Don Beckworth: From Insta to Indie

I started writing seriously a few years ago. Admittedly, it was after a fairly hard break-up. Still, I had discovered an outlet that let me express myself, or, rather, vent my feelings in a creative way. It was only when I installed Instagram that I discovered the vast world of writers and poets that literally spans the globe. Thus began my foray into the realm of what I dub “instapoetry” or “photoetry.” Having originally started my account as a personal account, then progressing into amateur photography; I found that I had a knack for poetry. I’ve been using Instagram as my main source of initial publication ever since.

That being said, my experiences relating to finding a credible way to publish my work has been difficult. Traditional publishing is confusing and costs more than I can afford at the moment. So, after many days scouring Google for options, I settled on CreateSpace.  CreateSpace enables writers to upload their books for free while recouping publishing costs as books are printed. With any venture like this, however, there are pros and cons. Pros: cheap, many options, different formats, markets directly to Amazon and Kindle. Cons: Only paperback options, limited paper choices, full color printing is expensive, not all countries are available for shipping (no true worldwide distribution capability). All-in-all, CreateSpace has been the best choice so far. To date though, I’ve sold a whopping 14 copies of all three available titles, and given away way more .pdf versions.

The difficult part of self-publishing lies in marketing yourself. A self-published author not only has to sell their work, they have to sell themselves. In the world of poetry, readers tend to blend their idea of what poetry should be with their image of what a poet should be. In essence, the poetry and the poet are almost always the same thing. If readers do not consider the poet—in themselves even without their writing—worth following, readers will usually not follow for very long. Gaining a solid readership is proving to be extremely difficult. Anyone can post short snippet "instapoems" and gain thousands of followers in a short time, but that isn’t what I want. I want not only a good solid readership, but cohorts and mentors to learn with and from. So, I take pains to be somewhat selective in who/what I pay attention on social media. Authentic, genuine writers are hard to find. Instapoets, Wattpad, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and even Pinterest writers are a dime a dozen. Every market on the planet is saturated with everyone competing for readership. As a result, only those who are able to engage outside influence—publishers, marketing firms, etc.—are able to elevate their stature in what is considered to be the Independent (Indie) writer’s world.

Of late, I’ve noticed an influx of new quote\unquote “writer’s platforms.” Most notably, Mirakee, ByMePoetry, Indie Affair Magazine are the most reliable in terms of exposure. Mirakee primarily has a large community of overseas writers who are based out if Asia, Indonesia, The Middle East, Australia, and even the Philippines. ByMePoetry is a start-up that has been doing well in taking varied types of submissions, and a really good job of promoting authors. Indie Affair Magazine is fast gaining steam with a more in depth type of publication. I look forward to seeing just how big Indie gets in the coming years. These are just three of the free promotion portals that writers can use, that I have used, and that are really of any benefit to self-publishing authors.

The flipside to free is an insurgence of “coaches”, “advisors”, and “writer’s portals” that push their offers of increased publicity, sales, and readership. From what I’ve seen, most are bait-and-switch type of operations.  Sadly, publishing houses and bookstores are even jumping on the bandwagon. While I am absolutely sure that there are genuine advisors who are well worth the money, the over-population of self-help coaches wanting to market your product frightens me. It’s one of the main reasons I’ve chosen to remain self-published for now. Like other writers who have chosen this route, I’ve been asked to be an early contributor for several start-up sites. There are many, and I get at least one or two per month asking me to be an early contributor to their site. The idea is, we help populate their site with content, and in time, we receive regular publicity. This, however, has proved to be staggeringly untrue, at least in my experience. This doesn’t mean that I necessarily look unfavorably on such sites. In fact, the opposite is true. I believe the world of independent publishing is going through a metamorphosis. While traditional publishing remains the goal of almost everyone, self-publish is gaining in popularity. The catch-22 is, because you are self-published, many readers expect you to give your work away for free.

Having the work instantly available on any platform, in my opinion, helps and hinders writers. The good writers—the excellent poets—expand their work to an offline format. They try to go beyond the little square windows of instant gratification. We, and I include myself also, endeavor to be more than a five second read-and-scroll author. We want our work to last. I want my work to last. I want it to become more than I am. As a result, I’ve had the privilege to be a beta reader for a few poetry books and even a novel. I’m currently beta reading a book by Asper Blurry, who is originally based out of Europe. I’ve also read a soon to be released novel by Jackie Johnson. These kinds of connections are what I look for with my work in writing. The readership, I  believe, will come in time.

To-date, I’ve never been compared with the likes of Rumi or Bukowski. My work, while many enjoy, is rarely ever shared or reposted. I attribute this to what I discussed earlier. That my writing may be worthy of a share, but readers aren’t sold on who I am as a person enough to share my work yet. I’m not a recovering alcoholic, or semi-depressed opiate dependent. Nor am I an elite socialite, or a writer for a major publication. I’m simply a generic father of two living my life. My muse just happens to be an over achiever. Regardless of how many books get sold, or how many followers I have on a social media platform; I will be writing until I’m… well just until.

Don Beckworth is a 40 year old, recently married father of two smart and amazing teenagers. His normal day consists of working for a copier company (believe it or not) in an actual cubicle. In his spare time, he writes poetry, short stories, and a bit of photography. He's been publishing work of various kinds since 2012. More of his work can be found via my site: www.authordonbeckworth.weebly.com

Readers can contact me anytime via Instagram:

@authordonbeckworth

or by email: authordonbeckworth@gmail.com

Compass North, An Int'l Interview Series: Tammy Danan

J: What interview can't start without an introduction?

T: Geez… how do I introduce myself in a non-awkward way? Well, I’m Tammy, a queer 20-something who decided to ditch college and work because life is one hell of a roller coaster. I’ve been working as a freelancer for about 7 years now and it was 2015 (I think) when I started to do more serious writing a.k.a. journalism. It’s funny now that I think about it, but I’m not sure when and how I got into poetry. I guess it’s safe to say I fell in love with it in my 20’s. So yeah, today, I’m a writer/journalist and a poet, I guess.

J: So what makes Tammy, well, Tammy? I see you enjoy the sounds of tattoo machines. Do you have any interesting tattoos to talk about?

T: I have no words to express the great feeling of hearing tattoo machines. And of course, the feeling of getting inked too. Personally, I’m not a sentimental person when it comes to tattoos. I get inked because I have this design I want to put on my skin. No special meaning or anything. My first tattoo was a small one and it’s not interesting at all, but it has a funny story behind it. Basically, it’s INFP in rune letters. I got so fascinated with Myers-Briggs, but I keep forgetting my personality type. So I had it tattooed so I won’t forget it. Hah! (Sorry, didn’t work. I still forget it.)

J: Nice! I am an INTJ myself. How has journalism improved and/or reduced your writing skills or outlooks on life? I recall a period you were dealt a slew of rejections back-to-back. How did that resolve?

T: Journalism has taught me so much. And don’t think highly of me… I have only 2-3 pieces published in a big website so there’s really very little experience. But the more I connect with editors — pitching, asking advice, asking why I was rejected — the more I understood the importance of (1) GOOD English and (2) constructive criticism. Journalism is not about just about pitching and getting published. It’s more about connecting with the editor to the extent that (s)he gets excited when seeing your pitch in his email.

And yes, rejections seem to claim my inbox as their home. I have a folder where I save all my rejection emails because it feels great. The more rejection emails I receive, the more I get used to the feeling of, well, being rejected. It hurts at first. You think the editors hate you and you come up with thousands of reasons why they hate you. But later on, I just learned it’s all work. Rejected? Share it and move on and email another editor.

J: I can whole-heatedly agree. My own literary plights have accrued many 'declines' but I still push onward. As artists, it's the best we can do. Anyways, we've known each other for quite some time now. I recall initially we engaged in dialogue on the plights of the Lumad people. Care to give the readers a further insight?

T: Yes. I volunteer at a refugee camp here in our city. I bring donations whenever I can and I visit as often as time permits. It’s a safe haven for our indigenous people whose homes have turned into a war zone. The thing about the Lumad issue is that it has a couple of angles. (1) They’re being tagged as rebels. (2) Their ancestral lands are being invaded by mining companies, which results to death of many Lumads because they strongly defend their lands. It’s a messy issue in the sense that one problem stems to another and another. But the bottom line is these Lumads, these indigenous people are being robbed of human rights and indigenous people’s rights. They’re being tortured and killed, labeled as 'collateral damage', and those who are helping them (individual people and organizations) are being labeled as the bad guys. Solving this cultural problem will take more years, despite the fact that it started in the 90’s.

J: Wow, that is very tragic. Last year, and still to this day, Native Americans have been protesting the DAPL (The Dakota Access Pipeline), yet the extent of these peaceful protest have not resulted in such violent ends. I remember performing editorial work on a first draft about the aforementioned. What was your decision on placing it on an indefinite hiatus?

T: I initially thought of creating a chapbook to help spread the word about the plight of the Lumads and encourage people to take action. I see this not as an issue of a culture in the Philippines, but as a global problem, since some mining companies operating in their lands are international companies. But the more I spend time at the camp, the more I realize that I know very little, still, about these people. Who am I to write a chapbook on a topic I have very little knowledge about? I’m not saying I will walk 3 days to climb up their mountains. I just feel like I need to get to know these people more, beyond the issue that brought them here.

J: A very noble answer, which I respect. Moving on, I've been following your practice in painting. Is there any particular theory you follow or is it completely 'off-the-cuff'?

T: I’m bad at following anything, haha! To be honest, Rose Lupin (@roseclu) inspired me to play with paint. And then there’s Flora Bowley (@florabowley) and Elle Luna (@elleluna). I grew up with perfectionists so I never really thought of painting. Ever. Today, I don’t think of anything at all when I paint. It’s hard. To force yourself to keep going and keep painting when your mind is screaming ‘wrong color!’ or ‘what the hell is that line for?!’ But you just got to push those thoughts on the side and don’t expect anything from your paintbrush and canvas. So when you feel like it’s done, you don’t get hurt that you didn’t achieve whatever you expected to achieve. Painting, in general is a good way to de-stress. And to procrastinate.

J: Coincidentally, Rose Lupin will be interviewed for next week! I'm sure she will appreciate the acknowledgement. I'm sure you have many international friends and fans. Where would you like to travel for a month, given the opportunity?

T: Josh, you know that I am bad at communicating and conversing and connecting… so I’m not sure about the international friends and fans, haha. But where to travel? I’d say Amsterdam. And I don’t know why. Since last year, I think, when I started exploring journalism, I would find myself daydreaming about working for VICE and then having long vacations in Amsterdam. I honestly have no idea what’s with that city but I just love it.

J: I've heard nothing but good things and fun times from there. Last one. Where do you see yourself in 2017? 3 years from now? 5 years?

T: In 2017, juggling my work as a freelance writer and building Karonn (my ‘baby’ where I aim to sell stuff and donate to nonprofits and connect with other creative's). In 3 years, I see myself completing my list of things I should be able to give to my family. The usual home and savings for education of my siblings and stuff. And also operating Karonn full-time while doing more in-depth journalism work and sometimes reading my full-length poetry book. And 5 years from now, I see myself at the veranda of an old, rustic apartment by a river, phone, laptop and DLSR resting on the side, staring at Amsterdam dusk. Unsure of so many things but certain that Karonn, my passion for journalism, poetry and arts, and my family are doing just fine. And so am I.

J: Thank you very much for the interview, Tammy. Best wishes for you in the new year! For any artist who resides overseas or is foreign to the U.S., feel free to email or submit a cover letter via this link

Josh Dale: On Criticism and its Impact on my Artistic Career

            Any creative work is subject to criticism when published, whether you like it or not. Sadly, I feel as if the word ‘criticism’ carries a dark shadow that no one wishes to explore. Some artists assume that any feedback immediately brands a ‘scarlet letter’ onto their persona, and their followers ready the battle stations. In the most sincere and least pretentious way I can, I say: just stop being easily offended. There is nothing wrong with criticism as long as it is constructive. Many of you know me and the fact I take pride in my studies spent at Temple University. I too have been a victim of ignorant feedback that not only has no merit, but is completely absurd. It is childish, and ultimately leaves the accuser with a tarnish critical opinion. Contrarily, I too have also given criticism that may seem harsher than the norm, yet I was fully aware of workshop standards. I was educated on how to craft a review that was not a constant drivel of discord, but to point out both the positives and negatives, depended upon my subjective opinion and common rules of grammar. There have been times when I would assume an Emersonian role and beg, yes beg, my peers to give me a review that was truthful and sharp. In this column, I will reveal to all of you the few instances where I was indeed criticized harshly and almost without remorse, but it was with those defining moments where I was able to fully justify my pursuits of literature and rationalize the path of the artist.

            The first. I had just transferred to Temple into a construction-related field, (yes, construction) yet was drawn back into creative writing thanks to a gen-ed course. One of my English-Ed friends recommended I check out Hyphen, a group of English, Film, and Journalism majors that curated an undergrad literary magazine. Enthralled with this opportunity, I sat in to a meeting and fell in love with the environment; the flowering of subjectivity and creative thought was titillating to my mind. I thought ‘Hey, I’m in a writing class. Why not try to submit to the magazine? It would be awesome to get in!’ My passion consumed me weeks later and I wrote a poem that really got my creative juices pumping. I was down by a lake near my home and penned this:

As I lose myself in the reflections, the ripples of the past echo on. My soul does not know when to enter the effects of a billion causes. There are times when I am uncertain in this endeavor. Do I continue to dance on the edge, enjoying the sanctities of freedom? Or should I blaze my own trail in the beaten path? Who's to say what will I decide? Alas, after years of thought, I've finally made a decision. I'm going to simply walk on the fucking water.

Pretty good huh? It’s introspective, philosophical, even touching base on the metaphor of Jesus Christ. The day came when this poem made it to the panel, which consisted of the 15 people in Hyphen, including myself. It was read blind so no one in attendance would know the author of the poem. It was put to a democratic vote. Want to know the outcome?

0-14-1. That 1 was a maybe. That maybe was me.

            It was eviscerated. Everyone had a perplexed look on their face after it was read. Some immediately drew their blade and hacked my emotions asunder. Some censored themselves, coyly pointing out the good parts, but allowed their true emotions to speak for the rest. I was shook to the core. I was half-tempted on jettisoning atop the table I sat at and yelling at each and every one of them. You know what I did? I gave my opinion aloud, like they all did (it was a democracy, no?) I said that this poem needed work, but had some very individual qualities about it. I self-critiqued myself without even knowing it. At that moment, I was filled with an insatiable desire to articulate the most perfect poem to pass through all of their snide levels of critique (2 rounds) and to ultimately make it into the magazine. It was on a Thursday. That following Tuesday I switched my major to English studies.

            The second. Fast forward a year later. I had just finished the rough draft to The Being That Ensues From What Cannot Be Explained, a short story chapbook which ultimately became the inaugural publication of Thirty West. It was for a very interesting (and my favorite) class named Writers at Work; a publishing class in short. It took me two months to finish the 12,000 +/- manuscript. My professor, a respected publisher and poet of the Philadelphia writing community, gave us all an opportunity to have their work critiqued by him one-on-one. I sat in front of him, all smiles, and he ever so gently laid down the prototype upon the desk. He seemed mildly enthused and began to peruse through it. He told me he read it in one sitting a few nights back and found many inconsistencies with the narration. He was not a fan of the ‘avant-garde’ use of parentheses and took slight offense to the main character’s mental condition. What are the fucking chances that the exact mental condition in question was diagnosed upon his own biological brother? He furthermore judged the typesetting, cover design, binding and many more nuances that he ‘disliked’. He dissected my overall theme and, to this day, still remember him saying ‘you’re leaving a trail of bread loaves instead of crumbs’.  I wanted to leap across the table and give him a taste of his own medicine. My chagrin hid back the rage that welled within. Flashbacks of the Hyphen nightmare hit relentlessly. My back began to sweat. It was either the poor ventilation of the building or I was anxiously looking for an escape. However, I took notes, both mental and physical, thanked the professor graciously for his words and departed. I was left with this awkward satisfaction, as if I was now empowered to take my craft to the next level. I had now two moments of self-realization under my belt and a vigorous zeal to spearhead my efforts. I pressed forward and ultimately finished the project, which some of you may possess to this day.

            I am now finished with Temple as an undergrad, and I must say that I obtained an A in Writers at Work and ultimately scored a spot into Hyphen with one of my favorite poems, ‘Gathering of Shadows’. In hindsight, there was no way I could continue in the manner in which I wrote again. I hope that my story will empower you to seek out individuals for critiquing. I hope that my story will add an additional course of brick to this bridge that will ultimately span the divide of criticism and complacency. Forever.

Erin Lawler Patterson: The Art of the Writer

            There’s an allure to penning words, poetry and being able to call yourself a writer. Somewhere in between staring at a blank screen and your third cup of coffee does that feel of Hemingway in a coffee shop begin to wane. Writing is grueling. It can rattle your confidence and rip out every ounce of emotions you didn’t even know existed. It’s exhausting, but simultaneously beautiful. The dance of pen and writer is a tumultuous, gorgeous, laborious and a wild version of the meringue. It certainly isn’t for the faint of heart.

            I’ve had moments when I’ve found myself yelling at a screen, lost in thought as I was grappling for the appropriate words to use. Likewise, there are those times when I’ve had to close my laptop and walk away in hopes that a little down time might refresh my brain cells. But I write because even though it’s a love-hate relationship, it has become my method of releasing a cyclone of thoughts and ideas that would otherwise circulate through my mind—I’m not sure that’s such a good thing. Writing has become a healthy release and a form of expression that has changed my life.

            For the past thirteen years I have walked the hallways of the same Southern New Jersey high school of my past as an addictions counselor. I have worked with hundreds of kids and discussed issues such as addiction, recovery, self-harm, depression, bullying, grief, etc. I can confidently say that I’ve never had a boring day. I love what I do. From the second I flip on the light switch in my office, to turning it back off again, nothing is predictable and it’s expected to anticipate the unexpected. In thirteen years, I have worked with young people who are no longer on this earth. That’s a tough reality to digest. There are days I have been tempted to find a gig slinging pancakes or crunching numbers. But honestly, I feel honored to work with the hearts of kids who just need some reassurance, care and compassion.

            In the last five years I found my hands twitching. I desired to transfer what I was seeing on a daily basis onto paper. My heart was aching to get the word out in addressing addiction, self -harm and all other mental health topics to a wider audience. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. It is heart wrenching knowing how many people are unaware of the raw issues connected to prescription pill abuse, mental health issues and the correlation between social media with bullying, drug access and a million other things. My heart just wants to write as my means to soften hearts and open minds.

            I hold my Bachelor’s Degree in English, but it wasn’t until I allowed myself to really live, experience and be challenged that I was ready to write. I believe that anyone can throw some words, emotions and stanzas on paper. Just like when making a cake, there has to be a balance of ingredients and that’s a clincher in achieving good, seasoned content. If you have a tablespoon of flour, four eggs and three cups of sugar, you’re in for an interesting version of a cake. The right ingredients allow for the perfect cake. The same truth applies to writing.

Be you….

Don’t try to imitate another author in style or vibe. Allow your words to represent you; anything else compromises your quality of work.

Be invested….

Quality takes time. Allocate a certain amount of time daily and throughout your week to sit and brainstorm, write and create. Let things flow where they do best for you. That may be in a coffee shop, your kitchen table or a recliner outside under your favorite tree.

Get out there…

Seriously, there is a great big world out there! Whether it be a road trip to a different county, state or even country….go! Experiencing diverse people and places is enlightening, life altering and allows us to grow as people. It can also ignite ideas and new directions for writing.

Go beyond you….

Volunteer, give back and do something for someone else. That can be volunteering at a soup kitchen, donating blankets to be used for the homeless, buying a cup of coffee for a person in uniform, or donating blood. Going beyond ourselves has the tendency to keep our priorities in check, expand our thinking and enhance personal growth.

You’re not perfect….

Be prepared to face a returned manuscript or rejected article. It happens and if it hasn’t, it will. Just stand up, dust yourself off and keep on keeping on. Fixating on your shortcomings merely takes the winds out of your sails and gets your flow off track.

Take care of yourself…

Making yourself a priority both emotionally and physically can be challenging, but when the wheels are well greased and maintained, the efficiency and quality of writing typically reflect that. When our minds are cluttered it makes fluid writing challenging. Whether clearing your mind consists of a walk around your block, reading a good book, catching up with an old friend, playing the guitar or listening to music, allow for time to re-charge, re-group and clear your mind. It’s so worth it.

            Writing is a journey and a challenge that is worth its weight in gold. Keep pressing forward and never stop growing. Believe in you. Rock on!

Erin Lawler Patterson is a high school addictions counselor, blogger, writer, life coach and surfer. Check out her blog: www.goodnesschick.com

Compass North, An Int'l Interview Series: Emma Charlton & Harry Howard

*Thirty West Publishing House will entertain any serious queries from individuals for the next interview series. Please submit a cover letter in a .doc or .docx format, including a brief biography of yourself, social media handles/websites and any questions for us to thirtywestph@gmail.com

Foreword: I wanted to take the time to veer away from guest columns and try out an interview, which I hope will extend into a series for the 2017 edition of The Weekly Degree. My goal is to specifically address individuals who are not from the Greater Philadelphia region, or preferably, not from the United States at all. This category would include, but not limited to: foreign citizens, immigrants, individuals holding a work visa, refugees, and tourists. Being a lifelong Pennsylvanian and liberal arts graduate, I am a firm believer in networking and branching out as being a crucial, and nonetheless pivotal, approach to delving into various cultures and mindset that differ from my own. With that being said, I want to introduce the youngest members of the Tilde Writers’ Collective, Harry Howard and Emma Charlton. Both are Australian natives that have worked closely with other members to also network and to simply be cordial with. Personally, I see plenty of potential with these two, despite only chatting with them virtually. Being an only child, I have unconsciously adopted them as my siblings, (without sounding too sentimental) and wish to give them mentorship as they see fit. Below is the interview that I simultaneously gave to both of them. Hope you enjoy!

J:  What interview can’t start without an introduction?

H: There isn’t a whole lot to me, so this interview might be lacking an introduction of any substance, aha. I’m an 18-year-old from a small town in Victoria, Australia and I just recently graduated from high school. Other than that, I guess I’m a writer of sorts. @harhoward

E: This interview if I backspaced that question [laughs]. Until Josh asked me to do this interview, I was just a seventeen-year-old high school student who filled too many notebooks and used enough typewriter ribbon to wrap around the world at least once, and since Josh asked me to do this interview I am still that seventeen-year-old high school student who fills too many notebooks and uses enough typewriter ribbon to wrap around the world at least once (and make my bank account cry a little), none the more, none the less. I also take on an alter-ego as @everythingaboutsilence on Instagram (shameless self-promotion). I also enjoy a good book and a quiet place.

J: Given that I hardly know what time it is in your time zone; how does your location effect your communication with your friends’ north of the equator?

H: I suppose the time zone difference can be a bit of a hassle at times, but lately my sleep schedule has been pretty horrible, so I’ve basically been acting as if I was living over there anyway. However, when I’m operating on a more standard sleep schedule it can be tough. Usually it’s a matter of communicating in a really delayed kind of format – you’ll ask something, or send something to someone and go to sleep, and by the time you wake up they’ve replied. It’s not super-efficient, but it works.

E: With a majority of the IG writing community that I have connections with living north of the equator, it becomes difficult find a time to have a conversation with each other without one of us disappearing to fall asleep to then wake up the next morning to find the other disappearing on us; it’s a never-ending cycle, really. Not to mention the fact that physical face-to-face conversations are limited by distance with these people (and mentors in writing).   

J: Tell me a little about your literary ‘models’, as I like to call them. Who do admire the most? Who challenges your budding writing careers? If you were given one shot to pitch a novel to a famous author (dead or alive), who would you choose?

H: Lately I think I’ve really drawn inspiration from a poet, Frank Stanford. When I first read his work it completely changed how I looked at poetry as a whole – I started thinking of ways I can use metaphor to give my work something more, creating images that exist on their own, instead of using them simply to enhance another idea. Stanford didn’t just compare one thing to another to simply make an object more emphatic, his use of metaphor often expanded the poem in such a way that the reader was left with multiple strains of reality existing within the one piece. Expanding a poem outside of the idea that exists at its core is a really interesting thing to play with, because you often find yourself running some drastically different images and ideas alongside the original one, creating an almost surreal feel to the whole thing. As far as pitching a novel goes – that’s tough. I think it’d be a toss-up between Ernest Hemingway and William S. Burroughs. Hemingway so that he could just tear the idea to shreds and laugh at how horrible it was and Burroughs on the chance that he could offer some advice on how to structure it in a sense of time and narrative, I’ve always admired the command he had over how a narrative is presented to the reader.

E: Anyone who talks to me about writing will probably hear the names Heidi Wong and Mal Morgan a few too many times. Not only do I admire their voice in writing, but I also admire the writers they have come to be/had come to be (unfortunately Mal Morgan is no longer alive). I fell in love with Morgan’s writing when I found one of his chapbooks in a second-hand book store. I read and reread all of his poems over and over and I learned so much about him and his life. The way he expresses emotion in such a real raw way is something that I aim to be able to do. I honestly would have loved to meet Morgan himself and attend one of his spoken word events where he used to be a hugely admired figure in the Melbourne poetry scene.
My ‘budding writing career’ is challenged by my @tildewc friends as I admire all their successes and am lucky enough to be involved so much with them. All that they have to say about writing is so encouraging and inspiring which inevitably pushes me to aim high whilst also staying humble. 

J: Hopefully that last question didn’t take the wind out of you! Let’s tone it down some. How has social media impacted your writing, your audience, and your networking?

H: I suppose it’s had both negative and positive impacts. When I first started writing and sharing my work when I was sixteen or so, the quality of my writing was pretty horrible. I wrote in the style I had continually seen through the likes of Instagram – benign, shitty (for lack of a better term) inspirational life and love advice with artificial line breaks (laughs). The thing about the writing community on Instagram is that a lot of the people who participate aren’t willing or are unable to give actual critique and feedback. No one told me how crappy my writing was, so I thought I was doing something right. It wasn’t until I started reading more heavily and really looking at what I was producing that I realized that I had a lot of work to do in regards to style and technique. In another sense though, social media has been great for my writing – it’s allowed me to connect with a small group of writers that aren’t only passionate about their own writing, but writing as a whole. So, through the aforementioned Tilde, I’ve been able to bounce ideas between like-minded individuals and look to them, particularly Josh, for solid and useful criticism. Outside of Tilde, I’ve met some amazing people like Joe Straynge (@joestraynge) who is as good of a writer as he is a person – I don’t think I can count the amount of times that I’ve been stuck in life and he’s offered his ear to me and given some advice to keep me plodding along.

E: Social media has both nurtured and enhanced my writing in a way that I probably wouldn’t have been able to come about myself. The ability to share and expose my ideas and thoughts is something that has always appealed to me. I share to inspire others to take part in something that has both allowed me to understand myself on a deeper level, as well as to encourage others to indulge in the therapeutic qualities of creating something that allows you to see yourself through your words in the utmost raw and honest way possible.
Instagram, specifically, has been a great influence. With such a spread of talent and success it has impacted not only my role as both a reader and a writer but has also made me appreciate the value of the importance of supporting indie writers.

J: Branching out from question 4, are there any Australian literary groups you have reached out to? Given your ages, I can see how your experiences may be limited, (but nonetheless growing from here) but I would love to know of any connections!

H: I have some friends that are pretty talented writers – Linus Tolliday, particularly, who has connections to Farrago Magazine, a university publication that publishes some great writing. So through him I’ve been able to expand my reading to include some local writers. I’ve also submitted some work to Voiceworks, another local literary publication that publishes young writers. I haven’t had a piece accepted yet, but they always provide really solid and useful critique with their rejection letters, which is great as far as improving my writing goes.

E: As of yet, I haven’t reached out to any Australian literary groups but I do aim to once I’ve completed school when I have a lot sparer time on my hands. There are small publication opportunities available within my city of Melbourne which I have submitted to and been lucky enough to be a part of. Outside of Australia, I have been lucky enough to contribute to Rad Press Publishing’s Paradox and Wanderlust, as well as Corva’s Indie Affair.   

J: What are your goals as you enter adulthood? University? Workforce? Travel?

H: Up until this morning I had planned on going to university to study a BFA in Creative Writing, but I received an email this morning letting me know that I hadn’t passed pre-selection into the course. I haven’t had a lot of time to think things over yet, but I’m looking at doing some travel now. Though I might see if I can go back to the idea of tertiary study later in life.

E: This past year I have grown so much in myself that I have completely changed my plans for post-secondary education. From wanting to study something in the medical field, to now wanting to study in the language and literature field. I think that writing has treated me well, not to mention how much it has helped me understand myself emotionally. Pursuing something related to writing is something that appeals to me. I’ve yet to consider the options I have in relation to such but I’m almost certain that I have my heart set on becoming an English studies teacher or Literature teacher; perhaps even teaching primary school students. I can personally vouch in saying my primary school teachers had a tremendous impact on my love for all things writing and reading at an early age. As I enter adulthood it’d be a dream come true to publish a novel or a poetry chapbook.

J: What do you think about Thirty West Publishing House? Be as honest as you may, despite the fact you know me personally.

H: From what I’ve seen so far – it looks promising. The fact that as an organization you’re actively seeking out promising and talented writers and artists rather than taking in anyone and everyone is courageous as well as necessary. I think that the writing community, particularly that of Instagram, has this attitude that anyone can be a writer – which is true, but many fail to align this view with the required amount of effort and work goes into honing that craft. I see you guys as the reward for that hard work, you’re willing to publish work that actually deserves to be published.

E: Thirty West Publishing House offers members of the indie writing community an opportunity to share their writing through the means of a platform that truly appreciates their value in the writing community. Sometimes small writers may be disregarded for their art, and I think that Thirty West offers a range of opportunities as well as more artist-to-publisher communication which gives the artist a sense of trust when the publisher deals with their art.

J: Harry, given that you’ve been published in our September #hintfiction competition, let us know if your experiences with submitting were better/worse/the same as any other submission that you have participated in thus far.

H: I’d say that the experience was pretty similar to that of other publications. Using a system like Submittable really works to standardize how submissions operate across the board. Almost every other publication that I’ve submitted work to has used it with the exception of one, which ran an email based submission system. I think the only thing that you could improve on would be doing something similar to Voiceworks in providing feedback and criticism to failed submissions (which I understand isn’t always an easy task), though at that point you would be going above and beyond in terms of your responsibility as a publication.

J: Last question: the event horizon. Where do you see yourself in 3 years? 5 years? 10 years? 

H: This is never an easy question to answer (laughs). While I doubt I can really put any specifics down, I’m confident that over the years I’ll continue to write, but outside of that there isn’t a whole lot of certainty. I think it’s not only difficult, but also somewhat naïve to plan for the future – you never really know what’s going to happen in your life, what obstacles might present themselves. For all I know I might drop dead tomorrow, so I guess I prefer to live day to day, that way there’s a lot less disappointment.

E: In three years, I see myself as a developed working/studying adult who has a clear vision for the future and feels a sense of security in knowing where she’s going. In five years, I see myself in full-time work in a career which I am passionate about where I feel satisfied with every ounce of effort I’ve put in to getting to where I end up. In ten years, I’ll be 27. I see myself stable in a career which I will be forever passionate about. I would have traveled, purchased a home, and married with children or with plans on raising children. I’d still be writing and would (hopefully) have published a book.   

Yashodhaan Burange: Patience in Publishing

Every aspiring writer faces a mountain of doubt each time he/she reads his/her own work. It’s in his/her blood to question his/her own caliber, simply because modern writers are surrounded by tons of good writing and literature. Social media has exposed us to the very best of writing out there, it may be the good ol’ Victorian era literature or modern day novels and slam poetry, the truth, is that it’s easily accessible to us. This hampers the eagerness to take a leap of faith when it comes to reaching out to a publication house, but is it as bad as everyone claims it to be? Is there any point in taking your time before you knock on an editor’s door? Absolutely, it has far too many benefits. Let’s go through a few of those.

1.      Final draft isn’t always final.

Look, this isn’t quantum physics, just a very basic realization about the creative process. Our brain is as unpredictable as the weather. Your creativity might slingshot itself on one of the most mediocre days. It is never too late to give time the benefit of doubt when it comes to creativity. If today makes you feel like you’ve finally achieved a satisfying result in your writing, then tomorrow might surprise you. Of course, it can disappoint you as well, but hey, benefit of doubt. Too many successful writers have claimed that letting the final draft rest for a while proved to be unequivocal in the success of their book. So give yourself some breathing space and don’t rush, tomorrow might bring a twist in your plot.  

2.      Patience equals assurance.

Let’s say that you have a pretty good manuscript waiting to get published. People in your life know that you are a decent writer and they’re slowly pushing you to approach a publishing house. Relatable? Of course it is. You must not succumb to this; it’s a very loving pressure but its pressure nevertheless. No one except you knows what kind of a writer you are or what kind of a writer you want to be. Be patient; as you evolve gently every day, so does your writing and your preferences with writing. Knowing yourself better can be an ace card for your book. So wait, detach, and go back to what you’ve written. Ask yourself if you are happy with what you have written and if it matches your present state of mind. Your writing won’t ever go to waste, but it can be true that your manuscript is awaiting a better timing than the current one. Learn to make peace with it; it’s never ever too late.

3.      Age DOES play a huge part.

Wait, before you roll your eyes, let me clarify. Good writing isn’t associated with a specific age or age group, I’m not telling you to give up the dream of publication just because you’re in your mid-twenties. No, time isn’t a quantitative aspect in getting published, but more so of a qualitative aspect. Maturity in your age is pivotal in the way you’ll express your thoughts. The more you live, the more you experience, the better you get. So many remarkable writers got published late in their life, they did not give up. Nor did they settle for something less than what they deserved. If you are meant to get published, you will. Don’t battle your creativity by arming yourself with a deadline. There shouldn’t be a battle to start with. Shrug off this naïve thought that getting published at a really young age is something to be proud of. Ask yourself if your goal is to get published or to get published at a specific age. Assess yourself accordingly.

4.      The right kind of people.

Publication is not an easy process. There are too many crucial factors attached behind it, and most importantly, it’s a process created by people. You must take your own time in building your contacts. Finding the right kind of people won’t be easy. If it feels too easy, there’s something wrong. A lot of publication agencies seem lucrative; they offer easy deals and solutions in order to get your name printed. Don’t fall prey to this, you need to search really hard for the right publication house. You need the right editor, the right creative team and the right timing, just so that your writing gets the attention it deserves. Luck is quintessential in finding these people; you need to keep searching constantly, but know that these people will maximize the potential of your book before it hits the printing room. So, don’t frown if you have to be patient before they arrive in your life.

Yashodhaan Burange is 24, and prefers poetry over prose. Currently embroiled in a constant hunt for metaphors which will lessen the irony of the biggest metaphor; life. He is bearded and toys with anxiety to the point where social interactions feel like a thesis he cannot wrap his head around. This is his first column to Thirty West and has his poetry display on Instagram @yashodhaanburange

Thom Young: So You Want To Be A Writer?

Writing kills like a gun in the right hands. So you want to be a writer? Is it something you become or are you born a writer?  I can't give you these answers because nobody gave me anything when it comes to writing.  I have no formal training.  I never took a creative writing class or sat around a table with a community of writers.  In fact, that is everything that I despise and reject as a writer.  Writing is a very solitary act for me and there isn't a marching band standing behind me when I start to work the word.  So how do I go about it?  There is no secret for me it's just a matter of sitting down and writing. It sounds simple because it is; in fact it's as natural as breathing for me.  I never have to think about what to write although I might have a general idea.  I just write it out from there in a stream of consciousness thing that recalls the ghost of Kerouac as he wrote On the Road on one roll of paper.  I never worry about rules or the audience.  I don't care if they like it so long as I do that's all that matters.  I rarely edit and tend to think first thought is best thought.

I have always written from a young age mainly short stories that I would share with friends and often they would add a part to the story and vice versa.  When I was thirteen, I suffered a stroke while lifting weights.  It was a difficult time and the left side of my body was paralyzed. I won't get into all the details but when you have a traumatic brain injury something changes.  You become a different person and the world looks completely new.  I soon found a compulsion to create through writing and I started writing non-stop.  This new burst of creativity came out in poetry and prose and soon I found myself getting my first poem published in high school. It was exciting and I only wrote more and submitted my work to every literary publication I could find.

The first thing you need to be a good writer is rejection.  If you're serious about your craft you need to submit your writing to literary publications specifically literary journals.  The main reason is because you're going to get rejected and a lot of it.  You can see how good you are as you compete against thousands of other writers plus picky editors that love to give constructive criticism.  You can't take it personal and don't let rejection discourage you just keep submitting your work.  Most writers today give up after a few rejections and are content to use social media to get likes, comments, and followers.  Nobody takes Instagram serious in the literary world because it requires no talent whatsoever.  Do you think some of the most popular writers here are talented?  Remember what is popular usually is mediocrity at its finest; all you have to do is analyze our society where critical thinking is a lost art.  Many of my readers gave gotten upset when I do satirical or parody pieces what does that tell you?  That's what makes it so fun the joke is truly on the reader.  Never be afraid to push boundaries and offend the reader in fact that's a sign of quality writing because it provokes a response whether good or bad from the reader.

After getting my first poem published in high school, the rejection really started coming in but that didn't stop me from submitting.  Back then no one really even used email and the internet really was in its infancy.  I mailed my stories and poems and spent what extra money I had on envelopes and stamps.  I got a few poems published in college in some UK literary magazines and I had several English major friends that ran with the literary crowd.  They couldn't understand how I was getting things published while most of them wallowed in defeat.  I knew rejection had made me a better writer and I submitted more it's that simple.  There is no glory in it at all most never read literary journals but there's an intrinsic value and to me that's all that matters.

In 2009, a new technology came out called Amazon Kindle.  It allowed anyone to publish an eBook and reach a broader audience.  I had written a novella called Laredo Down in 2004, and after having it rejected by literary agents and publishers I decided to publish it myself on Kindle.  I waited months with no sales, in fact it seemed like a waste of time.  Then it happened there was the first sale then another and then it really picked up steam.  It got in the top 50 of its category and I thought I hit the big time but like most things the hype died down. I was encouraged though and wrote my second novella Gene (a story about a serial killer in New Orleans) and it did even better.  In fact it hit #1 in the Men’s Adventure category and it was one of the best feelings ever.  I had done everything myself with no publisher or agent. I didn't need them.  I was beating the writers that had major publishing deals and writing whatever the hell I wanted.  Needless to say I found more success getting more stories and poems published all over the world.  I was in university libraries and in their literary journals; my name was getting known in the little magazines. 

I have been fortunate but never made much money writing.  I had the number one poetry book in Germany besting Poe and that was good enough for me.  In 2013, I discovered Instagram but never really knew you could post your writing on it until I saw a few others posting their work.  It seemed fun so I posted my first poem and then I have been doing it ever since.  This technology has allowed me to digitally meet other writers and even do books with many that hit #1 on Amazon (you know who you are you can thank me again).  But let's be honest social media is an utter joke when it comes to writing if you don't believe me start submitting your work.  You're not quite as good as you thought now are you?  Social media is a double sided sword often great for networking and promotion but not for the craft and quality of writing.  That's why what Thirty West is doing is important they are using social media for awareness but actually spending time to produce quality handmade chapbooks and broadsides that put the artist first.  I did my chapbook "Don't Wish Me Luck' with them and it was a great experience.  I was contacted by several so called Instagram publishers even the most popular one but let's be honest things like that never last.  You can't have style without substance and expect to make it in the brutal publishing world.  I don't need any of them.  I always do things my way like Sinatra said because it boils down to how bad do you want it?  

Thom Young is a writer from Texas. His work has been in Poetry Quarterly, The Commonline Journal, 3am magazine, Crack the Spine, Word Riot, 48th Street Press, and many other places. A 2016 Pushcart Prize Nominee. He is one of Amazon's most popular poets hitting #1 in Poetry Anthologies and Short Stories and his latest A Little Black Dress Called Madness hit #1 Poetry in Germany. He's written several novels including his best seller series, Westworld.

Alicia Cook: Essay on Self-Publishing

My name is Alicia Cook, I am from New Jersey and I am a writer. My writing is constant, as I write full-time as the Director of Communications at a college in New Jersey, write a series focused on the heroin epidemic (which has been read over one million times to date), contribute to the trendy blog Thirty on Tap, and write daily prose on a myriad of topics. www.thealiciacook.com

On December 24, 2015 I decided I was going to write and release a book of poetry. As a personal challenge to myself, I decided I wanted to draw the cover and write all the material within two weeks. Without giving much thought to the title, I simply named it what I was feeling at the moment: Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately.

With the help of my friend and editor, Jhonny Heller, on January 7, 2016, just 14 days later, it was released and debuted at #1 in Hot New Releases in Poetry by Women on Amazon.

Almost a year later now, Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately has sold thousands of copies, still remains in the Top 10 sellers under Women Authors, is the third most “wished for” book of poetry (Amazon), is sold in a few independent bookstores, is shelved in at least three libraries, and has made it to the semifinals of the Goodreads Choice Awards.

Its rising popularity caught the attention of established Literary Agent, Byrd Leavell, and he now represents me and my work. A part from my book, my writings on the direct effect drug addiction has on families prompted Emmy nominated PBS producer Steve Rogers to contact me and film my efforts for five months for a documentary that aired on television in October.

2016 has been a year of many milestones. As an aspiring writer, the things I managed to accomplish this past year makes me want to pinch myself.

All of this happened because I decided to self-publish a book of poetry designed in a style of a cassette tape. I am an advocate for self-publishing and I take pride in being an independent author. Here’s why.

1.       Timing

Self-publishing empowered me to take my writing to the next level, without the wait. Traditional publishing requires querying agents and or publishing houses directly and waiting for 1) an agent to sign you and become your advocate or 2) the stamp of approval from a publishing house. After all this work spent on selling people the IDEA of your book, you’re not even guaranteed to have a book deal.

Self-publishing allows you to release your book when you are ready.

2.       Freedom

Yes, I have a literary agent now who, yes, is “shopping” my book around to publishing houses. I did not query this agent, he found me because my self-published book was and is selling well. Though I would consider traditional publishing going forward, I am well aware that if I were to get picked up by a publishing house, I am essentially signing over the rights to my book. Yet, I know I can be successful on my own at this point, which means that I will not jump at every single person interested in my book.

Though my numbers have already confirmed that the cover and title work, it’s quite possible that a traditional editor will change aspects of the book; including the title. When you hire your own editor, like I did when I self-published, you have the freedom to decide where to draw the line. During the entire process of self-publishing, my book remained just that: MY book. I had full creative control; from drawing the cover, to titling, to poetry arrangement, to page number, to price.

3.       Transparency

CreateSpace takes about 40% when you sell your book (paperback). Publishing houses usually take about 85%, and your agent gets a chunk of what’s left (usually 10% or 15%). Yes, a traditional house may offer you advances but, in summary, self-publishing allows you to not only keep a bigger slice of your own pie, but see in REAL TIME how many copies sold and how much you’ve made in royalties. I am not sure, honestly, if traditional publishers provide a log-in to a platform that allows you to view your sales whenever you wish – like CreateSpace.

I never have to wonder what I am getting paid or when. I never have to worry that a check doesn’t reach me. At the end of every month, like clockwork, money is directly deposited into my account.

4.       Changing Culture

Now, more than ever, is the time to try your hand at self-publishing. In our technology driven age, your book has a great chance at being successful. Everyone shops online now – it is not professional suicide to not have your book on a physical shelf at Barnes % noble, because self-publishing platforms distribute your books to Barnes & Noble’s online store, Amazon, you name it!

I feel safe in assuming that readers do not care how a book is published. I don’t know about you, but I never stumbled across a book that caught my eye and flipped to the copyright page to see WHO published it.

This month Goodreads announced their nominees for their annual Choice Awards. Just knowing the market, I was able to eyeball a ton of books that I know for a fact were at least self-published in their first editions, including mine! This means that self-published books are up against traditionally published books. This leads me to believe that what readers care about is the actual work, if it is good and of high quality. If you are a talented writer and utilize the resources available to many independent authors (editing, cover, and formatting services), you have a shot at a best seller.

5.       Marketing on Your Terms

Many people I speak with say the thing that scares them the most about self-publishing is they are “on their own” when it comes to marketing the book. Obviously, marketing is a huge part of a book catching on, as people need to know it exists in order to purchase it; but traditional publishing house or not, you’re still responsible for marketing your own work. Yes, a publishing house will assist with press and reviews, but even that depends on the size of the publishing house and how much faith they actually have in you and your work.

Independent authors tend to know one another and help each other out with getting the word out on “Release day.” Bloggers will usually write reviews in exchange for a copy of your work. More so, social media marketing features like Twitter or Facebook Ads, helps you send targeted messaging to those most likely to buy your work. Yes, this is an out of pocket expense, but it does not need to cost you a lot. Amazon helps you out by featuring your book on other writers’ pages in the “frequently purchased together” section. For example, what helped my book a lot, I’d imagine, is the fact that Rupi Kaur’s readers were buying my book too, and Amazon noted that.

If marketing and spending money up front (on book services) is turning you off, I want you to remember that hobbies cost money. If you paint for fun, you have to buy the paint and brushes. If you golf, you have to pay, and that’s a very expensive hobby, if you practice yoga, you have to buy the clothes and mats. See what I am getting at here?

Marketing can seem scary, but look at it this way: you are a talented, organized, hustler who just wrote an entire book. You can definitely jump this final hurdle.

Final Thoughts

While pursuing self-publishing, you can, by all means, still query traditional publishers. It is not one or the other. In fact, I feel like I am “Allowed” to assume that in this day-and-age, you have a better shot at landing a “real deal” if you can show the successful selling patterns of your already self-published book. You can say “Look what I’ve accomplished without any formal help!”The sense of accomplishment and pride I have felt this year because my self-published book has been received so positively, is priceless.

Ben Sloan: Just Get It Done

After a long dry spell I started writing poetry again thanks in part to the couple afternoons a week I am honored to spend in the company of women in a local prison where I teach composition, literature, and occasionally creative writing. I have been doing this for years and there is no doubt in my mind I learn much more from them than they could ever learn from me. One of my main take-aways has been the recognition that writing is an up and down business, has its good days and bad days, but in the end it is the only real home many of us can ever hope to have.

When I finished my MFA (this goes back a number of years now) I fell into the extraordinary good fortune of being able to work for a year as the secretary for John Ashbery, who had been my professor and mentor at Brooklyn College. His previous secretary resigned just when I was about to graduate and so he offered me the job. Getting a MFA was great, but this is where an important part of my real education as a poet took place: Working for him answering correspondence, maintaining records, and hanging out in his apartment doing a variety of miscellaneous tasks offered a unique front row seat on the NYC poetry scene and made it possible for me to meet such people as Allen Ginsberg, Kenneth Koch, James Merrill, and James Schuyler.

            But ironically it was somewhere along in there that my creative output slowed to a trickle as I started to pursue a PhD at the City University of New York Graduate Center; got married and moved to Raleigh where I taught in the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women as well as Central Prison, the maximum security men’s prison; and later went on to teach in Fayetteville NC, home to Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base. As I traveled around and taught in different places, I was keeping a journal but otherwise did little writing—and so it happened that more than a decade passed before I started again, which was about five years ago.

            One reason I started back up is I realized I missed moving words around in order to try to say something well.  Like all avid readers, my heart jumps when I come across a passage that seems to perfectly capture an experience I have had but not been able to understand or describe to someone else. You know what this is like. It was Emerson who said a person “dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.” Saying something well is its own reward and, in addition, is a means to connect with others.

            Which brings us to the second reason: writing poetry allows entrance into a community of like-minded people. Rejections pile up—too many to count—but when good news arrives and we get something accepted, published, we are thrown together with others like ourselves—hello, nice to meet you. Writing is a lonely business, but a literary magazine is a kind of silent party where writers and readers meet and enjoy one another’s company. Suddenly we are no longer so alone.

            A third reason I came back to writing is because I am sick of mass-produced, hastily-made junk. Poetry is a craft, so what we do is put in the time to make something that will last. And of course it is important to acknowledge that, try as we might, some pieces are just never going to succeed no matter how much time we put in to them. But then there are those others that surprise us.

            Reading or writing a poem that comes together and works—that amazing moment of surprise and illumination—is a unique sort of high pleasure. In some ways I guess I would say I live for this sort of surprise and associated thrill. Of course there are those other times when nothing seems to come together, seems to work. But as Andy Warhol said, “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide whether it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they’re deciding, make even more art.”

            One thing I have learned from my students at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women is about how sometimes it isn’t until we confront adversity, get a little or more than a little lost, maybe even hit rock bottom, that the truth shows its face. I am too quick to run away from pain when in fact it would be useful to pause so I can stop and look around in order to see what I might see there.  

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Ben Sloan grew up in southeast Missouri and holds a MFA from Brooklyn College. Currently, he teaches at Piedmont Virginia Community College and the Fluvanna Corretional Center for Women. His poems have appeared in various magazines including The St. Ann's Review, the Ozone Park Journal, the Hartskill Review, Piedmont Journal of Poetry & Fiction, and the Hamilton Stone Review. 

Jeremy Tolbert: The Loudest Voice Comes From Candlelight At Night

To have spoken only with a whisper in the past does not have to limit what you can say in the future.

When a friend of mine introduced me to the personality test made famous by Myers-Briggs and prominent psychiatrist, Carl Jung, I became intrigued on finding out about what traits defined me. I had never followed any of this in years past since I had thought it to be similar to astrology and therefore, a complete hoax. Madame Ruby from Peewee’s Big Adventure to me seemed more reliable. But, in the end, I was amazed to realize how accurate my type, INFJ, was to my thoughts and actions.

In my October 16th article, Drag or Ash, I quickly spoke on who I was as a writer. This week, I thought to expand on that and divulge in what makes me tick out on the streets and how and why I write. Seemingly, I am not much different spilling words onto my typewriter as I am speaking in tongues out in the world. As my type would attest to, I am able to adapt to social situations, yet I am a true introvert. For example, while I was out walking alongside other bodies of society the other day, it dawned on me how comfortable I was minding my own business as I listened intently to my favorite band of the moment’s lyrics. I felt at ease surrounded by no one, yet as time had past, I became increasingly uncomfortable as though the entire city had converged around me.

Growing up, I could sense my desire to be alone and being by myself became more of a need than a want. My mother would have to bribe me into calling people on the telephone and nearly push me out of the door to play with friends. I have always internalized my actions and thoughts, even my debates and conversations with myself and others.  Only to share when prompted or asked. I focused more on tilting my head in circles for the sights and sounds around me and, specifically for the last decade,  the tapping of my typewriter keys. In a nutshell, I am a very private person, yet I am an open book. I won't tell if no one asks.

And that is the essence of who I believe I am as a writer. I am a walking contradiction. I am often deeply secretive, hoarding my own words and then the next moment I have the impulse of seeing my face on bus billboards like Carrie Bradshaw in Sex In the City. I have not reached that sense of confidence quite yet nor the inescapable need to buy Manolo Blahniks. But, as a person, and as a writer I see similarities between myself and two others: Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Bukowski.  Where in, my muses gravitated toward the romance of the darkness, shadows and life of the downtrodden; the moment I began my literary journey, I too found myself drifting toward similar situations both from what I saw with my own eyes as well as what was inside my mind.  Reading their work and learning about who they were during their lifetime, I was struck and attracted, for instance, how Poe began his poem entitled, Alone, “From childhood’s hour I have not been as others were, I have not seen as others saw, I could not bring my passions from a common spring. From the same source I have not taken my sorrow; I could not awaken my heart to joy at the same tone; and all I loved, I loved alone.” Along with how Hank commented in an interview, “I’ve never been lonely. I’ve been in a room – I’ve felt suicidal. I’ve been depressed. I’ve felt awful – awful beyond all – but I never felt that one person could enter that room and cure what was bothering me. In other words, loneliness is something I’ve never been bothered with because I’ve always had this terrible itch for solitude.”

I felt a calm right then about the silence I was living in. Bukowski taught me it was not imperative to always leave my nest to feel the presence of others unless it was at the bar to see the unmasking of humanity. As a result, sometimes feeling as though the bar stool was my longest friend, I dove into the deepest part of my soul, manifesting, in words, what I felt but could not say out loud; away from the waves once my skin had absorbed another. Also, I was drawn to Poe’s Alone. He's shown me I too am not alone in my self acceptance as someone who enjoys the stillness of the air. That my head and heart are unique. That the silence that I crave and the seclusion which overtakes me privately, makes what I write turn into flames professionally. So, even though my work is raw, loud and at times heart-wrenching, I’m with the belief that I have molded who they were onto my own skin while at the same time providing myself an outlet to share my words. Like Bukowski and Poe, once a pen is caressed between my fingers, and cupped in my hand, I find that my voice speaks the loudest leaning up against candlelight where perhaps in daylight, out on the street, I feel muted.

Anais Nin put it better than anyone, “The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.” She put in one sentence what I am trying to say in 800 plus words. Which is, the  position I have with a pen and paper is a responsibility that conjoins the need to carve out reality through words, where in any other venue with my personality, I could not. My itch to feel solitude today has been even greater. Similar to many of the past greats whose lifeline was built by quill and ink, where their voices rang louder than the people yelling atop milk carton crates making laws; I can attest that once I sit in silence, the written word is my weapon of choice to reach the clouds and beyond the streets and gutter where my physical presence seems to hide and shiver.

So, whether we associate ourselves with Bukowski, Poe, the Marquis de Sade or even Carrie Bradshaw, I find that being a writer is a profession that is built solely on peace for privacy. We sit, or stand in Hemingway’s case, and are alone in our heads for hours on end. And, in my case, it fits perfectly with who I am, my traits and what I write because like Edgar, I have not been as others were and I have not seen as others saw. Our personalities are all different, yet what brings us together is the need to be ourselves, alone, calming a restless heart with blood, ink and or soil.

Pratishtha Khattar: Writing, As We Must Know It

I belong to the #writersofinstagram community.
I am among the long list of writers whom the hopeful reader acknowledges as harbinger of love & exemplary survival of loss while the cynics term writers like me as hypocritical-melodramatic-clichéd-self-acclaimed-poets. (I swear I did not make this up.)
I have a willful indulgence in the #writersofinstagram space in spite of fully understanding the qualms about whether or not it is about ‘writing’ indeed. 

For anybody to understand the explanation that will follow, it’s important to know what my understanding of a writer and poet is.

Our faithful buddy-Google says, “A writer is a person who commits his or her thoughts, ideas, etc., to writing to reach the public” while “A poet is someone with powers of imagination and creativity.”

Now this qualifies as a simple definition to a very complex task i.e. writing.

On the contrary, whatever has been historically and conventionally termed as ‘real writing’ springs from the virtue of comprehension of underlying layers of the truth.

Literary artists seem to unearth reality in profound ways, that has the power to invoke wonder & curiosity and also question the legitimacy of prevalent ideas & norms that we function with.

Where do I, a #writerofinstagram fit in this scenario?

To begin with my explanation, I would like you to know that writing to me is an intention to encourage my reader to think.

 I try not to let an observation pass into oblivion and write about things and moments as if they were living people in themselves, meant to be loved, understood, accepted and cherished.

Writing can mean different things to different people. It also evolves in form, like seeds that sprout into blossoming flowers and grow into lush trees, branching out in all directions.

To me, writing has been a journey in itself, one where I discovered answers that led me to new questions, all of which continue to lead me to my becoming. Writing makes me swing between fact & fiction, past & present, certainty & confusion. But is this enough reason in entitlement to call myself a writer? Definitely, maybe.
On the surface of the above mentioned explanation, 3 am conversations often comprise of such ‘swinging’. What takes me from a maybe to a definitive yes is what connecting with readers on Instagram did to my words.

In the essay titled ‘Death of the Author’ by Roland Barthes, one could conclude that words face a mortal life once they are inked from the writer’s pen. How I look at my own words and how intend to make them sound, can be a stark contrast from how they are looked at and interpreted by my readers. Hence, what I begin as an expression of individual thought, inspired by a collection of personal experiences is vulnerable to varied interpretations. An average, un-moving piece of writing in my opinion, can draw a reader who responds to it as a motivational anecdote and/or an apt description of his/her situation. This is what fuels the fire to interact in the #writersofinstagram space; you understand the gravity of the paradox of life.

It no longer matters whether a stranger says the right words or they were uttered from the lips of someone who owns your heart. The space that #writersofinstagram creates is a freedom of perception takes form at the behest of my intention to converse about moments and mighty without it being a monologue. Like I said, writing has been a never-ending game of Q&A, I reached the answer that a writer must inspire and empower the reader. To start a revolution was not on my list but to be more than words on a screen and strum the strings in a stranger’s heart is my carpe diem. This is how I know I am a writer.

Instagram, alike any other social media platform, has content you want to love and preach (aka follow) and content you abhor. However, the bigger truth about technology remains that it serves as another form of escapism, where some of us indulge to keep ourselves away from/closer to other things. In the middle of this constantly raging storm in our lives, #writersofinstagram often becomes that repose which lets fresh perspective breathe where both, the writer and the writing evolves.

With the sublime power that the pen begins to yield, I write about life from tinted visions of simplest forms of complexity. I spend minutes, trying to explain the fractions of seconds which sometimes emerge as turning points.

Irony serves my intention, since in one such fraction of a second, I understood the difference between being a poet and a writer. I learned to speak of reality as if it were a speck of cosmic dust settling in a perfectly timed manner, in a space where it radiates regardless of how seemingly insignificant and trivial it may seem.

I try to write words that can do justice to how wonderfully our hearts feel. I also try to seek the writer inside me to talk about the things that the reader in me is keen to know. I let myself explore the depth of reason and doubt, fully aware that we are all as human as we could be and the only difference between a me and you is that in this moment, I might be able to make these 26-letter combinations that describe what we all go through, in more descriptive ways than you can.

The interaction in the space that #writersofinstagram creates, there is energy that both terrifies me and empowers me. On one end, there are stories brewing with memoirs of struggle, heartbreak, dissatisfaction and misery. We are being weighed down by burdens of life. On the other end, there is optimism that resonates strength and replaces struggle with survival and makes heroes out of daily battles. In this tug of war, a writer/poet like me strives to create a story of her own which can strike the right chords on both ends of the string. I am learning to be perceptual and recreating my own vision in poetic ways that can speak difficult things in easy ways. I am also learning to unlearn what has been (force) fed to me in the years gone by. I am learning to acknowledge thin-lines and swim through layers that mask my own reality. I am growing by sharing these experiences through the medium of words, intended to deep-dive into the souls of my readers.

I continue with words for ideas, hope for dreams, good-will for others and acceptance for self as I am only trying to argue explain that writing is a journey that is set afoot alone and you create spaces while you find your way to your becoming.

Pratishtha Khattar is a 21 year old girl from India who aspires to live each day as a free spirit. She is a thinker and explorer, constantly searching for a better version of herself. Her love for philosophy and all the stories that surround her translates into her passion for writing. She sees life as a constant paradox and writes about her musings on all that meets the eye & all that doesn’t. Follow her work on Instagram @paradox.metaphors and on Facebook as Paradox & Metaphors.

Jeremy Tolbert: Drag or Ash

Does anyone remember that scene in “All the President’s Men,” where the camera pans out from atop the Library of Congress away from Woodward and Bernstein, played fantastically by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman?  Or the other scene where they're driving through the streets of D.C. and the camera pans out to reveal the entire city made up of loneliness, emptiness, and a needle in a haystack?

That is what I have found to be the case within the literary profession, whether it be in journalism, poetry, and publishing. There are days where I am, in a span of only hours, jumping for joy and then fetidly crying into my pillow. Only because I received another rejection letter from both well and lesser known publications after assuming I had written a Pulitzer prize winning piece, (hey, my mother told me so) from the deepest depths of my love, sweat and tears. Yes, it’s true, I am dropping the mic and saying what all struggling and surviving creative minds have known for years: this profession is a stubborn, fickle bitch.

For the past twelve years I have tried to break through with my words and I’ve learned that having a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality is normal. That is what writing does to you. But I love it and would never want to be or do anything else. The art of writing, or being creative for the most part, is perfectly built for the loner, the crazy one who is in love with the night and who enjoys being alone in their own mind. Therefore, I’m glad I fit into this space unlike the octagon shaped box everywhere else in the world. With my words, I focus on my solitude. And the shadows of the night while I type, I let the blackened shapes pan against my body as if I were being smothered and suffocated. I write words that hoard everything that have kept me from madness, I take chances and spill my blood; body and soul believing what I’ve written will somehow reach and perhaps help another by way of them picking up a copy of a magazine or a printed, bound manuscript. Yet, that blood runs dry each time I see released works by celebrities who fit the bill on ghost writers; paying another to describe their own lifespan while there are pale, skin and boned artists with tracks and tread on their fingers, hands, arms and knees from years of toiling in the dirt in the hopes of having their lifeline continue.

Look, I’m not naive. I understand that celebrities and personalities are big business. For most true authors, like songwriters without headsets, the percentage of who have the opportunity to be seen and write and perform their art full time for a major publishing house is nearly zero. Yet, that is why I believe self-publishing and the expansion of small presses are so important. Instead of leaving us out in the cold, pining for charcoal, twine and wire, the ability to publish on our own or grab hold onto an independent, builds us a home where one can showcase words with pen and paper that would not otherwise be seen. The stigma of putting out your own work or working with a small, indie press has gone by the wayside as it has helped in ways that cannot be fully explained without opening the insides of a starving artist. I am a prime example. For all of the years I have put in trying to encapsulate what I feel I cannot say out loud into words on paper, I find myself still an amateur in a profession where there are so few professionals. Yet, knowing that there are other avenues for artists to produce, not only work but award winning work, makes the Jekyll and Hyde feelings that overcome us at every turn all worthwhile, even if we receive a yes or a no when submitting our words. In my case, the rejection slip has become a normal sight because at times what I write goes against the norm. I produce work that is dark, that is raw and that sometimes is trouble. That is all I know. Hell, Charles Bukowski, my muse, my mentor, who is looked upon as a cult figure in the literary world for the way he photographed life with simple lines, once quipped when asked in an interview, “I’ve gotten into trouble with a lot of shit. On the other hand, trouble sells books. But, bottom line, when I write, it’s for me. (He draws a deep drag off his cigarette.) It’s like this. The ‘drag’ is for me, the ash is for the tray…that’s publication.”

That is what I feel publication has become the older I become. Plus, as I feel my bones age, so too has my knowledge about what really matters in writing. Whether or not it takes me a year or two or until my dying breath to reach the mountaintop, I have become comfortable in knowing my words will always be for me since, as Bukowski again wrote in his first published poem, Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip, “Here I had only been writing two years. Two short years. It took Hemingway ten years. And Sherwood Anderson, he was forty before he was published. I guess I would have to give up drinking and women of ill-fame, though. “And this was before he decided he was not ready to write and took a ten year hiatus to drink.

Bukowski has a point though that I believe many artists, including myself, have struggled with in regards to finding a house or a magazine to publish their work. Bukowski felt that if he had continued to write at that moment in time he would have produced some shrill shit that would only have lifted up the establishment’s ego but make his own thoughts be questioned. Instead, he decided to go his own way and was determined to succeed on his own terms.  Therefore, I’ve asked myself many times: how do I send work to established magazines, journals and houses without the pressure of distilling my words and my voice in the pursuit of being published and gaining readership? It is a question that I believe so many others, not just myself, keep trying to answer. Since the ultimate goal is, as Hemingway once said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

I doubt that there is any absolution except to say in all of my years of striving to become a professional writer, I have found it easier to write for yourself and find a voice that suits you whether or not you find a home or not. The scale that weighs how many rejection and acceptance letters one receives does not determine your literary worth. Ultimately, that needle in a haystack belief you have becomes a lot wider when you understand that most artists in any medium are all just trying to catch butterflies made up of different colors.

-------------

Jeremy M. Tolbert is a poet and writer from Seattle, WA. He has written for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer online, The Original Van Gogh’s Ear, Paradox and Wanderlust Anthologies and also a contributing writer for online magazines, Having a Whiskey Coke With You and Paradox. He has penned the poetry collections, Scribblings from a Beer-Stained Napkin, Talking with the Devil about Love, both out now by University Bookstore Press. His upcoming collection, I'm Catching Butterflies, will be released in 2017 by RAD Press Publishing.

Chanel Martins: Why I Write

To become a writer has always seemed like a dream to me. What a freeing lifestyle it would be to exist untethered to the material aspects of the world: to travel, and see, and experience, and think, and write, and share…I have always envied those who have the ability to live this way. People who are able to uproot at a moment's notice and make life happen. To be free. Free...and alone.

It is the lonely part that holds me back, but not in the ways you might think. To be locked away for hours in inspiring atmospheres with nothing but thoughts and imagination for company would be ethereal. No time constraints, to-do lists, schedules, appointments or deadlines. Just a writer and a dream and a canvas on which to paint the art that stems from that dream. That, I crave, and I don't call it loneliness; I call it alone-ness. It is not that kind of solitude that I fear. That alone-ness is only temporary. It is the true loneliness of the broken and torn relationships that come from living in your head. The abandonment and betrayal people feel when you leave them behind to get lost within your own mind. Like letting go of the loose ends of a rope bridge, these relationships dangle dangerously in between holding on and walking away. It's the loneliness that comes from the walking away that scares me most. And the permanency of that different kind of alone-ness. Not-knowing makes me uneasy, but I have a constant fear of permanency of any sort —especially permanent loneliness. That is what strangles my hopes and stifles my mind and keeps me holding on to the semi-stability of the rope bridge, maintaining the relationships in my life semi-securely. I would hate to let them fall.

This tug-of-war between dreams and reality are what led me to attempt a teaching blog two years ago. It seemed like the perfect compromise between my lived, material life and my fantastical aspirations. I could have my life, and write it, too. Because that's what good writers do anyway, right? Good writers write about what they know—or so I've so often been told. But what I intimately know is too much to do and too little time while burning my candle at both ends, so the addition of a blog was not exactly my most prudent of decisions. Yet, I still yearned to write. So I did. I wrote every day. I wrote what I knew. I wrote what I experienced, and I called myself a Writer, writer with a capital W, because you can only call yourself that when you have a public showing of your pieces—or so I naively thought in my early-adult mind. And now I've gone back to reread my entries as a Writer and cringe at what was written. I suffered through reading the dry, lifeless, mundane details of my own life all because I listened to the lie of writing what I knew. In this writing adventure, though, I learned a valuable lesson. Real writers don't write about what they know, they write about what they feel. Emotion is what breathes life into writing. It is the life source of any great art. Without passion, anxiety, sorrow, hope, hurt, anger, or ecstasy writing is just words on a page, a forced chore, a bore, dull, stale, lifeless time consuming activity. Apathy is the death of art.

So is there really such a thing as compromise? Can I devote half of my heart to the tangible world I live in and the other half to my dreams? I'm certain it's a physical possibility, but does that then bleed through my art? Have other artists struggled with this battle between here and there? I can't say I've ever heard of the wonderful lives of artists, but instead of their blue periods—their amputations, crippling illnesses, handicaps, depressions, and anxieties—all of which led them to their greatest art. Happy people don't seem to make it in the artistically emotional realm, so how can I live my life straddling what is and what I want it to be without dipping deeply into the tortured artist cliché? So this is my newest undertaking. Here is yet just another canvas on which to spill the innermost matter of my wandering mind. I now do not write simply because I tell myself I have to. Nor do I write simply what I think I know. Instead, I write for therapy. I write for clarity. I write for inspiration. I write for freedom. I write for escape. I write for the sake of remembering. I write for the sake of writing. I write for art. I write for myself. I write to live. And maybe someday I can write for you, too.

Chanel Martins is a 27 year old avid reader and writer that hails from the West Coast. Her interests vary, but when she settles into a work of poetry or literature, she devotes sectors of her mind and soul to the immersion of the scene. To compliment her ventures, she is an associate editor of Thirty West Publishing House. Check out her book review blog readthingswritestuff.blogspot.com or her Instagram @readthingswritestuff

Brittany West: The Peril of the LITMAG

Literary Journals are a very controversial topic, for they are both the fondest ally and most sworn enemy to most aspiring writers. Thus, presenting the notion that “submitting to literary magazines is often a huge waste of time,” is naturally also very controversial. However, the boss man agreed to allow me to go there, with the condition that this article be limited to five curse words within 800-1200 words…when I've out cursed most buccaneers before breakfast.

Oh, the challenges we face every day.

Ironically, the moment before I sat down to write this, on this fine Saturday morning, alongside my breakfast of gin and gin which I slaved away for hours to make…what flew into my email with the grace of a rabies infected swan, but...! Alas, another rejection letter.

I opened up my Submittable and thumbed through all of my submissions in the past year:

Declined. Declined. Declined. Declined. Accepted. Declined. Declined. Declined.

What the hell is going on here? I thought to myself as I opened a thread of sites and digitally skimmed through their newest publications.

This? This made it? I write better than this…

Been there? Have you? Don’t worry, we all have. You can put down the veil of modesty and take the low road around the corner—no one’s here to judge you; you’re right. It’s fucked up. (There’s one.)

So, what you do with this kind of news depends on the type of person you are:

A.      The Worry-ward: You pace around the room, re-reading their work, your work, picking the bones like a scavenger hyena in a naked winter. You email back and ask for feedback. You spend an hour of your life trying to figure out what you need to improve on, where you’ve gone wrong, where you can do better—where, why, where why?

B.      The Narcissist: You redirect the email to the folder titled: ‘500 rejections till a party’, assure yourself that you’re the shit, people just haven’t figured it out yet, re-read your submissions, laugh because you’re the next Hemingway—decide to make waffles.

C.      The Guy That Drinks Green Smoothies, Lives Next Door to Me and is Named Ben: You do something in between both of these—have you been through therapy? I bet you have. You healthy, decision maker you. You probably go to the gym four times a week, have had the same job for a year, are engaged to a girl named Sarah and have a degree in accounting don’t you? Yeah, you do!

Whatever you are, it matters not, for I have good news for you:

Most literary magazines are a waste of time.

No, seriously. They’re crap. The entire concept is outdated; there weren’t an abundance of writers trying to stick their hands in the publication jar back in the mid-1900’s and before, when more people actually spent a fair amount of time reading these journals. People didn’t have time for that submission, re-submission shit (there’s two). They had other things to do, like farming, working in factories to support their families on low wages, cutting sheep skin and taking it to the river to make fabric. Additionally, in the mid-1900s, the world was less populated; people did jobs that brought bread home and those money making jobs didn’t usually pertain to writing. Writing is, to be realistic, kind of an unstable career choice. It’s something you do because you love it and you are crazy. Not because you want to be the next Danny Tanner (but probably without the dead wife).

Modest literary magazines receive around 7,000 submissions annually; the bigger journals receive way beyond that. Just think about reading that many pieces, then filtering, then re-filtering, then re-filtering—even if you’ve got something amazing, it’s still likely to get filtered out, unless you’re famous or you know someone…

And that brings me to another point: Editors tend to favor who they know, promote who they know over who they don’t, and promote writers who they already know to have a following to build business over those who don’t. Where does this leave the other maybe 20 writer slots? That’s right, in the fucking dust. (We’re getting up there.)

There are grips of articles on the internet, also, on “How to Get Published” and “What You’re Doing Wrong.” Laced within these DIY’s for the literary media realm is the soul-crushing but repetitive phrase, “we’re open to a range of genres, but there’s a tone to our magazine, blah blah blah.” Translation: We aren’t open to new, creative, or experimental poetry; we live inside of a box and to get in this box you have to change who you are and how you write.” At this point, is it ever really your work that’s getting published? If you had to doll it up like some Stepford Wife drone in order for it to be noticed?

Didn’t think so.

And last but not least, there exists, one more very important question to take into consideration when you’re submitting your piece of wordsmithing in hopes of fortune and fame and a metal of literary honor beside the greats:

Do you subscribe to literary magazines? Seriously. Do you spend the extra money every month to read through them? I don’t personally have many colleagues that do, unless they’re filing through to figure out how to Stepford their work in order to submit to them.

In summation: Are there more literary magazines than there used to be? Yes. Does that mean a lessening subscriber base? Yes. Does that mean greater chances for publication? It depends on who you know and how many writers there are in the world interested in getting published
(A LOT). Are you better off self- publishing or making a word press or going for smaller presses to debut your work? Probably.

No matter what road you take, the truth of the matter is, rejection is NECESSARY in writing. It’s good to get out there and try—it’s all a part of the process and you’re going to have to be okay with it at some point. But it’s also helpful to realize that the rules of the literary games have changed, and the games doesn’t work quite like they used to; it’s like a chessboard missing its castles…but it doesn’t HAVE to be. You don’t have to be a submission junkie; you can decide on the path you’re going to take as a writer—and that’s the beauty of it? Isn’t it? Somewhere out there is a free willed world of sorts, where you’re allowed to bend and break and curse as much as you want. Speaking of which:

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUUUUCK. (Keeping count yet?)

–B. Dani West, Associate Editor of Thirty West and Master of Disguise

Endnote: Josh Dale is a great man, he smells of fine sandalwood and angel breath. His teeth are very ravishing and he’s a great writer and a terrific man. He might be president someday, because he’s such a great guy and would never do something like fire one of his editors over breaking her curse word limit or anything like that because he’s such a GOOD guy. I think he’s related to F. Scott Fitzgerald, in all honesty, he’s like a Fitzgerald, Mother Teresa, love child. Who cares for his editors like children and would NEVER, EVER fire them over cursing too much, EVER.

Deshka Rae: Deshka's Rules for Writing

After taking orders, flashing plastic smiles and making small talk all day, I was more than ready to crawl into bed by the time I got home. My once bright eyes had begun to droop hours ago and my situational awareness had somehow slipped from a steady 9 to somewhere near a shaky 3.5. The day reminded me a bit of a bad song- you know, the type that makes you wonder if it will ever end. And it still wasn’t finished. I needed to write.

The first thing I did was change out of my stained work uniform. I picked up my warmest pair of sweatpants, thought for a moment, and slowly set them down. Before I knew it, I had slipped into a small red dress- one that I had been saving for a special occasion. I deftly twisted my hair into some halfhearted attempt at an up-do. I was between my 17th- and 23rd bobby pin when I realized that I was on the brink of brilliance. Writing needed to be treated more like a special event and less like a chore. I poured myself a wine glass full of water and grabbed my laptop, ready to amend my personal rules on writing. 

Deshka’s Rules for Writing

1. Treat writing more like a special event and less like a chore.

2. Be greedy. Throughout the day people scatter bits of themselves around. A wry smile, a hidden glance, the anxious touch of two people holding hands for the first time- observe these bits of humanity, remember them and keep them. Working in a restaurant I meet so many different kinds of people- every day I try to notice and “take” three things with me. Today? The way my manager’s usually harsh face took on a edge of softness when she mentioned her lover, the self-conscious eyes of a shy gentleman after I told him I liked his tie, and finally, the way my co-worker laughs too often and too loudly, reminding me of cheap perfume being sprayed around some sort of decay in a feeble attempt to disguise it. 

3. Silence. Maybe this is nothing more than personal preference- but if you ask me, writing should be done in silence. Usually my thoughts bounce around a bit before fully developing and the only way I can listen to them, feel them, guide them, is if I am both still and silent.

4. Don’t try too hard. The more I worry about my writing, the less I want to write. I feel like it’s healthy to express yourself without expectation and this allows creativity to blossom. The most disappointing and pretentious writing I have ever done (and if you ask me, the two go hand in hand) was when I felt like I had someone to impress and something to prove. I was trying way too hard. 

5. Read. I find that reading helps me to view my life through the lenses of a storyteller. Suddenly, the old cashier who winks and rasps “Have a great day!” through broken teeth is something almost enchanting- a part of a story. When I go to write, these characters come to mind. 

6. Use words you understand. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t develop your vocabulary but you should definitely use a new word at least three times in normal conversation before you try to write with it. This helps you get a better understanding for how the word feels. Does it feel awkward when you’re using it? Then drop it. If you can’t comfortably use it in conversation, then it’s unlikely that people will feel comfortable reading it. 

7. Be brave. Sometimes I don’t want to write because I have emotional boulders I am trying to avoid. I know that as soon as I go to write, these boulders will be painfully obvious, both to me and the reader. Writing is a very personal thing and sometimes that’s terrifying. However, I can assure you of this- it feels a lot better to crack your heart open and spill it on a page than it does to bury it in fear. 

8. Don’t compare. As soon as you start to compare your writing to the writing of others (and let’s be honest, usually you choose people who are beyond incredible) the less you feel like writing. You start out thinking “My stuff sucks, I need to write more like this.” and you end with “I could never write like this.” This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t appreciate good writing or aspire to be a better writer. That is all YES. Comparing (with an edge of masochistic browbeating), that’s a no. 

9. Equal representation for your emotions. Don’t just write about things that are sad. It’s easy for me to write about things that upset me or internal struggles that I wrestle with. It’s healthy for me to write about things that make me happy. Don’t avoid or hide from any of your emotions- express and acknowledge them all! The good, the bad, the ugly, and the in-between. 

10. Practice empathy. Seeing from other people’s point of view not only makes you a better person but a better writer as well. Making a conscious effort to understand the thought processes, feelings, struggles and views of someone who you disagree with will help you later on, when you want to create a character who doesn’t think like you.

11. Make your own rules. Really, these are just guidelines that help me! It’s your life. I don’t know your story, your struggle, or how much milk you like in your cereal. I don’t know you at all. But you do. This is your story- and it’s up to you to find out how to tell it best. 

 19 year old poet, web-designer, garage saleswoman, and part-time gypsy, Deshka Rae can't be seen right now, but one can imagine her draped over a chair somewhere, eating Chinese takeout and dreaming with her eyes wide open. A lover of antiquity (both inanimate and human), she is en-route to Australia for the love of her significant other, wanderlust, and a reason to grow out her hair—for wisdom’s allure, that is.

www.instagram.com/deshka.words

www.thepoetryrevolution.com