Tell us about your latest work.
My first chapbook, Nature v. Nurture, was published by Artagem Graphic Library and will debut at the Hillsborough Local Author book fair. It’s a selection of poems written primarily between 2009 and 2012, with a few from 2017 and 2018. The poems are largely about the forces that shape us, namely family, society and culture, history, and the physical environment.
Who did you dedicate your first book to and why?
I dedicated Nature v. Nuture to my husband’s late grandmother, Virginia Sandy Dowdle. She was an intelligent woman with a scathing wit and a serious knack for painting. Like many women coming of age in the 1950s, her artistic career suffered from the competing demands of being a consummate housewife, the expectation of her time and particular social circle. I think this conflict led largely to the mental and physical health problems from which she suffered throughout the latter part of her life. Even today, I see amazingly talented women put aside their creative aspirations and deny their own self-actualization because they feel compelled to put the needs of their partners and children before their own. Personally, I find this devastating.
What was the hardest part of the writing process for you to master?
Learning to do more with less. I tend to be long-winded in my writing, and I’ve had to learn to pare down to get at meaning more decisively. I wince when I look back at a lot of my early work, which sometimes looks more like a journal entry than an actual poem. Now I know why they didn’t get picked up for publication!
What’s your biggest motivation for wanting to be a writer?
As I think many writers would say, writing chose me more than I chose writing. It is the primary way in which I process personal experience and feel connected to other human beings. For some unknown reason, I decided to write my autobiography when I was four years old (in crayon, about a half-page long) and have been writing ever since. After college, I started an MFA program in creative writing at Emerson College, but I left after a year because I became discouraged about my ability to “make it” as a “real writer.” I didn’t think I would write again after that, but a few months later, I was back at it. While I have sometimes wondered whether I should have tried harder to “make it” as a “real writer,” I think pursuing a career in mental health care has ultimately strengthened my writing, because it is truly an act of love rather than something upon which my livelihood depends.
