When Theresa Appleyard was growing up, her dad and his best friend John owned a gun shop together. ONE phrase DESCRIPTION OF WHERE IT WAS. “They built and fixed all kinds of rifles and guns,” Theresa said.

 

 “John, who was also my godfather, served in Vietnam and the Korean War, so all their retired vet friends would come in and sit in the shop all day and drink coffee and tell stories about wars and what life was like for them, growing up.​ “I was a kid hanging around listening, They’d forget I was there, so I heard a lot of stories.

 

"They’d tell about taking fire from the enemy in the dark or stepping on land mines or friends getting killed. Getting letters from home, how that made them feel, stuff like that.  Every now and then, Dad would say something like, ‘She’s learning more cuss words than she should at this point.’  But of course, I already knew those words.”

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Her dad and mom split before she was a year old, "but they never let that affect their love for me. For that, I am grateful. My mom is the book smart one, and my dad is the street smart one. They both impress me in many ways."

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She’s 25 now. “I’ve always loved stories of all kinds,” she said. “When I was small, living with my mom, I used to climb on my bed and pull all my stuffed animals around me and tell them stories, or I'd get them to talk to each other." Her bears and frogs and unicorns acted out little scenarios, under her direction.

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In school, when she was learning how to write sentences, “my teacher gave us homework where you’d write one full sentence at first, then two, then three, then maybe five.  The sentences didn’t need to be connected, “but I had to connect them, or else they didn’t make sense to me. My mom suggested I connect them in little stories. That’s what I did. It’s the first time I remember actually writing things that were creative.  I’d use standard story-starters, like “Once upon a time”  and go from there.”

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As she grew, she kept reading and liked to write stories,.  “But I didn’t know there were any West Virginia writers till eighth grade in Morgantown, so it was difficult for me to imagine writers coming from here. Or writing stories that took place here. Then we read Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam in eighth grade. Then when I was in college, I read Breece d’J Pancake’s stories. Oh my gosh! He wrote about things I knew!  I got to spend time in the WVU regional archives center, going through Pancake’s letters.  I took pictures of a few of them. He never wrote poetry, but the way he wrote his letters was a kind of poetry.

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“It was an eye-opener to see authors who were born and raised in Appalachia,” she said.  “Breece and Homer Hickham and Ann Pancake (a distant relative of Breece).  They’re successful authors from here!  It felt like an encouragement for people like me who want to stay here and write stories from here. We have things to say! “

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She and her mom moved to Morgantown when she was about 12, after her dad and mom got divorced. Until then, they lived in a little town just over the West Virginia line in Pennsylvania.  “I’ve spent a lot of time in the out-of-doors all my life,” she said. “I found an appreciation and, after awhile, a reliance on being outside. So many people have never even been in the woods, and they’re scared of it.”

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As a teenager, she  went for runs with her dog in the woods, ran track, played music, kept writing.  “In high school, I was writing little poems, and sometimes I’d share them with friends and ask ,“What do you think of this?”  A few of us in high school were still figuring out ourselves, partly through our creative work – short stories, poems, ceramics, music. So I started sharing my own writing with other people in my junior and senior year.”

 

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After graduation, she spent two years on active duty in the Army, in several states.  She enlisted to ...WHY ENLIST THEN? FELT INEVITAB? SCHOOL FUNDING? "I've had uncles and grandparents and great-grandparents that all served in the military - air force, army, navy, marines - and although I've never met my great grandfathers, and I've not heard all of my family's stories, it did instill in me nevertheless the drive to serve my country. And within that drive, it's given me a great sense of pride to be American, and even more, Appalachian. To think that West Virginia fueled America with coal, led America's labor movement with the Battle of Blair Mountain ...has the highest veteran population out of all states ...  There's a great deal of meaning in that."   

 

She found that “especially in Texas, people had a lot of preconceived notions.  When I’d say I was from West Virginia, I had to correct a lot of stereotypes.”

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After two years of active duty, she enrolled in (switched to?) the National Guard, so she could  come home and go to college.  “I came back to West Virginia in the peak of summer, with fall coming on. The mountains felt like a hug. I felt like I was being welcomed back. There’s something about being able to see trees from wherever I am, to see a blue ridge in the distance, that makes me feel so self-assured.”

 

A lesson in authenticity

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In 2022, she started at WVU. As an English major, she took classes on writing poetry, nonfiction and fiction.  “It was the first time I’d ever tried to write anything that was nonfiction, so I listened first to what the other students did.  None of their stories were rooted in joy or a positive memory.  They were angry, angry, angry.

 

"So I tried to emulate that. I needed to submit a story, and everyone else was writing that way, so I just went along. I used some negative experiences I’d had in the Army. 

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“I wasn’t satisfied with my story, but I had to hand it in,” she said. Her teacher picked up on her uncertainty. “She said it was definitely a good experiment in terms of sound and tone, but the content wasn’t where it should be and maybe I should come back to it later.  She felt I was holding back, that I was trying to write about memories I hadn’t fully processed yet. 

 

“I took that as a lesson to not write what I think other people want me to write. Definitely a lesson in being authentic. If I write that story again, it will be different.”

 

Read her creative nonfiction story, "The Unshot Deer," on the right side of the page, written a year later, with that resolution.

 

In her classes, Theresa found out about more West Virginia and Appalachian writers. “In one class, we pulled up the five more voices site and listened to the writers speak and read. I think that did a lot for me. It felt like each published work was a word of encouragement for me, as a writer living in West Virginia. Like they were saying, I’m from West Virginia, and I did this.”

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It was another lesson in being authentic, she said. “Seeing all these writers from West Virginia, I think that, number one, they defeat the stereotype of Appalachia that we’re not educated. And number two, they give confidence to people from rural environments. They say, yes, what you have to say IS important and it IS valued and people DO want to hear what you have to say.  And sometimes you just have to make that first step.

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That may be one of the most important things she has learned, she said. “You don’t have to lose your identity to become successful with writing. You write for yourself, and then people find you.” 

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The poetry class she took opened her up to sharing her work. “We had to share in class. It was, ‘OK,  you’re all going to read each other’s poems and say what you think about them.’ I was reluctant and scared at first, but I did, and I was really surprised by how much the other students liked what I wrote. It was a big boost to my self-confidence.

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"Now I do want to share my writing,” she said. “The first time I sent in poems to WVU’s literary magazine, Calliope, they didn’t publish any. But then my junior and senior years, they picked up my stuff.  I’ve started looking at national magazines I could submit to, but haven’t yet sent any poems in yet.   It’s a confidence process. You have to keep trying.   Most of them only let you send one or two, and it’s hard to choose.

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"There’s a little part of me that’s afraid somebody’s going to have something negative to say.  But I’m learning to not take negative criticism too deeply to heart, to think about it, but not let it stop me. If a poem is rejected, that doesn’t mean it’s no good.”

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"In ways, writing is a freedom," she said. "I can write about and put out whatever I want because of the foundations the Constitution has laid. The more I think about it, the more intertwined I realize it is. I've learned not to take such liberties for granted, after seeing what people don't have the right to in other lands."

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The future

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She graduated from WVU in May 2026. Next year, she’ll apply to graduate school. This year, she’s working, saving up money to help pay for grad school. She aims to write and teach. 

 

“I want to be a writer, and I want to be a teacher,” she said. “I went to Morgantown High. So many teachers there were reassuring and really cheered me on, as I was trying to figure out what roles I wanted to play in my life. I had a high school job and a new dog, and I was always tired.  They were very forgiving of me and so motivating and inspiring. And I told myself, I really want to have an impact on students’ lives like these teachers have had on mine.

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“I told some of my college teachers that, if I could get paid to talk about what I like all the time, I would. And they’d say, 'Be me! Do what I do!' And I thought, That’s a great idea!”

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This year, she works as an all-night nutrition manager for WVU Hospitals. The cafeteria is open all night. She listens to people’s stories as they come through the line. When people, often relatives of patients, come through, she hears a lot of stories. “Sometimes people just need a hot cup of coffee and someone to talk to. And that’s where I really feel at home. Sometimes they’ll talk to you as long as you’ll listen. If somebody wants me to pray for their loved one, I will. It gives me a sense of closeness and that life is precious.”

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When no customers are there, “it gives me time to write.”

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She hopes to be published in the future.  “But whether or not I’m published, I will keep writing,” she said. “It’s part of my life. Writing does a lot for me. It helps me process things. And I consider writing as a reminder to take a breath, unclench your jaw and drop your shoulders. I need that, especially now, being out of college and navigating being an adult.  I’m paying my bills every month, and every month, new bills come. I still drill, I’m still a reservist in the Army, so I’m also navigating between my civilian life and military duties. There’s a lot to being an adult and trying to function every day. So to me, writing is not just an emotional and psychological way to relax, it’s also a physical way to relax."

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She wants a Ph.D., she said. “That’s the plan. I don’t care how long it takes. She watched her mother struggle to get a Ph.D after her divorce, and she wants to follow in her footsteps. “She’s the smartest person I know,” she said.

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“So that’s what I want to do,” she said: teach, write, get Ph.D. “And four years from now, I want to make sure I’m on the path to do so.”