I’ve been blesses to have attended school with a great number of authors, and Ms. Hayes is one of them. She has taken negative experiences in her personal life and channeled them into a book of poetry. Here she explains the process behind her writing.
What inspired your book?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is long and convoluted. It was a heartbreak and the book was a lot of things. It was a way for me to get over this heartbreak, it was a way for me to see my own value and worth; and it was a lesson for my daughters so that they would know how wonderful and magnificent they already are even without a partner.
Did you start with an outline or did you make it up as you went along?
These poems came straight off the Dome. There was no outline for it, I just picked up my recorder when I had a feeling and I let it go.
What researching methods did you use?
There was no research; this was all lived life experience it was absolutely first person first feelings; all of the feelings and I didn’t hold anything back.
Did you draw on personal experience?
(See above)
How did you publish?
I self-published through Amazon.
Why did you do it that way?
I did it that way because I was in a time crunch. I had determined that I was going to do this thing and I wanted it to be done by a specific date and I didn’t have time to wait for other people to say “Yes, we will accept this work or yes, we’ll do it this way.” so I went ahead and did it that way.
Who did your cover and marketing?
I did my own cover and marketing. I did my own marketing; in that I’ve let people know that I had published a book but I was also on Amazon’s website, so they do some marketing of it.
How many revisions did it take to get a publishable book?
One, it only took one revision because I tend to be very detail oriented, so when I was composing… actually when I was transcribing the poems I was going through and making sure that they were grammatically correct, that they you know… that the sound was there but also when a reader read them even those that are not grammatically correct the intention was very much understood.
What is the ratio of time you spent researching to time you spent writing?
Again, no researching done. Time writing was just in the moment. It was literally if I felt something; I knew I needed to get it out, so I recorded, and I did that. I kept my phone handy of course and then I just transcribed the poems when I was preparing to publish.
How did you make time to write?
I didn’t make time to write I wrote when the time cam; whenever the feeling struck, I took the time to get it out. If it was the middle of the night, I was picking up my phone and recording. If I was driving in traffic I was just recording.
How does your published book enhance your other ventures?
My published book doesn’t really enhance my other ventures because it does not fit at all with them. This is so far from all of the other things that I do. Even as an artist my work does not generally fall in such an emotional realm as my professional work. If it does however, I tend to keep them very separate so it no one thinks “Wow! This is another side to Miss Hayes.” This is completely off the grid. I use a totally different name than I do in my professional life, I endeavor to keep it very separate.
Who are the people that would benefit the most from reading your book, and how did you determine that?
The people that would benefit the most from reading my book, I believe young women, older, men, boys; anyone who has experienced love or heartache. That is a universal language, it is something that we all understand. Giving ourselves to a person and not necessarily having that reflected back to us. I feel any person with a heart, a loving heart is a good audience for this book.
How did you decide what order to present your topics in?
I made the decision to present the poems in the order that they were dictated. That was the natural ebb and flow of life and that’s essentially what the book is. It is the life cycle of a love, and you can’t skip ahead. You just go with it until what you feel doesn’t hurt anymore; so, I just rode the wave and presented the poems in the fashion that the wave was ridden.
How would you describe your process for writing poetry as opposed to writing prose?
Yeah, my process for writing poetry is very different from writing prose. Poetry is very much what I feel; it’s just what I feel I don’t try to manipulate it or switch it around. I really try to give the raw feeling of the moment. When I’m writing prose I am very structured I am sticking to the outlines maybe making deviations or character development deems necessary but I am definitely following some sort of structure that allows for a sequential flow of events there is quite a bit of manipulation in prose right because you can change things around and you can make characters feel a different way but my poetry is very lived life experience so there is no changing that around.
What would you like your readers to gain from reading your book?
I would like for readers of ;hope;love all the feels to gain the hope and wisdom that life does go on, love does go on. Even though one love may not have been what you had hoped it would be there are other loves that will fill those needs, those wants, those desires; because essentially the greatest love that we have… should have hopefully, is the love of ourselves so learning that because this one person didn’t love us that is not the end of our world because we are able to love ourselves. That is expressed in a few poems especially; the ones that I wrote for my daughters because see it’s not just about Eros love it’s about philos and agape love.
What are you writing now?
I just recently finished a piece for an anthology project that a friend of mine is working on. It’s called A Poet Found Dead. I’m very excited for its release; that was also very cathartic for me. I had a great time working on it. My next personal project is going to be a complete book for my daughters. There were a few poems for them in ;hope;love all the feels; however the next book will be all about them. I remember when I was a little girl and my dad would give me these calendars of poems and it was a woman; she was writing letters… poems to her daughter. In these calendars and books (and I actually picked up a book of hers some years ago because I really love her work). I want to affirm them or to continue to affirm them in such a manner that they are loath to forget that they have been loved since the beginning of time. I think it’s very important that we impress upon our daughters the significance of self-love and self-value and self-worth and how priceless those things are; and having confidence without being cocky, so being humble but also steadfast and convicted
What is your advice to other writers?
My advice to other writers would be; (and this is advice that I gave to just about anybody that I talk to when they say” what advice do you have for me?”) and I definitely want to give Mufasa his credit; but “remember who you are”, these are your words, these are your stories, don’t let others twist them, manipulate them, turn them. Let your words have the power you intended them to have. Let them touch, let them caress, let them mingle, because sometimes our words wrestle with people. Stay strong in your conviction of your work, in your ability. Now, that is not to say don’t accept help, don’t accept edits right. Be open to editorial feedback, don’t be stubborn, but remember who you are and what your story is and the point you’re trying to get at, and you’ll be fine.
Be Sure to Download Shanta’s Book “;Hope;Love, All the Feels” on Amazon Today!
