![\"Exodus](\"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/12\/exodus-brownlow.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSometimes it only takes a sentence to awaken Brownlow\u2019s creativity. Those few words then partner with an image in Brownlow\u2019s head to form the genesis of a new story or idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last summer, an early morning car ride with her father and a story that was told on that trip led Brownlow to write the story \u201cIt\u2019s 5am-ish and my father tells me a story from his time in Singapore,\u201d which was originally published in the online literary magazine \u201cNo Contact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brownlow\u2019s story \u201cIt\u2019s 5am-ish and my father tells me a story from his time in Singapore\u201d recently was selected to be included in the anthology, Best MicroFiction 2021, which will be available for purchase soon. MicroFiction is any story told in 300 words or less. Stories in the genre can be as short as a few words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brownlow, who graduated from Mississippi University for Women\u2019s MFA in Creative Writing program in August 2018, said she immediately knew she would write about her father\u2019s story, so she texted herself pieces of it as he told it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was caught between the dizziness of my exhaustion, the beauty of seeing day break in and the humor of my dad\u2019s Navy story,\u201d said Brownlow, whose father was driving her to his office so she could pick up her truck. \u201cThis piece is about the way parents tell us stories, how they tell stories to others in their lives — leaving them all with nice endings, happy endings, to put us in a good place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brownlow said her father was on his way up north for a business-related trip and that she had plans later that day, so she had to get up before 5 a.m. and accompany him. The trip had a familiar feeling because Brownlow\u2019s father told her a story, just like he had done since Exodus was a child. The stories could focus on her father\u2019s childhood or his early 20s as he began life with Exodus\u2019 mother, or, as was the case this day, a story from his time in the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brownlow, who is from Blackhawk, earned her undergraduate degree from Mississippi Valley State University. She said her mentor, Dr. John Zheng, a professor and the chair of the English Department at MVSU, encouraged her to apply to The W\u2019s MFA in Creative Writing program. Brownlow said that decision is one of the best she has made in her life because her teachers — Dr. Kendall Dunkelberg, Kris Lee, Mary Miller and others — challenged her to question what she wanted to write, to read more of the kinds of things she wanted to write, to dedicate herself more to the process and to be patient to let her stories come into their own in the right way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe program helped me find my voice,\u201d Brownlow said. \u201cBefore, there had been a voice, but it wasn\u2019t strong enough, not quite there. I have that voice now. It feels good to have it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dunkelberg, the director of creative writing at The W, said Brownlow was one of the first students to enroll in the school\u2019s MFA in Creative Writing program when it started in August 2015. He said Brownlow \u201creally came into her own\u201d as a writer in the MFA program by writing short fiction, creative nonfiction, culminating with her thesis, a novel manuscript titled \u201cAfroze.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miller, a visiting assistant professor of English\/Creative Writing, is one of the founding faculty members of The W\u2019s Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing. She said it has been a pleasure to watch Brownlow\u2019s skills develop over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m incredibly impressed with how she\u2019s hustling and getting her work out into the world,\u201d Miller said. \u201cShe is bold and confident, and this has always been evident in her writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brownlow admits she was \u201cvery surprised\u201d when \u201cIt\u2019s 5am-ish and my father tells me a story from his time in Singapore\u201d was selected to be included in the anthology. She said 2020 marked the first time she had been nominated for anything as a writer, and that the nominations already were \u201cwins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brownlow believes in \u201cwriting about your obsessions\u201d to stay inspired. She said she will continue to write in a style that she describes as \u201cliterary, southern fiction with horror and fantasy elements\u201d and to challenge herself to question everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWriting is still challenging at times, but it makes a difference when you write in a way that honors your voice\/soul,\u201d Brownlow said. \u201cI\u2019ve become a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to polishing my craft because my standards get higher the better I do. But what keeps me sane is remembering it is not anyone else\u2019s standards I\u2019m wishing to perfect, only my own. I often question how happy I am with my work. Is it the best I can do? Do I need to give it some room to breathe? Am I settling? Is something missing? Once I\u2019ve answered all of these questions and get my piece to where it needs to be through these answers, that\u2019s when I know it\u2019s ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a writer, I think it\u2019s so important never to fold against myself, against my work. I\u2019m very tedious in this way, and as a result I don\u2019t produce a lot of new pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brownlow said her essay \u201cOne of The Girls Who Lived, One of Those Girls Who Lived, 2004\u201d will be published this June in a special black voices issue of \u201cTriQuarterly Magazine.\u201d She also said her flash, creative nonfiction piece \u201cThings My Aunt Nanny Taught Me\u201d will appear in her first national publication, a special issue of the book anthology \u201cChicken Soup for The Soul,\u201d which will feature only stories from Black women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COLUMBUS, Miss.–Inspiration usually hits Exodus Oktavia Brownlow in an instant. Sometimes it only takes a sentence to awaken Brownlow\u2019s creativity. Those few words then partner with an image in Brownlow\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions\/213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/mfacreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}