I firmly believe you need to live in a place for at least ten years before truly writing about it. My husband and I moved to the eastern shore of MD in 2000, starting a cut flower and herb farm ten years later in Kent County. We still have the farm and still sell our flowers and herbs (and now our all natural body care products as well) at the Chestertown Farmers Market each Saturday. I don’t know if there is any better way to immerse yourself in the local community than at a farmers market where people are relaxed and chatty (and, yes, even gossipy). Exploring the surrounding waterways is another wonderful way to immerse yourself in the area, seeing the land from the water offers a whole new perspective on place. I began writing my short story cycle, Garden of Motherless Children, set on the eastern shore of MD, most in Kent County, after being here ten years. It truly took me that long to feel that I knew and understood the people and the land and the rich culture. I have been publishing the stories in literary journals along the way, two of them recently nominated for Pushcart Prizes. I completed the cycle (a short story cycle is comprised of stories that share the same place and has reoccurring characters, symbols and underlying themes and motifs) about five years ago and have been searching for the right publisher since then. I found that publisher in Secant Publishing, based in Salisbury. Secant Publishing is a wonderful independent press that focuses on and supports local writers. I know this is the right home for Garden of Motherless Children, and I am excited to share this book with all of you when it is published on October 13, 2026. There will be a launch in Chestertown in the Sultana building on October 14, and I would be honored to see you there. Your support is such a gift to me.
Author: lisa
Unpasteurized
Over thirty years ago, I sat down with my grandmother, Florence Mamie Miller Jervis, my dad’s mother, to record her story, her life growing up on a dairy farm with eight siblings, and then joining that farm with a neighboring farm when she married my grandfather. She had six children of her own, the second, her only daughter, dying of crib death at only ten hours old. I recorded tape after tape with my grandmother, chronicling her life, and after she died, over fifteen years ago, I couldn’t bring myself to listen to those tapes, until I started writing a novella-in-flash last year about my times growing up on the farm where I spent most of my summers and holidays. But my story was not enough. I knew I needed to weave in my grandmother’s story as well, so I brought out the tapes, and as I listened to them I was transported right back to her kitchen in the farmhouse where we had sat and recorded the tapes so many years ago. She was right there beside me again, as I know she has always been. And I know how pleased she is that her story will be out in the world now. Alien Buddha press will be publishing my novella-in-flash Unpasteurized on July 16. It will be available on Amazon. It is a work of fiction, but it is based on my experiences on the farm and the life of my grandmother and lessons she taught me along the way. I dedicate this work to her. And I hope you will come to love her as much as I do. I am blessed to be one of her many grandchildren and one of the many she took in when they were at a crossroads.
The Writing Life
Writing is hard. I hear that all the time from the students I tutor. It is. But it is also such a beautiful way to unravel this crazy world, the only way I know to part the veil and see what truly matters, what truly Is. Though the publishing world can be daunting and discouraging at times, I can’t imagine giving up. I know my words matter, and I believe 2023 will see my short story cycle, Garden of Motherless Children, set on the eastern shore of Maryland, and my novella-in-flash, Unpasteurized, based on my times growing up on my grandparents’ dairy farm in Pennsylvania, in print. I look forward to sharing my years of labor and insights with the world. But, in truth, I write for myself. I write to live.