Today we’d like to introduce you to Lashawn Wanak

Hi Lashawn, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

My mother remembers my first words being “Mommy, see the monkey” as I pointed to a picture book. From there, I started reading newspapers and magazines at the age of four.

I always loved stories. I read books to my sisters and made up stories with them as the main characters. But it was through my grandmother that I gained the love of reading science fiction and fantasy. My grandmother was an avid reader–her house was filled with paperback novels of all genres: western, romance, horror, and of course, science fiction and fantasy. Every time I went to her house, she gave me piles of books to bring home to read. She also subscribed to Omni Magazine and through that, I was introduced to short stories.

As I grew older, I started writing my stories down on anything I could find: scrap paper, open word processors, sheets of copy paper. In high school, I joined the Journalism club to try my hand at writing nonfiction. I often sneak in poetry in our school’s newspaper.

In college, I discovered anime, and subsequently, fanfiction. While I attended Communication and Journalism classes, I wrote Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2 fanfiction–and scenes from my first fantasy novel–in the margins of my notes. Eventually, I became part of a fanfic mailing community, my first critique group.

After I married in 1998, I didn’t write for six years. Only when I became a stay-at-home mother did I decide to pick it up again, this time professionally. My first sale was a flash story to Mytholog Magazine in 2005 called “Light as Gossamer”, which retells the Cinderella story through the point of view of the glass shoes. Since then, I’ve written over thirty pieces of short fiction and poetry–my novelette, “Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good” appeared in the 2018 Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology. I also served as a slushreader for a couple of magazines, then associate editor for Podcastle. In 2019, I was asked to become managing editor to the online magazine GigaNotoSaurus, which publishes one story between 5,000 and 25,000 words per month. In 2022, I became the owner when the previous owner stepped down, and earlier this year, GigaNotoSaurus was nominated for a Hugo Award in the Semi-prozine category.

Nowadays I am writing full-time and managing the magazine at home. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next few years will bring. (Hopefully that would include a novel!)

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

The largest obstacle I had with writing is time.

When I started working at my dayjob, I was a part-time employee. It was a nice balance—I would work in the mornings and write in the afternoons. Four years later, my duties increased to the point that I had to become full-time, which drastically reduced the number of writing activities I could do. As a result, I had to drop out of being an associate editor for Podcastle as well as put several writing projects on hold. I wrote during my lunch hour, downtime at work, and in the evenings. Many times I had to put off going out with friends or spending time with family. And of course, I had to deal with mental health issues and burnout.

I worked full-time for six years before I chose to bring writing back into my life as a top priority. I switched positions, changed my hours back to part-time, and arranged to have my Fridays off so I could dedicate those days to writing. My goal was to get to the point back where I could focus on writing full-time. Finally in 2023, I got my wish—I was laid off the dayjob (I was probably the only person happy about it).

Ironically, time is still my obstacle since I have too much of it now. I stay busy by structuring my time into a daily routine that balances the writing with the magazine duties Luckily, I have enough work to keep myself busy, but now that I’m my own boss, it’s easy to fall out of rhythm if I oversleep or I have to shift my routine due to unexpected interruptions.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

In 2020, I branched out of writing prose when I was contacted by the art collective group, Meow Wolf, who asked me to write the story for their Grapevine, Texas location. “The Real Unreal” opened in 2023, and it’s the most fun project I’ve written yet. I also learned how to outline, create a story bible, and other techniques I’m now applying towards my own work.

My favorite part of work with Meow Wolf was going to the grand opening. It was wonderful to see the characters, setting, and story I created come to life in three dimensions. Many people who attended the exhibited congratulated me, saying, “This story has so much love in it! I feel so seen.”

That’s makes me happy. The reason I write is so that I can share the lives of characters–Black and/or queer–learning how to create community and how to love and care for each other, even if they have differing opinions. I want my stories to be humorous, cozy and meaningful. And of course, full of magic.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?

I don’t have any particular event, but I always enjoyed my backyard when I was growing up. My family lived on the South Side of Chicago in a cul-de-sac near 76th Street and Damen. Our property sat adjacent to a freight train yard separated by a small wooded copse that spilled into our backyard. So in a sense, we had a normal backyard with grass and tall cottonwood trees, and then a strip of forest at the edge of our backyard. We had the best adventures, my sisters, cousins and I, climbing trees, going on imaginary hikes, playing Robin Hood and other stories. and it no doubt contributed to my love of fairy tales and fantasy stories.

Of course, the trains rumbling through always made our house shake, but that was part of the charm.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tbonecafe.wordpress.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lashawn.m.wanak
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TboneJenkins
• Other: https://wanak.substack.com/

Image Credits

Shalicia Johnson
Alice Anderson
Al Bogdan
Jonathan Wanak