What Was I Thinking?

"Did you do that on purpose, or was it an accident?" I've already been asked this question several times–and I get it, but it still kind of makes me laugh. It's my first book, so the answer pretty much has to be: A bit of both. I mentioned before that a bookmark would be good to keep on hand while you're reading Inkling, so let's start there.

If you're reading the print version, you may have been a bit surprised to notice that there aren't any page numbers. This seems like a doubly confounding choice when you likely also realized that I don't really name/title almost any of my poems either. This is largely intentional, though I know not everyone will appreciate the reasons. I've already been told that some people have found this to be confusing and makes returning to favorites a difficult feat. I can understand that, but there is a method to my madness. Quite frankly, this will likely be the layout of future books as well, so I like the idea of addressing this early on.

Mainly, my decisions come down to a desire to create an experience, or a clean slate to put yourself into what you read. I'm a fan of liminal spaces: I do my best thinking in such places and truly come out of those situations feeling refreshed. And as much as I appreciate when reading can get me out of my head and into a new world, I also love when I read and have the chance to really think and grow without the author telling me exactly what to do with and think about what they've written.

So for my poetry, that looks like clean space. A removal of your ability to tell how far you've read into the book. No drawings or labels or names to take your focus from the page–nothing but the words to interpret how you will. Which also has the advantage of giving you complete freedom to figure out how you enjoy the book and really make it your own. We already know I like blackout poetry, and while I don't usually write or draw in books I like, maybe you do. I've certainly left you plenty of room to make notes or sketch out what each poem represents for you and even name them if you so desire! And I want you to take that and run with it.

This month, I'll be writing about the section of Inkling called FEEL, so it seemed appropriate to open up with this post. I want nothing more than for people to resonate with my book and future works, however that looks for you. I can't wait for future discussions about your experience reading it!

Ready to get reading? Pick up Inkling today by following the link to purchase from your preferred vendor: https://linktr.ee/CreativeInklin