Tell us something about yourself.
My name is JAnn Bowers. I am a mom of four beautiful children, three of them are adults and my youngest, who is ten, is Autistic. I am also a grandma with two handsome grandsons, and one beautiful granddaughter. Besides being a mom and grandma, I am a poet and blogger. I always loved reading poems when I was younger and wrote a fair share but never told anyone or shared them. Then life got in the way and I quit writing. When my youngest was born, I was encouraged by a friend to get back into writing. I took her words to heart and here I am almost eleven years later and just released two books, Illusions of Love and She’s Gone…Broken, Battered & Bruised.
Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging as a way to share my thoughts and poetry with the world. Before I really started blogging, I would only share my poetry with close friends and family. But, one morning I woke up and realized I wanted more. Since, then I have restarted several blogs and finally having found that I like Blogger best within the last year, I have kept this blog. Even though it was originally Poetry Is… I decided I wanted a new handle…Echoic.
What’s the hardest part about being a blogger?
Being a blogger is hard, especially for me since each day is based on my health. There will be short or sometimes long periods where there is nothing new on my blog due to my chronic health issues. Also I found gathering followers and having a large audience is hard.
Do you have any blogging tips?
Post everyday, even if it is something small and unvalued. This will keep your readers loyal and coming back for. Also I suggest if you are new to the scene, to do as many blog-swaps, guest blogging and spotlighting others that you are in common with, this will help grow your audience.
Who’s your favorite poet?
I cannot choose just one poet. So here is a few names that have inspired my work, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, Mary Oliver, Shel Silverstein, and Maya Angelou
Why do you think poetry is important?
I believe poetry is just as important as any genre. One is not better than the other, we just have different preferences in what we want to read or write. But I would like to see poetry to come back into society more and especially in our classrooms of our children.
What’s your favorite kind of poetry?
My favorite kind of poetry theme to write is love poetry and poetry about my life struggles and pain. I usually write in free verse with slant rhyme. I find that I am starting to write more in couplets with more solid rhyme. But to read, my favorite poetry theme is contemporary poetry and classic poetry.
What was your favorite book you read last year?
Last year, I didn’t get to do too much reading or writing for I was busy taking care of my daughter who was pregnant and not doing well.
Links to Social Media and Books
Twitte: https://twitter.com/Echoic_JAnn
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/hl773ck
Blog: https://jannbowers.blogspot.com/