Q: What is your favorite stress cure? 

A: My go-to remedy for stress is a day in bed reading a book or writing poems. It’s my favorite thing. O the beauty of a soft comforter and a closed door! I also love that during these days I can just roll over into a nap whenever the mood strikes. There are few things I find more luxurious than reading or writing in bed. And in the Pacific Northwest summers, I replace bed with hammock, which is an even better place to rest because then I can also watch the clouds.

Q: What is the hardest thing about being a writer? 

A: Answering emails! I joke, but for me, my inbox can be my own personal purgatory. But in all seriousness, I don’t really find anything too hard about being a writer or poet. I think because it’s kind of like those choose-your-own-adventure books—there is no wrong way to do it. I guess if I had to choose, the hardest thing for me would be submitting my work—not because I worry about rejections, but because I just find it so boring to do, and I’d prefer to use my time for writing.

Q: What is a word you love (and why)?

A: Lollygagging. I love the sound of it and how it sounds like what it means—to dawdle or meander aimlessly. My second favorite word is not a 'real' word, but I love to use it in poems—hipsway.

Q: What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

A: Take risks in your work. Brenda Hillman talked about the importance of taking risks in a poetry class. Before we’d read our poems, she’d say, “Tell me what you risked?” I love the idea of arriving at every poem willing to stretch yourself and try something new. In my book, Hourglass Museum, I have a line in a poem that reads: Everyone wants to read the poem we’re afraid to write. It’s a similar vibe—risk and be vulnerable in your work. I’ve found the more vulnerable I am in my work, the more readers connect with it. I think it helps people feel less alone, and that matters to me.