Issue 3 Star- Gazette

3. Among your works, which one is your favorite? Why?
In 2018 I was writing for a publication called Guided Mag, we were preparing our
fifth issue, the theme was “lost”. I had really bad writers block during that period
and didn’t think I’d have something ready in time. Then during that process I
learned my grandma had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and dementia,
and that news tore me to pieces. I eventually channeled all that pain into a poem,
I didn’t really
write it for publishing, though it ended up being published in that issue. It was a
poem navigating the heartbreak I was feeling knowing that sooner or later she
would not be with me, and potentially forget who I was. It also just expressed
how much I love her and how much she means to me. It was the first piece I’d
ever published in a magazine and I sent my family a copy, the page even had a
big picture of her as the poem's background. She loved seeing herself within a
magazine and got to read it. Shortly after that her illnesses really began to
progress and her memory became more hazy, so I always love that piece
because it really gave me the ability to express to her how much she means to me
one last time, and I feel I did that well. I also love it for the fact that it was a
piece we both share no matter what.
4. What is your favorite genre to write in?
It’s between poetry and fiction, but I definitely could not tell you which. When I
was in elementary school I used to get journals and fill them up with stories, like
little books, and it made me so happy writing those. But when I became an
adolescent I sort of fell out of writing in general for a bit, it was then that I found
poetry at about 13 and that really got me through my teenage years, as well as
solidified my love
for writing. I’ve mainly been a poet these past 7 or so years, but since getting
back into writing fiction recently I’ve remembered how much I love writing it, and
the art of storytelling. I think both serve different purposes for me, poetry is how
I deal with reality, fiction is how I escape it. I couldn’t exist without either and
love them both for many different reasons.
5. Anything you would like to say to the readers?
I’d say never be afraid to take risks in your art, or in anything you do, usually the
craziest ideas are the
ones which pay off. Believe in yourself and what you can do, no matter what you
come from, and keep
pushing the limits of what you think you can do!