T.L. Tomljanovic | 42 Stories Anthology Author Spotlight
What was the title(s) of your stories in the anthology?
ANCIENT LOST KNOWLEDGE OF THE FIRE KEEPERS
NEVA NAKATORA, LAST SEEN MAY 5 ON WHYTE AVE
WON'T TAKE LONG, MAY I SEE YOUR PASSPORT?
Location in the world:
Langley, BC, Canada
Writing Space:
1970s maple hardwood desk
Bio
T.L. Tomljanovic is a Prairie transplant to the West Coast, writer of tiny tales, and the guardian of an enormous dog. Her stories have been featured in Off-Topic Publishing, Blank Spaces Magazine, Every Day Fiction, The Globe and Mail, and Carousel Magazine.
foods/drinks
For breakfast: coffee and croissant.
For lunch: charcuterie and a bottle of dry red.
For dinner: thin crust pizza with pretentious toppings such as blue cheese and crispy brussel sprouts or pineapple and banana peppers.
movies/shows/actors
Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation will always be my moral compass. Buffy the Vampire Slayer taught me girls are allowed to cry and fight monsters.
The best animal on earth.
The best animal on earth is a wolf because they're pack animals. Everything is about the pack, the family. My father read The Jungle Book to me as bedtime stories, which probably had some influence. That and the fact that I share the same eye colour as a wolf–yellow.
Name some books you read recently.
Currently, I'm reading Jessica Waite's memoir The Widows Guide to Dead Bastards and if you haven't read it yet, do yourself a huge favour and ask to borrow my copy.
If you ever get creative block, how do you overcome it?
Haha, yes, and I don't overcome it. I sit and stew and read articles that explain writer's block isn't real and I'm forced to agree since I somehow always manage to make my paid communications writing deadlines, but fiction writing is different. I'm doing it just for me. I'm not getting paid. No one cares if I stop. So ultimately if writing becomes too painful, I don't do it. I've gone months without writing. It used to make me feel like a fraud, claiming to be a writer, but not writing daily or even weekly. Actually, I still feel like a fraud a lot of time, but I figure if I have even just one story out there, then I'm a writer and that's good enough for me.
What was the first story you created, and was it published? Elaborate.
When the pandemic hit like many people, I wasn’t just working from home and teaching my kids at home, I was trapped at home and I wanted OUT! I found an escape in fiction writing and wrote my first short story about a goat hunter who tries to find his way back to life while being dogged by death both past and imminent. Carousel bought my story and published it in the spring issue of their literary magazine. That external validation propelled me forward through a lot more rejection, but I keep submitting. My current highest rejection rate is 24 for a single story.
What are your social media links or where can people find your work?
https://tomljanovic.wordpress.com/story-gallery/
https://x.com/TLTomljanovic
https://carouselmagazine.ca/c47-tomljanovic/
https://www.fullhouseliterary.com/issue-2-pieces/hands-are-for-hitting-by-tl-tomljanovic
https://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2022/06/prairie-oysters-taste-better-deep-fried.html
https://tomljanovic.wordpress.com/story-gallery/
https://x.com/TLTomljanovic
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