Interview Series

Interview with Shirani Rajapakse  

 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I don’t remember exactly when I started writing, but it was a long time ago. I wrote for myself, and at most times I didn’t even bother to save my writing. Later on, after I felt more confident in my writing I began saving them in files, returning to them infrequently to edit.

I started publishing in 2011 after my debut collection of short stories “Breaking News” was shortlisted for the Gratiaen Award in 2010 in manuscript. It was published by a small press in Sri Lanka and following the publication I began submitting and being published by literary journals around the world. Last year I self published my poetry collection, “Chant of a Million Women”.

 


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: I think my biggest inspiration was Enid Blyton as I read a lot of her stories as a child. Growing up, her books along with the Nancy Drew series influenced my love for reading, as well as the classics like Austen and Bronte. 

I don’t have a particular favorite writer as I’ve had many favorites at different stages of my life. As a teen I liked to read detectives and books about espionage and thrillers. When I was an undergrad studying literature I liked some of the writers I was introduced to such as Forster and Hardy, even though I would not have read them if not for being ‘forced’ to read them as they were in the syllabus.

I think I tend to read and/or like a particular genre or author at a particular time in my life, but soon outgrown them after a while. It’s not to say I don’t like those writers or would never read them. I think it’s more about identifying with something at that moment in time and enjoying the writing for what it is. 

However my all time favorite poets are Keats, Dickinson and Frost and have been for quite some time.

 


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: I write mostly at night although since recently I’ve also started to write during the mornings when it is quiet and the only sounds are from nature or the occasional vehicle. 

 


Q:  Why do you write?

A:  That’s hard to explain. Sometimes it’s because I see or hear something happening around me, maybe in my immediate vicinity or even somewhere far away that I have not even visited but feel inspired to write about what I’ve just experienced. At other times I find inspiration churning in my mind and I want to bring it out; give it life.                         

 


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: Write with your heart. Edit with your head.

 


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Write your story the way you want to tell it. Not the way other people want you to. Don’t be afraid to fail, but also don’t publish work until you are very sure of it as you can’t take it back once it has gone public. 

 


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A:  Chant of a Million Women (self published 2017) Available both in print and as an ebook.

https://www.amazon.com/Chant-Million-Women-Shirani-Rajapakse-ebook/dp/B074SHHJYY/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 

Breaking News is available in print at my Amazon author page. The ebook  will be out soon. Check it out here later in the year. 

 https://www.amazon.com/Shirani-Rajapakse/e/B00IZQRAOA  

 


 

Author Bio

Shirani Rajapakse is an internationally published, award winning poet and author. She won the Cha “Betrayal” Poetry Contest 2013 and was a finalist in the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Awards 2013. Her collection of short stories, Breaking News (Vijitha Yapa 2011) was shortlisted for the Gratiaen Award. Her poetry collection, Chant of a Million Women was self published in August 2017.

Rajapakse’s work appears in many literary journals and anthologies around the world. Rajapakse read for a BA in English Literature from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka and has a MA in International Relations from JNU, India.

Interview with Mike Meraz 

 

Q: When did you start writing?

 

A: I started writing when I was 16. I’d sit in my room and listen to bands like The Smiths or Depeche Mode and write about my inner thoughts and conflicts. But these were just ramblings of a teen, I didn’t start writing seriously until about 30 after a long dramatic relationship.

 


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favorite writers?

 

A: Women and the struggles of daily existence are my biggest inspirations. As far as writers, early on I was influenced by JD Salinger, his rawness and matter-of-factness got my attention. He wrote like he was talking to you, I liked that. Later I discovered Bukowski which had the same vibe, then Brautigan, Hemingway, Kerouac and John Berryman. I’m also heavily influenced by music, the mood a song creates can produce words in me.

 


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

 

A: Anytime I’m inspired. There’s no magic time. If I do sit down to write, it is usually in the morning. Sometimes at night when I am drinking and listening to music words will come to me.

 


Q:  Why do you write?

 

A; Because I am an introvert with an extroverted soul. Writing is a way to connect with people, reach out to them. I think as humans we all have a basic need to connect.


 

 

Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

 

A: There’s a Henry Miller quote that says, “A moment of inspiration is better than hours and hours of push and pull” or something to that effect. What that tells me is, as writers, we need to let it come. Don’t force it. If it doesn’t come, that does not mean you’re not a writer. It just means you need to refuel, get turned on again. Live life, travel, love. Let it come.

 


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

 

A: Are you experienced? In my opinion, the best writing comes from experience, not from hours in a class room or burying your head in a ton of books. Although, these things can be helpful and supplemental, they are no replacement for the actual food of experience.

 


 

Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

 

A: Black-Listed Poems (2007) All Beautiful Things Travel Alone (2009) Black-Listed Thoughts (2011) Watching It Burn (2012) 43 (2013) She Poems (2015) I am currently working on a new collection which should be out later this year.


Mike Meraz lives and writes in Whittier, Ca. 

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Interview With Chris Byrne 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: About 7 years ago or so, it used to be just inspirational verses id post on

Facebook, was only after a friend died that I knew from Facebook, did i write a poem and my ex girlfriends father, Michael O Flanagan who is a fine poet and historian seen the poem and told me he was publishing it in bimonthly poetry broadsheet called Riposte. Was then i got the confidence to write more.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: No real inspirations except myself, I’ve seen the rougher side of life have been homeless, ran own businesses and had everything and lost it, drink problems came and went hence a lot of my poems are about the trials and tribulations that life will bring and if my poetry helps someone to realise its not all doom and gloom well I’m happy..

As for fav writers has to be JRR Tolkien, Harper Lee (wrote kill a mocking bird can’t think her second name I will do as soon as i finish typing this and I probably will not be arsed retyping or editing} Charles Dickens favourite book of his is The Old Curiosity shop, It’s the hardest book I have ever read only took me a week to read and some more .. Deidre Keane (Irish satirical writer) Tom Sharpe ( English satire) both funny as hell. Stephen King ( no explanation needed) Dee Jones Bury My Heart at wounded knee, what a book, The Blue and the Gray (a history of the american civil war) only read a bit of it and then it got lost still remember how i got hold of it, drank in a hotel bar called the viking lodge in francis street dublin over 20 years ago, id been sitting reading bury my heart at wounded knee and this American coloured chap a friend of the Egyptian owner approached me and asked what was i reading and told me his story about his grandfather being a slave, so he took my address and I went to work elsewhere, until few months later i was in hospital after ripping my thumb on an industrial saw and a box arrived it was full of books and my love of American history grew from then. Some of my poems I gather inspiration from those tales and stories.. I’ve never had a favourite author and I doubt I will. My most read book is The Lord Of The Rings.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: It depends, mostly in the wee hours of the morning after a few beers, odd time I might get an idea, I rarely sit at a screen and think or see if something comes, there mostly random ideas or thoughts of a long gone past or something I hear


Q:  Why do you write?

A:         No particular reason, though it could be because something or someone has ticked me off or something in the news, or its my way of dealing with my past issues that still effect me, E.I mental health (how i’m feeling etc) or a social issue, it could be just a piece of music and ping idea and its type.. but when it comes to mental or issues that effect us all (humans) i write so that people don’t feel alone and can read go “yeah me too i feel the same” as for social human issues war etc its to get it out there that we the species are killing eachother for what..? for what money..? land? Say what you feel and eventually people will hear and listen that we are all the same cred, nationality, gender it doesn’t really matter we’re all human we all have same stuff that runs through our veins and no amount of war or money will change that, if and when we realize this the human race will understand when its too late.

 


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A:We are all in the gutter, just some of us are looking at the stars ~ Oscar Wilde


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Keep writing. Never delete as much as you feel like thinking its crap, it doesn’t make sense, keep it come back a week, a month or a year later and reread, edit it if you must, post the original verse or poem, and then see what people think, re-edit it as you feel what works, ask advice.. from editors, fellow poets see what they think and go with what feels write (excuse the pun) I never dreamed id be a published poet, i failed English and most subjects in school so if i can put an idea into a poem anyone can


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: no, but am planning to do a book soon, I am published in two books so far, Dandelion in a vase of roses, and Moonlight dreamers of yellow haze and I have been published on The Poet Community. I don’t go out my way to publish or post poems I probably should though.


Interview with Paul Brookes 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: First I wish to thank Madness Muse Press for this opportunity to gab about my scribbling. I reckon I was nine or ten in a small Church of England Primary school in the  village of Darrington, West Yorkshire. I wrote Science Fiction stories. At home I was suckled from birth by a 33 and a third lp of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas featuring among others Richard Burton. Not a day goes by without phrases from it popping into my head. And of course I had to buy my own copy. At age sixteen for my Monk Bretton Air Scout group I wrote a ribald comedy play called “Eustacius: The Flying Monk” about a twelth century monk who owned a pet pig called Flower and who wanted to fly. It never got off the ground. At Hull University Gulbenkian Theatre “Still Children”, another four act play finally flew on stage. Working with professional actors and director was exciting and enlightening.

 


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: Dylan Thomas, Jonathan Carroll, Italo Calvino, Ken Smith, Samuel Beckett, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christopher Logue. Listening to Christopher Logues “War Music”, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 I was entranced.

 


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: Anytime. The writerhead is always on. If I get a slight block I focus on describing what folk are up to at work or down our street.

 


Q:  Why do you write?

A: It is a constant challenge and pleasure. I get wound up when I don’t write. Have to keep my mind active. Doing crosswords doesn’t quite cut it. It is wondrous to collaborate with fellow writers and artists, each goads the others imagination.                                   

                                                  


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A:

 


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Perseverance in all things. Accept rejection as part of the job description. Write everyday because it trains your mind in the craft. All jobs have parts you’re not keen on doing, or that you don’t feel up to. Constantly challenge yourself to write in new ways. If a fellow writer impresses you try to write in their style so you can better grasp how they impressed you. Also, read in public as often as you can. Reading in pubs and clubs really improves your presentation and can be a sobering and humbling experience. This happens when you teach creative writing to school groups, both child and adult. So much creativity out there that just needs encouraging!

 


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: Please visit my Author sites at Goodreads and Amazon

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17456273.Paul_Brookes

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-Brookes/e/B000APB478/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

My latest book, “Port Of Souls” due to be released very soon with Alien Buddha Press is a collaboration with fantastic Dutch artist Marcel Herms. It was a challenge I set myself to write 30 poems about 30 of his paintings as part of National Poetry Month. I wish to thank Alien Buddha Press for agreeing to publish the whole series as a book before I had finished writing it.

Thank you again to Adam and Madness Muse Press for inviting me to this interview.


Paul Brookes is a shop assistant, after employment as a security guard, postman, admin. assistant, lecturer, poetry performer, with “Rats for Love”, his work included in “Rats for Love: The Book”, Bristol Broadsides, 1990. First chapbook “The Fabulous Invention Of Barnsley”, (Dearne Community Arts, 1993). Recently published in Blazevox, Nixes Mate, Live Nude Poems, The Bezine, The Bees Are Dead and others. “The Headpoke and Firewedding” (Alien Buddha Press, 2017) illustrated chapbook, “A World Where” (Nixes Mate Press, 2017) “The Spermbot Blues” (OpPRESS, 2017), “She Needs That Edge” (Nixes Mate Press, 2018), Forthcoming “Stubborn Sod” (Alien Buddha Press)

*Available to teach writing to groups of all ages.

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Interview with James D. Casey IV

Q: When did you start writing?
A: I started writing at a young age. The first thing I can remember writing is a Halloween short story for a class contest in elementary school that I won first place for. Then I started to write poetry in my teens, but I didn’t get serious about it until 2009 when I broke C2 in my neck and T3 & T4 in my back at work. I got addicted to pain killers so I decided to enter a rehab facility, and while I was there I used poetry to cope with the things I was going through. There was a group of people I met there that were also into writing, so we started a poetry club and would do readings on the weekends. It was an extremely therapeutic experience. From there I realized that writing was my life’s passion and I wanted to pursue it, so I  started submitting to lit mags and putting together my first book.

Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favorite writers?

A: Well, there are several people that have inspired me. Both in the literary world, and people close to me that have supported my efforts and pushed me on when I felt like throwing in the towel. My father and the women I love, my Muse, are two of my biggest fans. I actually dedicated my first two books to them. As far as writers go, some of my favorites are Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Hunter S. Thompson, Jim Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Rimbaud, and Tom Waits. I also thoroughly enjoy the writing of some of our fellow contemporary poets from the Facebook community.

Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: It varies depending on my mood. Sometimes I’ll wake up early, make a pot of coffee, and have a mellow day typing out a few words while smoking a few cigarettes in between. Other days I’ll wake up well after noon, crack a bottle of liquor, and violently slap at the keys while chain smoking. I must admit that some of my best work comes from the second method. I believe it was Hemingway that said “Write drunk; edit sober.” Mostly I like to just let the words flow when they want to flow and don’t force the issue. It’s quality not quantity that counts.

Q: Why do you write?

A: Poetry is my passion. It helps me cope…it’s like a release. Poetry is the purest form of human language distilled down to speak volumes in only a few words. I truly enjoy when people tell me that they like my work, but in reality I don’t do it for them. I do it for me, and that will never change. A lot of people say “poetry is dead,” but it will forever live in my heart, and as long as I’m alive and able to write it will live on.

Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

A: Of course, don’t we all? Some of my favorites…
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
~ Maya Angelou
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
~ Ernest Hemingway
“if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.”
~ Charles Bukowski
“If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it’s to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel.”
~ Jim Morrison


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: My words of encouragement would be to just keep going because perseverance is key. Dreams can be willed into fruition through perseverance, and one dream can change the world. Even when you feel like giving up because it seems like no one cares about your work–don’t. Writers write, it’s what we do, but do it for yourself and not others. That’s when it’s the most fulfilling.

Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to

purchase?
A: I have three books available for purchase on my Amazon Author Page:

Q: Do you have any upcoming books or projects you’d like to talk about?

A: I’ve been working on a fourth book, but I don’t have anything solid just yet. So keep your eyes and ears peeled because I am planning on putting something new together soon!

James D. Casey IV has authored three books of poetry. His work has also been published by several lit mags and small press venues including Triadæ Magazine, Pink Litter, In Between Hangovers, Indiana Voice Journal, Beatnik Cowboy, Dissident Voice, Scarlet Leaf Review, Horror Sleaze Trash, Zombie Logic Review, Tuck Magazine, Outlaw Poetry, and many more.


Interview With Heath Brougher

A: Pretty much once I learned how to write. I’ve found notebooks as far back as the 2nd grade.
A:  As far as contemporary poets go, I’d definitely have to say Heller Levinson, Felino A. Soriano, Alan Britt, Daniel Y. Harris, Duane Locke, Mark Young, and I could go on forever. As far as really important up and coming writers go, my favorites are Scott Thomas Outlar, Matt Duggan, Don Beukes, Phillip Elliot, Josh Dale, Margo Emm, and I could go on here for a really long time as well. Also, YOU, Adam Levon Brown! I’ve watched your writing evolve so far in such a short period of time. I’m really excited to see what you’re going to do in the future.
A:   I don’t really have a set time. When I feel that inspiration hit I’ll just stop whatever I’m doing and start writing. I’ve been so busy lately that most of my writing has been done at night, when I can really dig in and get lost in it.
A:   I’ve been asked this one a million times and still don’t have an answer. It’s cathartic. That’s what I usually say, though, I think it’s really been more of a NEED during my life.
A: “Insist on yourself. Never imitate.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
A: DO NOT submit a poem you have just written. Unfortunately this is a lesson I’m just learning myself. Ha! Let the poem sit until you’re SURE it’s exactly the way you wanted it to turn out no matter how many edits it takes. I’ve had many, to me, very embarrassing poems published because of this.
A: I have published 3 chapbooks and 2 full lengths with 3 other collections forthcoming. My newest book is titled “To Burn in Torturous Algorithms” and was published by Weasel Press. It is the first book of a specific way of writing I stumbled upon back when I was 17 years old which I’ve termed Spiralism. I’ve been developing the first 3 books of Spiralism in my head for the last 20 years. The first book Spiralism can be purchased at Amazon (along with my other books)  or at the website of Weasel Press which is https://www.weaselpress.com/product-page/to-burn-in-torturous-algorithms 
Thank you very much for the interview.


Heath Brougher is the co-poetry editor of Into the Void Magazine, winner of the 2017 Saboteur Award for Best Magazine. He is a multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Nominee and has had his work translated into 5 other languages. Since he began submitting the 20 years of his “life’s work” as of 4 years ago he has been published in journals in 25 countries.


Interview with K.W. Peery

 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: 1993


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: Favourite writers – in no specific order – Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Bob McDill, Billy Joe Shaver, Donald Ray Pollock, Hunter S. Thompson, Langston Hughes, Gordon Parks, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty and James McMurtry


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: After midnight & before noon


Q:  Why do you write?

A:   The constant sense of urgency


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A:  ~ Ain’t no money in poetry…that’s what sets the poet free…I’ve had all the freedom I can stand ~ (Guy Clark)


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Ignore the fucking rules.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A:  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Gen Z Publishing, Inklings Books in Blue Springs.

 

Collections of poetry –

Tales of a Receding Hairline, Purgatory, Wicked Rhythm, Ozark Howler

Gallatin Gallows – (Release date: 05/23/18)                                                                                          Howler Holler – (Fall 2018)                                                                                                                Cockpit Chronicles – (Spring 2019)

Lawbreaker Blues – (Fall 2019)

Hellraisers Hieroglyphics – (TBD)

Bootleggers Bluff – (TBD)


BIO:
Americana songwriter and Kansas-City-based storyteller K.W. Peery is the author of five poetry collections: Tales of a Receding Hairline; Purgatory; Wicked Rhythm; Ozark Howler; Gallatin Gallows.
Tales of a Receding Hairline was a semifinalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards – Best in
Poetry 2016.
Peery is a regular contributor in Veterans Voices Magazine. His work is included in the Vincent Van Gogh Anthology Resurrection of a Sunflower and the Walsall Poetry Society Anthology, Diverse Verse II & III.
In 2018, Peery is scheduled to have poems published in The Main Street Rag, Chiron Review, Big Hammer, San Pedro River Review, The Gasconade Review, Blink Ink, Rusty Truck, Mad Swirl, Mojave River Review, The Asylum Floor, Ramingo’s Porch, From Whispers to Roars and Apache Poetry.
Credited as a lyricist and producer, Peery’s work appears on more than a dozen studio albums over the past decade.
Booking Contact: Peery Brothers LLC peerybrothers@gmail.com
Thank you,
K.W. Peery

 


Interview with Robert J.W.

 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I’ve been writing my whole life but started taking it seriously when I was 15.

 


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: Lots. Charles Bukowski, Henry Rollins, Albert Camus, Anne Sexton, William S. Burroughs, Keith Buckley, Robert Lowell, Nicole Krauss, D. Harlan Wilson, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk…


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: Morning, usually


Q:  Why do you write?

A: Catharsis                                        

                                                  

Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: “There are worse things than being alone” – Bukowski, “The best revenge is to always survive” – Henry Rollins


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Never stop, despite rejection.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: Yes. Houses I’ve Died In and Screamo Lullabies, both on Amazon!

 


Robert J. W. is a poet,  writer, digital artist, and photographer from Morgantown, WV. His work has been published in San Gabriel Valley Quarterly, Amomancies, Philosophical Idiot, Stranger to Blue Water, among others. He enjoys listening to music,nature walks, and watching videos. 

 

Interview with John and JoAnna Poster

Q: WHEN DID YOU START WRITING?

John:  I started when I was in the 8th grade. I was introduced to haikus in an English class and was drawn to the structure of the poems. I didn’t write often, but continued to grow.

JoAnna: My cousins and I would try to write songs and play homemade instruments when we young, my writing interests continued.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

John: My favourite writer is Steven King. The vibrant details in his novels have always painted pictures in my mind.

JoAnna: A few of my favorite writers are Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King Jr.

 


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

John: It comes to me at all hours of the day. Sometimes I have to make notes to come back to a thought. It could be a sound, a smell, or something I see every day that sparks an idea.

JoAnna: I can agree with John’s response.


Q:  Why do you write?

John: It gives me a sense of accomplishment and closure. Something inspires a thought, and I need to express it in such a way as I feel it is finished.

JoAnna: I feel the need to be challenged, or to create something unique.

 


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

John: Friedrich Nietzsche said “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” I’m not sure who said “No one said life was fair.”

JoAnna: Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. William Shakespeare


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

John: read, Read, READ! Our vocabulary is vastly improved when we read. Our understanding of all things is enhanced by reading.

JoAnna: I agree with John’s response.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

Our first book is available on Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

The Little Black Book of

Poetry and Prayers:

MILK AND HONEY, Volume 1

by John and JoAnna Poster.

eBook

Link: http://a.co/59u9w8C

Paperback

Link: http://a.co/fWwVPBi

Resources

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1156062-when-did-you-start-writing


The Posters are the authors of Milk and Honey

including other types of writings. Currently, 

they reside in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Together, they 

share five children and many grandchildren.

.

During their first years together John would write

a new Love poem for Joanna almost every day 

telling her how important she was to him, or 

capturing one of their special moments together. 

This activity happened as often as needed until 

JoAnna fell head over heals in love with John 

and poetry.

.

Their poetic pairing echos from within them and 

captures our hearts as they creatively reflect on 

their lives, and the emotion of a life with enduring 

love.

.

They cooperatively adopt to each other as their muse

while they build a splashy introduction to the soul of their 

genre curiosity.   

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Interview with Shelly Buttenhoff Miller

Q: When did you start writing?

A:   I really started writing when I was in the hospital several years ago. I was having an extra tough day and could barely get out of bed. One of the staff came and we talked for quite some time. He encouraged me to put my thoughts on paper. That motivated me to write my first poem. I wasn’t even sure it was a poem but when I showed it to the staff person they really liked it. They even put it up on the bulletin board for other patients to see. It was about hope and freedom. After that I did a little writing but in 2016 I was journaling and just started putting down what I was thinking and feeling. It took off from there.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A:   My biggest inspirations and favorite writers are the poets who’s works I read on the poetry sites I belong to. I do also really enjoy Mary Oliver and Robert Frost.

If you don’t belong to any poetry websites or groups on Facebook I highly recommend you checking some out. We are each other’s biggest inspiration and supporters.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A:   I don’t really have a specific time of day for writing. Mostly it’s when something strikes me and it sparks the beginning of a poem. Sometimes just as I’m drifting off to sleep I’ll get a line or two in my mind. I then know I need to get up and write down the phrase or what ever it is and it might start a poem right then or one later.


Q:  Why do you write?

A:    I guess I really write as a way to get things out of my head. It helps me manage my emotions and then feel better about myself. I also really enjoy it when someone will say something about how it made them feel.   I like to evoke emotion in other’s. By my writing.

 


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A:  Sure I have a couple. Mary Oliver writes in her “A Poetry Handbook”, “To make a poem, we must make sounds. Not random sounds, but chosen sounds”.

Another favorite is, “And feel a spirit kindred to my own; So henceforth I worked no more alone;” by Robert Frost.


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A:   I don’t have any secret wisdom to impart but for myself I try to never give up. I also know my style of poetry won’t be for everyone and as much as I want it to be liked I don’t take it personal. Keep going even if you have long breaks in between writing. Come back to it, for yourself.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A:   I haven’t gotten that far in my poetry to try putting together a chapbook. My next goal.

 


Shelly Buttenhoff Miller currently resides in Springfield, Oregon. She has three grown sons and two new daughter in laws whom she adores. Shelly enjoys hiking, photography, reading, bowling and doing Zentangles. Shelly started writing poetry to help her express her emotions in a way that reflect her feelings at the time. In 2016 and 2017 she has been published in several different venues such as, “Creative Talents Unleashed”, “Setting Forth”, “Anti Heroin Chic”, the anthology “In So Many Words: A Collection of Interviews and Poetry from Today’s Poets”,  the inaugural issue of “Madness Muse Magazine”, “Dandelions in a Vase of Roses” , “I Have a Name” and “Destigmatized” Anthologies.


Interview with Fee Thomas 

 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: My parents say that I began to read early and the writing followed that naturally. I didn’t speak much as a kid, just the reading and writing.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A:  Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Elie Wiesel, Viktor Frankl, CS Lewis, EE Cummings, Dick Gregory, Senator Robert Kennedy, Iyanla Vanzant, Kahlil Gibran, Rumi, The Apostle Paul, Dr. King, Oprah Winfrey, Harper Lee, Marianne Williamson, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking,  Paul Tillich, James Baldwin, Tupac, John Macquarrie, Bob Dylan…this list is going to get Real long and Real interesting in a minute…


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: It seems to start around three in the morning until it’s done with me.


Q:  Why do you write?

A: It saves me. And in doing so, it saves the people that love me.


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: “You did the best that you knew how. Now that you know better, you’ll do better.” – Dr. Maya Angelou’s quote has been a saving grace.


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A:  Fuck what people think about you, if you belong and especially about where you come from. None of that is any of your business or concern. You go ahead and make a place for yourself if you have to.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: Yes, thank you for asking. I have a chapbook called Owning the Color Blue . It is out and available through Clare Songbirds Publishing House


Bio: Fee Thomas is a poet and activist from North Minneapolis. She is particularly concerned with Civil Rights and the preservation of the arts which she credits for saving her life. Fee is happiest sitting on the grass writing songs with her guitar. 

 


 

 

 

Interview with Ken Allan Dronsfield

 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I first started writing at 13 years old. I’d received a guitar as a gift, and after learning the chords decided to write my own songs including lyrics. I started writing poetry some years ago after putting the guitar away.

 


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: I was always inspired by George Harrison from the Beatles. His song writing and guitar playing inspired many of my poems and song lyrics. As far as a writer, my likes are very diverse. Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, William Butler Yeats, and Irish Poet Seamus Heaney probably ending with William Shakespeare.

 


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: I find that writing late at night to be most enjoyable. I may start several poems during the day, but leave them and go back after dinner and when the house is dead quiet….I turn the TV to Classical Music, and begin writing.

 


Q:  Why do you write?

A:  I suppose for the same reason I breath, it’s just an automatic thing. I write because I find it impossible to NOT. Make sense??                                      

                                                  

 


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: Edgar Allan Poe, “Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality” and “I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity”, William Butler Yeats, this perhaps is more of a simple verse, but, “Come fairies take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the
mountains like a flame.”

 


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Never, ever stop. Never stop writing, never stop putting your work out there. There will be rejections, critical comments, but never stop….just keep writing. First and foremost, write for YOURSELF first…the audience second.

 


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: I have two ‘collections’ of poetry available for purchase at this time. The first is titled, “The Cellaring” and is a book of 80 poems touching upon the paranormal, light horror, weird and wonderfully odd. The second book is titled, “A Taint of Pity”, Life Poems Written with a Cracked Inflection. Both are available through Amazon.com. My third book of poetry is ready and I hope to see it published by summer.

 


Ken Allan Dronsfield is a disabled veteran, poet and fabulist originally from New Hampshire, now residing on the plains of  Oklahoma. His work can be found in magazines, journals, reviews and anthologies worldwide. His two poetry books, “The Cellaring” a collection of 80 poems of light horror, paranormal, weird and wonderful work and his newest book, “A Taint of Pity”, Life Poems Written with a Cracked Inflection, are available through Amazon.com. Ken is a three time Pushcart Prize and twice Best of the Net Nominee for 2016-2017. Ken loves writing, thunderstorms, walking in the woods at night and spending time with his cats Willa and Yumpy.

 


Interview with Kat Giordano

 

Q: When did you start writing?

 

A: I started writing when I was a little kid. I’m sure a lot of people say this, but I genuinely don’t remember not being in love with writing. Even before I could actually read/write, I loved books a lot, and I would make these little picture books and then instead of writing words I would just write lines of scribbles, like a cartoon character, and make up the story as I was reading it to people. Poetry didn’t come until later though. I was probably in middle school before I realized poets even still existed.

 

Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favorite writers?

 

A: Speaking as someone who went to college for poetry and then only recently has gotten into indie lit, the list is kind of a mixed bag. On the Mainstream White Dudes side, I really love Stephen Dunn and Richard Siken. They both have this understated sort of discipline to their work but still manage to gut-punch me. And then there’s this whole crowd of people in the indie lit scene who have shown me that you can truly do whatever you want. Sam Pink and Noah Cicero most easily come to mind, but it’s everybody, really. A lot of the time it feels like I just rolled up to this entirely new continent. I also started reading Dorothea Lasky’s Milk the other day, and wow.

 

Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

 

A: I work a 9-5 office job, and I do a lot of writing throughout the day at my desk. I keep a pad of paper with me and jot down weird lines and bits of things that run through my mind, and then whenever I have more time, I flesh it out and try to see if I have a real poem somewhere in there. But that’s less of a conscious practice and more a result of being really good at focusing on anything but the thing I’m supposed to be doing.

(Unless you’re my boss reading this. Then I only write in the evenings after a solid eight hours of being passionately engaged in my number-one priority, which is of course my office job.)

 

Q:  Why do you write?

 

A:  For me, it’s always just been a thing I naturally gravitate towards. I don’t go more than a few days without writing most of the time. I had a bit of a mental breakdown at the end of last year and didn’t write for a few weeks, and it felt like a major disruption of my identity; that’s how unusual it is. There are dry spells, but I don’t consciously think about needing to sit down and produce some poems. Writing is often just the first thing that occurs to me when I have an interesting thought or feeling. It’s the only way I know how to process anything.

 

Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

 

A: “I’ve tried to become someone else for a while, / only to discover that he, too, was me.” -Stephen Dunn

 

 

Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

 

A: There’s no path and, for most of us, no “making it.” But that’s not cynical. It’s freeing. It means there’s no single person or opportunity that can make or break you, so you can do what you like. I still consider myself a “new writer” and probably always will forever, but I remember a time not that long ago that I was still keeping a really tight grip around this idea of a “writing career,” constantly anxious and concerned about making specific “moves.” Serial predators and harassers are entirely to blame for their behavior, but I will say that thinking of myself as being on some specific path made it really easy for me to fall into the hands of someone who emotionally extorted me in exchange for “opportunities.” Later, I learned that I was already putting in the right kind of work and already very much a Writer before receiving those “opportunities,” and I didn’t need to make concessions to some scummy dude in order to feel valid as one.

You’re already valid. You’re behind the wheel. Write things that move you, hold up those things when you read them, and be genuine. Everything else is sort of pointless.

 

Q: Do you have any upcoming books or projects you’d like to talk about?

A: My debut poetry collection The Poet Confronts Bukowski’s Ghost is coming out in June 30th under Philosophical Idiot. It’ll be available on Amazon and also through me. 🙂

——-

Unnamed1


Interview with Josh Dale 

 

 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I wrote a few short stories and poems as an adolescent, but I would consider my “serious” writing to have started in the summer of 2012 after a traumatic car accident. A novel idea popped in my head so I ran with it (still unfinished), while also delving into haikus and prose poetry.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: During my undergrad, I was a big fan of the American Transcendentalists, but now I’ve gotten into the likes of Kafka, Capote, Tolstoy, and Joyce for prose. I also love the poetry from my contemporaries such as Scott Laudati, Karina Bush, Joanna C. Valente, and Angelo Colavita.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: Naturally, during the evenings and nights since I have a 9-5. It’s best to have been away from work for a couple hours and a wholesome dinner/bike ride prior to writing. Maybe a cup of coffee if it’s not too late.


Q:  Why do you write?

A:  This question is the most opened ended, so I’ll answer in a different way. Now that I’m out of college and have indulged in different poetry scenes around my area, I continue to see new books coming out, poetry readings occurring, and many other communal efforts. It only helps spur my own creative side to push on with new work or to enable those that are underrepresented/newcomers. It (lit. community) is not based on one or a few authors, it’s much larger; a representation of the mosaic of one’s area. Philadelphia is a Neapolitan haven for all the arts, and as long as I’m residing in this area, I’ll continue to drive myself to engage in it, be it on my own accord, or others.


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” —Confucius has been an enduring quote that helped me through those years of pain and endurance. I recently came across this quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that is simply marvellous: “The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.”


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Look around before thinking the mainstream is where you want to be. They’re many avenues to get started in writing. Opportunities for submissions and poetry open mics are wonderful ways to make connections and to get your work publicly known. Tangentially, being around artists at galleries, working at bookstores, and checking out public events at universities can supplement one’s engagement.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: My first poetry collection, Duality Lies Beneath, and a chapbook can be found at  https://www.thirtywestph.com/ but you can check out reviews on Amazon http://a.co/exKpxa9


Bio: Hailing from Philadelphia, Josh Dale is a Temple University alum, bicyclist, and owner of the sweetest Bengal cat in the tri-state area. His work has appeared in or is forthcoming in 48th Street Press, vox poetica, former cactus, Huffington Post, Your One Phone Call, and others. He runs Thirty West Publishing House as founder and editor-in-chief and slings words on occasion at bookstores and dive bars. He recently was a judge for the 2018 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.


Interview with Nate Maxson

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I started writing as a teenager as a way to flex my angst muscles.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: Among poets, the late great Franz Wright rocks my world, the beats especially Gregory Corso. Some contemporary or living poets who really grab me are BH Fairchild, Elspeth Pancrazi, Jane Lewty, Gary Jackson, Frederick Seidel. I read a wide swath of poetry. I also find myself very inspired by novels. I adore Thomas Pynchon and have also found myself reading a lot of South American literature. Cortazar, Bolano, Andres Neuman. Bolano’s “2666” is among the most powerful novels I’ve ever read.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: Early evening. I kinda collect bits and pieces and phrases throughout my day and then when I get home from work I see what I can coalesce them into. I’m a magpie, I collect shiny pieces and then carry them to my nest to put into a pile and call that a poem.


Q:  Why do you write?

A:  It’s satisfying in a way nothing else is.


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: Bukowski in one of his more contemplative moods said “As the spirit wanes the form appears”. I like that.


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Don’t approach your work like a singularity. Total originality is so over rated. Absorb everything you read everything that moves you and let it change and mutate your art. Change is good.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: I do. If you go on amazon you can find several books by me including “The Age Of Jive” and “The Whisper Gallery”


“Nate Maxson is a writer and performance artist. The author of several collections of poetry, he lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has an abiding interest in history and quantum physics but fate conspired to make him a poet instead of a quantum historian.”


Interview with James Otter 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: When I was in 4th grade I wrote my first poem, my teacher submitted my poem to a competition, I was granted an honorable mention. I seriously got into writing when I was 15 this was also around the same time I started going to open mics,I was inspired by spite,I didn’t like what I was hearing, I wanted to come up with my own thing, when I was 14 I tried to put this web series together, in between that time I was messing around with terrible web comics. I’ve always had this drive to create. The encouragement I recieved from audience members over the years helped me create the style I write in today. I went through cycles where I would play and record atrocious noise rock or paint, now writing is the primary focus. Writing is like a second skin to me, I just have to do it.

Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: My friends and the crazy crap we pulled back in the day,thats a huge inspiration. Hometown style urban legends from all around the country, the Weird U.S. book series opened my innocent little mind to an entire world of cursed roads and strange creatures. Abandoned buildings inspire me, the travelers who roll into town during the up season, drinking with them and listening to their tales inspire my own. There is way more I could get into. Here are some of the people I draw inspiration from.  Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk. Daniel Handler, Neil Gaiman, Stephin Merritt, Nick Cave,the creative team behind the Silent Hill games, Rob Zombie and Horror manga artist Junji Ito. I draw inspiration from the poets I encounter week after week at my poetry night.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A:Night time is my ideal time, I’m listening to the environment, my imagination wanders. I write during the day as well, it depends on what else When I go out into the world, I write as soon as I get home whatever time of day that is.


Q:  Why do you write?

A: I write for many reasons, I feel like there is something inside me that needs to come out, something weird and kind of awful at times. My drive is to make my own worlds; my own urban legends, a different world one where the rules that we live by are bent up. Its almost an obsession or an impulse. I’m a strong believer in the supernatural, I write for the mystery for the spectacle of it. I want to make monsters that know us personally, zombies aren’t a real threat, we can hit ‘em with our cars but we can not hit the inescapable feeling of being ourselves. Fear is a big motivator when it comes to why I write because I know what its like to see something that goes beyond explanation and if I can translate that to a page and scare myself then I have succeeded. I write because it satisfies my dark side. 

 


Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

A: “I am the captain of my pain, tis the bit, the bridle. The Thrashing cane, the stirrup, the harness, the whipping man, the pickled eye,the shrinking brain”-Nick Cave-Brother My cup is empty

“I hate the quiet places that cause the cause the smallest taste of what will be”-Candy Says, Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground

“I am the killer dressed in pilgrims clothing, I’m the hard to find stations on the AM Van, I am the white sky high over tripoli, I am the land mine hidden in the sand.”-Jaipur–The mountain Goats.

“We don’t have to be stars exploding in the night, or electric eels under the covers, we don’t have to be anything quite so unreal lets just be lovers”

-The Magnetic Fields, A chicken with its head cut off

 


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Try to love yourself, love your work, love doing it, break the stereotype that you have to hate yourself in order to be a good writer. Write whenever you can, ignore the spelling, get the thought out and take pride in your art.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: No. I’m pretty hidden, my work is scattered all across the internet, I have a wordpress, I have a twitter to, I run a couple groups on the sinister facebook along with two pages, My official page and one for a movie that feel flat on its face, I’ve got a youtube channel from back in the day. I’ve been hoarding most of my writing,I perform it once a week at the Poetry night I run in Eugene Oregon. I haven’t officially released anything yet.


 

James Otter is a poet/storyteller not yet published, residing in the Far Reaches of Eugene Oregon. James is the self proclaimed host and overlord of Page 2 poetry, the only weekly all poetry open mic in Eugene. He loves sharing his bone chilling tales with anybody who wants to listen.


Interview with Janine Linehan 

Hi Adam thanks for the interview questions Here is my reply!


Q: When did you start writing?
A: I started writing when I was around 15 it was a hobby that only I knew about, I was ashamed of writing back then because I was quite naughty at school and instead of finding a way to deal with me I was told I was dyslexic  instead! So back then I had very little belief in myself or my writing!
so I was a closet writer for years! Instead of just listening in school I thought I could rule it instead and due to this my grammar has suffered! I didn’t believe in my gift until years later!

Q: Who inspires me as a writer?

A: I am so terrible I don’t actually read a lot at all I couldn’t tell you of any books that I have read apart from Diane Coopers the spiritual laws, This is my bible as I am a spiritualist. This book is my guidance in life I have found that in me I hold the key to the universe and if I would like anything in life my thoughts and perseverance will manifest my dreams into reality! This book changed my life!
But I am not a Noval reader I just write really! I think if I read to much then my own work will be just versions and immitations of other writers!  so I just rely on my own thoughts and feelings to be what ends up on the paper!

Q: What time of the day do I do most of my writing?

AI am a night owl! And most of my writing happens when the world is quiet when I can hear myself think, I find that the witching hours 1-4am is when I produce my best work sometimes I believe that I am merely a messenger and the thoughts have been sent to me To Inform and help others!
I shake with shock and adrenaline when I write something really good in disbelief that I actually wrote it! But I truly believe the best work is produced when the world is quiet! I also get thoughts one liners quotes just pop in my head all day quotes are so easy To write so my true skills are hidden in my songs and poetry!

Q: Why do I write?

To me it’s been a saviour it is therapy, a way of getting out my feeling without bothering anyone or back when I was younger fighting everyone! Then i started realising I had a little talent for ryhming and telling stories so I started pushing myself researching certain subjects just to write about! I was loving the adrenaline self love and self belief that grew with my writing!  Writing is my saviour!
A: Do you have any favourite quotes from any other writer,
I have many favourite quotes some wrote by others some wrote by myself, I don’t know many off by heart only my own! Not to be taken in an arrogant way meaning in my head my own words fill it up with my own thoughts. Which become quotes daily! My head is always busy with words so I try to make them my own,
 I like the quote … some people come in your life as a lesson and some as a blessing! I’m not sure who wrote it!

Q: What’s the advice you would give new inspiring writers?

A: I would definitely say to write from your heart and to listen to your inner thoughts, try not to copy or imitate anyone else, read less of others and write more from within as there is to many that write the same due to already reading that knowledge written by someone else, be your own inspiration then write to inspire others!
Be humble always and write your own unique story!

Hi my name is Janine Linehan
I am 37 years old and have been writing 22 years, I started off a poet for many years but later realised that my poems could easily be transformed into songs and rap lyrics, overtime I started to push my ability more and more I started writing about words from the dictionary, I started trying to write nursery rhymes and one liners and quotes’ now I also write wedding vow’s and Funeral tributes, Also songs
I have been published many times in books newspapers magazines and at 22 I had a short part in a collection of a book with 10 other poets!
And have 4 songs produced for different artists!
I have saved all my recent work and have enough work to make at least another 5 books! Which I am currently constructing.
My album is half way finished and have a quote page on instagram @j.linehan_ which is growing rapidly daily!
All that’s left is to find a decent illustrator and my trilogy of nursery rhyme books can also come to life, which the objection of the rhymes will be about how to love and accept yourself no matter what colour size or race we are,
2 more singles will be out this week which I have co written with my talented niece who is a singer song writer!
But the objection to all my writing talents is to inspire and encourage everyone to make the most of their lives and not to waste a minute as a breathing is our biggest blessings!
Thank you for taking and interest in my talent and hope to hear any feedback


 Interview with Daginne Aignend

 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I was a teenager when I wrote my first poem in Dutch, about loving being in love and all the confusion that comes with it. I didn’t write regularly back then. About 6 years ago I decided to write poetry in English, so I could reach out to a broader audience


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: I used to read a lot of fantasy books: the Godfather of Fantasy J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan and Robin Hobb. I never read much poetry until some years ago and I don’t have a favorite poet. I like a lot of contemporary poets, like the different unique styles each one of them writes.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: I don’t have a special writing moment, I know I don’t write when I just get out of my bed. I have to free my mind first from the cobwebs of sleep and have a coffee first.


Q:  Why do you write?

A:   Because I have to, it’s an urge. When I have a nonwriting period and I don’t write for a couple of days, I feel restless. Like my mind start to overflow and I need to get some of my thoughts on paper to feel relaxed again.

 


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: ‘Carpe Diem’ from Horatius


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Don’t get discouraged when journals don’t acknowledge your work in the beginning. If you feel you wrote a good piece believe in yourself. A practical advice: do a grammar check and make sure your work is edited before you submit.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: No, I didn’t have had the time to publish a collection of my own. I’m a poetry editor and it takes much time to review the work of other poets. I have some plans for a chapbook in collaboration with some poet friends but will see if it works out in the near future


Daginne Aignend is a pseudonym for the Dutch writer, poetess, photographic artist Inge Wesdijk. She likes hard rock music, fantasy books, and loves her animals. She’s the Poetry Editor of Whispers and has been published in many poetry journals, magazines and anthologies, in the ‘Tears’ Anthology of the NY Literary Magazine to name one. She has a fun project website http://www.daginne.com


Interview With Soodabeh Saeidnia 

 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: First of all, thank you so much Adam for inviting and having me in this interview with the great Madness Muse Press. I’ve been writing poetry in Farsi since I was a happy 12-year old girl. Perhaps poetry runs in my family as my father is a poet and my uncle was. The education, research and teaching in Pharmaceutical Sciences made me learn scientific writing in English during the time I studied and worked at schools. Then a turning point happened in my life, IMMIGRATION, and suddenly I found my poetry nonsense for the people who didn’t know my language and culture. I had no choice but writing my poems in English. So If your question is when I started writing English poems, the accurate answer is 40!

 

Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favorite writers?

A: They were different depends on the age I was. In childhood, I was affected by Parvin Etesami’s simple, rhyming, morals, storytelling but multi-layer poems. She is a famous Iranian poetess in early 20 century. Then, the well-known Sohrab Sepehri’s and Mehdi Akhavan Sales’ books located on my shelf. I reckon my inspiration of middle age has been Geysar Aminpoor’s smart, concise, and confessional poetry which is so similar to the Sylvia Plath’s and Anne Sexton’s pens at least for me. In English, I fell in love with the short poems from Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman but now I read from so many other poets who currently live between us.

 

Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: It’s timeless! Anytime a poem wants to happen, I let it be live on my notebook, cell phone or computer.

 

Q:  Why do you write?

A:  I don’t know just like I don’t know why I live or breathe but out of why questions, there is beauty in writing and expressing the human’s feeling and thought. For me, writing has always been easier than talking, since I would rather people read my heart and mind whenever they really want to than they listen to and forget about it. When I ask myself why I am obsessed with reading and writing, I tell myself it’s better not to pick an answer because there are unknown and deep layers of being yet to be defined by scientists.

Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

A: Yes, though hard to choose one. It would be “A writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.”

[Becoming a Writer/ The List, O Magazine, November 2009]”

― Junot Díaz

 

Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: I would say to them, “Don’t even step in writing, if you don’t have the brave heart of a lion, the complex eyes of a fly, the complicated mind of a dolphin and the warrior attitude of a wolf because once you come in, the whole world’s editors may reject your writing, the whole universe’s critics may criticize your way and the sky may fall all over your decision. But if you be patient and strong enough, you’ll grow slowly but toughly, the way a slim stem sprouts from behind a rocky ground and stretches to become a tall tree.”

 

Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: Yes I do, and appreciate for asking me. For poets and readers who like to read bilingual anthologies, the recently published volumes I and II of “Persian Sugar in English Tea” are now available on Amazon. They both together include the English poems by 54 American, Canadian, Australian, … living poets together with the Farsi translations. I kindly benefited from Aimal Zaman’s co-translation in there. If they are interested in visiting my own books of poetry like “Nobody in The Box”, “Street of the Ginkgo Trees”, and “A Poem And Three Generations” published on amazon, the link to all is here:

https://www.amazon.com/Books-Soodabeh-Saeidnia/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ASoodabeh%20Saeidnia

At the end, thank you again Adam for this opportunity to talk with your wonderful readers.

 

 

 

NYU (1).jpg

 


Biography: Soodabeh lives in Queens, NYC. She got her Pharm D and PhD of Pharmacognosy and has worked as a researcher, assistant and associate professor in the Kyoto University (Japan), TUMS (Iran) and University of Saskatchewan (Canada). She writes in English and Farsi. Her English poems have been published in different anthologies and literary magazines including Careless Embrace of the Boneshaker (GWFM), Squawk Back, Indiana Voice Journal, Sick Lit Magazine, Dying Dahlia Review, etc. She has authored, translated and edited both scientific and poetry collections and anthologies (https://www.amazon.com/s?field-keywords=soodabeh+saeidnia).

 

 


 

 

 Interview with Jonel Abellanosa 

 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I started writing in the late 1990s. I published my earliest poems and short stories in local and national magazines here in the Philippines. But my writing never really took a serious turn until after 2010, when I started submitting to international journals and anthologies. Currently, I have published my poetry in almost two hundred literary journals and anthologies in countries like the United States, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, India and other countries. My works have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, the Dwarf Stars Award (of the Science Fiction Poetry and Fantasy Association) and the Best of the Net Award. 


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: Regarding poetry, I revere one poet in particular – Dante Alighieri. I’ve read The Divine Comedy countless times, in translations by John Ciardi, Robert Pinsky and Allen Mandelbaum. The three poets that have influenced me the most are Robert Pinsky, Seamus Heaney and Adrienne Rich. I admire the works (for their precision above anything else, whether for their musical qualities and/or in terms of imagery) of A.E. Stallings, Eileen Tabios and Ocean Vuong. When it comes to Filipino (or Fil-Am) poets, to me no one writes with as cutting an edge of precision as Luisa Igloria, Patrick Rosal, Ricardo de Ungria and Cirilo Bautista. Regarding fiction, I’m a disciple of Feodor Dostoevsky, Roberto Bolaño and Salman Rushdie. I’m now writing the novel I couldn’t find. 


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: I write early before dawn, during the witching hour, or in the morning or afternoon. There is really no set time of day that I write. 


Q:  Why do you write?

A: This is really a tricky question, which to me opens up a lot of traps for sinking into cliché. I guess I write because I have something to offer the literary world that it has never seen or heard before. Shakespeare wrote 150 or so sonnets. I’m trying to at least equal such an achievement with my own collection of acrostic poems. So far I’ve published around 50 or so acrostic poems in such journals as Rattle, The McNeese Review, Poetry Kanto, Star*Line, Dark Matter, the Peacock Journal, the Bangalore Review, That Literary Review and more. I’m aiming to publish 100 more acrostic poems. Ezra Pound’s maxim, “Make it New,” to me is misleading, because it implies that everything has been written and that the job of the poet is to rehash in new ways. My acrostic poems, I like to think, are “new.”                                          

                                                  


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: No. To me quotes from famous writers might become the biggest impediments to creativity and invention. I may believe in something a famous writer says. As a poet and writer I have always relied on intuition as an integral part of literary creativity, and by intuition I imply the participation of what many might call the sacred or the profane, the demonic or the angelic, in the poem’s creation. Ironically, I believe in Dylan Thomas when he says that the poem must have enough holes and gaps for things that are not the poem to creep, crawl or thunder in. When I come across an interesting thing a writer says, I test it and decide if it merits belief. To me, if there are 100 million poets on the planet, then there are 100 million ways of writing the poem. 


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Never underestimate the profane and the sacred in the poem’s creation, and by this I mean the primary role of intuition in the poem’s creation. Read, read and read. Discover the Multiverse for yourself! Create your own poetry and poetic forms. Write your own rules. And there is no short-cut to this: write, write and write, until you hear your original voice, the voice no one has ever heard before.  


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: My fourth chapbook, “Songs from My Mind’s Tree,” is available from Clare Songbirds Publishing House in New York, which will also publish my full-length collection, “Multiverse” in late 2018. If you wish to order a copy, follow this link: https://www.claresongbirdspub.com/shop/poetry/ and look for my collection in the list, called “Songs From My Mind’s Tree.” Thanks.

 


Jonel Abellanosa resides in Cebu City, the Philippines.  His poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Rattle, Anglican Theological Review, Poetry Kanto, The McNeese Review, Filipino-American Artist Directory and Marsh Hawk Review. His fourth chapbook, “Songs from My Mind’s Tree,” and full-length poetry collection, “Multiverse,” are forthcoming from Clare Songbirds Publishing House, New York. He is a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and Dwarf Stars Award nominee.


Interview with Matthew Lawler

Matthew J. Lawler is a poet and Chicago original. He grew up on the Northwest Side of the city (Irving/Albany Park) and began scrawling poems on napkins while walking home from Von Steuben High School in Albany Park. He has been published in numerous journals, including, Sick Lit Magazine, The Miscreant, Caravel, Tuck, Visual Verse, Dissident Voice, Scarlet Leaf Review, Eunoia Review, Spillwords, and Peeking Cat Magazine. He was recently published in the anthology “Illinois’s Best Emerging Poets,” put out by Z Publishing. His work has  also been made into videopoems. His writing is both narrative and philosophical. He can be found performing at various open mics throughout Chicago. You can also find more of his work on Facebook at www.facebook.com/matthewjlawlerpoet or Instagram @poetmjl

 


Q: When did you start writing?

A: Originally I started writing raps in the 7th grade.  I grew up in the golden era of hip-hop listening to KRS-ONE, N.W.A, The Fugees, Nas, Rakim, Wu-Tang, and they all definitely inspired me to get lyrical. I didn’t get serious about writing until high school, but I was still writing raps and scrawling lines on napkins while walking home from school. I was 19 years old when I took a poetry class at Wilbur Wright College in Chicago and it changed my life. I became serious about learning the forms, structures, rhythms, rhyme schemes, and overall use of figurative language. I started studying the greats, Keats, Milton, Poe, Rossetti, Whitman, Blake, L. Hughes, Plath. I was consuming poetry at a frenetic pace. I started writing sonnets and villanelles, and really fell in love with the fixed form. I composed my first Sonnet and it was published in The Wilbur Wright Creative Writing Magazine. I guess it’s just been a series of baby steps to get to the realization of my “vocation” as a poet. The good news is once you realize your “vocation” nothing can stop you, not even a little writer’s block. Nothing can hold you down because you know poetry is what you are meant to do. To me it’s beyond a physical thing. Poetry is a introspective encounter with the immaterial world within and without.  It’s a language that can’t be explained to the logical mind. Every time I put pen to paper and really delve inward I can honestly say I’ve experienced God through writing. Poetry is the language of the soul. 


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: I have a whole lot of favorite writers and I’ll start with Denise Levertov. In her book This Great Unknowing, she writes about hearing the whispers of the vine leaves. Levertov wrote with such attention and awareness of her surroundings and with a keen eye to uniquely see beyond the surface of things. I love the fact that she’s always asking questions throughout her poems and searching for a deeper self.  Ai Ogawa is another one of my favorites and I’ve  never read any poet who is better at the dramatic monologue than Ai. If you want to learn how to write a persona poem just study Ai’s work and you will be enlightened. I also can’t  forget the father of the modern detective story Edgar Allen Poe and the poet who once wrote a 15,000 line poem(The Battlefield Where the Moon says I Love You) without using any punctuation, the great Frank Stanford. I’m a big Theodore Roethke fan and one of my all time favorite poems is “The Waking.” Roethke is definitely in my top 5 just on the basis of mere contemplative language, images, and movement that run throughout his poems. 


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: I write mostly at night usually around midnight. There’s just something deep, and mystical about midnight and its always been my favorite time to write, but sometimes poems just come to me while meandering down the streets of Chicago. All it takes is one image and that can trigger memory, emotion, words.  Most of my writing is spawned in those moments, but I usually write them down around midnight


Q:  Why do you write?

A:   It’s all I’m really good at and though it is a gift that may not earn you a penny it will give you something much deeper than money. It will give you joy and completeness. I often wonder why I had to be a poet! I mean, why not an astrophysicist, engineer, a doctor, shoot even a CTA bus driver would have sufficed. Nope. I had to be a poet, but honestly I’m not complaining because only poets know the true joy of poetry. I believe the real reason I write is to free myself from all of my experiences, whether good or bad there is a certain freedom of emotion that comes with writing poems. I was diagnosed with type one Diabetes when I was 13 years old and I think it really deepened my soul in that it exposed me to suffering. This constant crutch that I had to live with made me feel things (empathy, compassion, pain). Suffering is the gateway to the interior life and it awakened me in a way that altered my perception of myself and the world around me. Anyone who has type one Diabetes since they were a kid knows the agony it entails. But luckily for me it birthed something deep, something real and tangible like an acorn blooming into a monumental oak. Poetry is in my blood and it’s been there since a very young age. I write because I live and I live because I write.         

                                                  


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: Robert Frost said, “Poetry provides the one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another.”  My favorite quote is from Emily Dickinson and it pretty much sums up what I try to do when I write. She said, “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. My last quote is from William Wordsworth who called poetry, “The spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions.”


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: “Don’t you give up, nah-nah-nah, I won’t give up, nah-nah-nah,” in my Justin Bieber voice. On a serious note, i would say just keep writing, keep putting pen to paper and let your emotions guide you. If you feel strongly about something it’s bound to show up in your writing. The great English romantic  poet John Keats said, “nothing ever becomes real until it is experienced.” I would say just pay attention to the moments because they are fleeting and all it takes is one image, one experience to capture your imagination and turn the immaterial into material. Paying attention is an arduous task nowadays with all our technological advancements, but I would say if you really want to become a better writer to listen more, talk less, observe more, and be still. 


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: I’ve been published in numerous literary journals and an anthology titled “Illinois’s Best Emerging Poets” available on Amazon. I’m currently working on my first full length poetry collection (Concrete Oracles) and hope to have it out sometime this year. 

 

 


Interview with Darrell Herbert

Darrell1
Darrell Herbert is a nationally recognized poet. He has earned a national silver medal in the 2014 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. He earned a gold key from Casita​ ​Maria​ ​Center​ ​for​ ​the​ ​Arts​ ​&​ ​Education. He is also a songwriter, humanitarian, author, and artivists.

Q: When did you start writing?

A: There is something special about me as a writer; I began writing at an early age, five to be exact.

Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?
A: There are so many writers who influence me. Some of my favorite writers include Sylvia Plath, Kahlil Gibran, Kurt Cobain, just to name a few.

Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?
A: I do most of my writing in the nighttime. It has to be quiet.

Q:  Why do you write?
A: I write for myself. I write to influence the world in a positive way. I write to right the wrongs of society, to put emotions out in the open for all to witness. I cannot enter this world and leave it the same as I met it by the time I exit it; it is absolutely necessary for me to leave my legacy.

Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?
A: One of my most favourite quotes is from Staceyann Chin. In her piece called “If Only Out Of Vanity,” she spoke with such rawness and truth when she said “in this world where classification is key, I want to erase the straight lines, so I can be me.”

Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?
A: The one piece of advice that I would give to new and aspiring writers is to stay true to yourself. Don’t follow the crowd. Don’t get lost in the hype. Do you until you simply can’t do it anymore.

Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?
A: No.

 


Interview with John Yamrus

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Interview Questions

Q: When did you start writing?

A: my first book came out in 1970…a lifetime ago…two lifetimes ago.  i guess i always wrote.  it was something i was good at (or thought i was).  it started out as something to do…to pass the time…and pretty soon it got to be a habit…and, like most habits that are fun and eventually end up killing you, it’s a hard habit to break. 


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: i’ve often said that i’ve learned more about writing from listening to Miles Davis than i ever learned or could hope to learn from reading or studying any actual writer.  just listening to his KIND OF BLUE will teach you anything you want to know about writing…about the value of silence.  for my money, that’s the hardest thing for a writer (an aspiring writer) to learn…when to shut the hell up.  most writers talk and talk and talk, never understanding or knowing that for the most part they don’t have anything interesting to say.  beyond that, silence is another tool in the bag…knowing how to effectively use the white space on a page is very important…ESPECIALLY for writers of poetry.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: first thing i do when i get up…after taking a leak and letting the dog outside to do the same…is make myself a great big cup of coffee and come down here and get to work.  i got into that habit back in the days when i used to work a regular 9 to 5, and the habit’s stuck with me ever since.


Q:  Why do you write?

A:   i don’t know.  I’m not gonna say something off the wall like i “want to share my gift with the world”…to be honest, that’s a load of crap.  i guess i do it because i like the reaction it gets…i like surprising myself…and i like the fact that it lets me be alone while i’m doing it.                                     

                                                  

Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A:  no.  sorry.


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: don’t fool yourself and wait for inspiration.  like anything else you want to do for a living, this has to be approached like a job…like a professional.  if you’re serious about the work, you’ve got to do it every single day of your life.  naturally, that’s not always gonna happen, but it’s a great goal to shoot for.  every day that you don’t do something is another day you’ve lost.  even if it’s just ten minutes a day, it’s still something.  the other day i was doing a reading at this college…and the host was doing the introduction and she was saying that i’ve published 28 books and more than 2,000 poems…and there was this sound from the audience and the first thing that came to my mind…the first thing that i said to them when i finally got up to talk…was don’t let that fool you…it was all done just one little bit at a time…one day at a time. 


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: my books are on amazon…my latest book is MEMORY LANE…for lack of a better word, it’s a slim “memoir”…a look back at what it was like growing up in a Pennsylvania coal town in the 1950s…  why i hesitate calling it a memoir is that it’s really (as one newspaper review called it) a reflection on Time and the fallibility of memory.  i see the book like jazz…like an extended poem…it’s not linear in any sense of the word.  i intended it to be what it would feel like kicking back and having a couple of drinks and talking about what it was like way back when.  as for my latest books of poetry…there’s AS REAL AS RAIN, which is a book of my poems fully illustrated by the Swedish artist Janne Karlsson.  that book was a real hoot and a real risk…it gave me a chance to look at my own poems as seen thru someone else’s eyes.  it was a lot of fun.  the book right before that was I ADMIT NOTHING.  of course, all of my books that have been published by Epic Rites Press (and there’s been 9 so far) are high on my list of personal favorites.  i’m 67 now, and i think i’m starting to hit my stride.  maybe in another couple of years i’ll finally get it right.

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Interview  of  Arbind Kumar Choudhary with Dr.Ashok K.Yadav, Associate Prof. of English,Arts College, Shyamalaji, Gujarat,India.

 

Arbind Kumar Choudhary who has been awarded with the crown of Universal Ambassador of Peace from Poetry in 2017  by Gabrielle Simond, the president of Geneva based duo organizations—Universal Circle of the Ambassadors  of Peace & Universal Embassy of Peace -has been popularly called the  pioneer of the Phrasal  Movement  and  Indianised Version of Arbindonean Sonnets  in  Indian English  poetry  for the spiritual whirlwind  for Tom,Dick and Harry in general and the versifiers in particular inspite of the materialistic monarchy infecting the society.He  has been perfuming  the  poetic passage  with his nine poetry collections in English, dozens  of  literary awards  in America, China, Geneva  and  India, and, above all, more  than  sixty interviews published in Malta, Romania, Albania and India.His Arbindonean Racy Style of Versification, cluster of the phrasal passages and Indianised Version of  Arbindonean Sonnets  speak volumes about his magnetic poetic personality in Indian English poetry.

Dr.Choudhary  who  has been incorporated  in Cambridge Dictionary of English Writers  in England,Penny Poetry in America, World Poetry Almanac in Mongolia ,World Poetry Yearbook  in China, Four Indian English Poets in Romania  and Sahitya Akademi  in Delhi  has been included as an  editorial  board  member of  a  number of  literary journals   in America,Tunisia, Nigeria and several literary journals  of India.Mahatma Gandhi Education and Welfare Society sponsored maiden national poetry award entitled Phrasal King Arvind Choudhary National Poetry Award 2018  has been instituted to honour an Indian English poet annually  for the promotion of English verses in India  that has been given to Dr.Brajesh Kumar Gupta  Mewadev of Banda,U.P  on 17th February 2018 in the International Seminar held at Bharat Ratna  Maulana  Abul Kalam Azad Research Center,Aurangabad,India.


Q 1 : When did you start writing ?

AKC: Versification has become my  passion rather than profession that comes out as naturally as the water flow of the river. I have been composing verses and turning in to pieces for want of proper atmosphere of flourishment around my surrounding. But the germs of creation that  was planted long ago  through the Hindi poems of great poets -Dinkar, Maithili Sharan Gupta, Mahadevi Verma, Jay Shankar Prasad  and many others started to flourish with the passage of time while started the job of a lecturer in a college. I  have not seen behind since the publication of  Eternal Voices, maiden poetry book, in 2007 that has been followed by eight more poetry collections.


Q2: Who are your biggest inspirators/ your favourite writers ?

AKC : Shakespeare, Milton , Spenser, John Keats and several  English others have remained  the  captivating  spirits while Tagore, Aurobindo, Ezekiel ,Sarojini Naidu, and  Kamala Das from Indian English poetry, Kalidas from  Sanskrit  literature  and  Dinkar, Maithli  Sharan  Gupta, Jayshankar  Prasad, Mahadevi  Verma   and  several others  from  Hindi  literature have been adding fuel to the poetic flames  from  time  to  time.


Q3: What time of day do you do most of your writing ?

  AKC: Morning  is  the  spring  for the  creative  wing  because  silence becomes  the  monarch  during  morning period.


Q4: Why do you write ?

AKC :  Versification that runs wild from one day to another is the emotional eruption rather than mechanisation.It is my passion rather than profession that sends  my creative  spirits in the seventh heaven.


Q5 : Do you have any favourite quotes from writers ?

AKC :  The most striking quote that haunts me time and again for the sake of the deprived voices of the world community as a whole is  quoted from The Elegy of Thomas Gray.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene

The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert.

 


Q6: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers ?

AKC : The essence of patience will knock your  door sooner or later in literature.The essence of patience breeds florescence of conscience sooner or later before the last resting place .


Q7: Do you have any collections chapbooks ?

Or other books available for people to purchase ?

AKC :  Here lies a list of published poetry collections.

1.Eternal  Voices,2007,PBD,Bareilly,UP

2.Universal  Voices,2008, IAPEN,Begusarai.

3.My Songs,2008,IAPEN,Begusarai.

4.Melody, 2009, IAPEN,Begusarai.


Interview with Kelle Grace Gaddis 

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I was one of those kids that could read at age three. My love of reading quickly lead me to writing. I was given a diary in kindergarten and I’ve been writing ever since.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favorite writers?

A: There are so many I can’t list them all so I’ll list the most recent inspirations. I love Lance Olson’s work, particularly theories of forgetting and Dream Lives of Debris and Katy Bohinc’s recently released collection Scorpio.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: I can write anytime. If I have time in the morning I write in the morning and if I don’t I make time to write at night. If an idea comes to me while I’m working at my other job I’ll send a text message to myself so I remember the idea when I get home.


Q:  Why do you write?

A: I don’t think I could stop myself. I’ve written my entire life. For decades I didn’t even care if anyone read my work, I wrote for the sake of writing, this changed after I began submitting work for publicaton. I became addicted to acquiring publishing credits because it felt like I’d finally been heard and understood. So, now, I also write because I want to see how people respond to my work. It’s a way to relate the world and to change it.


Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

A: I have many, but I’d like to share a Lewis Caroll line because it’s one of the truest things ever written. “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” Caroll wrote it for the character of Alice in Alice in Wonderland but I think everyone feels like this, we’re all Alice.


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Write as often as you can and avoid long breaks. Long breaks don’t help writers, writers write.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: My first book My Myths was published by Yellow Chair Review in 2017. I sold 547 of the 550 copies printed in ten months. I was disappointed that YCR wasn’t financially able to produce a second edition. I’m going with a larger publishing house next time. While supplies last My Myths is available at Open Books: A Poem Emporium in Seattle, Washington; they can ship anywhere. Right now, I’m publishing short stories in literary magazines for my new collction. I wish I had a title to give you but I’m struggling with that right now and can’t bring myself to commit to one yet. My work is also in Dispatch Editon’s Resist Much Obey Little and the Brightly Press’s anthologies Shake The Tree 2017 and 2018 (the latter will be out in May). My Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and the Unexplainable stories were published by Simon & Schuster, it’s available on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble. It was edited by Amy Newmark and Kelly Sullivan Walden. I annouce my book launches on Facebook, so, if anyone wants to join me online they’re welcome to do so. I’m listed by my full name Kelle Grace Gaddis.


Q: Do you have any upcoming books or projects you’d like to talk about?

A: I’m excited about all of my projects! For now, I’ll talk about one. Most of the 1000 – 10,000+ word short stories in my forthcoming collection have been published by small presses in the United States, England, and Australia. I adore short story collections with diverse themes so I’ve aimed to create one where each story is dramatically different from the last. I want to take my readers to many places, possibly because I’ve been obsessed with the Best American Short Stories series since I was nine and every story in it is unique. Of course that collection is written by many different authors rather than one, but, since I understand a lot of different perspectives, I felt I could take up the challenge. To some extent, a range of voice comes naturally to me because I’ve acted in plays since I was ten-years-old and have stood in many a character’s shoes.

Thank you for the interview!

 


Interview with Zachary Dilks

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I started writing pretty early on in my childhood. I’ve always had a fairly healthy imagination and I suppose making up stories and exaggerations just came naturally to me. I remember writing a bunch of crappy songs in the fourth grade that I was sure were pure gold. The first time I ever wrote a poem was about some girl I had a crush on. I remember I read it to my mom and sister from the back seat of our car and my mom, very sincerely, told me it was good. So naturally I wrote two sequels to it and they were terrible. I dabbled with writing all of my life, but I never took it too seriously until about junior year in high school when I knew for sure I wanted to spend the rest of my life writing. Thanks, Holden Caulfield.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favorite writers?

A: My biggest inspirations are not necessarily who’s, but what’s. Sitting in nature and watching animals and plants and connecting the stars and talking to the moon and laughing about the contradictions in life; these are what typically give me inspiration to write. The natural world is my greatest motivator. I find if I try to take too much inspiration from a certain writer then I start to steal their style. My words may be garbage, but at least they’ll always be in my own dumpster. With that being said, my favorite writers are J.D. Salinger, Poe, Whitman, Tom Robbins especially, Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame, Lewis Carroll and a lot of others that might make this list too long. However, and I’m sure I’ll catch hell for this, I really don’t like Ernest Hemingway. His work bores me to no end. Also, although I enjoy his sarcasm immensely, I’m not that into Shakespeare either.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: Unlike a lot of writers, I don’t ever set out a time that’s dedicated to only writing. I’m a full-time father, husband and tool maker on top of poet and so many other things. At any given time, my attention is being pulled to a thousand different places. So really, I’m an in-between kind of writer. I’ll shoot for in between machine time, in between diaper changes, in between grocery shopping and family time. The easiest time for me to write is late into the night after everyone is asleep. I can sit and stare at the moon and give my thoughts my full attention. However, with that being said, I can never force a poem to come out. It either comes to me or it doesn’t and I never write anything that I wouldn’t want to read, so there are plenty of times that I have to shut down what I’ve started and walk away from what I think is inferior writing.


Q: Why do you write?

A: The why is an ever-evolving thing for me. Sure, it’s easy to say that I do it because I can’t not do it; because my every fiber compels me to do it, but that’s not the whole truth. The rest of it is because I truly feel like no matter how well I might mesh with a society or situation, I still always feel like a bit of an outsider. Like I was put here for the sole purpose of observation instead of interaction. I guess it’s me reaching out, hoping to be understood. Hoping to make that connection I was never able to. I’ve got a lot of pain and joy and anger and sadness and love inside of me that I know others have too. I just want to share those feelings and be open to others sharing theirs as well. Simply put, writing is the place where I feel fully and most unabashedly me.


Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

A: Ah, we literary types love a good quote, don’t we? I feel like there is this obsession with writers to have a meaningful quote on standby for any occasion. As if to say you’re not a real writer unless you can recite a word of wisdom by Twain or Poe or Chaucer. I used to be that guy. I used to quote Faust to anybody that would listen. You know, “Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici”. I’m just not that person anymore. My favorite quotes are really lowbrow movie lines that make me laugh. The one that sticks out right now is from Blazing Saddles when Bart, as the new sheriff, goes over to the Waco Kid in his cell and says “are we awake?”

Waco Kid says “that depends, are we black?”

Bart nods yes and the Waco Kid says “then we are awake, but we’re very confused”.

However, if you’re interested in a more serious quote, one that I’ve turned over in my mind many times is from, I’m fairly certain, Grendel by John Gardner. “Does not the lion wish to become a man”. To this very moment, that line still trips me up. I know it’s meant to be taken as the savage beast aching to be more than that, but I can’t help but think that the lion has a bit more sense than to want to become an even more savage human. If I were the lion, I’d eat the man, take a nap and move on. That’s elegance in its simplest form.


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Stop trying to be the quintessential writer and just write. Don’t write for anybody but yourself. That’s the pit fall of most writers in the world. We get so hung up on whether or not a piece of work will be well received that we overlook the fact that it needs to be well delivered. If you aren’t putting any passion into what you’re doing then perhaps you shouldn’t be doing it; writers and otherwise.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: I have one chapbook of poetry called Wire My Scars Electric. It’s available on Amazon and the wonderful people behind Alien Buddha Press helped to make it come to fruition. It’s my first published collection of work and dedicated to my first daughter who sadly passed away too soon.


Q: Do you have any upcoming books or projects you’d like to talk about?

A: I’m in the middle of a couple of things, at the beginning of a lot of things and near the end of very few. I like that chaos though. I do have one project that I’m particularly excited about. It will be another collection of poetry and themed around nature and human interference. The tentative title is If The Lion Doesn’t Eat You, Something’s Wrong. I don’t have much to say about it other than I hope to get it to a rough draft by the end of this year and when and if I do, I really hope people will dig it. Other than that, I’m just trying to focus on being a better writer and a worse procrastinator.

 

 

 


Interview With Weasel Patterson

Q: When did you start writing?

John:  I started when I was in the 8th grade. I was introduced to haikus in an English class and was drawn to the structure of the poems. I didn’t write often, but continued to grow.

JoAnna: My mom and my older sister (twelve years my senior) used to read to me several times a day. When I was two years old, even with learning disabilities, I started to read to them. It wasn’t a surprise to me that I became a writer. When considering writing, the surprise came when I was in seventh grade. While attending a new school, during a placement exam, I tested out of reading, as a result, my instructor assigned me writing assignments to have a grade for that subject. Though long ago, I strongly believe these advanced writing exercises helped me immensely to fine tune and prepare my writing skills for the future.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

John: My favourite writer is Steven King. The vibrant details in his novels have always painted pictures in my mind.

JoAnna: Devouring short stories from readers digest, also, greatly poetry . When I was between the ages eight and ten years, I started to seek out pieces by Maya Angelou and Helen Steiner Rice. Still today, they are my absolute treasures.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

John: It comes to me at all hours of the day. Sometimes I have to make notes to come back to a thought. It could be a sound, a smell, or something I see every day that sparks an idea.

JoAnna: As a two years veteran of writing full-time, I don’t have a favorite time. When every the muse strikes me is when I sit down forget everything else, and start to write. I have learned the more I stay away from TV and Social Media sites the more inspired I become.


Q:  Why do you write?

John: It gives me a sense of accomplishment and closure. Something inspires a thought, and I need to express it in such a way as I feel it is finished.

JoAnna: I am unaware of ever having a choice. I will need to contemplate this question further. Perhaps, I will be prepared to answer it sometime in the future.


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

John: Friedrich Nietzsche said “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” I’m not sure who said “No one said life was fair.”

JoAnna: While I was raising my children and before the internet became a big deal, I used to study quotes. I loved them. I have too many favorites to mention. I will conclude this answer with I loved inspirational the most.


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

John: read, Read, READ! Our vocabulary is vastly improved when we read. Our understanding of all things is enhanced by reading.

JoAnna: Read, read, read. Pay attention to the occurrences when you are motivated to write, do it often. Mostly, regardless of where you start, never give up because you will improve.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

Our first book is available on Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

The Little Black Book of

Poetry and Prayers:

MILK AND HONEY, Volume 1

by John and JoAnna Poster et al.

eBook

Link: http://a.co/59u9w8C

Paperback

Link: http://a.co/fWwVPBi


Q: When did you start writing?

A: I don’t even know, man. I guess I’d have to say I started back in grade school, writing small poems, but I didn’t actually take it seriously until I started college. In my last year of community, I took a couple of writing courses and those teachers kicked my ass. But damn it felt nice to have a couple of things published that year. I still keep the worn-out prints as a reminder.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favorite writers?

A: When I was in high school, I loved Lovecraft. It made me want to be a horror writer, which never worked out because I opened Ginsberg’s “Howl,” and Kerouack’s “On the Road” and I ain’t never been the same since. Buddy Wakefield has been a good inspiration, I hope to catch one of his shows some day.

My husband, Sendokidu. We’ve seen so much shit together, and he’s gotten me out of some rough spots. I don’t know where I’d be without him.

Damian Rucci is definitely an inspiration. I see him post on Twitter, see him workin’ his ass off and I always think, “man, I need that kind of fuel.”

I can go on forever talking about people, but I’ll list a few more and keep it short. Folks like Thurston, LuLynne Streeter, Emily Ramser, David E. Cowen, Neil S. Reddy, Chris Wise, and Mary Margaret Carlisle have really pushed me over the years, and I couldn’t thank them enough.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: I don’t really pick a specific time of day to write. My brain is scrambled most of the time so I write when I can. I can say though, that I enjoy writing early in the morning, when sun is just barely rising.


Q:  Why do you write?

A: It’s cathartic.


Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

A: “I am standing like shoe polish on an overstocked shelf hoping that one day someone will pick me to make things better.”

― Buddy Wakefield, Live for a Living

“It’s not that I wait for you.

It’s that my arms are doors I cannot close.”

― Derrick Brown


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A: Read. Write as much as you can, when you can. Study submission guidelines before submitting your work. And don’t take shit from nobody.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: I’ve published seven books so far. Mostly chapbooks. My last three projects are, “a warm place to self-destruct” (Poetry, WZL Productions), “We Live for Half-Moons” (Novella,  Thurston Howl Publications), and “Jazz at the End of the Night” (Short Story Collection, WZL Productions). Everything is available on Amazon, and you can find all my books at www.poetweasel.com

I’m working on a chapbook of fiction called “Honey & Fire” as a prequel to my novella, and I hope to have my chapbook of poetry titled, “We Don’t Make It Out Alive,” out by April (But we’ll see how that goes, depends on the cover artist and illustrator).

 

 


Interview with Red Focks

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I remember being in first grade, and my teacher Ms. Carpenter had us
writing stories. I wrote a story about my sister and I going through a tunnel in
our basement and finding a bag of money. I don’t remember many details,
except that it made everybody laugh. The next year I had the same teacher
for second grade, except she married the janitor during the summer and was
now Mrs. Cohen. I would get in trouble a lot that year, and when Cohen would
chastise me, she’d always bring up the story I wrote in first grade. Something
must have clicked, because I started writing little stories at my house around
that time.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: Stephen King is a big modern inspiration as a fiction writer. I love how he
uses settings and other subtler aspects to allow his many masterpieces to
exist in the same canonical universe. He has a simple formula, but he does
it damn well. What I learned from King is that if you want to scare the reader,
you need to develop characters properly. Make up a person that we’ll care
about, and them put them in absurd danger………………….……. As a poet,
I have been moved many times by the work of Charles Bukowski. I also must
mention the poets I read the most of all. The many talented poets in the Alien
Buddha Press, Pressure Press Presents, and Wingnut Brigade networks.
Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?
A: As of late, between noon and the time I go to sleep. I get up, drink coffee
until I BM, eat 4 eggs, drink more coffee and check my messages related to
my work as a publisher. In my down time between jobs, I write.
Q: Why do you write?
A: It’s simply what I like to do. Everybody has their unique deck of tendencies.
If you’re lucky, you’ll find an outlet that pairs with your deck. I think that
anybody who writes a lot would agree with this on some level. Some guys
like to golf. People who golf tend to golf a lot. I would never be a “golf person”,
but I believe I can understand why it would pair well with somebody else’s
deck.


Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?
A: George Carlin is the most quotable writer for me. His whole bit about
“nature getting even” is full of killer lines


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?
A: Explore the part of your psyche that you keep on the downlow. Take
psilocybin. Take Kratom. Ingest THC. Get drunk. Drink too much coffee. Go
off the grid and live in the woods for a couple of months. Dip your feet in the
ocean. Listen to classical music. Be anything except boring.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for
people to purchase?

A: I am on the verge of releasing a collection of short stories titled “Duffy
Street & Other Dubious Incidents”. The stories are interconnected and range
over the course of two-hundred years, from the late 1800s and into the future.
It’s all about the mechanics of conspiracy theories, and murder…. I would
also like to mention American Antihero, a graphic novel I have been
developing over the last two years. Issues 1-5 are available with writing
contributions from Mike Zone and Jay Minor, and art by Ammi Romero and
Carman Benoit. The long version “first canon” set to be over 300 pages
released in Black and White is in production.


Interview with Timothy Mbombo

 When did you start writing?

 
I started writing fully in 2012. But before then, I had scribbled a few poems and two manuscripts which are still to be revisited.
 
Who are your biggest inspirations/your biggest writers?
 
Many writers have inspired me. More continue to do so. Some of the writers who readily come to mind are Chinua Achebe, Can Temba, Buchi Emecheta, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Dennis Brutus, Ola Rotimi, Doris Lessing, Cyprian Ekwensi, Linus Asong, John Nkemngong, Ayi Kwei Armah, Thomas Hardy, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Geoffrey Chaucer, Richard Wright, Edgar Alan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
 
What time of day do you do most of your writing?
 
Even though I usually do not have a specific time to write, experience and records show that I do most of my writing early in the morning and late at night when I am all by myself. I am usually inspired when writing in my library.
 
Why do you write?
 
There are many reasons that keep my ink flowing. Besides the joy of it, I like the world or a wider audience to feel the way I do and to be influenced by my ideas. I like as many people as possible to see things the way I see them and to share in some of life’s ups and downs as experienced by my characters. Though my stories are richly entertaining, most of them carry the dystopian tone, which, according to me, is just the reality of life. I therefore write to entertain, philosophize, and teach the world.
 
 For example, in my latest novel The Last Bush Faller, I focused on wanton immigration of Africans to America or the West in general. My intention in this novel is to paint the true gloomy picture of what Africans in the Diaspora do to eke out a living. I think that the mass exodus of young and talented Africans to the West in quest of “manna” is illusory. With some focus, hard work, and commitment back in Africa these dreamers, who only think the pasture is greener on the Other Side, can make it too. This will safe them the heartaches of debts they accrued to cross over, the mean and multiple jobs they do to survive, and the falsehood they relay to others in Africa to maintain a certain echelon and aura.
 
In Natasha, My Love I took on the doctrine of free will and destiny; arguing that even when we cross our T’s and dot our I’s, misfortune will still be lurking around. Even Shakespeare contends that “as flies to wanton boys are we to the gods.” The gods play around with us as heartless schoolboys incapacitate insects.
 
Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?
 
I have a bunch of favorite quotes from writers. Some of these quotes serve as background or premise to my works. Some of the quotes that readily come to mind are: “Happiness was an occasional episode in the drama of pain” by Thomas Hardy, “Call no man hardy until the day he carries his happiness down to the grave in peace” by Sophocles, “For whom is it well? For whom is it well?” by Chinua Achebe, “Life moves on” by Robert Frost, “Joy has a slender body that breaks too soon” by Ola Rotimi, “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans” by Thomas la Mance, “Some of the worst things that happened to me never happened” by Mark Twain, “Man is a little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth” by Jonathan Swift, “Woman is man’s ruin” by Geoffrey Chaucer, and “A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people” by Thomas Mann.
 
What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?
 
I would tell them to keep writing, and writing, and writing because perfection, fame, and maybe fortune come with constant writing.
 
Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?
 
Some of my novels that could be purchased at Amazon and other outlets are Till Date Do Us Part, Natasha, My Love, and my most recent novel: The Last Bush Faller. I have just reduced the price of The Last Bush Faller so as to attract a wider readership. I remember when Achebe was asked which of his books did he like most; he replied that it would be sheer invidiousness for a father to classify his children in order of importance. However, Achebe pointed out that the book he would be caught reading most often is Arrow of God. I think the novel I will be caught leafing through again and again is The Last Bush Faller.
 
Since the ink of my pen is so eager to flow, my audience should be expecting to hear from me soon!

 


Q: When did you start writing?

A:  My first published poem was when I was ten.  A horrible little piece about my teacher for the school competition that I had to keep reciting for people until I forgot it.  I remember being SO nervous…probably has a bit to do with my social anxiety disorder now.  But as for any real writing attempts they came much later in my late teens and on.  Still clumsy fumblings of course, but it is hardly ever a pretty process I should imagine. Probably quite the horror show when viewed from the outside, but boy do we like to stew in our own dark little cocoons.  I’m 38 now, so mine has been going on for quite some time.  No butterflies at the end.  Just the magic of some half decent words with any luck.


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favorite writers?

A: I don’t know about inspirations, but I do have many favourite writers: Kafka, Fante, Orwell, Hamsun, Joyce, and Dostoevsky in terms of prose and novels.  When it comes to poetry: Richard Brautigan, Leonard Cohen, Bukowski, William Blake, early Ginsberg, Al Purdy, E.E Cummings, Siegfried Sassoon, Auden, etc. Basho is fantastic for economy of verse.  I’m normally not a fan of haiku, but Basho is amazing!  I also enjoy Roald Dahl stories very much.

Ben John Smith out of Melbourne, Australia is the best modern writer out there today in my opinion.  I also enjoy the work of Rich Wink and Wayne F. Burke and Steven Storrie among others.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A:  I used to write at night.  I would start about 8 in the pm and go until about 3 in the morning.  Then I would make dinner, eat, and go to bed.  Now I write during the day whenever I can.  Life gets in the way as it does for all of us but I was diagnosed with PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder (among other things) so the medications I have to take throughout the day at specific times ensure that I have to stick to a more normal schedule than I used to.  Still, writing is more of a compulsion for me than anything else, so whatever is going on in my life I always seem to find time to write even when it seems I don’t have it.  I’m often reminded of Monet standing over his dying wife’s deathbed and studying the colour gradations of death so he could paint it later rather than mourning properly.  Not that I am Monet or anything, but it really does become that kind of self-absorbed sickness.  Writing is a selfish thing to do.  Outside of it, I try to be a better person when I can


Q:  Why do you write?

A:  Like I said, writing is a compulsion for me…a sickness of sorts.  I believe they call it Hypergraphia.  I write all over everything: mirrors, old newspapers, oatmeal packets, envelopes, the computer, yellow sticky notes…whatever.  I know others write as a form of therapy and others still for enjoyment but it is just a compulsion for me; a repetitive mechanism more than anything.  I remember when writing used to make me happy, that feeling you would get, that great swelling inside when you knew you had done good – better than any drug in existence!  But I don’t feel that anymore.  I feel good for those that do.  If writing is therapeutic in some way or makes you happy than do that.  It is good to be happy.  There is much too much of the other in the world.


Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

A: Plenty:

“I don’t need an alarm clock. My ideas wake me.”  – Ray Bradbury

“The earth laughs in flowers” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Reduce intellectual and emotional noise until you arrive at the silence of yourself, and listen to it.” – Richard Brautigan

“All my life, my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name” – Andre Breton

The summit sings what is being spoken in the depths” – Tristan Tzara

“Even when we sleep we watch over one another” – Paul Eluard

“Some people never go crazy.  What truly horrible lives they must lead.” – Charles Bukowski

“Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations” – Ray Bradbury

“We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings…Most of our lives are basically mundane and dull, and it’s up to the writer to find ways to make them interesting” – John Updike


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

A:  You will most assuredly begin with some form of mimicry based on what you have read and how you have come to it but you must find your own voice and be uncompromising in that voice.  Also, do not be so worried about what others will think.  Write fiercely and with a brutal honesty that will lose you friends and put strains on your personal and familial relationships.  Lastly, never forgot to inject your work with humour.  You either laugh at the joke or you become the joke…I choose to laugh.


Q: Do you have any collections, chapbooks, or other books available for people to purchase?

A: I do.  If you are interested in checking out some of my work you can find it at the usual haunts: Amazon, Chapters/Indigo, Barnes and Noble etc., as well as at lulu.com or from many of the individual publishers directly.  The easiest way is probably from my personal website: http://ryanquinnflanagan.yolasite.com/


Interview with Sarah NorthWood


Q: When did you start writing?

A: Apart from stories in school, I started writing a little over 2 years ago. Although looking back I had always used writing as a therapeutic outlet.  Writing with intent started one morning, I was frustrated finding myself redundant and unable to find a job that would fit my work/life balance. The kids were kicking up a fuss, you can imagine the scene, one of those mornings? I sat down and a poem came bursting out. I’ve never looked back. Now I have published a children’s poem book, a romance novel and escaping shortly is The Volunteer, a Horror Novella. As well as this I’ve written a couple of hundred poems that I’m proud of!


Q: Who are your biggest inspirations/your favourite writers?

A: I was and am an uneducated literary individual. Not one of those who could point to a famous poet and say, yes its them, they inspire me. I loved to read children’s books, all the obvious, Enid Blyton, AA Milne and Road Dahl when I was younger. My tastes these days are darker and I prefer psychological stories and emotive ones. As for poets I’m constantly inspired by my fellow poets from the website All poetry as well as the wonderful facebook groups I am in. I read obsessively and watch a huge amount of films and series. A big influence for me in terms of Poetry writing comes musically as I also like to write songs and lyrics. Some of the finest poems are in fact songs.


Q: What time of day do you do most of your writing?

A: I would say it is not so much a time of a day as a space in my head. Late at night, when my brain is trying to process the thoughts from the day is often productive. I do have to sit down at other times and force myself to write to fit in with family life and working part time. Sometimes I prefer total isolation, quite often in fact and other times I like to be surrounded by family. I’ll often find a tune and lyrics come to me when I’m not thinking about them, and I’m doing something routine. Hoovering is a favourite for this! I think perhaps it’s my minds way of telling me I don’t like housework..


Q:  Why do you write?

A: I write primarily for myself. It satisfies a creative need I’d been searching for all my life. Until I put pen to paper I didn’t realise that it would be writing, now I can’t imagine it being anything else. A lot of things held me back earlier in life, lack of confidence the most obvious one. As I can’t sing and I am not artistically inclined I could never find that thing, I guess sometimes you have to wait until later in life to realise your dreams. Writing poetry conveys and captures so many different things, it is a way to deal with emotions, capture a memory, or find out what you are thinking. It’s a tool to create something positive out of a bad situation and a place to take you where only dreams can go. I love it!


Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

A: Yes and far too many too write here. One recent one is almost a motto rather than a quote, “the only limits we have are the ones we put on ourselves.” I’m making this my mission statement.


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give new/aspiring writers?

Not everyone can be as lucky as I am and are able to write freely and have the time available to them. I’m not sure I can stick to just one, but as a bit of general advice I’ll try! Write with freedom and confidence, push deeper and further than you think you can, experiment but most of all write what drives you, your passions will keep you going when times get rough.


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