Author: madisonellingsworth

Categories
Writing

“I Blew Out the Birthday Candles” — LIT Magazine

 My piece, “I Blew Out the Birthday Candles,” has just been published in the Fall 2024 issue of LIT magazine. It is an experimental piece which uses a real event and real people to create a fictional world and fictional narrator. It is published as a “Hybrid” story for this reason.

Publication Journey: This piece was submitted to Ghost Parachute and was rejected (not an encouraging rejection). After the acceptance from LIT, I withdrew it from consideration at INKWELL.

This story can be found here. I hope that others enjoy it, and happy reading!

Categories
Travel Video

Visiting Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary

The time had come for another trip, and so off my boyfriend and I went, to Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary!

We spent our first week in Austria, biking and basking in the beauty of Innsbruck and Salzburg. This was my first time in the alps and I was blown away! We got to enjoy their many pickled foods and delicious beers. I think I may even be a beer person now… shocking.

The second portion of our trip was spent in Prague and Bratislava. The culture—the art—the perfectly fried food—it was wonderful. I had my first “trdelnik” and realized that it is best, health-wise, that I do not live in Central Europe. Though it rained and the temperature dropped twenty degrees while we were in Bratislava, we still enjoyed ourselves. I broke my personal-item-backpack (not my big one, hooray!) and we soldiered on. We had quite a delicious pizza and cappuccino lunch that I will always cherish. Mmm. Pizza.

Then we were off to Hungary! We met up with my boyfriend’s mother and drove to the town of Eger, which is located near Hortobágyi National Park. I always enjoy seeing national parks in other countries. This one was scenic, though there were shockingly few people around. I learned that Hortobágyi was the Central European steppe conquered by Ghengis Khan and his horde. Perhaps people are still afraid to visit?

We returned to Budapest and spent a number of days roaming the city. There are endless things to do in big cities like Budapest, and never enough time. I became particularly fond of a running route up to a nearby religious site. The site was closed due to construction, but that made it even better! No tourists to weave around and scare accidentally while running.

For the final portion of our trip we took a train back to Austria and explored Vienna. We had so much fun together, stumbling upon festival after festival, eating one tasty meal after the next. One night we danced until late at a pop-up EDM show, which was also a youth political event for the Green Party? I love Austria!

Unfortunately, the trip had to come to an end. However, we were both so happy to come home! As other tourists know, you can only see so many churches and palaces before they start to blend together. And, as always, I have documented our trip in videos that I am still posting on my Youtube channel.

They can be found here: Central Europe Trip

I hope everyone else is enjoying autumn (at least here in the N. Hemisphere) and has the chance to get some travels in before the end of the year! Happy watching.

Categories
Video

Finishing the 48: Week One

This summer I am planning on hiking the 48 4000-footers of New Hampshire. I started to hike these mountains years ago with my family and have slowly been chipping away at the list. However, I want to take advantage of my time and ability, and have decided to (ideally) complete the list by the end of August.

Along the way I am going to record my hikes, starting with those that I did last week: Tom, Field, and Willey + Passaconaway and Whiteface. The first hike was wet. Most of it was spent in 100% humidity, and the last hour was a downpour. Still fun! The second was unexpectedly beautiful. We were supposed to hike in a thunderstorm, but the sky cleared up and the rain held off. The section of Whiteface that is on the Terrifying 25 felt easy (I think because I hiked Mount Coe in Baxter State Park a few years ago).

Prior to these two, I hiked Owls Head, Tecumseh, and Tripyramids. I found Owls Head to be much easier than advertised, as my sister and I just ran the last few miles back to the car. We hiked Tecumseh in the humidity and rain, and completed  Tripyramids on a sunny July afternoon. Both were uneventful but enjoyable, with limited-to-no views.

I am no expert hiker, but I feel confident that I will be able to finish this list. I had already hiked sixteen of the 48 when I started at the end of July. I am also planning a few traverses/loops to decrease the number of hikes I have to do overall. I know that not every person is physically able to hike, and so I hope that others will at least find my experiences entertaining.

Week One’s video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymchL4eS-nI  

 

Categories
Writing

“Lumpless” — The Palisades Review

My piece, “Lumpless,” has just been published in The Palisades Review. It is a very personal, creative nonfiction story about my father.

Publication Journey: I wrote this piece and submitted it to The Palisades Review only. I quite enjoy their nonfiction work, and felt that my writing style could be a good fit for their publication.

I hope that others will enjoy this piece, and I encourage everyone to check out the other stories on the Palisades website. The piece can be found here: The Palisades Review.

Categories
Writing

“Depths of Winter” — Maine Natural History Observer

My piece, “Depths of Winter,” has just been published in the newest issue of the Maine Natural History Observer! This story focuses on an experience I had earlier this year, in the woods close to my home.

Publication Journey: I wrote this piece specifically for the MNHO, as I was inspired to write about Maine’s natural beauty.

The MNHO provides Mainers with valuable resources related to the great outdoors, and I would highly recommend checking out everything that their organization offers, including (but not limited to) the Observer.
Subscriptions can be purchased here: https://mainenaturalhistory.org/observer

Categories
Travel Video

Exploring the United Kingdom and Ireland with Friends

Another year means another trip across the globe with my partner and two of our closest friends. We took a stretch of time off from traveling last year to save money for our upcoming trips this summer and fall, and it has already proven to be well worth it. We started planning this trip to England, Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland in January of this year. Visiting from April to May turned out to be an excellent time as the climate has been very temperate, but we did have to prepare for both cold and wet as well as hot and humid.

There is so much to see—from diverse, educational sites in the big cities, to picturesque natural beauty in the rural areas. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to see these things, and meet new people, and to do it alongside people that I care about so deeply has been wonderful.

Traveling gives one so much, but one of the greatest things it has given me is an appreciation for how lucky I am to have the friends, family, and partner that I do. They are caring, hilarious, intelligent people who help me do what I love: see new places and try new things!

After yet another trip with friends, I look forward to an upcoming trip I have with my family. I can only imagine what kinds of exciting things we will get up to!

I have been recording my travels on my Youtube account, and the same goes for this trip. The videos can be found at this link: Youtube 

Categories
Writing

“Ugly and Pretty” — NonBinary Review

My piece, “Ugly and Pretty,” was selected by NonBinary Review for their Issue # 35: “Old Friends.” As an Associate Editor of this publication, I was very flattered, and as a writer, I was thrilled! This is the second nonfiction piece I have had published, and it is the most speculative of my published works.

During the process of preparing the issue for publication, I was also lucky enough to have the cover design I created selected unanimously by my fellow co-editors. Our typical design process leads to a frankenstein-esque mod-podging of everyone’s designs, but mine was chosen in its entirety. It is difficult to express how exciting this was to me as both an artist and as an aspiring editor. As my Editor-in-Chief wrote to me in an email, my “parents are 100% sticking this issue up on the refrigerator!”

Publication Journey: I submitted this piece to NonBinary Review, Gulf Coast Journal, and Green House Literary. After its acceptance from NonBinary Review, I withdrew it from the other two publications.

I would highly recommend checking this issue out. It has some excellent stories, poems, and visual art pieces. It can be purchased at this link: Issue # 35

 

Categories
Travel Video

A Weekend at the Carnaval De Québec!

Over the first weekend in February, my partner and I visited the Carnaval De Québec and explored the city, along with its neighboring town, Lévis. We had visited once before—on a roadtrip through Vermont, New York, and Canada in the summer of 2019—and it was a wonderful time. Old Québec is the closest we can get to the romantic cobblestone streets of our favorite European spots, and contains an additional French-Canadian charm. Though it was cold, it was only by a few degrees more than at home, and we were happily swaddled in our many layers.

I have wanted to check out this elaborate ice festival for years, and getting to see Bonhomme as part of an anniversary gift just made this experience all the more special. I documented our stay in a video that can be found here: Our Stay!

I look forward to going back sometime soon!

Categories
Writing

“Mingling in the Marsh” — Maine Natural History Observer

My short nonfiction story, “Mingling in the Marsh,” was published in the Maine Natural History Observer this fall 2023, and is available for purchase at the MNHO website. This was a short piece that I wrote about the trail my family and I walk once—if not several times—every day. It holds a special place in my heart, and I am so happy to have been able to show this love by publishing with the MNHO. I encourage all to purchase their journal by becoming a subscriber to the Observatory. They do wonderful, important work, and there are some other fascinating, well-researched articles in the fall 2023 edition.

Publication Journey: I wrote this piece specifically for MNHO, as I was inspired to write by Maine and the crows.

Categories
Writing

“Date Night” — West Trade Review

Below I have provided a link to my short fiction story, “Date Night,” which was published in the 2022 Summer Edition of West Trade Review. 

I also interviewed with the Associate Fiction Editor, Jonathan Lindberg, to discuss my writing process and how I came up with this story. This interview is public on the WTR YouTube channel. Additionally, I read my story as part of WTR‘s PostScript Interview series. 

Here is my story, the interview, and my reading! 

Publication Journey: I submitted this piece to the minnesota review and West Trade Review. After it was accepted by WTR, I withdrew it from tmr.