Just One Thing with Cindy House

Cindy House’s essay “Chipmunk”features a rogue rodent, a new baby, piles of poop, and the moment someone transforms into a complete stranger. Here she shares just one thing about the piece:

“The story ‘Chipmunk’ was a memory rattling around inside, forgotten and silent for years, until one night when I gave my students a prompt and then the minute class ended, it flew out of me, the entire first draft coming to me in one sitting. I think as writers, we live with an entire library of moments like this, tiny forgotten experiences that changed us at the time but were then lost in the busyness of daily life. All it takes is the right nudge to force them back up. There is something about parenting a teenager that reminds me of the anxiety of early motherhood, making the conditions ripe for this particular memory to rise up and demand to be seen.”