I began writing poetry as soon as I could write words. I gathering words for color and flowers and sky together, arranging them in a way that I liked. From an early age, my dad, who had been a high school English teacher, encouraged me to write in the haiku form. I draw on this early experience today in my first collection of poems Rivers in My Veins, and go far beyond having earned Master of Fine Arts Degree in 2024 from the Institute of American Indian Art.
I also draw upon my many years as a journalist, working three different dailies and contributing opinion columns to national publications. Journalism taught me to write on a schedule. Poetry taught me to love language.
This blog is dedicated to exploring the creative writing process. It is based upon my personal experience, I believe it is a similar experience to other writers, to other journalists turning into literary writers, to other artists.
This is the start. The start, where I am staring at a blank page and committing to write regularly and on a schedule, still gives me trepidation. But I do it again and again because that is what writers do.