Friday Feature: @Shells

Another week has whizzed past, like pages turning in a book - which means it's nearly the goshdarn weekend already. Which also means only one thing. Friday Feature is about to propel another lovely Proser into the spotlight. This week we meet a totally smashing and very active Proser who you probably know as @Shells.

P: What is your given name and your Proser username?

S: My given name is Shelley. With the second E. Leaving it out is a severe pet peeve. It shouldn't be a big deal but it means the difference in whether my Father is correct and I was named after Country singer Shelly West (notably Second E-Less) or my Mother is correct and I was, in fact, named after poet Percy Shelley. My Prose name is Shells. Which is what most everyone in my life calls me. Unless my Mother is angry...yeah...we all know the FULL name treatment.

P: Where do you live?

S: I was born in Rural Kentucky. Where I spent my formative years. Raised on a working farm. I completed high school through a Christian School in Pensacola, Florida and made it back home by way of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

P: What is your occupation?

S: Oh God Damn, I hate this question because of the stigma that comes with it. But...I'm an executive director for the Miss America Organization at State and Local level. I am currently over two Miss Titles and one Outstanding Teen. (For bragging rights...My OT kicked some serious ass and took some serious names at state this year.) I'm also an Image and pageant consultant.

I’m also the co-founder of a Non-profit organization called First Chances, which advocates for Children's Rights. It's something incredibly close to my heart, for various reasons. But the goal is to fight for the child to have a chance at a normal life and oftentimes that isn't by reuniting them with their biological parents. On some occasions it is. But the purpose is to fight for the children of the Commonwealth of Kentucky to have a first chance at succeeding. As opposed to always giving the biological parent a "second chance." (My friends at Prose will understand why this is a difficult role to play).

P: What is your relationship with writing and how has it evolved?

S: I've been writing for as long as I can remember. I lost my eldest brother to suicide at a very young age and began writing letters to him as a child. Childish dribble really. Things he'd missed. Tennis matches and our brother's baseball championships. I didn't realize until much later that it was a child's way of coping with the aftermath. But, therapeutically, it grew on me. Writing became my scapegoat as a pre-teen and teen in Kentucky. It allowed me to deal with the constant bullying in my hometown. Be it tennis accomplishments or tiaras or sexuality; there was always backlash. Thankfully when I left the school system in my tiny hometown I held onto writing and it’s been my life force and my outlet ever since.

We've had a love/hate relationship. On again and off again if you will. But I'm very thankful that my pen and I have reconciled and I'm happy to report our relationship is going strong

P: What value does reading add to both your personal and professional life?

S: Reading and writing to me have always gone hand and hand. It's an escape from the intensity of the world. When I'm engrossed in a book or an article or what have you; it takes you to another place, another time, another city. There are no real boundaries when one picks up a read. You can go anywhere, be anyone and escape the pressures of reality until you meet "The End".

P: Can you describe your current literary ventures and what can we look forward to in future posts?

S: I don't really suppose I have any. I have amazing friends and an amazing support system behind me. But I don't see the point in chasing someone to publish my work. I'm not even certain that's a lofty goal to spend my time on.

P: What do you love about TheProse.com?

S: Prose has proven to be an intricate part of my life. I've met so many amazing talents and just genuinely wonderful people through Prose. The community is an amazing group of amazing writers. But that isn't the thing...everyone there wants to encourage others to branch out and succeed. I like that everyone, honestly, wants every writer to grow. It's such a wonderful group of people and I am so thankful for the friends I have made here. There have been days I would have been lost without my Etched In Ink Posse. All people I have had the honor of knowing through Prose.

P: Is there one book that you would recommend everybody should read before they die?

S: That's entirely too difficult. A Tale of Two Cities will always have my heart. But then there's Hemingway and Faulkner and freaking To Kill a Mocking Bird and In Cold Blood and every Tennessee Williams play ever put in print. And Fannie Flagg. Jesus, it's too much. Howl changed my life but I can’t say it changed it more than A Clockwork Orange or C.S Lewis or The Hobbit or Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee or Huxley...

P: Do you have an unsung hero who got you into reading and/or writing?

S: Not exactly. I guess my therapist was right it all goes back to my brother. Honestly I think I was born to write.

Whether it's bullshit drunken dribble or a college thesis. I love words and stringing my thoughts and feelings together on paper. It helps me make sense of the world and my head.

P: Describe yourself in three words?

S: Oh hell...I got this so much in pageant interviews. Roots And Wings

P: Is there one quote, from a writer or otherwise, that sums you up?

S: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

P: Favourite music to write and/or read to?

S: If you've read my work you know it often has a dark undertone. I tend to write in silence but when I do listen to music... it's typically my best friend’s covers of old school country.

P: You climb out of a time machine into a dystopian future with no books. What do you tell them?

S: Haha, that I'm about to rock their world and from that point on...I... wait... for...it...commit the unthinkable and plagiarize the greatest writers in the world. (Some of which I've met on Prose) and then I become a literary genius!!! Yep, that's how I'd roll.

P: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you/your work/social media accounts?

S: I don't have much going on. Unless someone wants to step up and offer a scholarship to one of the girls in my pageant pursuing a career in literary arts *wink* - shameless I know.

But if anyone else wants to write some kickass shit to my best friends tunes check her out... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7VfOOzMXSqw

What an excellently honest and open interview from @Shells there. If you don't already do so, please check her out, follow her, interact and read her awesome words.

Do you want to be featured, or would you like to nominate someone to be featured in a future Feature Friday? If so, get in touch on paul@theprose.com with the details.