We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hillary Leftwich. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hillary below.

Hi Hillary, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Since publishing my first two books, Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock and Aura, I have learned a lot about being an independent press author and what goes into this, including self-promotion and marketing. We have to promote ourselves to get the word out because no one else will do it for us (some indie presses, along with local bookstores, do a fantastic job at helping to promote and spotlight authors). I understand how writers might feel like making themselves small in a world that makes self-promotion seem like a negative aspect when it’s a necessary part of being an author. But what would it look like if we had a place where we could all sell our books and promote and support each other in ways that are often difficult as an indie press author or as an indie press? This is how an idea for a book fair seemed like the perfect opportunity to include everyone: An all-day event where Indie authors and presses can sell their books, network, participate in two featured panels, and enjoy reading by featured writers from the community. An event where all writers are welcome to participate – no invitation needed – just a folding table and a chair to sell books, zines, art—and enjoy the event. By the end of May, I had an idea for an Indie Author and Press Bookfair and started reaching out to the communities to get people and presses on board at a venue all about support: Counterpath Denver, where Tim Roberts and Julie Carr have been a consistent source of advocating for the community and supporting.

Currently, an incredible lineup is confirmed, along with book giveaways and prizes. All of this came together with the help of amazing volunteers Patricia McCrystal, Nancy Viera, Shoshana Surek, Erica Hoffmeister, Nawal Nader French, and Heather Goodrich. Bart Schaneman and Mairead Case agreeing to moderate is also such a huge offering.

Featured Indie Press Panel:

Bart Schaneman will moderate:

Fonograf Press represented by Jeff Alessandrelli
Dzanc Books, represented by Michelle Dotter,
Gesture Press, represented by Heather Goodrich
The Contemporary Norn, represented by Swanee Astrid

Gesture Press Reading
Heather Goodrich, EIC, will facilitate the reading
with Gesture Press authors:

Sarah Schantz
Toni Oswald
Kika Dorsey
Jade Lascelles

Poet Laureate of Aurora Ahja Fox:
Reading / Q&A: Moderated by Hillary Leftwich

Featured Readers:
Jenny Shank
Michele Battiste
Nancy Stohlman
Stina French

Josh Lefkowitz
Andrea Rexilius
Michael Joseph Walsh
Aerik Francis
Jason Masino
Nina Shope
Toni Oswald
Akusua Akoto
Shoshana Surek
Patricia McCrystal
Erica Hoffmeister
Leah Rogin
Erin K. Barnes
Jessica Lawson
Melanie Merle
Nawal Nader French
Alyssa Hertz

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born and raised in Colorado Springs and moved to Denver in 2006 after surviving a domestic abuse situation and realizing it was time for a new environment. As a solo mom raising a son with a severe neurological condition, I found myself navigating a world where anything outside my own grind and mind was hard to find. Mentally and physically, I was having a hard time, and I wondered how I could fit into a writing community, let alone find one. It wasn’t until I moved to the S. Broadway area of Denver that I discovered some amazing writer spaces, such as the FBomb Reading Series and Mutiny Info Cafe. These people and places were vital in showing me how supportive writers can be–far from what I had experienced in some academic circles where I wasn’t welcomed. I worked full time and went to school for my MFA at Regis University’s Mile High MFA program, feeling incredibly lucky to have a local low residency program where someone like me, who worked and was raising a child on my own, could attend.

After graduating, I wanted to give back to the people and pockets of Denver and the Front Range who had supported me, so I began organizing readings as fundraisers to support nonprofits in the writing and creative fields along with writers, authors, and performers. I was invited on as a volunteer position to organize and host At the Inkwell, a literary reading series, in 2017, which allowed me a space, and Monique Lewis, the founder, trusted my vision to showcase writers of all backgrounds and experiences and their words. It’s never about status, experience, wealth, or who’s who for me. It’s always about supporting writers and those who don’t have the means to be part of a writing community, whether it’s money or time, or both. I know how it feels to be gatekept, judged, and unable to be a part of environments where money and time are necessary for growing and learning as a writer, and it’s always been important for me to continue to try to make opportunities for those who want to be included, but lack the means, time, or don’t know who to count on or where to look.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think people base an idea of what authors are based on expectations in the publishing field and literary world, including movies and pop culture, which isn’t always true. The people I know who are published authors and the people who write and want to be published authors know it isn’t about the money. No one is making money in this field; if they are, it’s tough to segue advances and royalties into a consistent paycheck to survive—and those authors are never paid what their words are truly worth. When my students ask me how hard it is to break into the field of writing, or how much you can make—how long it takes to land an agent—all of these ideas about what writers are fed by the falsehoods and the lack of reality in social media and the news—when the truth is, there is no money in what we do, at least not in the U.S. And if we do manage to make money, there are taxes, commission fees taken out, and pressure to produce a second novel or third. Creatives are not taken seriously in this country, and I caution my students: If you’re serious about becoming a writer, you have to prepare yourself for rejections, heartbreak, but most of all, learning and growing (which never ends). After being laid off during the pandemic, as so many of us were and struggling to make money or find work, in danger of losing housing while also having a son in high school, I decided to start my own editing business and a writing workshop series—Alchemy Author Services & Writing Workshop–where other writers can teach workshops on writing and make some side money, or gain experience teaching, all while having workshops accessible to everyone.

For me, it’s about getting our words into the world and creating something based on surviving struggles, heartbreak, and complicated relationships, whatever that looks like for each of us. It’s about overcoming procrastination, the frustration of the editing process, worrying about what family members and friends will think when we write a memoir, and how vulnerable this space is–how being kept silent and told your words don’t matter, you’re not good enough, not educated enough, or you’ll never be successful. But surviving trauma can be turned into a healing process when we write–when there’s no one there to tell us our voices don’t matter. The space we create as writers when we are creating is sacred–a non-judgmental space where we express our true hearts. This space is what I want to protect the most for everyone.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being able to share the joy of being creative in a world where we all struggle to afford to live–where writing feels like a selfish endeavor, spent in those moments between the side gigs or on lunch breaks. I worked so many jobs just grinding my mind and body down—as a housekeeper at motels, maid at private homes during the day, and businesses during the graveyard shift. I drove Lyft, worked as a private investigator, and worked as a collections agent for the state of Colorado. My son was also in and out of the hospital during this time, having emotional and physical issues left solely to me to handle. I was always right at the edge of my breaking point. But I had to find time to write if it was important to me. As difficult as it can be, we write to have our voices heard–as cliched of a phrase this has become–, but it stands true. I always try my hardest to connect people in similar situations as I am or have experienced to opportunities, other people, and events for everyone to create and have their voices out in the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hillaryleftwich.com
• Instagram: Hillary Leftwich
• Facebook: Hillary Leftwich
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillaryleftwich/
• Twitter: @Hillary-Leftwich
• Other: https://counterpathpress.org/indie-author-and-press-book-fair-saturday-september-30-2023-930a-m-and-into-the-night https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/next-with-kyle-clark/aurora-poet-laureate-ahja-fox/73-dce51609-9b73-4995-9add-19b425ff129b

Image Credits
Photo of me in the green dress is by photographer Jay Halsey.