Tag Archives: poet

Sara A. Mosier—Author and Poet

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Sara Mosier is a Nebraska author and poet, who received her BA in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her writing focus is fiction and poetry, which she enjoys typing on an old 1950’s typewriter. She has poetry published in several issues of Laurus Magazine, Cocky-Tales anthology, and University of Nebraska Press’s 75th Anniversary edition of “Voices of Nebraska.” Her romantic short stories “Sparkling Human Conundrum” and “Summer Dilemma” can be found in the anthologies Love Dust and Salty Tales on Amazon. She was also recently published for her short drabbles in Oceans by Black Hare Press

Tell me about your writing process: schedule, environment, inspirations, magic spells, etc.

My schedule for writing varies; it all depends on when my muse strikes, but I would have to say that it’s mainly during the evening when my house is quiet. My inspirations comes from other books, poetry, and music. Music is probably my main source of inspiration, because I can hear a chorus and see an entire scene in my head. Troye Sivan has been a great writing tool as of late, given that the majority of what I write is m/m LGBTQ fiction.

Walk me through your submission / publishing process from “final” draft to final product, including who does what when, and marketing that you do as the author.

I usually always have a beta reader look over my work after I’ve combed over it a thousand times. I have three people who are my go-to betas: Jensen Reed, Melissa Snell, and Olivia London. They have helped me with countless short stories that I’ve seen published—that includes over-all plot and grammar. As to my marketing techniques, I promote on Facebook and my Instagram. Just recently I started a tumblr as well.

Talk about your support system online and IRL; who are your biggest cheerleaders? I mentioned all my betas in the previous question—they really are my biggest cheerleaders. Also my sibling Caleb and sister Jenna always read my short fiction. My Dad, although he’s not a fan of queer fiction (lol), has read all my published works, and I really appreciate that more than he knows.

How does life influence your writing and vice versa?

Well, things have been pretty stagnant lately while being in quarantine, but people I meet and talk to influence the shaping of characters. I tend to people-watch at coffee shops, parks, etc.

What do you love most about your creativity?

What I love more than anything is when an idea pops into my head so suddenly and so fully that I get butterflies in my stomach. When a character comes to life right off the page and I feel as though they’re a real person that I created—it’s the best feeling when that happens—also when I dream up locations and I can see them clearly in my mind’s eye.

Connect with :

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaraAMosier

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/Sara_Mosier

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sara-Mosier

Instagram: Sissy1031

Freida Kilmari—Fantasy Author and Poet

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Freida Kilmari, an author, writer, and editor from south-west England, has been writing and publishing works of fiction and poetry for the last five years, and has found many homes for her pieces over those years, including ‘Advaitum Speaks Literary’, ‘The World Poetry Movement’, ‘Fairy Tales and Folklore Re-Imagined’, and ‘Rejected’. Her debut collection published in February of 2018, Man VS Happiness, and since then she’s been working on worlds of fantasy, magic, poetry, and romance, taking a special interest in LGBTQ+ and mental health representation in literature.

Tell me about your writing process: schedule, environment, inspirations, magic spells, etc.

I’m a messy writer; I have notes written on scraps of paper, edges of napkins, and old shopping lists littered everywhere. It drives my husband mad! But I do have an office where I try to contain most of the madness. There, I’m surrounded by books, inspirational quotes and images, and my project notebook with my ideas jotted down (it’s a Harry Potter notebook, of course). I write whenever and wherever I can; there’s no limit. But I do find myself being more of a nighttime writer, when the house is silent and my imagination can run wild. There’s something about a quiet, happy, peaceful house that I find magically inspiring, like witching hour for writers.

Walk me through your submission / publishing process from “final” draft to final product, including who does what when, and marketing that you do as the author.

I have a rigorous process for my writing. When writing the first draft, the main thing is that I get the words onto the paper and keep a small notebook handy for things that will help when revising, but once I’m finished I put it away. Usually for two-three months. Before I print it off and do a read-through on paper, where I doodle, note-take, and red-pen the entire thing. After applying those edits and going through the digital copy a few more times, I hand it over to my beta readers, who are great at both encouraging and critiquing. They’re always my first fans. I apply their feedback where appropriate and then run it through ProWriting Aid before submitting to my proofreader. It’s a huge process, and the editing usually takes twice as long as the writing.

LISTEN TO A STORY BY FREIDA KILMARI AT ADVAITAM SPEAKS LITERARY

Talk about your support system online and IRL; who are your biggest cheerleaders?

I’m quite a solo writer—I much prefer being my own cheerleader. But I’ve always been quite an internal person who prefers their own company to that of others. However, that means I can often get un-confident and self-conscious of my work, but I always pick myself back up. I do have some amazingly supportive friends, and my husband will sit for hours and listen to my plots, characters, and world ideas, and ask questions, poke holes, and be the most amazing support system. I’m part of a lot of writing circles and critique groups online, too, and I’ve found that support from people who, like me, are writers, is vital to my process. As great as my friends and husband are, sometimes I need the opinions of other writers.

How does life influence your writing and vice versa?

It does and it doesn’t. On the one hand, I’m mostly a fantasy author, so I write things that are supposed to be farfetched and not similar to life, but on the other hand, I’m a big supporter of including LGBTQ+ characters in my stories (whether the main character/s or not), and I guess that’s influenced by the largely heteronormative stance literature seems to take. I also like including mental health representation in my writing, which is what a lot of my poetry is about—that’s been influenced by my own life experiences. I used to feel so alone, and I think if I could have read characters who suffered like I did, it would have helped make me feel more ‘normal’, and less like I was failing as a human being.

Writing is one of the most important aspects of my life; I wouldn’t be here today without it.

What do you love most about your creativity?

I love those moments when you latch onto an idea and let it pull you away into the dead of night, and you can’t stop your fingers from typing out the movie you’re seeing in your head—even if you wanted to. It’s like, for that moment, you’re living an extraordinary life, and you get to watch your characters mess up, cry, laugh, and cause world-ending disasters all on their own. And knowing that it’s coming from my head, my thoughts . . . it’s like watching a personalized movie that’s writing itself as it plays.

Connect with Freida:

https://eannawebb.wixsite.com/freidakilmari

https://www.amazon.com/Freida-Kilmari

https://www.goodreads.com/Freida_Kilmari

https://allpoetry.com/Freida_Kilmari

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/eanna-roberts-aka-freida-kilmari-76157290

https://www.facebook.com/pg/penmanshipediting/

Jade Cinders—Author, Poet, Founder of Facebook’s Writing Bad

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Tell me about your writing process, including schedule, environment, and inspirations material and abstract.

Now that I’m a student, I write mostly during spring and summer breaks. I call these my “on” periods. During my “on” periods, I have a rigid schedule: work, gym, dinner, 1 hour writing, and then 1 hour reading (though, I often read for longer). During my “off” periods, I’ve been trying to introduce a simple 500 words a day to maintain momentum without interfering with my school work.

As for environment, I write in my bedroom on my laptop while sitting on my bed. I know, super classy. I live in a small apartment, so there’s not a lot of options, and this is the most comfortable spot to me.

I find my inspiration from everywhere, but my favorite source of inspiration is real life. I read a lot of news, history, mythology, and true life stories—and when I read these I get ideas for stories. It might just be from a person’s or town’s name, or maybe the local lore of a lake. I find that stuff to be a goldmine of inspiration. For example, I read about an ancient underground city that went seven floors deep that was discovered in the middle east. From that I built a fantasy story of a hidden magical city under San Diego.

Paranoia

Walk me through creating and maintaining Writing Bad.

When I first created Writing Bad, I did so because I was tired of the pretentious belittling I’d see in other writing groups. I would see more developed writers just tearing the newbies apart limb to limb, destroying their self-esteem, and it pissed me off. I wanted to create a group where everybody felt welcome to share their writing, regardless of their skill level. I wanted to ensure we branded the group properly. The colors were black and white, the atmosphere friendly, chill, laid back, edgy cool, with a bite. We weren’t afraid of profanity, and we didn’t censor. We allowed freedom of expression. That was what separated us, and what separates us. The first year I spent every hour checking in on the group. I have had to shift through some admins, though my lead admin Samantha has remained loyal and reliable (couldn’t have done it without her), until we finally reached today’s team. I’m not as involved today as I used to be, or as I’d like to be, but the group has continued to flourish and grow. It’s beautiful to see what it’s become.

Terror Inside

Talk about your support system IRL and online—who are your biggest cheerleaders?

My biggest support system would be my boyfriend and my lead admin & friend Samantha.

How have life experiences prepared you for writing and how does your art influence your life?

Hmm…I’m just going to say it’s been a journey. A long, crazy journey.

Abysmal

What do you love most about your creativity?

I love that my creativity allows me to see outside the box. I love to read, and I read so many different things. I’m not the type that only reads something that is in line with their beliefs—rather, I enjoy challenging my beliefs. I enjoy challenging the limits. I love reading fiction, nonfiction, politics, science, history, and more. I honestly just love to learn, and the more I learn, the more I love to share what I learn.

Connect with Jade:

Jade Cinders

Facebook

Twitter

So Easy