So my first published poem appears in this season’s issue of Illumen. I received my copy and payment today.

It’s a short poem, less than 30 words long, but in the end I made a professional per-word rate on it.

To date, I’ve had two publications as a writer of speculative fiction. This foray into poetry came about quite naturally, as a result of undertaking an unorthodox exercise to stimulate my powers of description.

Getting my MFA has taught me the need to expand my writing, and it has given me the tools to get the job done. Learning to actually be a writer is more than just word count per day or number of works in progress. It’s about viewing the world and the process of writing in terms of each other.

Like all forms of art, writing is about perception.