Undergraduate Eli Moss Publishes in Canyon Voices

English undergraduate student Eli Moss recently published his essay, “Glutamate/GABA: Or, In Matters of Apostasy” in Arizona State University’s literary journal Canyon Voices.  

“This essay is about my faith journey and how leaving the Mormon faith was a major milestone of that journey but not its end,” Eli comments. “I got to write about these things through a metaphor of neurobiology, which is a class I was taking at the time I wrote the piece, so that was pretty fun to get to include that part of my life.” Eli’s essay mimics a screenplay formatting, with the narrator a neuron and the audience young neurotransmitters.  

“My least favorite part is always getting started. When it’s just a fuzzy idea in my head and a blank page, it can be hard to believe the essay will take shape and actually work,” he reflects. “It can be grueling to go through the essay word-by-word, but it’s that final polish that makes the writing sparkle and transform into something I am really proud of.”

Eli noted that his piece getting published has given him a lot of confidence and motivation to continue writing and submitting. “This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever written, and even though I knew I was proud of it, I had my doubts that it would find a home for publication,” he says. “Being published has validated my focus on writing something that feels fresh and interesting instead of on following any preconceived notions of what publishable writing ‘should’ look like.”

Eli’s advice to fellow students who are interested in writing is to just start submitting. “Give yourself a deadline for when you’ll start sending your story out to magazines. Then, celebrate when you submit something,” he suggests. “You can’t control whether they’ll accept or reject your story, and you’re bound to get tons of rejections, so finding other ways to celebrate the submission process is important to keep you motivated and having fun with your writing.”