#once again read this in the pushcart prize anthology and really loved it

[insaneclownpussi]

Natasha Sajé, "Alive"

[limejuicer1862]

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

  Rachael Ikins

Rachael Ikins has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize & CNY Book Award multiple times and won the 2018 Independent Book Award for Just Two Girls. She featured at the Tyler Gallery 2016, Rivers End Bookstore 2017, ArtRage gallery 2018, Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, Aaduna fundraiser 2017 Auburn, NY, Syracuse Poster Project 2015, and Palace Poetry, Syracuse. Her work is included in the 2019 anthologies Gone Dogs and We Will Not Be Silenced the latter Book Authority’s #2 pick for the top 100 Best New Poetry Books for 2019. She has 7 chapbooks, a full length poetry collection and a novel. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and Associate Editor of Clare Songbirds Publishing House. She lives in a small house with her animal family surrounded by nature and is never without a book in hand.

Associate Editor Clare Songbirds Publishing House, Auburn NY

https://www.claresongbirdspub.com/shop/featured-authors/rachael-ikins/

2018 Independent Book Award winner (poetry)

2013, 2018, 2019 CNY Book Award nominee

2016, 2018 Pushcart nominee

Www.writerraebeth.wordpress.com

https://m.facebook.com/RachaelIkinsPoetryandBooks/

@poetreeinmoshun on Instagram

@writerraebeth on Tumblr

@nestl493 on Twitter

Above all, practice kindness

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

I started writing poetry in second grade when I was 7. I still know that silly poem by heart that I’d written for Halloween. And it was about cats. Some things never change, although I write about more than cats now. As far as inspiration I suppose it was hearing it—I speak several languages— poetry is its own language. My first grade teacher had us copy poems to learn penmanship from the chalk board. My father used to have me read psalms from the Bible at bed time as I learned to read more. I think I was just born a poet. Only one period of my life was I unable to write and that was caused by serious adverse reaction to medications. It was a bleak time.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

I have already mentioned my dad and my first grade teacher. The most significant person was my 8th grade English teacher. A poet and author herself, she presented the unit on poetry ( met with groans esp. from the boys) by having us go out into the community to find poems in magazines and periodicals and cut them out. To create a notebook of poems. She had us each get a copy of two seminal poetry books, Poetry USA and Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle and we were assigned poems and practiced. We performed for a small crowd one afternoon in the school library. It made a huge difference to be taught by someone who was passionate about poetry. No English teacher for the rest of my school years ever came close. We are still friends. She is in her 80s now and still writing in multiple genres, attending workshops and publishing.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

I’m not sure what this question refers to. Older in history poets or older people I knew who liked or wrote  poetry. My father was given, as were all soldiers, The Pocket Book of Poetry.  Soldiers would carry it under their helmets. My dad still had his copy, and we used to read from that little book. So I was aware of the masters as a kid, but had not known an actual adult poet until I was 14.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I tend to work in the mornings. I browse markets using social media a lot, too. If I find something interesting I will match up the pieces I want to submit and then revise and polish. As far as new work, again, it tends to be written mornings. I was riding my bike yesterday morning, and a poem started up in my head. This has always been a way I write. Other days something will happen, something that has been subconsciously simmering will say “It’s time!” Whatever else I had planned that day will take back seat to the need to write, and I may write for 5 hours straight.

Walking or riding and letting my mind roam. Once the body is craving relief, all extraneous clutter- thought goes away and clears space for something new to appear. I just listen for it.

5. What motivates you to write?

A feeling of not having achieved some mysterious rubicon yet. I have won a lot of prizes and as well published quite a lot of books with three publishers in multiple genres, and yet I  am just driven. I also have to say, I think I can’t help it. Writing is like breathing to me. “Write or die.” I would also like to make a significant amount of money at my craft/passion to make a dent in my monthly budget. Would I like to support myself at it? For sure, but I don’t know if that will ever happen. I have intense focus and ability to pursue something no matter who detracts from it. That has done well for me, too. Because in spite of teacher support, my family never took my writing seriously until the past decade.

6. What is your work ethic?

My work ethic has always been work hard and  help one another. We are all in this together. Contests aside, we are not competitors though some act that way. Help someone else. Don’t trample someone with your ambition. Pay it forward. Honesty. Write honestly.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

Oh, that is an easy one. I first tried to read Tolkien to myself as an 8 year old. Was a tad daunting. Instead I read all of Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books. The classics. Read Tolkien again in my 20s and was hooked. Both these authors made a mark on me somehow, scarred my heart and brain because decades later after writing nothing but poetry since age 14, in my 40s I wrote a series of children’s stories and the initial chapters of what became the first book in the Tales from the Edge of the Woods series, Totems. My understanding of fantasy and my choice of magical characters and so on was sparked by those great authors. My children’s stories stayed in a box until about a year ago, through 7 moves. I showed them to a publisher last year and we worked on edits. A Piglet for David will be coming from Clare Songbirds Publishing House later this year, the first in a series of young reader chapter books.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire and why?

I admire J. K. Rowling though I am not a Harry Potter fan. Like her, I have known horrible poverty. You just do the work, period. And if you become successful, you do good with it. I also have always admired poet Marge Piercy. Since her book The Moon is Always Female in the ‘80s with its erotic poems connected to the natural world and also cat poetry Marge has seemed to appear along the journey just when I  needed an example to follow. I have also been at work on straight fiction, a lesbian adventure/ romance for awhile. I have never been fond of reading explicit sexual descriptions. It bores me. Do it, don’t discuss it lol.

I had to write a love scene and had no idea how to do so. One thing about love scenes is it is easy for them to be unimaginative.

I was in a bookstore and found an anthology Best Lesbian Erotica, not sure of the year. Looking through the table of contents I saw Marge Piercy had a short story in it. So I bought it, read her story and the rest of them, then faced off one night, sweating, in front of my computer and wrote the scene. A few years later my story “The Horse Rescuer” was accepted for publication, and I was paid probably the most for one piece I’ve been so far.

In 2014 I noticed Marge on FaceBook so I private-messaged her, one of those “You don’t know me but…” expressions of gratitude for her presence in my literary life. She responded and suggested I submit to her June Poetry Intensive. She chooses 12 students for a week long workshop every year. I finally got to meet my hero.

I like Mary Oliver’s poetry, too, but Marge is the one who has always been there in some sort of magical way. There are really too many authors for me to list.

9. Why do you write as opposed to doing anything else?

I can’t not write. And when a poem in particular or a scene if we’re talking prose, starts coming together in my mind, I have to stop whatever else I’m doing. It’s like going into labor I guess. You can’t tell the baby you’ve changed your mind, stay in there.

10. What would you say to someone who asks “How do you become a writer.”

You write. The best way to become a writer is to read everything you can get your hands on. Then you write. Maybe you start out emulating a style of someone you like to read. Keep writing and eventually your own voice will be heard. Writing is the most labor-intensive, long-term gamble of a profession going. You can theoretically spend, for example, 5 years writing a novel, another several seeking an agent and publisher if you want to go the path of the big 5 publishers, and yet you can spend a whole decade of your life on that one project and it may never be accepted. Or sell. Know that up front. Study. Go to workshops. Find a writing group. Read at open mics. And if/ when you reach a point where you have something to submit, read the specs the publisher lists as to how to submit to their publication. It shows respect. Many a writer has been summarily rejected for not submitting the way the publisher requested. Be tough. Opinions are completely subjective. Being rejected by a publication is meaningless. Editors are human beings. We all have different tastes. Don’t take it to heart. If you are lucky enough to get a note of feedback along with the rejection, learn from that. Read books about writing.

It’s hard. Be aware. Being a writer is not for the faint of heart. If you are serious about it you will pursue it no matter what. We only pass this way one time. So if you really want to do this, do it.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

Right now I am in the midst of launching my mixed-genre memoir, Eating the Sun. It is the love story of my husband and me. Organized by seasons of the year, the garden is the vehicle that takes the reader on the journey. Each section starts with narrative and then has poetry related to it, and finally recipes created by us from garden ingredients we grew. I use my artwork often in my books when publishers allow it.

This book has pen and inks, photography and cover art by me. I have a second manuscript submitted to a publisher. It is all poetry titled Confessions of a Poetry Whore. Another poetry  manuscript  to be sent this fall is titled Riding in Cars with Dogs.  It will be the companion book to my previously published For Kate: a Love Story in Four Parts written after the death of my beloved cat, Katie.  Since grief is a universal experience and so is love, no matter what shape the beloveds, this book is accessible to anyone who has lost someone. The second fantasy book of the Tales of the Woodland series,  Beach Wrack has been written and edited professionally and is in the queue with a mid-level publisher. Book 3, Through the Hedgerow  is half written.

All four or five of the young reader chapter books are written as well. A Piglet for David will be Book 1. These also have my artwork as illustrations.  My work is contained in 5 upcoming anthologies, and I am eagerly awaiting copies. All releasing this summer and fall. Both writing and artwork.

Last but not least, I am at work on a thriller/horror genre novel. Haven.

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Rachael Ikins Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

[lindaksienkauthor]

What: 

I’m a writer, and I write poems.  I have always written, ever since I was a little girl and filled notebooks with possible titles for stories that I never wrote.  I have written newspaper articles, essays and short stories, but now I only write poems.

Why:

 I am always inspired by whatever I’m reading, whether it’s poetry, fiction, memoir, magazines, or the newspaper.  I feel like all of literature is one long conversation, and I am happy I can add my voice. Even if the only person who hears that voice is me.  I am inspired by looking at art. I am inspired by the quiet inside my head when I sit at my desk and look out at the field outside my window. I am inspired by the ordinary, mundane details of my life with my family.

With writing, I have always loved the idea that a stranger–somewhere far away in space and time– might be moved by one of my poems.  I’ll never know if this happens, yet I am enchanted by this possibility for connection. 

How:

I don’t wait for inspiration or motivation.  I have certain times each week when I write. This may make me sound really structured, but I am not.  I am not a person who writes every day. But I make sure I write every week. Though in summer, I don’t get much done and by mid-August I start feeling a little desperate because I think I may never write again.  This has happened enough times (and I always do write something again), that I am used to that cycle of despair and relief. I am motivated because I would like my words to reach someone, eventually. A friend once said she thought my poems were like postcards from Grief Island.  I like that. Reading also helps me stay motivated. Right now I am listening to Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and her thoughts on inspiration and creativity are enormously inspiring and motivating.   

Bio

Kathleen McGookey has published three books of poems, most recently Heart in a Jar (White Pine Press), and two chapbooks.  Another book is forthcoming from Press 53 in 2019.  Her work has appeared in journals including Agni, The Antioch Review, Boston Review, Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, Epoch, Field, Great River Review, Hunger Mountain, Indiana Review, KYSO Flash, The Laurel Review, Ploughshares, The Prose Poem:  An International Journal, Prairie Schooner, Quarterly West, Seneca Review, Upstreet, West Branch, and Willow Springs.  Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize twice, featured on Poetry Daily and Verse Daily, and included in eighteen anthologies–most recently New Micro:  Exceptionally Short Fiction (Norton) and Elemental:  A Collection of Michigan Creative Nonfiction (Wayne State).  She is also the translator of We’ll See, prose poems by French writer Georges Godeau.  She has received grants from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Arts Fund of Kalamazoo County, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation.  After earning her MFA and PhD from Western Michigan University, she taught creative writing at Hope College, Interlochen Arts Academy, and Western Michigan University, as well as in private workshops.  She lives in Middleville, Michigan, with her family.

Links:

Facebook

Books:

Whatever Shines We’ll See: Poems by George Godeau: Translated by Kathleen McGookey Mended Stay Heart in a Jar (review of Heart in a Jar on the Collagist)

Kathleen’s books on Amazon

  Linda K. Sienkiewicz is the author of the award-winning novel In the Context of Love, a story about one woman’s need to tell her truth without shame.

2017 New Apple Book Awards Official Selection 2016 Sarton Women’s Fiction Finalist 2016 Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist 2016 Readers’ Favorite Finalist 2016 USA Book News Best Book Finalist

“…at once a love story, a cautionary tale, and an inspirational journey.” ~ Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of National Book Award Finalist, American Salvage, and critically acclaimed Once Upon a River,and Mothers, Tell Your Daughters

“With tenderness, but without blinking, Linda K. Sienkiewicz turns her eye on the predator-prey savannah of the young and still somehow hopeful.” ~ Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of the #1 NY Times Bestseller, Deep End of the Ocean

Buy now: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

"I make sure I write every week. Though in summer, I don’t get much done and by mid-August I start feeling a little desperate because I think I may never write again." Do you wonder how to stay motivated? Read What, Why How: Kathleen McGookey What:  I’m a writer, and I write poems.  I have always written, ever since I was a little girl and filled notebooks with possible titles for stories that I never wrote.  

[theblueroute]

Poet Cynthia Dewi Oka visited Widener on Nov. 12 through 14 as a part of the English and Creative Writing Department’s Distinguished Writers Series.

Oka, a three-time Pushcart Prize Nominee, published her debut collection of poetry with Dinah Press called Nomad of Salt and Hard Water in December 2012, celebrating journey and its relentless precision of language. A second edition with new and revised poems was published in April 2016 with Thread Makes Blanket Press.

Much of her poetry has been published online and in print in such places as The American Poetry Review, Guernica Magazine, and Apogee Journal. In addition, Oka is a contributor for anthologies such as Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism and Who Will Speak for America among others. She has also been awarded the Fifth Wednesday Journal Editor’s Prize in Poetry as well as the Leeway Foundation Transformation Award and is currently pursuing her master’s in fine arts as a Holden Fellow at Warren Wilson College.

Oka’s latest collection is titled Salvage: Poems. Published in December 2017 with Northwestern University Press, Salvage interrogates what it means to reach for our humanity through the guise of nation, race, and gender.

On campus, Oka was the feature speaker at the Honors Freshman Composition Forum. She also met with several students within the department for tutorials and visited numerous creative writing courses. For many students, Oka’s visit was transformational and eye-opening.

Rohan Suriyage, a senior English and communications studies double major, found Oka’s presence and communication to be like that of a friend. Suriyage, along with several students in the Creative Writing department that received tutorials with Oka, believes he gained so much incredible insight from the visiting writer in such a short amount of time.

“Her prowess for effective writing, aesthetic, and finding a writer’s voice is truly incredible,” Suriyage said. “I’ve rethought the way I approach my writing, for the better, of course, and I thank her.”

Oka concluded her visit with a public reading during which she read new, never before published work surrounding Indonesian history and culture, specifically the mass killings that took place in the 1960s which the Indonesian government and citizens now act as if did not happen. She utilized documents once deemed to hold classified information on the killings to formulate a narrative, bringing to light the tragedy of what happened as well as the integration of Indonesian culture. After the reading, Oka took time to answer questions regarding politics and poetry, sign copies of her book, and speak to students.

Domenic Gaeta, senior Anthropology major, found Oka’s new poetry on the tragic killings in Indonesia to be powerful, rich in detail, and attention grabbing.

“I would have never though to use classified documents as the general vocabulary makeup of a poem, nor would I think to write about such tragic events,” Gaeta said. “Still, I knew each time she was telling a story that needed to be told.”

Oka also sat down with me for an interview with The Blue Route during her interview. The full conversation will be featured in our 21st issue set to be published in the next couple of weeks. For a preview of the interview, read below!

I was reading some of the reviews on Salvage and some of the descriptions were that it is almost as if you have “one foot in time, the other in timelessness”, that the poems exhibit “mythical depth, civic outcry, and lyric inventiveness”, and that the collection is almost as if “entering a dream world”. This is what other people have said about your work. I’m curious as to how you view this collection and what your vision was in building it. Every project I’m working on is an effort to grow and transform. That is the superpower of creative writers. We get to remake ourselves. For me, Salvage is an enactment in life, it was happening parallel with life. What was happening on the page was an attempt to sort of recuperate, to integrate a lot of the worst things that I’ve seen or have been through.

My first book, Nomad of Salt and Hard Water, was really an affirmation of strategies of survival. Part of the process of surviving difficult or traumatic things in our lives is that we end up having to bury a lot, so you can keep moving. Salvage was an effort to actually unearth those things and to bring them back into conversation, to reintegrate them, to repurpose them, to make them useful again.

I think of the structure of the book like an onion where you’re looking at the most external forms of violence, war, displacement, gentrification. Then you move inwards to the family, the legacies, and the exchanges that happen in that space. The final layer is intimacy, relationships. That was the vision. It is a trajectory moving inward.

I find that if I’m writing something from a darker place or something that is slightly out of my comfort zone, a little less like me, it takes me a bit to get into that headspace. Are there any poems in Salvage where you had to remove yourself and get into another headspace? How did you get there and then how do you shake it off? For me, it feels less like going somewhere else and more like being your whole, true self at a given period of time. I give space for all that I am, everything I shut out to arrive when I’m writing.

I tend to be one of those people where, if I finish something, I’m like, “Okay, on to the next thing!” Salvage really taught me that I can’t just do that. A rest period is important. For example, when I finish working on a poem, I can’t necessarily switch out of it. There has to be a transition period where I’m slowly moving back into the pace of my daily life and I think it’s good to plan for that rather than feel cut-off. This is why I stress it is so important to have a writing practice, because then we learn what our tendencies are and what is optimal for us in how we take care of ourselves after we finish. It’s labor, so much labor when we write, and we need sustenance after it. If you’re an extrovert, your sustenance might be from surrounding yourself with people, whereas introverts need alone time. We have to build that into our writing practice so that we don’t become—at least for me��so that I don’t become a terrible person to the people that I love.

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by Carlie Sisco

Poet Cynthia Dewi Oka offers insight on creative vision and the labor of writing. Check out this preview of an interview with Oka soon to be published in Issue 21! Poet Cynthia Dewi Oka visited Widener on Nov. 12 through 14 as a part of the English and Creative Writing Department’s Distinguished Writers Series.

[dorothydelgadillo]

6 Six Signs Your Career Has Turned Toxic

A version of the article previously appeared on FairyGodBoss.

As we grow, we change, discover new talents, and develop values that impact the trajectories of our careers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker holds an average of 12 jobs between the ages of 18 and 48. While the reason for switching jobs—or even careers—varies from person to person, choosing to make the change is a major decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Often, it requires major courage and sacrifice. But sometimes, it needs to be done.

Here are 6 ways to know you should change careers sooner rather than later, from women who’ve successfully made life changing career transitions.

1. You dread going to work

I switched from fundraising and education to content strategy and marketing. I realized it was time to change careers when I started dreading going to work. I no longer felt fulfilled or happy with what I was doing. I felt trapped. At first I was TERRIFIED. I was so worried I had made a poor decision. But now that I’m thriving in that role, I am so much happier than I could have imagined. I think the biggest challenge was being patient and consistent.

Before things started falling into place, I felt like I was free falling, But I leaned into my support network, made sure I was doing something everyday to support chasing my goals, and now, I prioritize self care.” —Alex Sundstrom, Content and Marketing Strategist

2. Your health is suffering from your job

“I made a significant career change 2 years ago after working in many aspects of sales and marketing for nearly 15 years. I sold luxury kitchen appliances all over the Northeast during the last 6 1/2 years of my career, and while I enjoyed the company I represented, I wasn’t passionate about what I was doing. The job came with a lot of stress and constant travel which led to anxiety, chronic fatigue and adrenal burnout. Then, in June of 2016 my mom was diagnosed with cancer, and I realized life is short, so I resigned with a very loose plan and enrolled in a culinary nutrition program.

Fast forward 2 years and I currently own a healthy personal chef and catering business. Yes, there are days or weeks when this new journey seems scary, but I am so glad and thankful I took the leap that I did.” —Melissa Eboli, Via Melissa, LLC Owner

3. You’re experiencing discrimination

“After graduating from college, I got a job in the leading political reporting law firm in the country. I signed on to a two-year contract, but I only made it six months. I experienced sexism, discrimination, and being overworked. I quickly realized that even though I thought I wanted the typical 9-5 job with benefits, once I had it, I felt like I was living in a nightmare.

I left that job and bounced around to a few other positions – from teaching at summer camps to working at another law firm – before deciding to get involved with various volunteer roles to gain more skills in the nonprofit sector. I met Drusilla Cowan, who shortly after asked me to come on as a co-founder of Survivor Alliance. I agreed and since then have dedicated my life to being a social justice entrepreneur and educator. Nowadays, I’m doing some of the most challenging work dealing with trauma. Yet I feel full of joy, because I know that I am dedicating my life to helping others.” —Asehli Howe, Survivor Alliance Co-Founder

4. You miss an old passion

“I worked as a freelance writer part-time while I was getting started as a dietitian. But over time, my writing started to get placed to the side while I focused on my full-time career. After my husband got laid off from his job in March 2017, I started freelance writing again in the evenings and on weekends as a way to make some extra money. In the midst of the financial chaos, I remembered how much I love writing and made the decision to become a full-time freelance writer once my husband found a new job. I am still able to provide meal planning services and recipe writing services through my freelance work, so I am keeping my dietitian skills in tact. I don’t regret this decision for a single minute.” —Staci Gulbin, Lighttrack Nutrition Owner

5. You want to reach your fullest potential

“I was working in corporate HR and I really loved parts of the job. But as great as my leaders were about allowing me to stretch my wings and take on projects, I knew there was only so far I could grow and that there was a possibility the company would close my location. I took their struggle as a sign and began proactively positioning myself as a freelance creative.

I had to learn how to be the face of my business, win or lose. I read every industry publication I could about developing my business processes, talked to insiders about their experiences, and applied many of the skills I learned in HR to establish myself as a trustworthy, reliable creative for hire. Those years spent freelancing allowed me to obtain a position at a creative agency I absolutely love. One leap of faith and a lot of planning and grinding became a career in my dream industry.” —Laura Prestwich, Client Coordinator & Lead Copywriter

6. You want to push yourself

“Earlier this year, I moved from marketing for a law firm to marketing for a startup cryptocurrency exchange. A number of factors influenced my decision, the most significant one being that I wanted to work at a global company and step out of my comfort zone. When I first made the decision, I had concerns that I was leaving a good opportunity behind. But after much consideration, I felt that I was ready to try something new and take my career in a fresh direction.” —Joanne Goldy, Marketing Specialist

Kayla Heisler is an essayist and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. She is a contributing writer for Color My Bubble. Her work appears in New York’s Best Emerging Poets anthology.

from Web Developers World https://skillcrush.com/2018/10/25/signs-your-career-has-turned-toxic/