#interview – Madness Muse Press

A: I started writing stories when everybody else did…in about the 3rd grade. The difference was I really, really liked it. My family bought me a typewriter in the fifth grade, and I remember my first big story was fiction written from the perspective of a large, orange suitcase. This suitcase travelled to Hawaii, where my mother lived. Really I was trying to write memoir but writing from my perspective made me too vulnerable. Plus I thought I was “supposed” to write fiction. Luckily later I discovered memoir.

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

A: My biggest inspirations, in no particular order, are truth-tellers: Eminem (believe it or not), Tupac, Frank McCourt, Anne Frank, Lidia Yuknavitch, Jewel, Woody Guthrie, Elizabeth Gilbert, and fiction-that-reads-like-memoir by Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander. I am sure I am forgetting some. I am blown-away daily by new gems and new reads.

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

A: People are going to hate this but, whenever it strikes me. Yeah, I mean, I’m not a 9-5 writer. I find the best time to write actually, if you can manage, is right after a life-altering (large or small) event happens. Almost in-the-moment. After a fight. After a job interview. After a psychic reading. When you’re really feeling something. Also, if it works out, writing in the middle of the night is fantastic. So quiet. So people-less.

Q: Why do you write?

A: I believe I started writing because I needed to work through some shit. I guess I wasn’t as good at verbalizing things. You know, I feel like writing is polite. It’s like, people can choose whether or not to engage in your whining, your opinions, your fantasies. When you’re just talking to them they don’t have much a choice. As a writer, I can share my ideas with the world, and some will dig it and some will not. But I am not imposing my ideas on the world. Writing is an elegant art form. Just black letters on a white page. The impact is there, but it is silent. There’s something beautiful about that. Something powerful and timeless.

Q: Do you have any favourite quotes from writers?

A: “Write hard and clear about what hurts.” -Ernest Hemmingway

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

A: If the fire’s burning, fan it. Do not take that passion and interest for granted: it is a gift. The best way to become a writer is to go down to your office supply store, pick up two nice, large writing pamphlets, steal a pen from a bank, and just write whatever comes to mind. Literally, whatever comes to mind. Don’t think, just write. You are tapping into something which will guide you, which has a direction already. Also: the bigger the writing pad, the more you will write. I like drawing pads personally. So yeah, believe in yourself and write all the things.

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

A: Yep. I’ve got two books of poetry available on Amazon. The first one is Love, Blues, Balance: A Collection of Poetry. The second, more recent one, is New Moon: Transformative Poetry and Quotes for Soul Searchers and Independent Folk. I’ve begun a collection of essays largely inspired by the #metoo movement. My hope is to publish that one independently within the next few months.

Interview with Mike Meraz

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Adam Levon Brown in Interview Series

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.

Interview with Chris Byrne

Posted on May 8, 2018May 11, 2018 by Adam Levon Brown in Interview Series

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.

I’m originally from Dublin, now living in Cavan town, I’m a cabinet maker who writes about the things that matter and hoping people listen. I’m just me nothing special, not normal, shy yet I’d be the first to be up on a stage singing, been told I’m weird I take that as a compliment

Interview With Paul Brookes

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Adam Levon Brown in Interview Series

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?

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.

Thankyou 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.

Interview with Heath Brougher

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Adam Levon Brown in Interview Series

Q: When did you start writing?

A: Pretty much once I learned how to write. I’ve found notebooks as far back as the 2nd grade.

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

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.

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

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.

Q: Why do you write?

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.

Q: Do you have any favorite quotes from writers?

A: “Insist on yourself. Never imitate.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

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.

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

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 John and Joanna Poster

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Adam Levon Brown in Interview Series, Uncategorized

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

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Adam Levon Brown in Interview Series

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

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Adam Levon Brown in Interview Series

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.