Featured Poet: Kelly Maida
Kelly Maida was featured in Train River Poetry: anthology Fall 2019. She is a contributor at The Preservation Foundation and has recently published her first children’s book, Only on a full moon. We had the opportunity to ask her some questions about her literary accomplishments.
Congratulations on publishing Only on a full moon. What inspired you to write this book?
I actually wrote Once upon a full moon in Creative Writing Class at college last semester. My teacher pulled out a deck of archetype cards! This was actually a lot of fun. We were told to pick three cards. The cards that we picked were to be the characters in our story. I pulled the Huntsman, the Enchantress and an Oracle card. I made them all in my story and added in a wicked witch. I mean what is a story about magic without a witch right? My teacher loved my story and said this really could be a great story. She inspired me to publish it.
How did publishing your first book change your perception of writing?
Well, I actually published my first book last year. It was called Lilly the 13th sign. Back then I knew absolutely nothing about how to publish a book or what to do. I started to hand out my manuscript. And when I my manuscript was chosen it did not go well. There was a lot of miscommunication. I handed in a rough draft and told them it was a rough draft and they told me that they would fix it and never did. So I ended up doing all the work on my own this time and self published on Amazon. It is so much work, and I am nervous. The difference this time is this it is a children's book. I was inspired by my two daughters and my nephew to write children's books.
Who is your favorite character in your book? How did you craft that character?
Picking a favorite character would be hard. It is between the Enchantress and the Huntsman. But if I had to pick one it would be the Huntsman. He has always protected her and would risk his life for her. There is an unspoken love there, he would do anything for her. He is very brave and protective. I crafted this character, as I mentioned earlier, from a deck of archetype cards. Once I picked the Huntsman card I pictured him with a sword, brave and protective, and then the words just started to flow into a story.
What does literary success look like to you?
Literary Success to me I see in many different ways. I have always dreamed of being on the New York Times Best Seller list. I also have dreamed of having an agent and being with a large publishing house like Penguin or Random. Winning awards for the book would be nice as well. I really hope that children enjoy this book, that would be a great success. I wrote this because I always read bedtime stories with my children and fairy tales were always my favorite, as well as their favorite. However my oldest daughter Kaleigh told me that she wants me to make her a mermaid in my next book. So that is what I am working on next. My daughter Giana also inspired the mermaid story that I am writing, she looked at me one day and said “Mom you know what—you can write anything. Can you write a story about mermaids and the ocean?” Now I just have to piece it all together.
How many hours a day do you write?
The writing that I do daily varies. Some days it is just 20 minutes working on a poem. Other days it could be all day editing and working on a new story.
What is your motivation for writing?
My motivation for writing is passion. I have been writing since I was a child. I have always wrote poetry. My inspiration was Edgar Allen Poe, I first learned of him in English class. He left quite an impression on me at a young age. Once I started having kids and I worked a lot of hours my writing took a back seat. But now that they are grown it is much easier to focus on this and hopefully it will turn into my full time career. I feel that when I write I am giving birth or creating something.
Where can readers find your work?
Readers can find my work on my Facebook writers page, at The Preservation Foundation and at We Are HER.