Woodrow Walters Publishes Two Essays

English Department undergraduate student, Woodrow Walters, has recently published two creative nonfiction pieces: “In Case of Fire” and “Trash Can Tyrant.” Both of the pieces were part of a chapbook about life and death he wrote in Professor Jennifer Sinor’s advanced nonfiction class last spring. 

“In Case of Fire” was published in the Washington State University Honors College’s literary journal The Palouse Review. “I wanted to explore the different ways humans use fire throughout our life cycles,” Woodrow comments. “It’s so integrated in our lives we often forget it’s there, so I wanted to write to that while tracing our path from the innocence of childhood to the end of our lives or grief/death.” 

Woodrow read “Trash Can Tyrant” at a Helicon West event last spring. Afterward, he was approached by writer Tim Keller with an offer of publication in Faithful Hearts. The anthology combined essays and poems that celebrated the relationship between people and their pets. He says about the piece, “I wanted to highlight the comical yet troubling aspects of raising a feral cat. It was one of the most challenging and painful experiences of my life, but it was also one of the most rewarding.” The publication of this piece is especially meaningful to Woodrow. He reflects, “It memorializes a creature who was a dear friend to me and has since passed on. This publication makes it so he will—in some way—live on forever.” 

Woodrow notes that these publications mark the beginning of what he hopes to be his true path in life. “I want to be a writer, with my ultimate goal being to publish multiple different novels,” he says. “Having my first few publications in the bag will hopefully increase my legitimacy in the field to where I can start working on those novels seriously.”  

Woodrow’s main takeaway from publishing is that it’s incredibly important to put yourself out there as a writer: “You have to expose your writing to the public for it to ever be accepted or published. Working hard and keeping on is how I got here. I think anyone can do that.”