Welcome to who’s on fourth where we interview one member of the yeah write community and the interview will publish the fourth Monday of each month. Next in the series features Arden of Arden Ruth Writes interviewing Jennifer of Graceful Press Poetry.

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yeah write on yeah write: Arden interviews Jennifer

Last spring, a marvelous poet stumbled upon yeah write and we couldn’t be luckier to have her with us. At the time, Jennifer of Graceful Press Poetry was attempting to involve herself in an online writing community and she soon found us.

Two things I love about yeah write are the welcoming atmosphere and the focus on craft. That’s a short sentence but a really big deal to me. I’m always happy to have a writing prompt, too.

Jennifer has been writing for as long as she can remember:

I vividly remember gifting a poem to my first-grade teacher…by the time I was 8, I knew I wanted to be a writer “when I grew up”…when I was 9 or 10, I would fill hardbound journals with stories of kings and queens and sailing ships and dragons and unicorns.

Unicorns? You fit in at yeah write more than you know, Jennifer…

You can typically find Jennifer at the fiction|poetry challenge which opens each Tuesday but the microstory challenge on Wednesday is her current cup of tea. For you yeah write virgins out there, lurking in the background, waiting to dive in to the awesomeness of yeah write, Jennifer has a piece of advice for you:

Write what you love, with your own voice, style, and perspective. Try not to worry about what other people will like to read—you never know what is going to resonate with someone, but if it resonates with you, that’s most important. The variety of voices is one of the things that makes yeah write so great.

One thing that sets Jennifer apart from others is her devotion to poetry and the ease in which she seems to construct it. Each week, I’m blown away with whatever she submits. For me, poetry is very new and terrifying so I was eager to learn about Jennifer’s process, especially what differs for her when it comes to writing fiction versus poetry.

For me, [fiction and poetry] do come from different places. Fiction starts with character and setting, and involves lots of wonderful daydreaming but also lots of agonizing over motivation and plot, character growth, etc. Poetry starts with the words—a phrase or an image—and just goes where it wants to. I love the discovery aspect of this, how poetry can bring up feelings, issues, solutions your “regular” brain doesn’t get (avoids?). My poems usually write themselves pretty quickly, once I sit down with paper and pen, though there’s plenty of musing time before it gets to that stage. Of course I’ll go back and trim and shape a poem after the initial spewing, but I won’t agonize over a poem for days or weeks (sonnets excepted!). I’d much rather give up or set something aside than feel like I’m forcing it. I write super-messy drafts by hand in a lined notebook, then type it up and revise on the computer, where it’s easy to move words around, look for better synonyms, play with line breaks, etc.

You won’t always find Jennifer huddled over notebooks, feverishly writing day in and day out. Jennifer grew up in the states but two years ago, she crossed the pond and moved to Germany.

I have been married 23 years to a man who is an amazing combination of practicality and idealism. We have a son and two daughters—2 teens and a tween. They are all talented artists, which they didn’t get from me!

As you can see, she’s quite humble too!

Jennifer worked as an editor for several years before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She has published a number of works including classroom guides for teaching Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth and an e-book called Two Swords (published under a pseudonym). When she needs a break though, you can find her doing any number of crafts including crochet, sewing, and making journals.

You should sell those! I love a good journal.

Jennifer also loves to garden and make music and she lives in the perfect spot for traveling. Like all of us here at yeah write, it’s not surprising to also find her with her nose stuck in a good book. Right now, Jennifer is reading Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke. She is also working through Anne of the Island with her younger daughter and The Golden Compass with her son.

Thank you Jennifer for letting us get to know you a little better here at yeah write. We are so happy to have you and Graceful Press Poetry involved in our community!

Oh, you want more? Well here are five things you never knew about Jennifer:

She writes with two favorite fountain pens and uses lots of colored ink.
She detests cooking. Also grocery-shopping. She would rather clean the bathrooms.
She once sat with Holly Black and literary agent Barry Goldblatt at an SCBWI retreat lunch. They talked about books, and Ms. Black recommended she read Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, which of course she did.
Wine. Cheesecake. Mexican food.
Some things she misses about living in the U.S. (in no special order): her local library, Target, pay-at-the-pump, singing in choir, frost-free fridge/freezer, 2-day Amazon delivery.

[hr] Are you ready for the yeah write #202 weekly writing challenges opening this week? We hope so! Your badges await in the sidebar. Grab the code, paste into the text or HTML view of your post, then submit your post to the moderated grid for a little friendly competition. We’re glad you’re here.

11 Comments

Michael on [Tue] 24 Feb 15 at 9:27 am

I’ve never read the Golden Compass, but I’m quite fond of the whole Anne series. An excellent reading choice. 🙂 And happy birthday!
- Jennifer G. Knoblock on [Tue] 24 Feb 15 at 2:12 pm
  
  The Anne books are great…and I love exposing my kids to that playful and luxurious writing style of a bygone era. And thank you!
Silverleaf on [Tue] 24 Feb 15 at 6:25 am

Happy birthday, Jennifer! I really loved this piece – it was great to get to know you better, it spoke to me on so many levels and frequently had me smiling in understanding. Your process for creating poetry is so similar to my own (sonnets excepted – hah!), though I only use boring black ink. Maybe if I threw in some colour… And it was good to hear your advice on writing. I would say something similar to others but sometimes you need to hear it for yourself.
The frost in the freezer? Brings back memories of my 5 years in Ireland 🙂
- Jennifer G. Knoblock on [Tue] 24 Feb 15 at 2:19 pm
  
  Thanks so much for reading! I highly recommend colored ink. 🙂 (What is it with the frosty freezer? I want to know!) xo
  - Jennifer G. Knoblock on [Tue] 24 Feb 15 at 2:20 pm
    
    p.s. I love that it’s “colour” for you.
KymmInBarcelona on [Mon] 23 Feb 15 at 6:32 pm

A very Happy Birthday, Jennifer!!
You are always a must read at yeahwrite, and never disappoint!
I hear the expat thing. It’s a bit easier to get books in English now in Spain, but rarely the one you happen to be looking for (just happened again today). Can anybody lend me Toni Morrison’s Jazz?
Wine. Yup.
Congratulations, Arden, on a great interview!
- Jennifer G. Knoblock on [Tue] 24 Feb 15 at 3:13 am
  
  Thanks for the kind words, Kymm. The longer I’m here, the more I miss libraries…one of those unexpected side effects. 🙂
angieinspired on [Mon] 23 Feb 15 at 4:03 pm

Happy birthday, Jennifer! I had no idea you were in Germany. I tried to go over for a study abroad program in college, but wasn’t picked:( My brother honeymooned there and my ancestors are from there. Anywho…I’m with you on the library and freezer thing! The 2 teens and a tween is close to my 3 teens and a tween. I appreciate you talking about the difference between fiction and poetry. I started off with fiction, but quickly found I never had a plot! So – poetry is me. Nice to learn more about you. Keep on writing . And thanks, Arden.
- Jennifer G. Knoblock on [Mon] 23 Feb 15 at 5:22 pm
  
  And I love your poetry, Angie. Yeah, I have fiction-plotting issues. Also attention-span issues (could it have anything to do with teens and tweens?)…so poetry is a great fit!
Jennifer G. Knoblock on [Mon] 23 Feb 15 at 1:52 pm

This is lovely, Arden, thank you! A super birthday present, too. 🙂
- Arden Ruth on [Mon] 23 Feb 15 at 1:55 pm
  
  Yay! Happy birthday!

who’s on fourth: yeah write interviews Jennifer of Graceful Press Poetry

11 Comments

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