Happy May, Catalyst readers! My name is Katie Cox and I am one of the editors of the Catalyst. This month I had the chance to interview Carly Frerichs, a UW-L alumnus who now works at the local Driftless Writing Center. She was able to help the Catalyst transfer to the online format that it is today, and for that, we are incredibly grateful! I hope you enjoy her words of encouragement and advice for fellow writers as well as the love she has for literature.
KC: Tell us a little bit about yourself! For those who don’t know you, what have you been up to the past few years, and what is your connection to UW LaCrosse?
CF: I was a student at UW-L in the English department (graduated in 2014, which, how are we already in 2022??) In my second semester of freshman year, the editors of The Catalyst were both seniors and graduating. I volunteered to take the reins, not knowing what a big impact it would have on my next few years. That first year, and into the second year, we (the English Club, as The Catalyst was supported by them at the time) fundraised through bake sales and grants to print The Catalyst. That quickly became unsustainable, but the current online version was created through SharePoint, which is not an ideal website structure for a print product. Wanting to merge the best parts of print (mostly the ability to have a layout and a shareable “product”) and the lack of funding needed for a free website, I set out in my Junior year to set up the WordPress site. Working on The Catalyst was a wonderful experience and really lit the fire in me to support and be involved in local art.
Since graduation, I have been mostly seeing where life takes me. I have worked editing, coding, marketing, graphic design, nonprofit administration, and I currently bake and cook at The Root Note as well as run my own at-home bakery. Much of the courage to follow paths that might not be what I had in any plan, but are paths that bring me joy, has come from writing. Through writing, and specifically how writing taught me to trust myself and to see the world through different lenses, emboldened me to take risks, push myself outside my comfort zone, and follow the paths that make me happiest.
KC: How did you get into writing? What makes you passionate about it?
CF: I had come to UW-L with the idea that I would do a year of gen-eds, then transfer to Madison for pre-med. Writing was never something that I was encouraged to think about seriously. Since elementary school, I have been a writer, though never called myself that. I was always coming up with half stories and a few lines of poetry here and there. Most of the time, I was my way to work through what I didn’t really understand about life. A way to talk out ideas to myself, figure out who I was (and who I want to be), and to actively participate in the things I loved. I have always loved music, but never had much success learning an instrument and had no access growing up to voice lessons. I always loved skateboard culture, but grew too fast and was too lanky and awkward to feel comfortable on a board with skate parks or really any place to practice anywhere nearby. But I could write about them. I could come up with stories about people doing the things that fascinated me. Soon, as I went through middle and high school, I started writing about relationships and social dynamics. Later in high school, I started working through my family connection with alcohol abuse, my own growing and then-undiagnosed mental health struggles, and my growing awareness of the world (both the beauty and the struggle). Writing helped me to work through existence, but never did I think it would be something that I would formally study until taking an intro class at UW-L. I loved it. I loved talking to people about books, helping others improve their writing, and having a community of other people who were also voracious readers and who also understood the world through literature.
The continuing passion with writing, if pinpointing it to one thing, would be my love of the sound of language. It’s one reason I love music so much. I don’t even have to know the words for some songs, if done well, because I can get lost in just the consonants and vowels. Even my favorite literature all seems best being spoken out loud. Most of the books I read, I prefer reading via audiobook if there is a version with a quality narration. The sounds of the words, how it all weaves into meaning, how each word leads right into the next and builds a vision for the listener. It’s what I find really magical about writing.
KC: What kind of work do you do with the Driftless Writing Center?
CF: I have filled many roles with the DWC. I joined as the Project Manager of the Stories from the Flood project. For the Stories from the Flood project, we collected stories from community members around the Coon Creek and Kickapoo watersheds, where 2018 saw record flooding that devastated much of the area. The project aimed to preserve the stories in historical archives to be used in watershed research, to collect information for a findings report to send to local representatives to inform flood response, and to help the community share their experiences to use their stories to grow and heal together.
Since the project’s completion, I have joined the DWC board, spending some time as secretary and then interim president. Currently, I serve on the tech committee. Early in the pandemic, I helped to get the DWC up and running with Zoom events to be able to continue serving our driftless writers community, and we continue to work on navigating the digital landscape as well as working on a plan to open up to in-person events.
KC: As a writer, what does your process look like? Is there a specific routine you usually stick to or does it change depending on what you are working on?
CF: My process is incredibly flexible. I have always been a writer and always will be, but sometimes it takes a back burner to other interests and passions. To prevent burnout, I tend to rotate my passions to be able to follow all of my curiosities and interests. But even when I am in a lull with my writing, I am always an avid reader (or listener) of literature. And I take advantage of my “downtime” to collect ideas, concepts, even just individual lines for a poem. I have a notepad app on my phone absolutely bursting with little snippets of my thoughts over the last few months. When I get the itch, I will start going through, finding connections, building storylines, and writing.
KC: Do you have any recommendations for aspiring writers?
CF: Useful recommendations is a tough ask. Everyone is so different and it feels like too much of a copout to say “everyone is different; find what works for you.” But it’s really true. Everyone works differently. Really listen to yourself and understand yourself to find your own rhythm.
And be kind to yourself. If you are in a rut and don’t write for months, it will never help to pine over lost time. Sometimes we have to take a break. And sometimes we have to push through. Knowing what your life at this moment calls for is an art, an art which will take time to develop. But be kind to yourself first. If you hate something you wrote, give it time. Don’t delete it. Come back to it later. Chances are there is something there. You may have to completely deconstruct your original thought, but you wrote it for a reason. Something in it meant something to you. Find the truth, find the little nugget of meaning you are working through. Writing is so highly personal and raw; it’s an act of courage to open up your creativity to its fullest. So acknowledge that courage and, even if you don’t think you wrote to your standard, give yourself some credit for writing life on a page.
The Catalyst 