Confessions of a New Author | How I Got Here
How I became an author…
I never planned it. Sure, as a kid I dreamed of writing a novel, but I never, ever, imagined that I would write poetry and publish the collection. But as soon as the thought appeared in my mind, I knew exactly what the title would be.
I have always written….mainly for myself, journaling thoughts, feelings, and random things I’d feel compelled to write about. Sometimes I wrote in complete sentences, and sometimes it was just phrases or one word lists. After my dad passed away, I had no words to verbally express what I was feeling, so my writing (and gibberish) increased to multiple times a day.
Then one day, poems started popping up on my Instagram feed. It was different from how I learned poetry in elementary school. Modern poetry is much more relatable and readable than classical poetry. Rupi Kaur was quite popular ... .but I also found Ada Limon and Victoria Chang’s poem quite comforting. Because of this connection, I knew then that I needed to share my writings so that it can help others who are going through the same kind of grief. By this time, I had written journals upon journals of thoughts and emotions. I spent a year going back, rereading, rewriting, and fine tuning the words into short micro poems. Who knew that this process would be very liberating!
There was no question that the title was going to be The Inheritance of Grief; The rest of the book I trusted would unfold and come together naturally.
Self-publishing was a beast I probably lost a few chuck of hair over. But I am so glad and proud that I went with this decision. So, the book came out. I thought I was done. I was wrong!
The words kept coming even after I put a nice bow on the first book - my second book, Sometimes the Birds Come Back, turned out to be a sequel to the first one…and I think it’s really lovely!
Am I done publishing now??? Well, I guess you have to wait and find out!
Read Blog Post: Why Poetry Matters
Listen to Podcast: How Do You Become a Poet where I talk with host, Monica Packer from the AboutProgress podcast.