What if I told you I was only getting started?
I write stories you wish weren’t true.
In a past life, I worried about the bar holding me back, the way my heart would race at a flight of stairs or the creak of a step. I use this photo from 2018 as a reminder of my past life, the writer I have been, and where I am headed, velocity be damned.
I’m Doc McLemore. I write nonfiction, reviews, and profiles of other writers, particularly my families of queer folks and Appalachian writers. I’m from Oregon, but I claimed West Virginia as home when I found my voice there at Marshall University. The MFA program at West Virginia Wesleyan honed and sharpened my craft into a weapon. I received my PhD in 2023 in English with a focus on Nonfiction writing.
Recent Publications
“Truffle Fuckers.” Winner of the LMNL Arts Creative Nonfiction Award, fall 2024 for publication in 2025. Selected by Leah Myers.
“Two Grams.” The Windward Review. Edited by Dylan Lopez. Essay. Available here.
“The One Who Walked Away From Elkins.” Salvation South. Edited by Chuck Reese. Essay. Available here.
“At the Edge of the Trailer Park.” The Sunlight Press. Edited by Rudri Patel and Beth Burrell. Essay. Available here.
“Raw with Love.” The Chaffin Journal. Edited by Nancy Jensen. Print. Essay.
“Hurtling Toward Water.” Salvation South. Edited by Chuck Reese. Essay. Available here.
“Hospitality Solidarity.” School of ROC. Restaurant Opportunities Centers. Essay. Available here.
Contact
Want to work with me? Desperately seeking Doc? Send me a line.