Couplets Poetry Tour: Sharing Your Story

My last interview as part of the Couplets Poetry Tour I am happy to share with you the story of Jen Minkman! Also as an added bonus you can WIN a copy of Jen's chapbook! Here is how to enter:

          1. Sign up for my newsletter

          2. Tweet or “like” us on Facebook

          3. Comment below that they have done all 3!

     

      We will announce the winner next week! And now here is Jen's story!

Jen Minkman (1978) was born in The Netherlands, in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn. When she was 19, she moved between The Hague, Salzburg (Austria), Brussels (Belgium) and Cambridge (UK) to complete her studies in intercultural communication. She is currently a teacher of English, career counsellor and teenage coach at a secondary school in Voorburg, Holland. She is also a published writer of paranormal romance in the Netherlands. Her poetry is always in English, however, and she publishes that in the US through CreateSpace and KDP Amazon.
Jen tries to read at least 200 books a year (and write a few, too!). In her spare time, she plays the piano, the guitar and the violin. For every novel she writes, she creates a soundtrack. 

    1. In your poetry volume you mention how the title “Undercurrent” came to be. Tell us a bit more about that-at what age did you start using writing to express yourself?

       

      As far as I can remember, I have always used words to express myself. I could speak when I was 18 months old, I could read simple books when I was three, and I have always submerged myself in worlds of wonder by reading fantasy books and fairy tales. I wrote my very first book at the age of nine ( a sci-fi story about four kids finding a flying saucer in the woods and helping the aliens to vanquish their enemies and go back to their own planet), for which I painstakingly taught myself how to use a typewriter, bind books by hand and correct my typos as neat as possible with Tipp-Ex (a European type of correction fluid).

      I have always held back in expressing deep emotions, though. If I felt sad, I would go to my room and comfort myself by picking up a book or drawing something. If I was in love, I was never gonna tell that boy, but instead I would write longing poems. I think I first started to write poetry when I started to really take notice of the lyrics to my favourite songs by Tori Amos, Suzanne Vega, Heather Nova, the Beatles, the Doors and Metallica. Also, we read a lot of poetry in school during Dutch and English class, so I was used to reading it a lot. The poems in Undercurrent have been written in a time-span of about ten years. I wrote tons of poems when I was a teenager, but I didn't include those. They are just too much part of a certain era in my development and I didn't think they would be interesting or good enough for a larger audience than myself.

  

     2. What inspires your poetry? Where to start? Everything! Life. Love. Pain. Watching the world go round. Other people's stories. Sometimes I write poems or lyrics from other people's point of view, because I can feel what they feel, and I feel the need to write down what I think it is they're going through.

    3. What does your writing routine look like? Are you disciplined, or do you go with the creative flow?

      I suffer from a mild form of ADD, so in my writing, I can be extremely hyper-focused. There are days when I am too busy doing other things (I have way too many hobbies for my own good!), but once I feel the urge to write, I just have to sit down and let it flow for hours. If people disturb me or I suddenly have to do other things, I can get quite cranky. Because the poems and stories demand to be written, and because once I'm in the flow, I write stuff that really matters to me. So it's really not a question of discipline for me (although to many people, it looks like that on the outside). It's a simple question of being struck with OCD and having no way out but to WRITE! :)

  

      4. I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Undercurrent.” I was struck by how some of your shortest poems were the ones that hit me, moved me and inspired me.  Does it require a lot of editing for you or does the poetry just flow that way?

      Thank you for your kind words! Actually, I never edit poems. They just come into being like that. I have been likened to a machine gun of emotions, writing in short staccato bursts by one of my reviewers on Amazon, so I guess I know what you mean. It's funny how I discover more about my writing style by listening to my readers; I never realized it was actually kind of different from most poets (who tend to write longer poems). With me, it's like I am spitting out powerful emotions. I never need many words for that.

      5. Tell us how you came about putting together this particular collection.

      As I was saying before, the poems in this collection have been written in the last ten years. Of course, I wrote more than just these poems in that decade, but some of them were just too lyric-ey to include (because I also write songs, I'm in a band actually) and some of them were in foreign languages (I have also written in German, French and Dutch, but the English poems make up about 75 % of my work). When I put this collection together, I kept the theme of the undercurrent of emotions as my guiding light, and this is what came out. 

    

      6. What other projects are you working on?

      Oh, so many! I have currently completed three romantic novels in Dutch and am working with my editor to finalize the manuscripts for publication. I am also translating one of my paranormal romance novels into English (publication for 'Shadow of Time' is scheduled for April 2013, book trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uglRUoxUx-k  ), and I am also working on a new collection of poetry called 'Songlines', which in all likelihood will come out in October 2012. 

      7. Where can people find out more about you and your writing?

The best place to read up on my books in English in-depth is my website www.jenminkman.nl (just follow the link 'in English' at the bottom of the page) where you can read about Undercurrent and Shadow of Time. I also tweet about my work at www.twitter.com/JenMinkman, I keep a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jenminkman and I have a blog at jenminkman.blogspot.com. I am also a member of the Independent Author Network where I have an info page: http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/jen-minkman.html .

  

 

Couplets Poetry Tour & Sharing Your Story

This week I am bringing you the story of Lisa Cihlar. Lisa is an author & poet. She was kind enough to let me interview her about her latest work The Insomniac's House.

1 Please tell me a bit about yourself.

       I grew up in Door County, WI.  The house we lived in was surrounded by a  cattail and willow swamp.  It was an old farm house and there was no tub or shower when we moved in so my father put one in the basement.  Just a hose and showerhead hanging from the ceiling joists with a plastic curtain for some privacy.  Also in the basement were salamanders, little red bellied snakes, and plenty of bugs.  Sounds weird, but that was the life I lived, so it was not odd to me at all.

    When did you start writing poetry?

       I won a poetry contest when I was in the 4^th grade.  All I remember was the line “Flutter flutter butterfly.”  I guess I was into rhyming in those days.  I also won a contest in high school.  An insipid and teenage angst filled poem.  I was a little better in college.  About seven years ago I began writing poetry seriously.  I suppose there is still some angst.  It is just articulated in a better way now.     

    

   In your chapbook, The Insomniac’s House Swampy Woman comes to play in almost every poem-how did she 

   come to be and what does she represent to you?

       I think of Swampy Woman as Mother Nature on steroids.  Nature does not have feelings for humankind.  It just is.  We are the ones that anthropomorphize the natural world.  And we change it to suit ourselves.  Swampy Woman carries a lot of sadness in her heart for what has been lost.  She is also a sexual being because nature is about procreation.  I wrote a poem where she showed up.  A few months later she turned up in another one and then I was on a roll and wrote all of them in about a month.  I still occasionally write one, but mostly, she is finished with me.   

   This collection (The Insomniac’s House) of poetry offers such a powerful female role model, what do you hope

  she inspires in women?

       I think women have a lot of unused power.  I think we don’t stand up and say NO often enough.  Maybe things are changing.  Maybe Rush Limbaugh started a tide of change.  

    

   What type of poetry do you enjoy writing the most?

       About a year and a half ago I began writing prose poetry and it became my form of choice.  I occasionally write lined poetry but mostly I write in little boxes of prose.  It feels freeing to me.  Surrealism was not something I did much of when I was writing lined poems but the prose poems brought out that side of my brain.  I love a pig preaching a sermon or a chicken that is self-aware.  I think my poems now are kind of beautiful and the images, no matter how bizarre, are believable when the readers suspend disbelief.   

     

   Tell me about some of your favorite poets.

       Traci Brimhall has written an amazing book titled “Rookery.”  I have a platonic crush on her and she has no idea I exist.  Isn’t that the way of the world?  LOL!  Brigit Pegeen Kelly makes me so jealous with “Song” that I turn green whenever I read her book.  But there is a poem “Testy Pony” by Zachary Schomburg that breaks my heart every time I read it.  If you want a good cry, search it out.  In fact here is a link to it:  http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21895 .  I read it again while looking up the link and I still get gooseflesh.  What a masterful use of language.  Darn him.  Now I feel inadequate again. 

7

   What projects are you currently working on?

        I have a prose poem chapbook coming out this month (April 2012) titled “This is How She Fails.”  It is about a character, or characters, who lose parts of themselves.  There is some deep hidden psychological meaning in them that I am choosing to ignore.  I am working on another chapbook in my quest to become the queen of chapbooks.  Plus a full length book of prose poems is in the works. 

     

   Can we expect another book in the near future?

        I’m working on it.  The writing is the easy part.  Finding a publisher is hard. 

9

   Where can someone find more about your work?

        I should put together an author’s website.  Since I have yet to do that, here are the links to the two publishers where you can get my current chapbooks:  http://dulcetshop.ecrater.com/p/13370012/the-insomniacs-house-lisa-cihlar  and http://press.crisischronicles.com/ 

      Also, if you google my name you will find dozens of my poems that were published in different online zines. 

      Thank you, Michele for letting me talk about my work.  There is not enough poetry in the world and people

      should read more of it.  It is about letting in the beauty and calmness I think.  Poetry does that. 

Gardening and Other Life Lessons

It's been an amazing few weeks for me.

I am working through the Creative Dream Incubator Workshop and all  can say is, "Wow." It's been so beautiful to see how my perceptions are shifting and blooming and growing and things are manifesting.

I am getting ahead of myself though.

The reason this week has been so good, in a large part I believe, is my new approach to "stuff." My new approach to all the things that have to get done, should get done or that I would like to get done.

You see love to garden-and when we bought our home-the minute the weather was warm enough I was out digging my first hole for my very own rose bush. Over the years the garden has grown, changed evolved-as did I.

It seemed as time went on that I approached my gardening as one would a marathon-always looking for the finish line. It wasn't until last year that I realized something.

I like gardening, I just wasn't acting like it.

I made it like any other task in life-something I had to finish so I could put another "to-do" in it's place. The truth is, I didn't have to garden. I could just have a lawn that got mowed once a week. No one said my porch needed flowers-so why was I rushing through my days in the yard?

I realized I rushed through a lot of things. The drive to a vacation, a birthday party because I had stuff to do after. Truth is I was rushing through life.

So I decided that when I went outside to work in the yard-I would focus on ALL the pruning, or ALL the leaves, I would focus on the gardening. I would pick a tiny spot and say, "you my friend are going to look MARVELOUS!" (Ok. I didn't actually say that but  do talk to my flowers-and the weeds actually). And I would set myself up to work on that spot as if it would take all day.

Hell, I'd bring a canteen and a snack.

And the funny thing was-it would take maybe 15 minutes.  And then I'd look around and find another spot I wanted to work on. Then another. Before long I was inspired to work on the "less fun" projects. And you know what? I finished the front garden in record time.

Now, before I also would have finished the garden, the main difference is that this time I enjoyed it.

So here's to spending a week, looking at all those things we do as if we were gardening (or something else delicious you love). Take a section, start on it and breathe in the moment.

Couplets Poetry Tour & Sharing Your Story:

Hello All,

In honor of National Poetry Month I am taking part in Couplets: a multi-author poetry blog tour
and have been having the amazing fortune of getting to know some fabulous poets. Please check out the posts on the tour (they are listed below after the interview). I know you won't be disappointed.

This week I am bringing you my interview with Renee Emerson!

1.       Please tell me a bit about yourself.

I'm a born and raised Southerner, which makes its way into my writing. My husband Bryan and I have moved around frequently the past few years and are just now starting to settle down in Rome, GA, where I teach poetry and composition at Shorter University and where Bryan works as a music minister. We have a seven month old daughter who is a complete delight. 

2.       When did you start writing poetry

I wrote some poetry in high school, as high school aged girls are apt to do, but I did not seriously start writing poetry until around my sophomore year of college in 2005. Before then I'd wanted very much to be a fiction writer--a novelist--but the more I learned about writing, the more I realized that my talent and interests were truly in poetry.  

3.       On your blog you share stories about handling rejection as well as celebrating successes-what would you say is your publishing dream?

I'm currently working on a full-length manuscript of poems and having that published would be fulfilling a long-time dream of mine.  I've published several chapbooks in the past, most recently "Where Nothing Can Grow" (Batcat Press, 2011), and  in addition to my full-length manuscript, I am working on another poetry chapbook that I'm hoping to have completed sometime this summer. 

4.       What type of poetry do you enjoy writing the most?

I write free verse lyric poetry, and I most enjoy writing the type of poem that puts into words unnameable things. Which is to say, a poem that someone, anyone, can pick up and read and say "I've felt that way. I know what she's talking about." 

5.       Tell me about some of your favorite poets.

C.D. Wright, Charles Wright, James Wright--all the Wrights!--Louise Gluck, Carolyn Forche, Seamus Heaney, Rita Dove, Linda Gregg.  I'm always looking for new "favorite poets"--I consider it a way to grow in my own craft, studying the craft of others.