Interview with Tina Morris

At the Christopher Newport University Writer’s Conference a few weeks ago, I met a wonderful poet and writer, Tina Morris. When she stood up to read her poetry during Open Mike, I knew I had to talk to her further; she reads beautifully and displays a fine hand with evoking place, character, and emotion. I asked her for an interview, and she graciously agreed. Here’s the result:

How would you describe your writing? At the moment my writing is focused on blogs. I blog for the Rappahannock Independent Film Festival, and I write one called “365toinnerpeace”, which is about coming to grips with middle age, health, and body consciousness issues. The blogs keep me busy, so I don’t have as much time to focus on poetry or articles as I would like. I blog once a week for the Rappahannock Independent Film Festival, while “365″ is a daily blog. I’ll tell you something though; I won’t ever start a daily blog again unless I am paid for it. It’s tough.

What is your goal, when you write poetry? Does that change when you write prose? Yes, they are two different goals. When I write poetry I like to tell a story in a concise and artistic manner. Some poets fall in love with a particular style but I like to play with them all. It’s more fun when you are experimenting and kicking rules to the curb!

Do you see a theme to your work? My work is pretty diverse actually. The blogs have definite themes but my other work reflects my eclectic interests.

What do you do/where do you go for inspiration? I go to a quiet zone. Inspiration can come from an image, a song, a memory, the day’s experience, a film, or many, many places. One thing I like to do with my quiet down time is clip interesting photos from magazines. I make storyboards out of them or take out a few random images and concoct a story. It serves as a good writing exercise when I am trying to get the brainwaves humming.

What is the most rewarding thing for you about writing poetry? Prose? With poetry it is the sheer joy of playing with words and telling a story using the fewest possible. Alliteration, onomatopoeia, and double entendres turn me on! Ha. I am a true English/Theatre major geek. Prose, on the other hand, allows me to tell a richer story and relate to the reader on a deeper level.

Tell us about your blogs and web site; what are they about & why did you start them? Do you think the work you put into them has been worth it? Have the blogs/web site helped you professionally, and if so, how? I find the work I have put into my blogs very rewarding. Blogging for the Rappahannock Independent Film Festival started because I have served as a judge and volunteer for past festivals. The organizers gave me the opportunity and people were very pleased with the results, so I became the official staff blogger. It is very exciting: we now have people from Europe and other parts of the world tuning in. I try to keep it light and fun, and to build interest for our little festival. Some of the fictional characters I used were not clearly understood in other cultures, so they were retired. Freddy Filmmaker will return, though.

“365toinnerpeace” is a personal journey that I think a lot of women can relate to. My goal is to build a body of work and eventually get paid to blog. This experience has taught me to make writing decisions quicker. On Day One, I spent four hours writing the column, and obviously that cannot be sustained. I have definitely learned a lot from this blog.

I created my web site, www.tinammorris.com, as a place to showcase my poetry. Now it carries links to my blogs and student film.

Among your own poems, do you have a favorite? Yes. “I and You” is a good poem. Clean, simple, solid imagery. I am proud of that one, and of “Dead Man’s Hand”, which is about the real life western legend Wild Bill Hickok and his death, quite similar to John Lennon’s murder.

What are your favorite poets/writers? That’s hard, because there are so many. In terms of poets, I am partial to Ai and Maya Angelou. Anthony Swofford is a contemporary writer I just love. His prose is musical and you can hear the poetry. Sherman Alexie is a Native American writer that I follow religiously.

What are your favorite writing/poetry web sites? I like to keep tabs on the Poets House in New York. Other than that, I am pretty busy with my own stuff.

What advice do you have for other beginning poets/writers? Hold on to the love of doing it. Do not get caught up in the rules or worry about the mechanics. Didn’t T.S. Elliot invent his own rules?

Tell us about yourself; how long you’ve been writing, your hobbies, accomplishments, awards, published books, and so on. I have won a number of awards for public speaking through Toastmasters, but so far my published books are only technical manuals. Do you need something to count sheep with? I think the direction my writing is moving toward is far more interesting, so you’ll have to check back in a year.

As for hobbies, I love fly fishing, running, visiting historic sites, and watching/collecting independent films. My latest passion is writing “shorts”, which I intend to enter in film festivals. Recently, I bought my first movie camera (not a camcorder but a real movie camera). My piggy bank cried.

I have been writing since I was a kid. My dad was a Baptist preacher so we moved a lot. I made up stories and passed them around. Kids liked them; that’s how I made friends. Theatre was a passion of mine during  high school and college (quite a while back now); I was in several plays and directed a few. Then I grew up, got a series of soul sucking jobs, and lost my writing for a while. The last couple of years have been about finding my way back to the dreams I put aside. Now, I make writing time a priority, and I feel the momentum growing.

Thank you, Tina! I’ll definitely be watching to see where your writing takes you over the next year or two; I have the feeling that momentum you mention will be kicking you into some really neat directions soon. 

For readers, I strongly suggest checking out — and bookmarking — Tina’s web site, http://www.tinammorris.com, and her blogs, as mentioned above: http://365toinnerpeace.wordpress.com/ and http://rifilmfestival.com/category/blog/.

Until next time — namaste and keep writing!