If you have been following the blog for the past few months you may have noticed that I have been taking a deep dive into poetry. In fact, I even have a few collections releasing in the near future also. Though if you are familiar with how I write here you will find out quickly that this stuff is a little bit different, okay, maybe a lot different than here!
You also may be asking yourself, why poetry? Well a love of poetry started when I was a younger teen. Learning poetry in school was a love that I never knew I needed but enjoyed myself. In Junior high I was bullied. I know, a lot of people are probably thinking “Sames, I too was bullied”. To the point that I even self harmed for a period of time. Writing poems and learning about different styles was something that I was actually good at.
I loved learning about limericks in particular. They were a bit weird and a bit funny while telling a mini story so to speak. I loved making different verses and making a rhythm scheme for them too. Thinking outside of the box to make even the most challenging words sound good together. My teachers even made remarks how I seemed to have a “knack” for writing them when it came to it.
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As I grew more and more through high school and finishing all together, i slowly stopped writing. If it wasn’t for an assignment for class I just never did it. Could be because I was a slacker or maybe it was because I never really needed to write how I felt. Regardless though, I stopped.
If you have also been reading some of my blogs, you will know that as a parent, myself and my spouse have decided that I stay home and take care of our kids. I even go in depth about it here, that being said I still have a need or a drive to find some sort of income making job while working from home. With Covid you would think that would be easy to do, it’s not because everyone wants to do it. However I dabbled with a few things. From making crafts and pins and enchains and things to putting an ad on 5iver trying to even do little things like that. When suddenly it came to me, Poetry!
I know, you are also probably thinking how random? Well not really. I have always wanted to be a write in some way, shape or form. That is a lot more of a challenge than you would think also too. I have many ideas for novels and things however when it comes to an editor, that costs money. But that kind of triggered my idea, why not poetry! I feel fairly confident that I can put out a poetry book and be able to edit it myself and have next to none if none in general spelling mistakes and things.
Ultimately this is kind of my gateway to writing. My hope is that by putting out a few collections this year, and maybe working on other ones as it happens, I can start to build some sort of passive active income. Where I need to just market and promote etc (I know I make it sound like it is easy but I realize that it really isn’t) and than I can work on writing other stories where as I have some income I can save for an actual editor for the longer and more difficult stories that I will in fact need the help.
I will say though, I am so very excited and nervous about this. I am nervous because I feel very exposed. In the first book with the hardest subjects I am writing about such as domestic violence. I find that this book was freeing in many ways. Some things I Had bottled up for a very, very long time and I am thankful to be able to keep my attention here and write. I am also scared no one will enjoy it either. I have given a few friends the collections to get their opinions and it has been challenging because I am so open with everything, some not knowing how I really have felt about the whole situations. They also say they love them which I know sounds crazy but I trust their opinions and also feel insecure thinking that are only telling me that because they are my friends.
I am so happy to feel like I have found a bit of a calling though. Poetry is something that I have rediscovered as an adult. It is something I never knew I would enjoy again and if you asked me when I loved poetry in my younger years if I was actually going to write collections of books and things I dont think I would ever have guessed I would have had the drive or motivation to actually follow through with this dream.
Do I worry that I won’t be successful? To some extent yes. I do follow a few Facebook pages and I do see that they have various degrees of success. But I also see the range where some people have terrible launches and then they have good ones and how books are going over time. I am excited because I know that if I am not getting the launch I would like, there is still time for it to do well! I have a few ideas also that can help me have a smooth transition from being published to marketing and promoting.
I hope you too are excited, and who knows, maybe there will be some free books to give away too! Be sure to sign up for my email subscriber list by clicking the photo above for a free ebook “The Sampler” and your way in to seeing some book giveaways too!
Stacey J. Girard 