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How to complete a spring book in steps: Step 1: Find a dedicated staff who are in love with literature and art Step 2: Make a website and reveal your publication to the world through social media! Step 3: Open submissions and let the work come to you Step 4: Organize the submissions and number them so it is a fair blind reading Step 5: Read everything! Step 5: Make staff decisions on writing and art Step 6: Choose finalists and send writing to judges Step 7: Now that the art and writing finalists have been chosen, you can make the order of the pieces for the actual book! Step 8: Layout Step 9: Layout Step 10: Layout and upload Step 11: Enjoy your finished masterpiece! I wish that making a book was as easy as typing out the process, but it is not. Simply put, being in a publication takes a lot of time and effort; you really need to have a passion for what you do. When you have passion however, it makes it easier to stay organized and keep faith in what you do. That is what the Élan staff have always maintained throughout the years, and this year has been no different. We are extremely proud of our latest spring edition, and I hope that you will enjoy all the talent and hard work that has gone into creating it. The edition is on our website: elanlitmag.org We are also working on our print compilation of both the winter and spring books, so please keep an eye out for announcements related to the print book! --Sarah Buckman, Editor-in-Chief

This is my second year as non-fiction editor, and during my time here my coeditor and I have constantly struggled with obtaining as much work as the fiction and poetry editors. Non-fiction is a neglected form of writing, yet in my eyes it is one of the most beautiful, most personal. It allows writers to put themselves on paper, their story, their past, and their fears. My favorite part of my role on Élan staff is reading through the pieces, discovering who the writers are. I feel as though I get the chance to see a private and personal sliver of dozens of lives as papers pass through my hands. When I was first chosen to be on the Élan staff as a junior, I was overjoyed. I had admired the magazine since I was a freshman, marveled at the eloquent and powerful pieces. However, I noticed that something was missing—the magazine featured an obvious absence of creative non-fiction. Non-fiction is a genre that I fell in love with early on in my writing career. A personal essay that I wrote in my sophomore year was my first piece to ever receive recognition, when I won a national silver medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Contest. When I applied for the position of non-fiction editor, I took a pledge to bring a new wave of non-fiction to the magazine. This year, Shamiya, my coeditor, and I have completely revolutionized the non-fiction submission process. We have reached out to younger writers, held workshops, met with students afterschool, and gone above and beyond to provide thorough comments on pieces. Not only have we increased to overall volume of work, but we have also improved the quality. I am so excited to leave the legacy of non-fiction in Shamiya’s hands next year. She shares my love of the genre, and I know she will do amazing things as she continues to move the non-fiction section of the magazine forward. -- Emily Jackson, Creative Nonfiction Editor

The first image my mind jumps to at the words “warmth” and “comfort” is a plate heaped with fried chicken, pepperoni pizza, and macaroni and cheese. It’s tempting to keep rambling about unhealthy foods I’m craving at the moment—eating them satisfies me with a warm buzz to the stomach. The next is my laptop perched on a soft, blue blanket. Netflix waits with its lopsided smile. This is also tempting, since I can go in-depth about the shows I’m really into and hopefully win them new fans. But I’m not going to dwell on either of these, because they only provide temporary contentment. The warmth and comfort that sticks to and infuses a sense of security within me comes from the words and actions of my friends and family—the special few I’m not ashamed to care about. “I love you” is already such a direct, soul-baring statement, but there are so many other ways to verbalize it: “Are you hungry?” “Did you put your seatbelt on?” “How was your day?” Questions like these show affection and care, and when I’m asked these I feel a little twinge of happiness and reassurance. Trust me, I’m being 100% honest. Physical contact is another aspect that really comforts me. I love being a touchy-feely person: hand-holding, back-rubbing, hugging. In addition to the heat they literally create, they also warm me up inside with—you guessed it—comfort. I guess it’s an animal thing to crave touches. There’s the shallow, fleeting comfort that unhealthy foods and TV shows offer and the lasting warmth that the love family and friends offer. It wasn’t really hard for me to choose. -Seth Gozar, Junior Fiction Editor

There are some people that without ever having met, you just know. You watch their movie or hear their music and you just think “I relate to you; we could be friends, even.” You know facts about them and try to emulate their positive traits. This is most common with celebrities, specifically those who are masters of our individual trade. Athletes look up to other athletes, writers to other writers, businessmen to Donald Trump. As a writer –and a teenage girl- there are many people that I idolize and from them draw inspiration. I tried to think of the one person who inspired me the most, who handed me life’s lessons one at a time until I really felt that I found my footing. If you talk to as many people as I have, you’ll realize that this is nearly an impossible task. I thought that I could cite Emily Dickinson, who made me first want to be a poet with “Hope is the Thing With Feathers,” or Mrs. Melanson who taught me to be who you are unapologetically, even if at times that means you have to be a little cynical. I thought about my mother, who –despite her shortcomings- implanted within me a set of morals that can’t be messed with, no matter who I talk to or what I do in my future. I started jotting down every Walt Disney fact that I know. How can one not draw inspiration from the original voice of Mickey himself? But then I realized that maybe I don’t have to write a miniature feature on any one individual. We learn from one another all the time; that is the silver lining of constant human interaction. During the hum drum of day to day life, we steadily gain lessons from those that we watch on TV, those who we read in books or on websites, if we only keep our eyes and ears open. -Savannah Thanscheidt, Web Editor

Last year for Valentine’s Day I wore black to mourn the loss of the true meaning of love (and also to mourn my happiness since I was single). This year, I will be visiting my boyfriend’s house and eating popcorn while forcing him to spend hours watching Hallmark movies with me. However, even though I am in a relationship I have a special part in my heart where I harbor my detestation of the popular love holiday. So here are some things about Valentine’s Day that I do NOT love: 1. All that free chocolate makes everyone fat and then the next couple of weeks everyone will be complaining about how fat they are 2. We are forced to consider our own perpetual loneliness if we are not in a relationship 3. True love has become an over-sized, over-priced Walmart teddy bear 4. It is my father’s birthday but everyone who is not immediate family is too busing buying into consumer culture to care 5. Flowers die and make a big mess and use water that could go to kids in Africa 6. Hallmark movies are addicting and are the cause of many sad, lonely people who realize no one who loves them 7. You should love your significant other every day NOT once a year when you remember that your Facebook status says that you are “in a relationship” 8. Love is the essence of transcending the material world, so stop celebrating it with more credit card debt 9. Sexism 10. Saint Valentine was also the Saint of Plague and Disease (Food for thought). So although the day now passed,  just remember Valentine’s is another day of the year and you have every other day of the year to love and be loved (or mourn your loneliness). -Stephanie Thompson, Head of Marketing

The freshness of January is beginning to filter out with the rearing of February’s chilly-weathered days. As we writers sit, bundled in sweaters and scarves and rubbing our hands together for warmth, we know one thing is quickly coming toward us: the dreaded cliché love poems of Valentine’s Day. February is often a time where poignant prose can begin to slip into a gooey, gushy wreck of words. It is understandable for writers to feel the need to put their emotions on paper, but before we begin giving our poems away, we must make sure that they truly evoke what we intend, and we are not just simply writing things we have heard millions of times before. I have found that a key to writing poetry is to not force your words. Poetry shouldn’t be regarded as something extremely strenuous—your words should flow naturally. Often times when I write a poem, I will begin simply by writing without thinking. This often leads to messy line breaks and confusing phrases, but those can always be cleaned up during editing. The most important thing to think about is getting out what you have to say. Each poem must have a clear intent. Otherwise, you will turn readers away because they will have nothing to connect or hold on to. In my own poetry class, my teacher had us find lists of cliché words and then write a poem using every single cliché word in a non-cliché way. We used words such as “dreams,” “wishes,” and “shadows”—all words which are commonly associated with the same feelings in poetry. Dreams and wishes are associated with hope; shadows are associated with looming fear. This is an excellent exercise to try out when fighting against clichés. The exercise makes you turn words on their heads and examine the ways you are using them. The more aware you are of the words you use, the less likely you are to use them in typical ways. Inventiveness is always honored in poetry. The main goal is to keep writing. When you write often and consume as much poetry as possible, your writing will automatically improve. Following these tips will surely prepare you with plenty of pieces to be able to show-off—whether it be to your Valentine, or if you hold off on sharing your work until April, when National Poetry Month will be rolling around. -Raegen Carpenter, Poetry Editor

This past June I made my way across the Atlantic to visit one of the Seven Wonders of the World, The Coliseum. While waiting for my ticket to be purchased to get inside, I made my way to the many vendors set up with various tchotchkes, postcards, and more. A man with a cardboard box hung around his neck approached me and tried to get me to purchase one of his knock- off Rolexes. I told him over and over “No, thank you” but he just couldn’t take that for an answer. Since he hounded me with so many offers, I decided ask him where he was from. He told me that he and many of the other vendors were from Somalia. I then asked him why he was here in Italy, he nonchalantly replied with one word, “Money.” "I need a passport and she needs school: to read.” he said. The man then proceeded to point to a little girl behind him who looked to be about three years old. This was all they had, just a worn out lawn chair, a box of fake Rolexes and what little hope they had left. Thinking about the life I had left for two weeks back at home made me realize how good I had it. My father wasn’t trying to make ends meet by selling watches outside the Coliseum gates. And I knew how to read. I had never been thankful for being able to read. Now with the holidays around the corner, families coming into town, I cannot think of a better tradition to end the holiday season with; being thankful. My friends, my school that has allowed my love for writing to be nurtured, my home, a country where I can speak freely, my mother, my father, everything. Every opportunity that has been put at my feet even if it ended in failure. Everything. And after that trip I began writing in a journal one good thing that happened to me each day- which I still do. Whether it is passing my math test, waking up on time, or learning something new, I know I have something to be thankful for every day. So as I close out this year and ring in the new one I hope that this tradition will continue to open my eyes and allow me to take in so much more of this world. -Madison George, Social Media Editor

I never fully understood the meaning of community until I came to Douglas Anderson to study creative writing. Previously, I’d attended an arts middle school for theater, where I found life-long friends and transformed from a shy writer churning out pages and pages of fiction in her free time to a boisterous, enthusiastic performer carrying polished monologues under her belt. I auditioned for both theater and creative writing for Douglas Anderson—the first only to see if I’d get in, and the second with the actual desperate hope of getting in. After being accepted for both, I was forced to make an important decision I’d already subconsciously made years before. Because writing holds much more significance to my personal growth and future, I chose writing. In middle school, my theater community was my first real impression of how it feels to belong somewhere. Here, it’s different. Writing had always been just a side hobby—an art I practiced after everything else that not many people knew was as important to me as it was. But being around writers every day, given the same assignments and struggling through similar issues as I am, who are just as passionate about writing as I am, not only deepened my own passion for writing, but gave me a deeper sense of belonging that I’d never experienced before. I find my Junior Poetry class to be the most unifying. Learning tools such as sound in texture and meter in poetry and the collective excitement my class shares for these tools we’re introduced to that we can now utilize in our poetry, like keys for various locks that remained anonymous freshman and sophomore year, reminds me why I chose to further my study of this art. The community of the Creative Writing Department solidifies my passion for writing and serves as a foundation for exponential growth in my craft that I will carry under my belt for the rest of my life. -Alexis Williams, Junior Editor-in-Chief

Many say that you will forget the people you meet before college, or even in college. They say that you will probably be able to walk past people you hung out with 24/7 in high school like they're strangers. It is hard for me to understand this concept since I have had the same group of friends since I was a year old. I met my best friend of 15 (almost 16) years ago in Pre-K. Before we knew how to talk or what certain words actually meant, we understood each other. It's been that way ever since, even though we're 375 miles apart and never seem to be available at the same time. When we happen to have share spare time, we talk and it’s like we’re in that Pre-K classroom again, feigning deep conversation. I met the rest of my friends in K-4. We unintentionally bonded while running around the playground and pretending to nap. Nothing has changed, except now we spend most of our time sleeping at each other's houses with one of us being forced to sleep on the floor while the rest of us try not to hang off of the bed. And we hardly ever run. When I imagine my future, I don’t see a lot of concrete details. I see colleges floating in the air, and grasping majors. I see career opportunities rolling away like tumbleweeds in a deserted town. The only thing I can hold onto, the only thing real, is the image of my friends and I, together. I envision it as a Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants or Sex and the City scene, as something iconic I don't talk to my friends every day. I hardly talk to my best friend during the week and I see the rest of my friends about once a month. We don't have a movie friendship where I have them all on speed dial. We don't have the Disney Channel friendship where I can walk to their house in five minutes or less. We have our own type of friendship and I can't see myself walking away from that or passing it up for anything. -Chelsea Ashley, Junior Website Editor

They told me that you can never run out of ideas. That writer’s block was a myth. That you can find inspiration if you just try enough. I wish that they had all told me the truth. My biggest concern last year when I was going to be the marketing editor was how was I supposed to come up with creative ideas whenever I wanted to. And now—two commercials, a stockpile of merchandise, and one print book later—I still sometimes worry. Sometimes my fellow members of Élan come and ask me for marketing strategies. They do not know that inspiration rarely comes when I want it to, and sometimes it doesn’t even come when I need it to. I always want the ideas—for writing, for marketing—to come immediately; I want them enter into my mind before I lost the hunger for them. I want to digest them before I forget how the creative spark tastes in my mouth. When I was younger I didn’t have strict boundaries of homework, school, and deadlines. As a senior, I’ve lost some of that urge to be spontaneous, to be willing to sacrifice so much for the sake of something so simple, like finding out what happened to Harry, or if Percy made it to the labyrinth. I used spend hours beneath the covers with a book propped between my elbows, so that I could hold the flashlight and not have to worry about the pages turning on their own accord. I’ve found that sometimes inspiration comes to us when we least expect it; it guides us along the raging rapids of our thoughts so that we can plan the next Homecoming commercial or create a new t-shirt design or even just help a fellow Élan staff member with their marketing goals. -Stephanie Thompson, Head of Marketing

It flabbergasts me to realize this school year only has five more Mondays left. I can still recall my first day in Élan and the year was swollen with plethora of Mondays. Nerves and anxiety rattled my bones. It was the first day of my junior year and expectations were nothing short of homework filled nights and a restless sleep schedule. To make matters worse, I entered a class filled with mostly upperclassmen I had never spoken to. I teetered on the belief that the school year was going to be nothing to look forward to. Flash forward a semester, Élan is preparing for the annual spring online launch. This half of the year, juniors are in foreground of leadership making decisions for the book. I see this as the time period where I really became comfortable with the staff. Staying after school for days on end allowed us to drop our filters and act as if no one else was the room. We all bonded over terrible jokes and our shared love for the production on the computer screens. This was where I stopped looking at myself as part of a staff, and instead as part of a literary family. All year I have been especially nervous about the seniors leaving this magazine in our hands. Uncertainty of whether we all would be ready to take on the responsibility clouded my mind with paranoia. But witnessing the senior editors ask questions and reveal doubt made me realize otherwise. It’s okay if I don’t possess every parcel of knowledge needed to run a literary magazine. That isn’t possible for a single person to accomplish. We’re a team for a reason. Everyone withholds unique skill that when all brought together, creates the necessary ingredients to run Élan. This year alone, our class has totally flipped this magazine around and made more progress with branding our name than ever before. I can only imagine what all will occur next year. --Mariah Abshire, Poetry Editor (& Assistant Editor-in-Chief)

Right now, I am in poetry mode. In school (and at home), I am still writing poetry about weather and what people have lost, and to be honest, it can be really hard to translate that into "fiction mode." It's harder than it seems to switch from line breaks and meaningful pauses to paragraphs and key words. But the key to doing anything is practice. My advice would be to write prose poetry if you are having trouble connecting back to fiction. A prose poem is a poem in all aspects, except it looks exactly like a prose piece. This can be very helpful, as the form of the poem can help stir your mind about "past fictional experiences." Sometimes just seeing a poem in the form of fiction can help to move that block in your head that's screaming "Poetry, give me Poetry!" This is a really effective way to change your view on prose. You can still use some poetic technique in fiction. Imagery? That is what keeps fiction going, and don't even get me started on characterization. Another method to get into fiction mode: read fiction. It sounds simple and it is! Anyone who wants to be better in their craft should read what the professionals write. It just makes sense to read a piece by one of the masters if you want to be a master one day too. So go out and read some fiction. Search a topic that interests you and find a piece that is about that topic. Or find your favorite fiction writer and read their work. What you want to do is immerse yourself in what you are writing. If you always have trouble with plot in your fiction writing, read an author who has great plot technique. By immersing yourself in the classics, you will find your writing getting better over time. So to review, write some prose poetry to help your brain get into the fiction mindset, and read fiction! Once you immerse yourself in the world of fiction, you may just find it hard to leave! - Sarah Buckman, Editor-in-chief