E.P. Floyd

Blog.

Quarantine Life: Supporting Our Communities, A Plea, and, Naturally, Some Call-outs
Quarantine Life: Supporting Our Communities, A Plea, and, Naturally, Some Call-outs

Minimizing in-person social contact—creating social distance of at least six feet or more—is essential to flattening the curve during this global pandemic.

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E.P. Floydcoronavirus, covid19, covid-19, pandemic, global pandemic, wisconsin, fond du lac, wisconsin writer, rural wisconsin, e.p. floyd, flatten the curve, social distancing, write more, edit more, stay in more, support local businesses, support small businesses, stay homeComment
I'm Not Going to AWP
I'm Not Going to AWP

Sadly, in the end, and to the great relief of my husband, pup, and in-laws, I’ve decided not to attend AWP in 2020. It was a difficult decision and one I did not make lightly, especially because I was so looking forward to talking with writers on immigrant rights, borderlands writings, and bilingual and translingual projects—and I had booked my hotel 11 months in advance.

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blogE.P. FloydAWP, AWP20, AWP2020, AWP San Antonio, AWP 2020, Antioch MFA, Antioch University Los Angeles, COVID19, coronavirus, influenza B, herd immunity, responsibility, writing, revising, writing life, Tito's Vodka, Green eggs and ham, Dr Seuss, Read Across America Day, Read Across America, alcohol kills viruses, viral plagueComment
A Utah Adventure
A Utah Adventure

In November 2018, I found out I have a little sister in Salt Lake City, a daughter of the same biological father neither of us has ever met. My dear friend Audre, known for her ability to evoke and portray genuine, gorgeous human emotion in her work, offered to take some photos of my new little sister and me. This piece is honest, raw, and—we hope—impactful. I grappled with a lot of emotions in this writing process, both my feelings and trying to be as cognizant as possible of others’ security and comfort. What follows in this blog post is our first photo essay collaboration: audre rae photography x E.P. Floyd.

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blogE.P. Floydancestry.com, little sister, family traits, found family, graduate school, mfa creative writing, love, family, sammie, audre rae photography, E.P. FloydComment
How I Fell in Love With Reading, Thanks to My Badass Grandfather
How I Fell in Love With Reading, Thanks to My Badass Grandfather

I have a personal essay up this week on Three Guys, One Book about how and when I fell in love—with reading. My essay focuses on who provided me with the books: my late grandpa, who died when I was 8, of esophageal cancer. He was only 52. Even though I didn’t get to spend more than those 8 years with him, he guided and influenced my life so much, most notably because he would bring me books with torn-off covers that he rescued from being pulverized or incinerated at a publishing company in Milwaukee.

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blogE.P. Floydblog, rejection, mushrooms, mushroom farm, mushroom farming, essay, personal essay, essayist, Three Guys One Book, E.P. Floyd, husband, birthday, not-a-mommy-blogger, litbreak magazine, litbreak, dennis haritou, erica floyd, milwaukee, sadako and the thousand paper cranes, antioch university los angeles, mfa in creative writing, mfa, MFA students, mfa life, low-residency MFA, abbi jacobson, ilana glazer, broad city, paparazzo, coffee house writing, rejected, rejections, hall of rejections, project period of rejections, lunch ticket, peer editing, developmental editing, state college, pennsylvania, pa, kennett square, travel addict, travel bug, travel, utah, wisconsin, los angeles, l.a., la, creative nonfiction, creative nonfiction writerComment
On Identity and the Appropriation of Poverty
On Identity and the Appropriation of Poverty

I have my first personal essay for Lunch Ticket up on the blog now! You can read it here. It’s about food justice and access, and I wrote it as a menu of sorts to describe my history eating and exploring food, from living on a one-parent income on the south side of Milwaukee to working for an organic family farm in rural Wisconsin.

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E.P. Floydpoverty, appropriation, identity, milwaukee, publishing, literary fiction, personal essay, lunch ticket, passing for privileged, privilege, food justice, food access, food rights, poverty appropriation, appropriating povertyComment
"Lazy" and "Busy" are Pejorative Terms, and We Should Abolish Them Both
"Lazy" and "Busy" are Pejorative Terms, and We Should Abolish Them Both

I write nothing about those two terms in this blog post, but I use them both.

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E.P. Floydmfa, low-residency MFA, road trips, on the road, lazy, busy, pejorative terms, capital gazette, raton nm, columbia mo, tucson az, tucson, raton, wisconsin, adrien kid sdao, transgender, transgender visibility, trans visibility, lunch ticket, literary journal, literary magazine, lit mag, lit journal, online lit mag, online literary magazine, online lit journal, online litComment
The Freedom to Write What I Want
The Freedom to Write What I Want

Litbreak Magazine published an excerpt from my novel-in-progress on July 3. Cheetos make an appearance in the piece, which you can read here.

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E.P. Floydroad trips, road trips in fiction, mfa life, mfa in creative writing, litbreak, litbreak magazine, novel in progress, novel writing, great american road trip, los angeles, writing community, writer, writing, fiction writing, antioch university los angeles, la, l.a., minneapolis, badlands, south dakota, salt lake city, utah, las vegas, santa fe, new mexico, where'd you go bernadette, maria semple, wild, cheryl strayed, lolita, vladimir nabokov, the canterbury tales, geoffrey chaucer, she's come undone, wally lamb, into the wild, john krakauer, flaming iguanas, erika lopez, the fault in our stars, john green, the goldfinch, donna tartt, the secret life of walter mitty, james thurber, jack kerouac, on the road, hunter s. thompson, fear and loathing in las vegas Comments
Low-Residency vs. Full-Time MFA Programs and Dry April: I'm Not Drinking Alcohol for a Month
Low-Residency vs. Full-Time MFA Programs and Dry April: I'm Not Drinking Alcohol for a Month

The weather is not warming up yet here in Wisconsin, and I’m taking advantage of the inhospitable wind, continuing cold, and my lack of social life to write—a lot. I’m also not drinking alcohol for the month of April, and as of today, I’ve made it one-third of the way through!

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E.P. Floyddry april, not drinking for a month, sobriety, low-residency MFA, full-time MFA, MFA students, abstinence from alcohol, novel writing, april, wisconsin, wisconsin drinking culture, bar scene, social life, social crutchComment
“The Body Is Not An Apology:” On Body Objectification, Body Shame, and Refusals to Apologize
“The Body Is Not An Apology:” On Body Objectification, Body Shame, and Refusals to Apologize

I’m only on the first chapter of Sonya Renee Taylor's The Body Is Not An Apology book, but I already am harnessing, analyzing, and trying to let go of the swirling emotions—anger, self-loathing, guilt, indignation, doubt, bewilderment—I have felt so many times in my adult life when I’ve apologized for the way my body looks, acts, feels, or is interpreted by society.

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body imageE.P. Floydsonya renee taylor, radical self-love, the body is not an apology, body shame, body shaming, objectification, marcus cinemas, rural wisconsin, milwaukee, ready player one, steven spielberg, wes anderson, isle of dogs, boswell books, boswell book company, appearance, body image, curves, curvy women, women with curves, intersectionality, intersections, cultural appropriationComment