5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… K.D. Rose, author of I AM: Poetry in Motion

by Joey Pinkney on October 23, 2013

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
K.D. Rose, author of I AM: Poetry in Motion

“I AM: Poetry in Motion” is for girls. This book is for women. This is a book to empower females from teenagers through adults.
Take this book and use it. The contents were made to keep us going through the tough times. Females, we undervalue ourselves. Easily. And we too easily believe how little we are worth.
This is not a book that has anything against men. But they can write their own book. And don’t forget, we need to UN-bifurcate and take care of ourselves just as humans too. But this is a book for females.
I wanted especially to use pictures in a prominent way to tell some of our stories. Find ways to tell your own. Find the things that matter in life. Don’t let anyone make you loosen your grip. Ever. You are all you have. Take good care of yourself.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write “I AM: Poetry in Motion”?

K.D. Rose: I’ve been writing all my life, but “I AM” is special. First, I became very interested in graphics and how powerful pictures can be – as opposed to my other books which have none. I got the idea that I really wanted to do a book where the pictures and the words worked together to tell a more profound story to the reader.
Once I had this concept, I just knew I wanted to do it revolving around the empowerment of females of all ages. I wanted to write a book that females from ages 10 to 100 could use to arm themselves at those times when self-esteem is low and to forearm themselves by reading some truths and seeing them on the page as well.

JP: What sets “I AM: Poetry in Motion” apart from other books in the same genre?

KDR: “I AM” is a very different book. First, the print version is 81/2 x 11. It’s a visually beautiful book. I spent hours and hours combing through pictures in order to get just the right ones that I wanted to convey the different messages in the book that I was going for.
Then there were also many hours on the words – some of them poems. I am also a poet, and you will find poetry as a mainstay in many of my indie books. Some of writings are essay-like or short blurbs, but all are designed to complement the visuals to create profound messages that I hope females will take to heart.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that led to “I AM: Poetry in Motion” getting out to the public?

KDR: Write, write, write, then edit, edit, edit, then promote, promote, promote.
In fact, this last time engaging in this process is what led to me getting a publisher.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take you to start and finish “I AM: Poetry in Motion”?

KDR: Well, I am never working on *one* book to finish. I tend to be a driven multi-tasker, so my writing process is stacks of notes in multiple notebooks everywhere. I have at least two books going at the same time, along with several poems and at times a short story as well.
I am busy now with a series, so we will see how much of this type of process sticks with me now that I have outside deadlines to meet. To date, I usually am done before the deadlines – way before. “I AM” took about 4 months because I stopped and started on it a number of times as I concentrated on other projects.

In case I hadn’t mentioned, “I AM” is a very short read, only 44 pages. But it is profound.

JP: What’s next for K.D. Rose?

KDR: My next book comes out with Lycaon Press, a subsidiary of Breathless Press. It is Book One of the Erasing Series, called “Erasing: Shadows”, and the release date is December 18th. Preorders will be available on December 7th. Additionally, the cover reveal for that one is November 15.

Next, I am working on Book Two of that seven-part new adult, paranormal series, “Erasing: Shattered”. I also had a poem accepted for a magazine that will be coming out in December.

I have signed up for the November writing month to do a chapter in an anthology which sounded like a lot of fun to me. I have an interest in doing anthologies because it allows the short story side of my writing to come out.
http://www.kdroseauthortales.com/
http://kdroseworld.com/
http://www.facebook.com/K.D.RoseWriter
http://www.facebook.com/kdroseauthor
http://twitter.com/kdrose1
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00830RFC0
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6038789.K_D_Rose
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=184204909

“The website for the Erasing Series is in process, but it is going to be really neat. On the kindle version of the book, there is a back page of links. If you click on them, it will take you to the Erasing website where you can see each of the characters and some of the scenes. It is things like that that really bring out the potential of E-Books. I have to thank my publisher and editor for making that work.

Look for “Erasing: Shadows” on December 18. It’s a great Young Adult/New Adult Paranormal book. In the meantime, take a look at I AM: Poetry in motion. It is meant for all females and all males with a female in their life.” ” ~ K.D. Rose
JoeyPinkney.com

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Joyce Dickerson October 23, 2013 at 8:04 am: I can not wait to get this book, I now need to go to facebook and make her my friend that way when the pre order days come I can order, Thanks to you Joey for sharing books that we would never hear about without you….

Reply
Joey Pinkney October 23, 2013 at 8:13 am: You are very welcome, Joyce. I appreciate your continued support. I’m sure K.D. will be overjoyed to hear about this development.

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KIRKUS Review of Inside Sorrow

In 11 bare-bones, free verse poems, Rose (Heavy Bags of Soul, 2012) refines a yearslong grieving process into a heartbreakingly potent distillate of sorrow.“I am at a loss,” declares Rose’s bereft narrator after her husband’s death. Ostensibly referring to her uncertainty about what to do with his belongings, the narrator is also confronting an existential fact; she has arrived at loss and seemingly has nowhere else to go. This technique—the evocation of loss on one level to imply an unspeakably more profound loss beneath—is one Rose frequently employs. She writes that “No one ever thinks of tragedy / the other way around / when nothing is left but shoes,” noticing that the “space between my fingers / is ever present. / At any moment, / small slivers,” and other fingers will never interlace with hers again. The sparseness of her verse—often a single beat or two per line—borders on gaunt and serves to codify the body’s and psyche’s inward collapses under the weight of grief, the instinctively protective drawing inward until “we are balled up in the fetal position.” She also structurally simulates the simultaneous, and paradoxical, scattering of self that accompanies a loss of this magnitude. Upon her husband’s death, she is at once “a wall” with “no door,” “the I’s that must witness” and the peripatetic who has “been bleeding out / all over the house. / I can walk / up and down the stairs / tens of times.” The difficulty of relationships—“So much compromise / when it comes to another”—urges her to acknowledge that “some part should feel like freedom / it should feel like freedom / it should,” yet what she finds is that his absence has become a violation of self: “Sorrow has left me naked / in a way I couldn’t have imagined, / leaving my life open to all. / Every nook and cranny.” The recovery of self, the poems reveal, is a long and always incomplete process. Though slightly marred by a handful of prosaic moments, the overall force of these poems is such that lines as simple as “I see a blue sky today. / It seems like a triumph” will, in context, shock readers with their cathartic power. Startlingly touching poetry; be prepared to step inside the sorrow.

Reviews of Inside Sorrow

"This book is a gift to anyone who is dealing with the grief of a loved one,
whether recent or past, and without a doubt will bring them comfort." Danielle Marie, Amazon.com

“Inside Sorrow” is a stellar little book of poems..." Erica Lovett, Goodreads

"K.D. Rose has captured the internal world of grief in a way that very few people
share - the parts that western civilization tells us to suck up and move on, as
if the death of a loved one has no bearing on who we are, that grief doesn't
change us, that life must go on at breakneck speed." K.J. Pierce, Amazon.com

5 Stars

“This book is for girls. This book is for women. This is a book to empower females from teenagers through adults.” I Am: Poetry In Motion by K.D. Rose is not what I expected; a pleasant surprise and a fresh twist on the self-help book genre. I absolutely love the pictures that accompany each poem and writings. They are not merely for you to look at. They definitely capture the vital messages that we should embrace rather than ignore. You will definitely want to look at them more consciously, and the meaning of each picture will resonate in your mind.

It touches on every subject that the female sex is familiar with: what is the perception of beauty in today’s world, limitations that society often impose on women, women’s status in politics and so much more. There is something for everyone, and everything is layered with deep yet clear words of inspiring encouragement. This book is good, not because of the above-mentioned issues we females have to face, but because it softly compels us to confront them. I gravitated to one of the poems, the melancholic and alluring Vinyl Lines – “We are vinyl lines / We have our own groove / We require diamonds / We scratch easily / We cascade melodies.”
K.D. Rose gives us a book with a compelling message that will change the way we see life. Forty-four pages of pure, poignantly beautiful, and thought-provoking empowerment. To all my fellow females, I Am: Poetry In Motion is invigorating and engaging. It is definitely for us." Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers Favorite

Heavy Bags of Soul 4 Stars

"Heavy Bags of Soul" paints a rather dour picture of the modern world. In this engaging collection of poems and prosody is chronicled the trials and pitfalls of an oppressive world that is as absurd as it is tiring. Yet despite this dim outlook on life the book does offer a sense of hope and unity that serves to offset the nihilism of the main theme. Woven throughout the collection - most notable in the author’s modernizations of the classic Socratic dialogue - this theme of unity maintains that although the road of life is an exhaustive one and that all on that road are laden with their own heavy bags, everyone is in this together and only through tackling the challenges of this world together, only through tapping the resources of the equally heavy bags of soul, will everyone can make it through. Structurally, the aforementioned Socratic dialogues are just one of a variety of literary forms through which the collection’s themes are conveyed. The genre utilized here include both metered and free verse, terse maxims, essays on pop philosophy and cultural movement, and even the occasional bon mot as a punctuation point. This mix of literary formats not only manages to show each and every topical point in a number of different lights, but also challenges the readers who must themselves view each literary format in its own light. Also challenging is the author’s trust in her readers’ intelligence. Though not outwardly acknowledged, that trust is implicit in the author’s habit of using the most diverse and arcane cultural references possible. Citing sources that extend in relevance from Greek taxonomy through quantum physics and on to Top 40 Radio, the topical references may at times have readers wishing they had Wikipedia on speed dial, but do provide for an entertaining, esoteric and intellectually stimulating read."