AUTHOR PROFILE
Robin Wright lives in Southern Indiana. She takes great pride in her four grandchildren, spending time with them and sometimes making them the subject of her writing. Her poems, essays, fiction, and photos have appeared in several journals and anthologies. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her first chapbook, Ready or Not, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2020.
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Robin's work appeared in Pond 73
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Why do you write?
At the risk of sounding a little crazy (aren’t most authors at least a little crazy?), I feel like I didn’t so much choose writing as it chose me. When I go through periods of time that I’m not writing much, I feel my angst and aggravation growing and know that I have to get something onto the page. I have found that writing helps me engage with both other humans and my interior thoughts. It’s a way to better understand the world and my place in it.
What other creative activities are you involved in?
I like to take photos, and I have had a few published, but I would be the first to admit that I’m very much an amateur. However, there’s something very appealing to me about how light and shadows play when placing objects in the light’s path.
Who is your favorite author and why?
There’s no way for me to limit my favorite to one author! For poetry, to name a few, Kim Addonizio, Dorianne Laux, and Jim McGarrah. All three seem to me to be mostly narrative poets and know how to mix tough scenarios with beautiful words, causing the end result to be stunning art. For fiction, one of my favorites is Flannery O’Connor. She seemed to be able to break rules with much success. Many of her characters feel like caricatures, (which may be because she started out as a cartoonist), and that wouldn’t work in most fiction for most writers, but the way she developed her stories, the characters worked wonderfully.
Tell us about the mechanics of how you write.
Most of the time I write poetry, and each poem is different for me. I sometimes sit at my computer ready to write. If nothing comes to me, I’ll do a free-write and later pull out something that I think might work in a poem. Sometimes I’m inspired by a dream or thought, and I try to record it as soon as possible. Many times this is on my grocery list on my phone, so along with milk and bread, I’ll have a note for something that I want to pursue for a poem. Sometimes a poem will come to me as an infant in need of much care before being fully formed, sometimes as a teenager who needs some help and care but most of the basics are there. Then some (much less often) come as adults maybe just in need of a mani-pedi. I have a great online critique group that helps me with my poems in their various stages, and I’m grateful to them for helping me become a better writer.
Finally, what do you think about Carp, the fish, not our website?
I have to confess that I have not spent much time thinking about carp, but after researching them, they are quite intriguing. I think what fascinates me is that they are invasive, ornamental (ready for koi ponds), found in many locations, a food source for humans, and diverse. But the most interesting thing about them is that they can live for several months without much oxygen. I think in my next life I want to be a carp! Maybe in this life, I’ll write about them.