Today I interviewed the born-to-be-writer Erin Hanson from poetry blog "The Poetic Underground" and lifestyle/inspiration blog "The Halfway Point". She's down to earth, wonderfully coherent and her poetry will make your heart flutter as she paints with her words.
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| Star sign: Cancer |
Welcome to Antlered Fawn! When
did you first start writing poetry/blogging: I
started writing poetry probably in about grade 7 (2007) but it wasn't
anything serious, just silly little rhymes with my best friend. I
started my poetry blog in November of 2011, and The Halfway point in
January 2013.
What's
the story behind your blog names "The Halfway Point"
& "The Poetic Underground"?
To
be honest I actually just liked the sound of "The Halfway Point"
but it sort of reflects how I feel about my life, I always feel like
I'm halfway between where I've been and where I want to be. Hopefully
one day I'll feel closer to the end! What will I call it then? The
3/4 Point? haha
The
Poetic Underground was more thought through, I feel like there's a
real lack of appreciation for poetry these days so I wanted to try
and contribute to increasing that appreciation. "The Poetic
Underground" is supposed to feel like a secret place you can go
where you're surrounded by other people who appreciate poetry as much
as you do. Plus, it makes me picture a group of people all huddled in
some hole in the wall place all reading and sharing poetry to each
other, and that makes me happy :)
Congratulations
on self-publishing your first book - can you describe the experience?
Thankyou!
It all happened very quickly so I didn't really have much time to
think about it while it was happening. I'd been getting a few
questions from people on my tumblr asking me to publish a book of my
work but I had no idea how to go about getting published so I kind of
just put the idea to the side. Then around christmas I started
searching on the internet for ways to publish your own book and
wallah! My book came to be :) My sister and I spent two straight
days compiling my poems while she drew the front cover for me. I
was extremely nervous at first because what if nobody bought it? I
suppose it wouldn't matter that much, because to me it would feel
like I'd failed.
I'll
tell you what though, knowing that people appreciate your work enough
to spend their own money on it really puts a smile on my face.
What
is the hardest thing about blogging?
Coming
up with things to blog about! I kind of hit a wall this month in
terms of coming up with new content, so I sat myself down and wrote
out a long list of things I enjoy, things others like to read about,
and how often I can post them. I think I'm starting to come up with
ideas again now though which is good! When you have lots of good
ideas all at once it's easy to want to make heaps of posts in such a
short time to get them out there in the world. But it's important to
space them apart so you don't run out of ideas!
What
makes you uncomfortable? Large
groups of people/ talking infront of people! I am an extremely
introverted person and if I spend to much time around lots of people
I get really anxious and need to leave.
What
has been the craziest experience since you started writing? Apart
from having a book made, probably having people message me saying
that my writing has inspired them, or crazier still, that it has
saved their life. When I get messages like that I don't really know
how to respond, because I'm just a teenager writing words in her
bedroom and there are real life people that I have never met being
affected by them. I think it's amazing.
Three
most prized possessions? Is
it bad that on first thought I couldn't think of a single thing? It's
like those questions "What are three things you'd save in a
fire"…. I never have an answer to them. I'm not a very
materialistic person and don't really place a real importance on the
things I own. If I had to pick though I'd say:
1.
My notebooks that I write my poetry in
2.
My diaries: They hold stories of my life so far that I know I'll
forget in a few years, so it's nice to have a written account of
them.
3.
My books in general? Does that count as one possession when I have a
LOT of them? Either way, I know I can just grab one and read myself
into another world when this one becomes to much to handle.
Favourite
comfort food? I'll tell you what, I have an
addiction to cashews. If you can eat one and then leave the container
alone I applaud you because that is not how it happens here.
Do
you have any advice for anyone starting a blog or writing a book? Do
it for you and not anybody else. I swear everyone says this, but if
you're blogging just to gain followers you're going to lose
motivation really quickly. Blog about what you like and enjoy and it
will attract people with similar interests. When I first started my
poetry blog I didn't tell anyone about it, and nobody I knew in real
life knew about it until I'd published my book! (whoops), I just used
it as a place to save my poems. Eventually more people found it and
it grew, but I never thought "If I post this I'll get more
followers"
Something
you're looking forward to in the future? Moving
out of home hopefully. I know it seems crazy at 18 but I feel as
though I've had enough of where I'm living now, I've lived here my
whole life and I want a change and an adventure, to start
experiencing life for myself. I'm not sure when it'll happen, but
hopefully not too long!
Thank you for being on Antlered Fawn! I loved talking to you and I'm excited to see where you go in the future :)
You can purchase her recently self published poetry collection titled "Reverie" here.
Her Lifestyle/Inspiration Blog here.
Here are some of my favourite poems - Enjoy!
(All photos and poems are property of Erin Hanson. Please don't use or copy images without written permission- thank you)
