How did you first become interested in writing poetry?
Shortly after a marital breakup in 2005, I took a creative writing class at Glendale Community College in Glendale, Arizona. There I discovered I absolutely loved poetry. I’d always enjoyed writing in journals, and writing newsletters and essays—but poetry, up until then, had been fairly unexplored (with the exception of elementary school poetry assignments). Writing poems suddenly became a way for me to create portraits or photographs using words.

What inspires your work?
Many times, my poems show up during my journal writing. I write daily "morning pages"— a la Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way— and many times, the poems sort of "fall out" on the pages. Sometimes I dream poems. Rarely does it work for me to "decide to write a poem", although if I use form poetry, I can sometimes capture something I want to write about.

Can you explain your writing process? What system feels the most natural to you?
I’m pretty consistent with writing "morning pages" every day, although sometimes I’ve slacked off and paid the price. If I don’t have that daily informal writing spill, I feel out of balance. Writing poems on a schedule hasn’t happened for me. I write them when they decide to show up. I was once told by a teacher to do the creative writing first…then the writing for money (i.e. the job). This is a great concept but not one I’ve always been able to stick to.

What is it like to live and write in a small cabin in the forest?
I love the quiet, the scents, the animal spotting – deer, squirrels, birds, coyotes, and javelinas. The forest smells clean and piney, and has amazing light quality and sunsets. I feel very safe here – safer than in many urban settings. The not-so-wondrous parts of living in a cabin include being occasionally snowed in, financially living on the edge (without a regular 9 to 5 job), and being away from my family members who are scattered around the state and country. My internet connection can also be challenging, as cable doesn’t extend to the forest. Verizon has come out with a new MiFi device which has been a huge improvement over my last connective gadget.

What inspired you to seek a master’s degree in writing?
I absolutely fell in love with poetry and wanted to learn every possible thing about it. I also believed that an MFA could offer me the additional perks of teaching in a community college program or university, and more credibility in the world of employment-related writing.

What are some of the high points and challenges of earning your MFA? How did your life and writing process change after you received your degree?
My experiences with the MFA program were nearly 100% rewarding. I absolutely LOVED my mentors, attending all the residency readings and workshops, being exposed to so many new authors via their books (my assignments), and meeting and learning from the other students.

Incorporating MLA formatting into my long critical papers wasn’t my favorite learning activity although I finally mastered it. (Somehow, through all my years of schooling, I’d escaped learning that rigid system.) Paying for grad school was also somewhat difficult; taking out a student loan my second year was a burden I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. But one of the most challenging parts of my MFA journey was when I completed the degree and hit the wall of, "What am I supposed to do now?"

I realized I had to take responsibility for setting up a structure for myself; to establish both a writing schedule and a writing community. Since graduate school, I’ve enrolled in an ongoing private online class led by one of my Antioch mentors, Richard Garcia. (Each month Richard assigns two writing exercises. Students submit five or six poems to Richard, and he reviews and returns the work with his comments attached.) In addition to taking Richard’s class, I’ve also become acquainted with several local poets and writers with whom I meet periodically to critique and discuss work.

Do you have suggestions for writers interested in the MFA quest?
Be sure to examine your motives. My number one motive was to learn as much as possible about poetry, and I feel I met this goal very satisfactorily during my time at Antioch, although I am still learning. Because that was my driving purpose, I’m extremely glad I made the decision to go to grad school. My secondary motive, which was to use the credential for employment possibilities, has, to a degree, come to fruition. This summer I taught an online course called "Self Exploration Through Creative Writing" for Prescott College. The experience wouldn’t have been possible without my MFA. However, the master’s degree isn’t a "golden ticket" to employment opportunities. I’m sure there are many of MFA holders who work for Home Depot or other low-paying employers. I hover fairly close to the poverty range income-wise in order to retain the flexibility to write creatively and travel.

Do your "day jobs" add to or detract from your creative writing process?
Currently, my main job is freelance writing for an internet company. For over two years I’ve written website content, articles, advertising blips, Facebook posts for businesses, blog posts, and newsletters. As I mentioned, I’ve held a part-time adjunct instructor position at Prescott College, and I’ve also worked for South Mountain Community College as a field consultant to Montessori teachers in training.

Each of these jobs (and others I’ve had while writing poetry) add to AND detract from my creative writing. I’m lucky my positions have been relatively flexible in terms of scheduling. Each has had moments of igniting my creativity because every life experience is fodder. My employment writing has also provided hours of practice in crafting and editing coherent bundles of words.

Jobs can detract from my creative writing if they drain too much of my energy, take too much of my time, or pay so little that my financial struggles sap my creative wherewithal. But I really feel that my ability to write a poem has less to do with my "day jobs" and more to do with my taking responsibility for achieving the proper balance. I continually work on finding the "right balance." Oh, and luck helps, too.

What activities or resources benefit you and your writing?
Being involved with other writers in a variety of ways (such as local or online critique groups, being given exercises by my mentor, reading others’ work, and attending poetry readings) has helped me keep up my writing. Journaling in my daily "morning pages" has benefited me a great deal. Traveling helps me. Taking care of myself – managing my stress, getting enough sleep, going to yoga, taking walks and hikes, meditating, eating chocolate, laughing at everything – especially myself—are the steps necessary for me to write anything. Not judging myself so harshly helps too, and turning off the old "inner critic" whenever possible. She’s pretty tenacious though…. :)


Publishing Credits
"USA in ABCs": South85, forthcoming 2012.
"The Moon Watches Me Sleep": OVS Magazine, Winter issue, 2011.
"Motorcycle Road Trip Through Six States": The New Verse News, October 2011.
"Double Abecedarian: Princess & The Pea": Verse Wisconsin, Issue 105, March 2011.
"Hotel Appolinaris": Verse Wisconsin, Issue 105, March 2011.
"Daffodils": OVS Magazine, Volume 2, June 2010.
"Deer Villanelle": OVS Magazine, Volume 2, June 2010.
"Goodbye": Threshold Journal from Yavapai College, 2010.
"He Lusts After Librarians" (nominated for the 2010 Pushcart Prize): OVS Magazine, Volume 1, 2009.
"Another Nice Thing About Dogs":  Monsoon Voices Literary Magazine, 2009.

Poems Published in Anthologies
"1974 - Learning to Drive in Davis": The Davis Poetry Book Anthology, 2011.
"Another Nice Thing About Dogs":  A Quiet Shelter There (anthology to benefit homeless dogs and cats), forthcoming 2012.
"Orange": Merge Phoenix Poetry Series Anthology, 2011.
"He Lusts After Librarians" (nominated for the 2010 Pushcart Prize) : Merge Phoenix Poetry Series Anthology, 2011.
"He Lusts After Librarians" (nominated for the 2010 Pushcart Prize) : OVS Magazine Anthology, 2010.
"Daffodils": OVS Magazine Anthology, 2010.

Readings
Electric Lodge. Los Angeles, CA. December 12, 2010.
Phoenix Poetry Series. Urban Beans Café. Phoenix, AZ. May 21, 2010.
Free Association Poetry Series. Glendale, AZ. May 11, 2010.
Poetry at the Puppet Theatre. Phoenix, AZ. March 24, 2010.
Monsoon Voices Live Literary Magazine, Phoenix, AZ. June 12 and August 14th, 2009.

Upcoming Events
Phoenix Poetry Series - (Date and location TBD.) Featuring poets Susan Vespoli, Cynthia Edlow, Allyson Boggess and Nadine Lockhart.  Hosted by Rosemarie Dombrowski and Nadine Lockhart. Events are traditionally held every third Friday of the month.

Contact
Susan Vespoli (email): susan_vespoli [at] yahoo.com

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Author Spotlight: Laura Bruno

This author spotlight illuminates the writing process of Laura Bruno, Intuitive Life Coach, brain injury survivor, and author of three books -- including the most recent novel, Schizandra and the Gates of Mu, edited by Traci Moore. Laura received her M.A. from the University of Chicago. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Would you share some background information about you and your writing? From the moment I learned to read, I believed that I would one day write. I took one creative writing class as a freshman in high school and one as a freshman in college, where I became an English major. I loved the written word and would devour 5-15 books per week.

Somewhere along the way, I lost that initial joy of creation and found myself judging everything I wrote in harsh contrast to the literary greats, as well as judging how smart it sounded according to literary theory. I talked about wanting to write novels, but in reality, I felt stuck. Deep down I worried about having nothing valuable to share. Since I only wanted to write things of substance, I defaulted into becoming an English professor. I figured at least I could analyze other writers' insights, and maybe someday I’d write something of my own.

I earned a Masters Degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago, and spent two years in the corporate world. Three months before beginning a doctoral fellowship at Northwestern University, life dealt me an unexpected card. One might even call it the famous Hanged Man card from the Tarot, where everything just falls away as the man hangs in stasis, suspended upside down. In my case, the 180 arrived when a car accident left me with a traumatic brain injury. I lost the ability to read or drive, relinquished my doctoral fellowship and most of my friends, and spent the next six years chasing elusive recovery. I had no idea when or if I would ever reclaim my brain. In addition to losing the ability to read or write without severe migraine headaches, I lost my short-term memory, 42 IQ points, and became overly sensitive to just about everything.

Traditional doctors without answers launched me into a world of alternative medicine. And here I hit my stride. There’s a saying in my novel, "When the Hanged Man steps down, nothing will ever look the same again," and that’s exactly what happened to me. In "stepping down," I embraced some latent healing gifts and wound up apprenticing with an herbalist who valued my medical intuitive skills. Still unable to read more than 20 minutes per day, I gradually began helping other people reclaim their lives. I learned Reiki energy healing; I advertised myself as a Medical Intuitive. I began working on long-term life path goals with so many of my medical intuitive clients that people started referring friends and family members to me for life coaching services. As I learned more, I expanded my expertise to wider areas.

Along the way, I entered an occasional poetry or essay contest–suffering migraines and vertigo with each foray into Microsoft Word. Despite the pain, I started winning prizes and often found publication in small journals or online.  For a "permanently disabled" brain injury survivor, I figured I was doing pretty well. I eventually did recover and published a healing guide called, If I Only Had a Brain Injury, which draws upon the "Wizard of Oz" as a model for healing. The book incorporates my own experiences as a survivor, Medical Intuitive, Life Coach and spouse of someone who recovered from his own "Medical Mystery " (Lyme Disease). My book won Honorable Mention in the Writer’s Digest 2008 Self-Published Book Awards.

Since 2001, when I began working for the herbalist, a character named "Schizandra" began to haunt me. I just couldn’t get her out of my head, and she grew from a short story to a novel to a novel series, along with other characters named after herbs who haunted me, too. While researching the story idea, I moved to Sedona, which exposed me to the world of raw food and all the "woo woo" things Sedona represents. I didn’t know it then, but raw cacao (chocolate in its natural state) and many alternative modalities would soon become major parts of the book. At one point in 2008, I got writer’s block and tried to keep writing by creating a non-fiction side project. Three weeks later, The Lazy Raw Foodist’s Guide was born, and I returned to work on the novel. In retrospect I see how all of these passions, synchronicities, side trips and desires dovetailed to create exactly what wanted to come through me.

Can you share a bit about the novel?
Schizandra and the Gates of Mu tells the story of a 13-year-old orphan with a cosmic destiny. Forced to move from Chicago to Sedona when her father dies of brain cancer, Schizandra Parker faints in class and begins a mythic journey to the underworld. I took advantage of the metaphysical qualities of Sedona as a means of blending fantasy and reality in this novel. As a result, the story becomes more than just Schizandra’s story. Each character—grandmother, pilot, friends, aunts, and underworld "fantasy" creature--heals and unfolds through his or her own attempts to awaken Schizandra. I find the story difficult to encapsulate because it runs throughout time and space, linking legends of Atlantis and Lemuria with 2012, the Mayan Calendar, everyday "coincidences," and practical issues we all face as human beings.

What inspired you to write this novel?
The character Schizandra certainly announced herself—way back in 2001! Despite that long gestation period, I wrote 90% of the novel from summer 2008-summer 2009. The story revealed itself in meditative spurts, and I received many ideas through patterns I noticed while coaching people or offering intuitive readings. I found similar themes arising again and again, and I thought, "Wow, there must be some way to enchant people so they can get out of their own way and let themselves heal." Fiction seemed like a better option than non-fiction, because it would completely engage the right-brain creative side. So, the story became one about global healing. It also explores friendship and embracing who we really are as individuals and a species.

I definitely follow the Mary Poppins principle: "A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down." I didn’t want to write some dry, boring book telling people what to do; I wanted to keep things entertaining. I’m also a total literary nerd, so I wanted the story to "unpack" if people chose to delve deeper. I loaded it up with symbols to engage my inner English major. I wanted to create a book that I would enjoy analyzing as well as reading.

At what stage did you decide to hire an editor?
I had never taken anything beyond an introductory creative writing class, nothing to prepare me for writing a novel! I had actually never written a short story until 2006, and that story ended up becoming Nestor’s tale in Schizandra and the Gates of Mu. I reached a point where I felt too close to edit the story myself. I considered deleting it, but something told me there just might be another way. Non-writers loved my draft, so I sensed the book had value. I just didn’t know how to "make it right" myself, and I didn’t want to release something I considered sub-par.

How did you find the process of working with an editor?
Hiring an editor was a huge step for me. It took this project from a lark to a serious quest. It also involved exposing my writing to a highly honed eye besides my own. As an English major, I provided editing for clients and friends; I wasn’t used to having my own writing critiqued. I didn’t normally ask for brutally honest, stick-it-to-me-without-the-sugar help. It turned out to be the best decision I ever made, though. I suspect Traci did sugar-coat a bit, but the little suggestions she made resulted in huge changes. Invariably, she pointed to areas I had glossed over or wished would disappear. Sometimes I only changed a few sentences. Sometimes I gutted or inserted entire paragraphs. In each case, I felt an "ah-ha" sense of relief as my story finally began to shine on its own. I felt like Michelangelo acknowledging that the piece of stone already contained "David." Chipping away with Traci’s guidance helped me reveal the refined story that lay beneath the rock.

How did your book change as a result?
Once I decided to hire an editor, something snapped inside of me. I stopped caring how long the process would take. I stopped considering the story "mine." It became simply, "the work," "the text itself," Schizandra. I’d say the biggest difference is that readers can actually understand most of what I wrote. In the original piece I overcompensated with research, so some passages sounded overly technical or inaccessible. Traci pointed those out to me and also suggested ways I could bring some of the esoteric concepts down to earth. Sometimes she just said, "This area’s not working for me, and I’m not sure why." Whereas the old me might have argued with her, this new, determined me gobbled up that criticism.

"Bruno casts out her tale like a cosmic fishing net, capturing readers in lines woven with the deep energetic power of the human heart to love unconditionally and to heal with profound compassion."   –Karen Lang for Sedona.biz

"I recommend this book for a most enjoyable read, but also to stretch the imagination and get lost on a mysterious journey! I look forward to the next installment in this series."   –Donetta Garman for AllBookReviews.com

"Mystical, magical and totally enchanting."   --ReaderViews

Books:

Schizandra and the Gates of Mu, 2009
The Lazy Raw Foodist's Guide, 2008
If I Only Had a Brain Injury, 2008

Contact:  www.laurabruno.wordpress.com