When I was about seven years old I challenged myself to write a story that was longer than a single page. I had always loved stories, reading them, listening to them, creating them, but my own works had always been small (no surprise, I was only seven after all). I remember the moment that I finally accomplished my goal, the excitement I felt as I turned over the page I had been writing on and still had a few more words to share. I was so proud of myself.
Thus began a lifelong love for the written word.
Most of my early writings were stories of various genres and lengths. I do not know when I first grew to love writing poetry, but by the time I hit middle school it was a welcome part of my writing repertoire. I found a website were I could create my own Poet's Page for people around the world to enjoy my work. I even entered a few poems into some writing competitions and received recognition for them (thank you poetrypoem.com and poetry.com!).
As I got older and it became more evident that my mental health was struggling, poetry soon became an outlet and sometimes a lifeline for me to get the rushing thoughts out of my head, or to find a quick reprieve from the stresses and seeming chaos of life. Many of the poems I wrote were strictly for me, mostly because I wanted to maintain the image that I wasn't struggling, that I was always happy and lighthearted.
In 2017 I had the opportunity to participate in The Poetry Marathon, a 24 hour event in which participants make a commitment to write one poem an hour for 24 hours (or 12 hours if you are doing a half marathon). Though it was a bit difficult, especially towards the final hours, I was able to successfully complete the 24 hour challenge. I signed up for the marathon again in 2021 and 2022, but was unable to complete it due to extenuating circumstances.
In 2023 I was determined to finish the marathon, and this time I invited some of my family and friends to "come along' and track my progress with me. I honestly didn't expect anyone to really read any of my poems, but wanted to give them the chance to do so.
That year the poems I wrote and shared were more raw and not as much of the "rainbows and sunshine" poems that I had reserved for sharing with other people. To my surprise, my sister-in-law actually took the time to follow along and read the poems I was writing. Her messages of how she "saw me" and was "so proud of me" rattled me at first--I had never really opened up to anyone in my family regarding the things I had written about--but in a way it was also a relief knowing that I didn't have to hide that part anymore. She even shared some of my poems with my sister, who they had been visiting with while I was doing the marathon.
So why am I sharing all of this? Well, over the years I have posted my poetry across a few different platforms and I have decided to consolidate them all into one place: Roses for Your Heart, my poetry blog space. I will be keeping my other poetry pages up for anyone that has access to those and just to keep traffic coming through, but I will be transferring most (if not all) of those poems to Roses for Your Heart, and moving forward anything new I have to share will be posted there.
The page is still a work in progress as I move my poems over (right now I only have two posted), but should anyone feel so inclined to check it out you can do so here.
Much thanks to all of you for your interest in my writing, whether it's my stories, poems, or just my thoughts here on this blog (which I really should be better about updating).
