by Darci Schummer

Read her story A Good Death here.

I wrote this piece right after my father passed away. I felt compelled to record what happened so I could understand it and so I would remember what it was like to live in that place of love and loss. It was hard to focus the piece because so much happened that I couldn’t include, given the piece’s short form, which I wanted to keep. A quote from Hemingway that I share with my students is “Write hard and clear about what hurts.” To me, this advice always rings true when I’m writing about something difficult. Don’t water it down or gloss over it. Get to the heart of the hurt and lay it bare.

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Darci Schummer is the author of the story collection Six Months in the Midwest (Unsolicited Press) and the forthcoming novel The Ballad of Two Sisters (Unsolicited Press). Her work has appeared in Ninth Letter, Folio, Jet Fuel Review, Pithead Chapel, Atticus Review, MAYDAY, and Heavy Feather Review, among other places. Her work has been nominated both for Pushcart Prizes and Best of the Net. She teaches writing at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College where she also serves as faculty editor of The Thunderbird Review.