In four days my second book of poetry will be released. I’m an indie author. Somedays I’m an indie publisher. I struggle with imposter syndrome most days, and I have a constant internal debate on if I’m an author, or writer, or just full of enough vanity to fool someone into thinking I’m worthy enough to be published.
My poetry is personal. It’s full of my depression, my love, my grief, my hope, and my wonderment at life. I write free verse because I don’t like rules. I write instapoetry because I like the challenge of saying as much as I can, with as few words as I can. But I also enjoy writing lyrical, melodic poems. I find those harder to publish though. Maybe I’m worried people won’t like it. Maybe I’m worried they aren’t good enough. Maybe I’m worried I’ll succeed.
I write to breathe. I write to heal. I write to calm my brain. I allow all of me on the page, and yet there are some things I will never publish. There are secret thoughts and rhythms that are too sacred to share with just anyone.
My main goal for publishing has been connection. Despite depression being so personal, for example, I hope that someone will read something I wrote, and not feel alone. Feeling alone, is so incredibly difficult. I think it’s one of the worst feelings in the world. I’m not smart enough to be a therapist, but I can offer some reassurance that you are not alone. There are lots of us out here, with internal struggles, fighting silent fights. We’ve got this.
My second book, A Thousand Melodies, holds so much of me. I’m proud of what I wrote on those pages. I’m proud of the folks who helped me put it together. I know my writing is not for everyone. I know that at some point, I’ll receive a bad review. That’s ok, that’s part of the path. I write because it’s important to me. I’ll continue to publish because it’s been important to some of you. To those of you who wrote to let me know that, thank you.
Thank you for making my first book, These Words, into something special for me. I really hope you enjoy A Thousand Melodies, and I hope you are excited for my next project. I’m shooting for a summer 2025 release.

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