Connecticut College alum Emily Morse ’05 (pseudonym E. Kristin Anderson) has recently completed and published two poetry chapbooks: A Guide for the Practical Abductees (June 2014) and A Jab of Deep Urgency (October 2014.) Anderson majored in Classics at Conn and intermittently took English courses, many focusing on poetry.
“I remember [Classics] Professor Held’s course on Dionysus very fondly. I got to write a paper on 1980s hair metal and hedonism for that course,” Anderson said. “[English] Professor Hartman is a saint for not telling me where to take my ego. I seriously thought I was the sh*t. I was not. He once told me that I needed to ‘dip [my poem] in acid’ and get to ‘the bones’ of it. I’ll hold that with me forever. He probably just could have gone with ‘keep it simple, stupid.’ But, you know, poets.”
Apart from studying Classics and poetry, Anderson was a writer and Editor-in-Chief for The College Voice during her time at Conn.
“The Voice taught me to be an advocate for what mattered to me. We had to go to bat on so many budgetary issues. I got phone calls in the middle of the night from displeased readers. I even had the president (at the time) demand to know who’d written an editorial. I still won’t tell!”
Anderson said. “It taught me how to use a layout program, which is how I landed a job at The New Yorker after college. It reinforced everything I believed about asking for what you want in order to actually have it, and to achieve it.”
Anderson has always had a passion for writing – whether through making up stories or keeping journals.
“I had an e-zine on AOL back in 2000—when that was actually a thing—where I wrote reviews, which eventually led to me pursuing a music review column at The Voice when I was at Conn. After college, I figured I’d work in journalism – newspapers or magazines. But the universe had other plans,” Anderson said.
Music and analyzing lyrics has always been prominent in Anderson’s writing. She would keep journals exclusively about music and pop culture to keep track of what was popular and why. Despite her inability to read or play music, however, she would write song lyrics in high school and had even declared herself as a music major for a semester.
“I also have to tip my hat to Emily Dickinson,” Anderson said. “I remember picking up her Collected Poems from the bargain books table at a book store when I was like six. I’m so glad my mom bought that book for me. I didn’t ‘get’ a lot of them, but I read them, and what they meant to me as a kid is just as valid and valuable as what they mean to me now.”
While writing, there are difficulties that arise, and for Anderson, waiting is one of the most strenuous.
“Waiting to hear back from magazines or publishers when you’re submitting work. Waiting for a piece to be published once you’ve had it accepted. Waiting to tell people good news because the ink hasn’t dried on your deal yet. Waiting while a first draft sits in a drawer for a few months before you can revise it with fresh eyes. Right now I’m waiting for my second chapbook, A Jab of Deep Urgency, to come back form the printer. It was delayed. I’m a pretty patient person, but the waiting can be a killer,” Anderson said.
Of course, testing one’s patience is not the only stressor when it comes to starting a new piece.
Anderson continued, “If not waiting, it’s definitely the first page. First page of a new book or story, first page of a draft that you’ve printed out and are ready to mark up, first page of a clean notebook. Once you start getting your hands dirty, it’s always easier from there. Sometimes it feels kind of like jumping off a cliff, though. You have to trust that the page will catch you. Or, better, that you’ll catch yourself.”
For future writers, Anderson stresses the importance of finding outlets to express themselves and continuously practice writing.
“Keep a journal, keep a blog, keep a stack of Post-it notes on your nightstand,” Anderson said. “And what you write doesn’t have to be good. I guarantee you that Steven King’s first drafts are terrible, too. I mean, not as terrible as mine, but they’re terrible. Because that’s what first drafts are: terrible. So write you heart out, and give yourself permission to suck. That said, you’d better be revising. Because if you’re not seeking out feedback and editing and rewriting, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.”
