Poets move to a different beat than other writers. They see things that fiction authors do not always visualize and can put other words into perspective. It enables them to create beautiful words of symmetry that bounce off the page like magic.
Katrina Lippolis is a poet with a release of poems called The Way We Fall that comes out this month. The collection will be available through Kindle on Amazon. She discussed the process that went through organizing everything as it all came together.
“It was a pretty simple process to be honest,” she recalled. “I typically tweet my poetry on Twitter just to share with my followers and others who may appreciate it. I was very nervous about sharing my writing at first due to not knowing exactly how everyone would react. But thanks to a few followers and friends giving me the encouragement to get my poems published, I finally became brave enough to just do it.”
She set them all up in a notebook set up in three different categories; love, heartbreak and depression. Those are the themes of the story.
While poetry is her mantra, Lippolis used to partake in fanfiction. She was part of a group called ARMY amino, which was an app for different fans of different genres of writing. The Trip of a Lifetime, the first story she wrote, was about a young lady who takes a dream vacation to Seoul, South Korea and then becomes involved in a love triangle featuring two of the members of BTS; Yoongi (Suga) and Taehyung (V).
“The story was 10 or more chapters long and I shared a new chapter once a week,” she explained. “It was met with positive reviews by fellow ARMYs which gave me the
confidence I needed to write more. While on the app, I believe I shared 10-15 fanfics, that all did very well. I honestly miss writing fanfiction, but it’s not in me anymore. Maybe someday the urge will return.”
Now that she focuses solely on poetry, Lippolis went into detail about the process she goes through in illuminating her work.
“Word choices can make all the difference,” she beamed. “I try to choose wisely. Also honestly, I write whatever comes to mind. I’m what they call a pantser, which is a term used for those who don’t plan anything, they just write. That’s me. I just write. Ideas for my poetry can come from TV shows, inspiration from music lyrics/videos, movies, commercials or even just a simple conversation between a friend and myself. It can take one word or sentence to get my gears rotating.”
As she has self-published her collection of poetry, Lippolis explained why she picked June 8 for the release date.
“I specifically chose June 8th just to give myself a birthday gift and to mentally prepare for its release. Prayers certainly go a long way and have helped so much,” she lamented. “KDP; Kindle Direct Publishing was my number one choice in self-publishing simply because I thought it would be the easiest platform. And for the most part, it is the easiest. It wasn’t hard for me to upload the manuscript and create the cover art, but what did nearly give me a panic attack was formatting the manuscript. I had to ask a friend to help me. Without his help, I don’t know what I would have done. I’m a complete dunce when it comes to the technical stuff. But it’s all a learning process.”
As she gets ready for her release, the future comes to mind and where exactly she will go with her collection of poems, and any future work.
“My dream is to be a best-selling author,” she said. “I would love to see my name listed on the New York Times Bestsellers list. That would be a dream come true. So, I’m praying and working as hard as I can to accomplish that dream someday - No matter how long it takes. I’ve always told my family that I’ve felt that I was meant to make a name for myself and perhaps this is how.”
Lippolis detailed exactly what she would say to future writers and poets.
“One of my favorite quotes is by the Irish poet Oscar Wilde; “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. There is nothing wrong with writing in a similar style to other poets and writers, but whatever you write, make it your own.”
As her book is officially on sale, an example of a poem Lippolis would write is displayed below. If someone says, “The moon is beautiful tonight. It looks huge!”
I could write:
Tonight we gaze upon the moon
The beauty of its glow beams brightly on us It’s as large as our spirits that dance in the night Filled with stars in our eyes The universe is our playground
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