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Ask the Author: Robin Beth Schaer

“Ask me a question.” Robin Beth Schaer

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I adore your poem Middle Flight and wondered at what point you started to feel ready to write poetry about your child. I have three children under five and it's only recently that I have begun to express what it means to be a mother in a less sentimental and cliched way. Do you have any advice for tapping into the subject of motherhood? (I realize this is a rather broad question!). Many thanks.
Robin Beth Schaer Thanks so much for your kind words about my poem and this great question about writing about motherhood. I felt ready to write about motherhood when I felt ready to face what scared me about being a parent. Sentimental and cliched writing is often the result of relating only the good parts, the rosy bits, the surface. And that type of writing is often false (even if the lie we are telling is to ourselves). If we are honest with ourselves, nothing is perfect, right? Motherhood is amazing and beautiful and transcendent, but it is also devastating and painful and isolating. So, I think it's necessary to face all of it -- the whole complicated and messy picture -- when writing, whether it's about motherhood or love or politics. In that brutal honesty, I hope we not only avoid sentimentality, but also demonstrate how truly beautiful the world is even amid the difficulties and darkness.
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Why do ships wreck? Is it the fault of the ship or the fault of the ocean? Or the captain? Are certain ships destined to wreck?
Robin Beth Schaer Ships work by floating on top of the water and they sink when too much water wends or pours its way inside. Sinking can happen in dramatic ways such as a collision with an iceberg, torpedo, rocky coast, or an angry whale. A storm can knock a boat onto its beam and waves can fill the hull faster than it can be pumped out. Or over time, corrosion, leaks, and rot can slowly weaken a ship’s hull beyond repair.
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What is your preferred beverage when writing? Coffee, tea, hot chocolate (or something stronger...)?
Robin Beth Schaer What I'm drinking while writing has a lot to do with where I am in the process and the emotional mood I want foster. When I'm just starting a project or doing precise edits, then the alertness of caffeine is a must and I drink mugs of coffee with hot milk and sugar. In the evenings, when I settle into writing and brainstorming then the warmth of a little scotch is always appreciated. But when I'm lucky enough to get my hands on it, Oaxacan hot chocolate is always my preference.
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