Leslee Moore Joins Interchange Editorial Staff

Words have been a part of my life since long before I could read them. My parents were avid readers, and their love of the written word seems to be part of my genetic code. Looking back, the only summer of my childhood which I can recall in its entirety is the summer between, I think, fourth and fifth grade. That is the summer that I spent every day sitting on our screened back porch reading every Nancy Drew book that had been published up to that time, beginning with the first, The Secret of the Old Clock and going straight through to the 40th, The Moonstone Castle Mystery. To this day, I still love a good mystery!   

Some favorite authors

While I am drawn to writers from all over the world, writing across many genres, I am particularly fond of a particular group of writers. Growing up in Kentucky meant that I was exposed from an early age to the great body of Southern Appalachian literature. James Still and Jessie Stuart, Verna Mae Slone and John Fox Jr., George Ella Lyon and Harriett Arnow are among my favorites. River of Earth, The Thread that Runs So True, What My Heart Wants to Tell, The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, Borrowed Children, and The Dollmaker have stood the test of time to become classics.

More recently, the writing of Robin Wall Kimmerer, particularly in her book ‘Braiding Sweetgrass,’ has had a profound impact on me as she shares her Native American spirituality and its interaction with all living things.

More recently, the writing of Robin Wall Kimmerer, particularly in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, has had a profound impact on me as she shares her Native American spirituality and its interaction with all living things. I am also partial to British authors, including those whose out-of-print books have been brought back to life by Persephone Press. And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in the Sherlock Holmes canon, always will be on my bookshelf between Shakespeare and the Harry Potter books.

Writing: A Personal Exercise

With a few exceptions, writing has mostly been a personal exercise. While I do not have the discipline to journal every day, I do feel compelled to write anytime something momentous happens in life, good or bad. The day I received the invitation to begin the co-membership process, I sat down and wrote pages as the words tumbled joyfully from the pen. When I learned that the husband of a close friend had been unfaithful to her, the only way I could truly deal with the gamut of emotions I felt, could truly sort out my thoughts, was by writing about it.

My previous editing experience began in ninth grade, when I was co-editor in chief of our junior high school yearbook. Since then, I have edited a couple of small newsletters and a parish weekly bulletin.  

The Loretto Community is blessed with many wonderful writers, and I am honored to have the chance to help them tell the stories of the Community. And there are so many stories waiting to be told!

My writing is fair-to-middling at best, but I do know good writing when I read it. For that, I credit my first school librarian, Mrs. Polly, and a long line of excellent teachers. Because of that, I am so excited to have been invited to join the team of Interchange editors.  The Loretto Community is blessed with many wonderful writers, and I am honored to have the chance to help them tell the stories of the Community. And there are so many stories waiting to be told!

A couple of thoughts as I look back through this:  The authors listed predominantly write fiction, although I read a fair amount of nonfiction; and, only a couple of them still are living, although, I read a fair amount of contemporary works. Lastly, I am drawn to short stories because of the challenge a well-crafted short story presents. The economy of words necessary to successfully set the scene and develop characters and plot, it seems to me, requires a particularly gifted writer.