Stephen B. Bagley's Blog

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Poetry

WRP: "Why Stephen B. Bagley Writes"

Three days a week, I meet with other writers in Writing Room Prime on Zoom where we spend an hour focused on writing, plotting, or anything that advances our careers as writers. I've been asking the participants why they write. Here's my answer.

"Why I write has everything to do with a monkey. Although this is hard for me to believe now, I didn’t like reading when I was young. Words were never as interesting as playing. I was a slow reader and behind in my class. No one understood it because my marvelous siblings were already showing the brains they would be known for. But then, someone realized my vision was bad. I got glasses, and my world changed. In the summer between the first and second grades, I read my first book all by myself. That book was Curious George by Margret Rey and H. A. Rey. I don’t have many memories of my childhood, but I remember closing that book with a true sense of accomplishment and saying out loud, ‘I’m going to write books when I grow up!’ It took me a while, but eight books and several anthologies later, I have done just that. Thank you, George. May you never lose your curiosity and wonder about the world. And you know what, buddy? I hope I don’t either."
~ Stephen B. Bagley, author of Floozy Goes Forth 

WRP: "Why Jacque L. Graham Writes"

Three days a week, I meet with other writers in Writing Room Prime on Zoom where we spend an hour focused on writing, plotting, or anything that advances our careers as writers. I've been asking the participants why they write. Here's one of the answers.

"When my husband was alive and even after, my family and I attended his family reunion every year, and I heard stories about his great-aunt Belle Cobb, the first woman Native American doctor west of the Mississippi River. After hearing about her for years, I decided to write her story."
~ Jacque L. Graham, Author of the forthcoming Skeleton in the Attic 

WRP: "Why Holly Jahangiri Writes"

Three days a week, I meet with other writers in Writing Room Prime on Zoom where we spend an hour focused on writing, plotting, or anything that advances our careers as writers. I've been asking the participants why they write. Here's one of the answers.

"Why do I write? I could give you the cliché answer: 'Because I must!' but that would be a lie. My muse and I are lazy and would just as soon travel the world, most days, without lifting a pen or tapping a keyboard. I write because writing is communication – a connection between my brain and the readers’ brains. The ability to convey not just useful, factual information, but to share whole, imaginary worlds, is endlessly fascinating to me. The ability to tap into universal themes and emotions, to make a reader half a world away feel something or realize that they’re not alone in feeling it, is amazing. There’s almost nothing I won’t write, from technical manuals to children’s books to short stories to poems. I wrote my first children’s book, Trockle, for my son, who was, at the time, just learning to read independently. And I suppose I also wrote it for Trockle, the little monster who lived under my son’s bed, who insisted on telling his side of the story. I didn’t set out to write a story about appreciating the differences in others, but that’s exactly what I did. I think the best children’s stories do have a message, but it should always come second to an entertaining tale. I hope Trockle is, first and foremost, fun to read. I don’t mind if young readers get the message, too."
~ Holly Jahangiri, poet and author of Trockle

Her work also appears in Dreams + Nightmares, Poets Northwest Anthology 2023

WRP: "Why Conni Lee Writes"

Three days a week, I meet with other writers in Writing Room Prime on Zoom where we spend an hour focused on writing, plotting, or anything that advances our careers as writers. I've been asking the participants why they write. Here's one of the answers.

"Why I write: Because I have so much to say and to share. But you probably know that. I’m not a normal person in that I take risks in life. Not the death-defying ones, but ones that seem to burst my norm. It makes life exciting for me. I write to share my stories about the risks I’ve taken whether it’s from a career that not many relate to, from my experiences in traumatic grief, or from taking on creative endeavors."
~ Conni Lee, author of the forthcoming Reclaiming October

WRP: "Why Kathy Renee Walker Writes"

Three days a week, I meet with other writers in Writing Room Prime on Zoom where we spend an hour focused on writing, plotting, or anything that advances our careers as writers. I've been asking the participants why they write. Here's one of the answers.

"The first time I remember writing something was in my eighth-grade English class. We were assigned a short essay. My home life had so much drama that I wrote about a place I went to for comfort and peace. The teacher told me I should write my thoughts in a journal. That was the beginning of several journals stacked up in my closet. As my life progressed and I faced my own mortality, I decided I wanted someone somewhere to know about me and my family. Most of my current projects are about my life but are fictionalized. It is my prayer that God allows me to write all of these stories. I currently have one finished and edited short story, two that will be full novels, two novelettes, one short story, a few poems, and one song lyric. When I get all of these on paper, I am sure I will have more. Now, I can't even imagine not writing. It is like fresh air in a stale world; I need it to live."
~ Kathy Renee Walker, author of the forthcoming For All of Time

WRP: "Why Wendy Blanton Writes"

Three days a week, I meet with other writers in Writing Room Prime on Zoom where we spend an hour focused on writing, plotting, or anything that advances our careers as writers. I've been asking the participants why they write. Here's one of the answers.

"The short answer is I write because I have to. I get cranky when I haven’t written for a while. Eventually, my husband will send me to my office for a time-out. So much of my life revolves around writing that I can’t imagine who I’d be if I gave it up. I write because I want to touch people's lives. I want to give them a safe place to hide from the real world for a while, and for them to come away refreshed, maybe with a new perspective. I want to level up--to get better and better until the last story is written."
~ Wendy Blanton, author of Dawn Before The Dark 

WRP: Why Wendy Blanton Writes

Three days a week, I meet with other writers in Writing Room Prime on Zoom where we spend an hour focused on writing, plotting, or anything that advances our careers as writers. I've been asking the participants why they write. Here's one of the answers.

"The short answer is I write because I have to. I get cranky when I haven’t written for a while. Eventually, my husband will send me to my office for a time-out. So much of my life revolves around writing that I can’t imagine who I’d be if I gave it up. I write because I want to touch people's lives. I want to give them a safe place to hide from the real world for a while, and for them to come away refreshed, maybe with a new perspective. I want to level up--to get better and better until the last story is written."
~ Wendy Blanton, author of Dawn Before The Dark 

WRP: "Why Barbara Ehrentreu Writes"

Three days a week, I meet with other writers in Writing Room Prime on Zoom where we spend an hour focused on writing, plotting, or anything that advances our careers as writers. I've been asking the participants why they write. Here's one of the answers.

"The main reason I write is because I want people to know what I think. At the age of eight, I had a poem published in the school district newspaper. I loved the feeling of seeing my words on paper. But I didn’t start writing seriously until I was married with children and going to graduate school. I was able to meet some authors, and they heard a piece I had written about picking blueberries as a child. They all told me how good it was. I started my first novel the next year. I was able to get into a workshop by Paula Danziger, a well-known children’s writer, and I wrote three pages of my novel: If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor. Paula taught me how to write for children. I’ve been a writer ever since then."
~ Barbara Ehrentreu, author of If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor  

WRP: "Why I Write?"

Three days a week, I meet with other writers in Writing Room Prime on Zoom where we spend an hour focused on writing, plotting, or anything that advances our careers as writers. I've been asking the participants why they write. Here's one of the answers.

"The main reason I write is because I want people to know what I think. At the age of eight, I had a poem published in the school district newspaper. I loved the feeling of seeing my words on paper. But I didn’t start writing seriously until I was married with children and going to graduate school. I was able to meet some authors, and they heard a piece I had written about picking blueberries as a child. They all told me how good it was. I started my first novel the next year. I was able to get into a workshop by Paula Danziger, a well-known children’s writer, and I wrote three pages of my novel: If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor. Paula taught me how to write for children. I’ve been a writer ever since then."
~ Barbara Ehrentreu, author of If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor