“I do think it gives you the sense of the whole community, which was part of what I wanted. I was also writing about the landscape in particular. The clayfields, the area, was part of the story, like a character.””

Elise Gregory

ELLSWORTH – Many people dream of publishing a novel, but not all would-be writers accomplish that goal.

Ellsworth Public Library’s Elise Gregory not only dreamed of publishing a novel, she did it. “The Clayfields” debuted in October 2022, published by Cornerstone Press at UW-Stevens Point.

While this is Gregory’s first novel, she has published two poetry chapbooks and other writings in various nationally distributed literary journals. Writing is a passion for the Portage native, who has taught English, directed high school and community theater, and was a youth librarian. According to her website, she currently “wrangles Icelandic sheep, goats, rogue chickens, and three human boys on a hillside in western Wisconsin.” While she didn’t grow up on a farm, she loves living on one now.

“We currently have some goats, sheep and chickens,” Gregory said. “I have a lot of friends in the River Falls, Spring Valley area who have farms and are doing the micros CSAs. I also have some friends in the goat dairy industry.”

“The Clayfields” is described as a novel in stories. Each chapter is named after a different full moon. The book follows three women, but there are many different voices and characters. The timeline for the story is the gestation of a baby.

“I do think it gives you the sense of the whole community, which was part of what I wanted,” Gregory said. “I was also writing about the landscape in particular. The clayfields, the area, was part of the story, like a character.”

Gregory wanted the story to encompass hope and rebirth.

“I was thinking also about the seasons,” Gregory said. “Birth of the baby, what is happening in the landscape, since the people are very much rural and tied to the land. It does start with a death and ends with a birth.”

It took quite awhile for Gregory to write the novel, since she has three young children. She couldn’t have done it without help in childcare one day a week in the summer. She also put pen to paper in the early mornings, during naptimes, and at writer’s residencies. She also found valuable feedback from her writer’s groups.

“Having a small, core group of readers who critique it,” she said. “They’re your cheerleaders, but they also critique. I think it’s really important for your work to be read before sending it out.”

When writing “The Clayfields,” one of the first characters spoke to Gregory. She described her as kind of an aggressive female who is salt-of-the-earth, no-nonsense, someone Gregory has always wanted to be.

“After I had kids, I don’t know why, but I started writing fiction,” Gregory said. “I enjoyed having some other character to follow and something that wasn’t necessarily my life at that point.”

Helen, who is living in Chicago, finds out she’s pregnant and she needs to decide what to do

“I just followed her path and other voices came out,” Gregory said. “I just knew that I wanted a book where it felt redemptive, this feeling of rebirth, communities coming together. That had to be part of it. All the voices I felt pretty close to, not that I agree with everybody in the book, but I feel like they’re characters that I cared for.”

She spent seven years writing the book, which contains many aspects of her own life. The old man in the novel embodies traits from her grandfather and her husband’s grandpa.

“He’s not either one of those people, but different parts of their lives that I pulled from because they were really important figures in my life and my husband’s life. They were larger than life.”

She was also influenced by many different writers, including Bonnie Jo Campbell, who wrote “Once Upon a River,” a coming-of-age story likened to Huck Finn, only in Michigan. She also named Robin MacArthur as an inspiration, who wrote a series of short stories named “Half Wild.”

“Both of those women write about the land a lot,” Gregory said.

As for her next project, the words keep flowing. Gregory is working on two different middle grade novels geared toward adolescents ages 8-12.

“My kids are around that age, so we’ve been reading novels for that age group together. It’s been fun writing for a younger perspective,” Gregory said.

“The Clayfields” can be found at Cornerstone Press, Barnes & Noble, on her website and at East End Gifts in Ellsworth. And, you can of course check it out at your local library.