MY ROAD TO WRITING

by Donna McCabe

Please welcome Donna to the WJB this week with the story of her road to writing!

My Road To Writing

I guess I would say looking back my road to writing started at a very young age. I grew up in a home full of creativity, constantly surrounded by an eclectic source of music art, and books. As I grew older I found myself constantly loving to doddle upon paper whether it be simply drawing or writing and at night books were the food for a good night's sleep, they still are today!!!

My big step into writing came in my early twenties when as a full-time wife and the mother of two young boys, I found it again, it became a comfort and source of expression to get through those tough days as well as being a source of relaxation. It helped me deal with lots of things that had gone on in my life over the years and still does to this very day. I am a firm believer that writing is a very valuable therapy to people whether they show their work to others or not, it helps to write it out, write it down.

Back in the early 2000s, it was a lot harder to find sources in which to get one’s work published but I tentatively started with local weekly papers which then had small poetry sections, now extinct sadly. Then through hard trawling, I built up a few contacts and got work published regularly in small presses, magazines, and anthologies.

The next big step I think came for me when around 2015 I took a big decision and decided to share my work on various poetry pages I had found and joined on Facebook. It was and continues to be a clogged place to share one’s work I find, so many people grappling to do the same thing too, getting ignored, and overlooked. But I still persist and have found a little niche of groups in which I am comfy, other groups have been left far behind now.

My next big step came back in September 2020 when I met Canadian artist Ala Ilescu in a poetry group and got chatting about my writing and her artwork. We eventually did a few collaborations together which were both a new a wonderful avenue for us both. These collaborations took root in the idea for a book which all credit given to her Ala produced from her side of the world in Canada. The whole project opened up new areas and ideas for me too. I have since learned a lot of new skills and techniques with apps such as Photo-scape and ventured onto new platforms such as Instagram as well as creating a page for my poetry too which is linked to Instagram.

I do believe my writing journey has been a hard yet satisfying one, I am still here doing what I love and will continue to for as long as my pen feels the need to spill ink, which will be for a long time, I hope. I know on the journey I will continue to grow, learn, and adapt to new skills and people I meet along the way. I have already met some absolutely wonderful people on my journey whom I consider lifelong friends now. Who knows what the future holds and where it could take me!!!

Bio: Donna McCabe is an established poet with over twenty years’ experience. Her work has gained her multiple accolades within her field of literature. From being published in journals, magazines, and anthologies she is also a respected admin on social media pages as well as having her own Instagram page, @donnamccabe. I am also on Facebook under Poemsbydonnamccabe

Click the cover to browse.

Explosion Of Love is available on Amazon in book format and E-book version also. The "Explosion of love" was born from the love between poetry and art. Ala Ilescu does art and loves poetry. Donna McCabe writes poems and loves art. They met on social media and connected right away because Ala has images to illustrate Donna's poems and Donna finds the right words to express what Ala wants to show in her artwork. The marriage between poetry and art has a powerful way to wake up emotions, thoughts, and memories. The magic of expression and the visual representation of the subject resonates on a deeper level. In "Explosion of love" you will find romantic, sensual, love, family, and nature poems. Most of the love poems are romantic, a few are sad, angry, or sensual. Nature poetry has two aspects: one earthy and one cosmic. The earthy nature appears with elements like flowers, birds, animals, and trees. All are seen in an eternal rotation of the seasons. And the cosmic with space, moon. The beauty of nature is described as wonder and amazement. Each moment of the year has its beauty. This book is full of colourful and unique watercolour artwork. It is more focused on dreamy portraits, human figures, and natural topics. All the artwork in this book is inspired by or created to match the poetry.