or young children (or both) can’t always write at the same time for the same amount of time every day. I fall into all those categories and every day looks a little different than the day before. “Write at the same time under the same conditions every day” is my least favorite piece of advice, because it’s impossible for me to follow. For a while, when my kids were really little, I felt like a failed writer because I couldn’t do what all the books said.
These days, I can’t wake up and write because my hands don’t work first thing in the morning. There are brain fog days. There are days I need to go back to sleep. So I do what I can when I feel up to it.
What is your writing process?
I’m a circler. I love revising, but even when creating a piece of work, adding new pages where there used to be empty space, I loop back to the beginning, or the fifth chapter, or the seventeenth, so the earlier pages are alive in my brain as I work on new material. Maybe it’s more like a spiral, because there’s no beginning or ending to my process. I’m not organized enough to read a certain number of pages or paragraphs before starting work fresh each day but I dip in and out, scroll and weave.
In breaking apart what exists, I can create space for the day’s energy, for new ideas, for what my brain might conjure. When paragraphs are too neat, too edited, it’s hard for me to step over the threshold into writing more. Polish distracts me. I published an essay on revision in Cagibi recently that explores my process and particularly how memories and sensory input impact editing my own work. (Link: https://cagibilit.com/break-it-crack-it-some-thoughts-on-revision/)
Tell us anything you want!
David Ciminello’s debut novel, The Queen of Steeplechase Park, is coming out from Forest Avenue on May 7 and he has a fabulous tour lined up! This is a phenomenal novel, twenty years in the making, and it tells the almost-true story of David’s great aunt.
Lidia Yuknavitch described it this way: “"Open your mouth and ready your heart because Belladonna Marie from The Queen of Steeplechase Park is about to serve you some unforgettable tales of love and loss, with a side of meatballs. David Ciminello has re-animated Depression era Coney Island with such vivid and dazzling detail that I wanted to laugh, cry, eat a hot dog, and go for a swim all at once. A phenomenal story of a Burlesque queen searching for her lost baby in the glitz, ooze, and hum of sideshows from Brighton to Gravesend. I couldn't put it down."
You can catch David at one of his upcoming events!
PROVINCETOWN BOOKSHOP (Provincetown, MA)
Reading
Friday, May 31 at 5 p.m.
BGSQD at The New York Gay and Lesbian Center (New York City)
Event Reading in Conversation with Blair Fell
Friday, June 7 at 7 p.m.
WATCHUNG BOOKSELLERS (Montclair, NJ)
Book Signing
Saturday, June 8
BROADWAY BOOKS (Portland, OR)
Event Reading in Conversation with TBA
Wednesday, June 26 at 6 p.m.
Finally…what question do we wish we had asked? (Don’t forget to answer it!)
“Why roller skating?”
My middle schooler is a roller derby player, and inspired by her, I took some intro level derby classes and am now figuring out how to progress. As a disabled person with chronic pain, going fast on wheels seems counterintuitive, but I love skating and it’s a really great way to strengthen my stubborn hip muscles. I am probably not cut out for full-contact derby but the Rose City Rollers community is so welcome and affirming to all body types and ages that I hope to find ways to keep practicing and learning new skills.
I’ve also been photographing junior Rose Petals games this year and that’s been a huge challenge—trying to get crisp images of fast-moving powerhouse kids while using older gear and no flash. It’s an incredible way to watch the game—I often miss the big-picture view but concentrating on everyone’s faces and bodies, the crush of the sport, and the determination it takes to play, it’s really an incredible experience.
About Laura
Laura Stanfill is the publisher of Forest Avenue and the author of Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary (Lanternfish). Sometimes she adds a list of published essays and awards to her bio and other times she doesn’t. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her family and a very floofy dog.
Find her
The press: forestavenuepress.com
Laura: laurastanfill.com
Twitter: @lhstanfill
Insta: @lhstanfill
FB: She’s on there too!
I love a good genre blend, so I'm glad you brought that up. I wish there were more sub-categories in fiction. We need them!
Three cheers for “Write at the same time under the same conditions every day” being your least favorite piece of advice! I love that so much. It doesn't seem attainable for even an able-bodied person, quite frankly, but absolutely impossible for those of us with disabilities. I appreciate you bringing that one up! <3
Thank you so much for joining us!
Lauraaaaaaa 😍😍😍