BCC Shines A Light On: Jessica Klimesh
BCC Shines a Light On:
Jessica Klimesh
Name of the piece published by BCC:
When/where was it originally published:
Strukturriss, Dec. 2021
Tell us more about your piece! What is the background of the piece? What led you to write it? What’s your process?
I wrote this piece in 2020, when, of course, a lot of stuff was happening for everyone. In addition to the pandemic-related woes, I was helping to care for my terminally ill mother, who had been diagnosed with ALS near the end of 2019. I had regular insomnia, so I would write drafts of stories in bed on my phone in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep. This piece came out of one of those middle-of-the-night phone drafts. There was a lot of revision and editing, of course, over the subsequent months. My typical process is to let drafts sit and approach revision little by little—ten minutes here, five minutes there—to allow for fresh eyes and perspective.
How did you feel when it was first published and how have your thoughts or feelings on the piece changed from then to now?
It was first published just over a year after my mom died, and I was excited for it to be published—I thought the piece was unique, that it offered something new. I’ve grown a lot as a writer since then, so I was worried that I wouldn’t still like the piece after all this time, that I wouldn’t still think it was fresh or unique. But I do! I feel it still captures the essence of my experience—the surreal feelings of exhaustion and uncertainty that I was facing at the time.
Is there a specific message you would like readers to take away from reading this piece?
I don’t think there’s a specific message, but I hope there’s some element of relatability for those who have suffered (or still suffer) from insomnia, grief, or other emotional turmoil. For me, the repetitive subject-verb structure represents a way to create control when life is spiraling out from under us. The repeated simple-sentence structure was intentional from the beginning; I don’t think any of my drafts of the piece deviated from it. As some have mentioned to me, the short simple sentences also mimic the rhythm and motion of a train.
What else would you like to tell readers about your writing? (Doesn’t have to refer only to your BCC piece)
Though somewhat hybrid, I consider “The Train Wails” to be creative nonfiction, which I don’t normally write. I more typically write fiction, but I’ve found that hybrid pieces have been a good way to explore my more intense emotional experiences; I love the flexibility of writing something that’s not easily categorizable. In general, though, I think my fiction tends to be more light-hearted and/or whimsical (though it, of course, depends on the piece!). But my goal with any of my work is to make people think or, at the very least, make them feel something.
Where can readers find more of your work? (Website/social media, etc.)
View my publications page at https://jessicaklimesh.com.
I also have a Substack: https://JEKWrites.substack.com.
