Weekly Review contributor publishes poetry collection
Former Weekly Review reporter, now columnist, Jaimee Russnak, recently self-published a collection of poetry. The collection, titled Roots, is available for purchase on the Lulu online bookstore at www.lulu.com.
Russnak says the collection explores the importance of firmly establishing one’s roots in order to face the challenges life may hold. It is broken into three sections. “The first section features poems about various struggles, which can often leave people feeling uprooted. The middle part is inspired by my roots, and acknowledges the things and the people that help to keep me grounded. Finally, the third section is about growth and planting new roots and hopefully helping others to do the same.”
Inspiration for the collection comes from many places. “Some of the poems are about my own experiences, and some are about experiences others have shared with me. They didn’t really start as a planned collection, and were more just random things I had written. But slowly, the collection took shape,” she says.
“Anyone who knows me well, knows I often have a notebook and pencil with me to scribble down thoughts at random and enjoy whiling away the hours writing all sorts of things. But, those people also know that nothing makes me more self-conscious than sharing my writing,” says Russnak.
“However, I am an English teacher and a leadership teacher. Most of my career is focused on enabling students to find their voice, which is ironic since I have long had a fear of sharing my own. I decided to take some of my own advice and mustered up the courage to look into self-publishing.”
Russnak states that the process of self-publishing was surprisingly easy, once she had convinced herself to take this leap and make her work public.
“It’s not really a big deal, because anyone can go online and follow the steps and self-publish, but for me, this was more about working towards conquering the fear of having people read my work. And I know I’ve been writing for the paper for close to 10 years, but it is different when it’s more personal.”
She says that she hasn’t written poetry since being in school, but recently has been reading a lot of poetry, particularly notable poet Rupi Kaur and had been inspired to try it out again.
With a long time goal of completing a novel and hopefully submitting a finished work to a real publisher one day, Russnak has been actively trying to focus on her writing more, through taking multiple writing classes and following a strict writing schedule.
She even has another poetry project in the works, which she is collaborating on with a photographer. Self-publishing this collection was just one more step in working towards that dream because she felt that if she couldn’t do this, “that dream would never come true.”
Click here if you’d like to buy the book.
Choking
A song
lives on the tip of my tongue
like a tiny dancer,
twirling and leaping when no one is around.
But,
plagued with stage fright
she retreats each time
I open my mouth,
leaving me longing
for the day she will
spin out with abandon,
make the world marvel.
