Big Announcement: Book Number Two is on its Way!
Big Rain, Little Umbrella will be available for preorder soon and hit the shelves in 2021! Here I talk a bit about my process in writing my first book, A One-Star Night, and how it’s differed the second time around.
I guess you could say I’ve been working on my next project since the moment my most recent work, A One-Star Night: The Unorthodox Poetry of Sonja Ciotti, was published. Writers never really take a break from their creative pursuits, am I right? Even if they say they’re going to, it just means they do something else to pass the time while they think about writing. And the something else I’ve been doing while waiting for the next poetry inspiration to hit is…writing.
Haha, it’s true! I’ve had the enormous pleasure of working as a script writer for our video production agency BOLDRUSH. I’ve created a range of commercial scripts from toilet products to hospital urine output measurement software. That doesn’t sound like a range at all even though I randomly chose those two particular projects; it sounds like I write a lot about bodily functions. Which I do. And I like it. 🙂
When Inspiration Struck for Book Number Two
Somewhere around the end of 2018, the overwhelming desire hit me to do it again. It was time to release a new anthology of my original poetry. I remember sitting down to read through my A One-Star Night collection, for kicks and grins. Honestly, I half-nervously started in, horrified of reading the work I created years ago. Yet I was half interested in reminding myself what I’d even written about. In the end, I loved reading through my previous work!
I recalled what it felt like writing the poems for that book. Somehow, the inspiration for all 50+ poems that are featured in that book came to me in a single sitting. From there, I spent a few months methodically going down the list of topics I felt inspired to write about. And I wrote. Most of it included my lighthearted observations of the world. Just like that. In perfect order until the very last one. That last poem is the only one in the book that was born out of an enormous loss I’d just suffered in my life. Pushing through and publishing the book to fulfill pre-orders was actually something that got me through that soul-wrenching time.
How I Received My Writing Inspiration This Time
This time around, though, inspiration hasn’t struck in the same way. It didn’t come in the form of a perfect list of topics waiting to be written about. Rather, since the release of A One-Star Night, I’ve continued casually writing poetry. One poem I wrote on the cliché napkin from a New England restaurant. Several I typed on my iPad. And several more I typed in my notes on my Samsung phone that unfortunately didn’t make it through a 28 inch fall from my pocket to the concrete floor of IKEA. I thought I’d lost all those poems for good, actually. Thank Heaven my husband has a Samsung phone, though. Through some login trickery, I was able to restore all of those poems. (If you need help restoring any lost Samsung notes, message me. I’ve got it down to a science now.)
Anyway, as you can see, this time around had been much more scattered of a process. And if any of you know me, you know I’m not too comfortable with the word “scattered.” I’ve spent months gathering some of my scattered poetry from here and there. And I’ve felt a bit like a child who recklessly blew a bunch of wispy dandelion seeds into the breeze. Now I’m running around an enormous, wide open field, trying to collect them all.
I’m actually still in the process of writing the remaining poems I intend to include in this collection. So, the book could take a completely different turn between now and the publication date depending on what happens. Maybe even you, dear reader, will do or say something that will permanently rock my world view and inspire a new poem that’ll be included this time! If there are any subjects you’d love to see turned into a little strange observation by yours truly, comment below.
Until next time!
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