Mother, wife, interior designer, and advocate for children in need, author Debbie Monteggia is passionate about expressing her authentic voice through poetry. Her poems, reflections, and the quotes gathered in Tears of Change came out of a full range of emotions. Debbie’s work expresses sadness, despair, joy, and an experience of writing she describes as transformational.
She says about her journey as a poet:
What began as journaling to overcome the anxiety turned into a discovery of my love to write poetry.
Debbie believes everyone has stories to tell and assures us that we’ll find our stories if we journal. She encourages us to take inspiration for writing poetry from any challenge and to explore feelings in-depth, especially those most uncomfortable. Poetry can seem full of rules about rhyming, meter, and economy of words. Do you find writing poetry a particular challenge? Debbie offers the following tips:
How to Start Writing and Working with Words
- Get inspired. Consider a topic or subject you’re passionate about. Write down a word or phrase that comes to mind. Once you’ve made a list, go back and see which words stand out the most, that resonate most with you. Use that word or phrase as the theme or title of your poem.
- Tell a story in the body of your poem. Again, jot down phrases or words related to your theme. Keep brainstorming about this topic until you have phrases to use in the body of your poem.
- You can enjoy wordplay and rhymes. Once you have a draft of your poem, go over it and find the places where you would like it to rhyme. You might need to rearrange lines. This is one of Debbie’s favorite and most challenging writing tasks. In the end, however, it all comes together.
- Your best friend is a thesaurus! Use lots of verbs and adjectives. Remember, it takes a lot of editing to get the poem right. Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t come together the first time. Write slowly and have fun; you’ll be amazed at your creativity.
Debbie Monteggia is passionate about expressing her authentic voice through poetry. She hopes that you will be encouraged to find and listen to your authentic voice by reading her poetry, and to speak your truth in your own poems. Get your copy of Tears of Change and start today.
Advice Anxiety Business Career Advice Children Community COVID-19 Creativity Decision Making Education Emotions Entrepreneur Family Fuel Yourself Happiness Health and Wellness Inspiration Leadership Life Lessons Lifestyle Meditation Mental Health Mindfulness Motivation Parenting Productivity Psychology Purpose Relationships Self-Care Self Improvement Sleep Spirituality Stress Success syndicated Technology Unplug and Recharge Weekly Prompt Well-Being Wellness Wisdom Women Wonder Work Smarter