Lincoln writer shares local artist's stories in Distinctly Montana

Local writer Lee York recently had an article published in a well-known publication. The magazine article, which features three local artists, Annie Allen, Michael Brown and Charles Geary, appears in the Spring 2020 issue of Distinctly Montana.

At her core, York loves to write and has been doing so for several years, both in the fiction and non-fiction sectors. She has a degree in Creative Writing and recently discovered what she really likes is interviewing people, especially artists, and getting to know their stories.

"I want to know who they are, why they do what they do, and what makes them tick, and I want to promote people who are doing what they love to do." she said.

To her way of thinking, everyone has a story and she's finding new ways to share those stories through her writing. In comparison to writing for the newspaper, interviewing people for larger stories like this gives her an opportunity to spend a couple of hours with people and find out why they are who they are and the essence of who they are.

"As an artist, that's what their gift is, what their art is, but their gift may not be marketing their art or writing stories about what they do, or themselves," York said. "That's for someone else to do, and I can help them do that through my writing."

York says she would have loved to write about more artists but due to word-count constraints, she decided to start with three artists. She was able to meet with these artists through local connections.

"I wanted to tell Annie's story because she's always been extremely nice... and I knew Michael through other people, and I think Charles Geary is a genius," she said.

York continues to query other magazines for publication. "The more publications I can get into, the more opportunity I have to share people's stories with a wider audience." she said.

She's interested in writing bigger articles and finding more markets for artists.

"I learned a lot about the artists while talking with them," York said.

She learned that Michael Brown has so much patience for his work and Annie is a huge conduit through her art and teaching, while Charles Geary was a minister who minored in industrial arts and now creates beautiful ornamental art through blacksmithing. "People wouldn't know these things about them normally, and if I want to know these things about people, other people probably do too. That's why I do it." York said.

One of York's future goals is building a writer's conference here in Lincoln, but notes that it's a long way from that at this point. She says "You have to start with what you have and move forward from there, and we'll get there."

If you would like to read the articles or subscribe to the magazine, visit Distinctly Montana's website at https://www.distinctlymontana.com/ or call (406) 600-7660. To read more about York and her writing, you can visit her website at https://leeyorkwrites.com/.