Q: When did you start writing poetry, and why did you begin?
A: I started writing around the age of 11, shortly after the untimely death of my biological mother from Cancer, and then shortly afterwards, the loss of my maternal grandparents as caregivers, followed by the loss of my paternal grandfather just one year later. All of that was a very powerful experience for me and shaped my future life in myriad ways. Both reading and writing have always been very helpful to me in processing loss and other difficult emotions.
Q: Do you have a favorite subject (is it the ocean? the forest?) and what draws you particularly to it?
A: I love it when our strongest feelings coincide with things we can observe in the natural world, and I am often most inspired to write after hearing the roar of the ocean, enjoying the silence of a woodland scene or even feeling the motion of insects in a beautiful garden.
Q: What is your writing process (sudden inspiration, multiple drafts, etc.?)
A: It definitely varies- there are times when I am inspired by something I observe in nature, human or otherwise, and other times when my own life events cause feelings that need to be explored through writing.I often revise my poetry several times before I am satisfied with it. I move lines, eliminate unnecessary words, change punctuation, and sometimes alter the entire focus of a poem before I feel it is close to being “finished.”
Q: What advice do you have for a young poet (either chronologically young, or early in writing career)?
A: Write from your heart and based on your own singular experience. You can then be certain to be original, as no one else will see the world exactly in the unique way that you do.
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