Interviewed by Wendy H. Jones

Orna Ross

Interviewed by Wendy H. Jones

There can be few people in the publishing industry who have not heard of Orna Ross in her role as the founder of The Alliance of Independent Authors. But there is so much more to Orna than that which is why I was delighted to interview her this month. Thank you Orna, for taking the time to chat to me.

A nice gentle question to start off. How did you come to writing?

As a very angst ridden, Irish teenager, locked up in a convent boarding school. It wasn’t easy to be an independent minded young woman in 1970s Ireland, a dysfunctional theocracy. Reading saved me, showing me there were other ways to live and be. Writing was the natural progression from reading. The writing notebook was my comfort and my consolation, a place where the world of the imagination was as real as the physical and political goings-on around me. I escaped there as often as I could. I’m still escaping there 50 years on!

You are a woman who wears many hats. Let’s start with poetry, what is it about poetry that drew you towards writing it?

There is something very essential and fundemental about the consolations of rhythm and rhyme, as you can see when you rock and soothe a child with a lullaby. As I started to read and write poetry, certain lines were like mantra to me. “Come away o human child/ to the waters and the wild…”. (WB Yeats) “I can feel their loving fingers/clasp my neck and touch my hair”. (Louisa May Alcott) “Oh my dark Rosaleen/ Do not sigh, do not weep/ The priests are on the ocean green/They march along the deep…” (James Clarence Mangan) Poetry packs a punch. Coleridge said it was because a poem is the best words in the best order. Wallace Stevens said it was because the poet is the priest of the invisible. Then there’s the musicality. A good poem will simultaneously open our understanding and induce a sense of wonder, while pleasing the ear. The condensation of meaning makes it revelatory, the arrangment of the words hints at the spaces between the words, the lyricism brings it all together and makes it much lighter that saying all

that in prose. But there’s also the creative intention of the poet. Even a “bad" poem, clogged with cliches, brings us closer to the truth, allows us to express our feelings and the deeper meaning of what it is to be alive on this earth. There’s no such thing as a bad poem, actually. Most of the poems that pour onto Instagram every day don’t work for me but they work for other readers. If one human soul has used words to touch another human soul, that’s poetry.

Poetry has been around for a long time, but it has recently seen a huge resurgence, why do you think that is? It’s all thanks to the Internet. Poetry can now circulate for free again. When the only way to access poetry was to buy it in expensive print collections, a myth grew up that “ordinary” readers don’t like poetry. That poetry was dead, full of dead white males poncing around, stressing syllables and using boring, big words. It was outdated and irrelevant. I believe poetry is a primal impulse in us all, actually, but it’s been stifled and repressed by how we were taught poetry at school. This is not new. WH Auden told a great story about two poetry teachers walking in the woods in springtime. On hearing birdsong, one teacher quotes Wordsworth: Teacher 1: Oh cuckoo, shall I call thee bird / or but a wandering voice? Teacher 2: State the alternative preferred / with reasons for your choice.

Your poetry deals with mindfulness and inspiration. Why do you feel these lend themselves to the poetic form?

For me, mindfulness and inspiration are the heart and soul of poetry. Poetry is the expression in words of an inner state I call the create state. Creative spirit, creative presence is what separates a poetic moment in your life from the moments that are less aware, less present, less creative.

That sort of teaching turned a lot of people off poetry but now that people are writing their own poems on social media, we’re rediscovering the joys of reading and writing poetry for ourselves. #PoetryIsNotDead is a popular hashtag on Instagram.

From where do you draw your own inspiration for your poetry?

From everywhere. And sometimes, even from nowhere. Occasionally, a poem arrives to mind, fully realised, and all I have to do is write it down. If I had to pick one source of inspiration that’s most significant, I’d say the sea. Everything I’ve learned in life I could’ve learnt easier just by watching the waves.

Is there a particular poetic form that you prefer?

I suppose free verse, I don’t like when composition gets too tricksy, when form becomes the most important thing, and the poet is trying to squash sounds and syllables into the container of form. That can be fun, an interesting intellectual puzzle, but it can move us away from what, for me, poetry is all about. For that reason, I love the simplicity of haiku. Particularly the 3-7-3 form. It’s so challenging to try to capture the soul of a single moment in that condensed form.

If someone reading this wanted to write poetry what would be your advice to them?

Use social media to write a poem and share it somewhere, and to find and read a poem that you love and share what you liked about it. Repeat and repeat and repeat. On my Instagram account, @OrnaRoss.poetry I run a poetry contest #indiepoetryplease, where I share a prompt and poems every Friday with my 20K+ poetry lovers. Join us there!

What do you think it is that draws us towards reading poetry?

Poetry is like song, something we own instinctively. Honest and open, it is a life-line-- a direct opening to, engagement with, experience of, life.

You also write novels. Can you tell us about them?

Yes indeed. Even though I haven’t published a novel in quite a few years, I think of myself primarily as a novelist. I am returning to publishing fiction in 2023. My novels are literary historical fiction, crossgenerational mysteries full of buried secrets, with deep characcters and lots of emotional twists.

I’m curious, how do you move from writing poetry to novels and vice versa? To me they seem such diverse forms of writing.

Yes, they are very different, but they feed each other. For the past number of years, I've also been writing a lot of “How To” non-fiction, particularly guidebooks for writers through the Alliance of Independent Authors, that one is less easy to transition from.

I manage the switch by having different notebooks, computers and other devices for each and having time buckets dedicated to what I’m working on. But of course, it all falls apart every so often and things don’t go according to plan. A poem can be written at any time. For fiction, I need concentrated periods of time where I can go deeper. When I’m seriously writing fiction (as I am now) I give over every morning to it. The best way to write a novel the way it is best read—by devoting as much time as you can to it, each day.

You are also the founder of the The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Can you tell us something about this organisation.

The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is a professional membership association for self-publishing authors. A non-profit, our mission is ethics and excellence in self-publishing and we reinvest our profits back into our organisation for the benefit of our members and the wider indie author community. We have thousands of members all over the world and offer lots of benefits to authors who publish their own books.

Why do you think ALLi is so important in today’s literary landscape?

Digital self-publishing has unleashed a wealth of opportunities for authors who are willing to learn the skills of publishing. Because of how books used to be published in the 20th century—by third-party publishers who essentially treated the author as a supplier, rather than a creative partner—there are a lot of myths and misunderstandings about what it means to publish well. Independent “indie” authors are the most enterprising, hardworking and pioneering authors at work today. They need an association that understands their challenges and achievements and the multi-faceted nature of their needs. Most of the traditional author organizations are struggling with that, because they grew up around the old, third-party model.

What are the benefits to a writer of joining ALLi?

There’s so much: discounts and deals, education and guidebooks, legal and business advice, contractual vetting, a dedicated literary agent, advisor network, watchdog desk. Membership supports authors through our advocacy campaigns, advisor network, and watchdog desk, as well as direct benefits. When you join the Alliance of Independent Authors, you’re not just joining an association. You’re becoming part of a movement. Whether you’re publishing your first book or your fiftieth, whether you write fiction, non-fiction or poetry, we’re with you every step of the way.

https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/askalli/ https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/alliadvisors/ https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/ watchdog-desk/

Let’s get personal. On holiday do you prefer mountain or beach?

Beach. But ideally, one with a mountain not too far away!

What’s your favourite food?

Sorry to be a national stereotype but potato.

If you could go anywhere in the world on holiday, where would it be?

Wherever I’m going next is always the most exciting. Right now, I’m booked to go to New Orleans and surrounds, next year.

If you could go anywhere in the world to write, where would it be?

My current writing space where I look up and see the sea and have all my favourite books, tools and things around me.

What do you like reading in your spare time?

My favourite reading is very much like my favoured writing-- inspirational poetry and literary historical fiction. On the non-fiction front, I track creativity studies and I love a meaty literary biography.

What are you working on at the moment?

A series of literary historical novels about the poet WB Yeats and his muse, the heiress turned Irish revolutionary, Maud, Gonne. It’s an exploration of the nature of true love told in the voice of a rural Irish servant-girl turned prostitute.

If Mom’s Favorite Reads, readers could only read one of your books, which one would you recommend they start with?

Stories and Poems for Subscribers. It’s got a bit of everything in there and they can sign up to download it free from my website at OrnaRoss.com/ freebook.

Thank you for your time. It has been so good getting to know you and find out about your books. Good luck with the new project.

Wendy H. Jones is the award winning, international best-selling author of the DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries, Cass Claymore Investigates Mysteries, Fergus and Flora Mysteries, Bertie the Buffalo children’s books and the Writing Matters books for writers. She is also a writing and marketing coach and the President of the Scottish Association of Writers. As copy editor for Mom’s, she works hard to ensure content is appropriate and free of grammatical and spelling errors. You can learn more about Wendy on her website: https://www.wendyhjones.com/

Allowing Now: A Book of Mindfulness

by Orna Ross

Reviewed by Wendy H. Jones

Blurb And goodness knows we are all as welcome as we ever were here, in the holy, flowing hold of now.

This is a book of mindfulness poetry in the tradition of Mary Oliver, Maya Angelou, John O'Donoghue, and Rumi's ancient wisdom.

The thirty poems in this selection are intimately alive to the teachings offered by the smallest life moment. Some, like the title poem, "Allowing Now," address the topic of mindfulness head-on. Others explore themes like self-compassion, inter-being, and creative acceptance. These thoughtful and lyrical poems do not shy from life's challenges or pains, but explore with startling clarity and kindness the mysteries of daily experience. They remind us what it is to live openly and freely, as alert witnesses to the unfolding moment. And how to reach out to others from that place of presence. In this collection, you'll find poems celebrating the miracle of creation, poems about birth and rebirth, poems about writing and creative flow practice, poems about passion, and perfection. While not shying away from adversity or suffering, this selection of inspirational poetry takes you deep inside the perceptions of a poet for whom the ordinary experience is always a treasure, and an opportunity for growth.

Review

These poems are astonishing in both their simplicity and complexity and in the emotions they evoke. From the first poem to the last I found myself drawn in and knowing exactly what the meaning was, or should I say what they meant to me. Because, I believe, everyone who reads this volume will find their own meaning in the words. The words are beautifully written and crafted in order to help the reader find sense of the world. After each poem I was left with a sense of amazement and a feeling that my world had changed, mostly for the better. Another book which would make a fabulous Christmas present or stocking filler.

Title Bright Star

by Stan Phillips by Orna Ross

Reviewed by Wendy H. Jones

Bright Star: Inspirational Poetry for Christmas and Other Beginnings

Blurb Bright Star is the first book in the Twelve Poems to Inspire series, a range of gift books for festivals like Valentine’s and Mother’s Day, and life occasions, like bereavement or new beginnings. Bright Star celebrates Christmas, other births, and beginnings of all kinds. These twelve poems celebrate hope and the returning of light, and encourage us to rejoice in the human capacity to begin again and start over. In accessible, sometimes conversational, language the poet brings messages from the depth dimension, reassuring us that all is unfolding as it should. Divided into four sections: Rebirth, Renew, Reconnect, and Rejoice, each poem is chosen and arranged by Orna Ross, and beautifully illustrated with a relevant picture from a contemporary photographer or artist. It is a collection that explores what it truly means to live an inspired life, attuned to all its aspects. These are the kind of poems you reread often. You can rest on them and build a foundation on them. Experience the wonder of rebirth and starting over, through the powerful pleasure of inspirational poetry.

A beautiful gift for Christmas, or for anyone beginning anew.

Review This book is evocative as poems often are. Each carefully chosen word brings the reader to the core of the poem, allowing them to see things in a different way. They allow the reader to think. This is not a book which should be rushed through; each poem should be savoured and enjoyed. They should be read again and again and used at times when they are most appropriate.

This is a slim volume but would make a perfect gift or stocking filler for any poetry lover.

No Truce

Submitted by Hannah Howe Written by Rhys Age 15

As the dust turns to a snowy dawn, And innocent church bells hum the Christmas chime, I lay in a soft comforting lawn, Of a family who’s lost home and time. I’m stiff, cold and alone, Here, absent of family and life, All that remains is the blood I loan, In these fields of struggle and strife.

I stare into the mountainous snow, A silhouette of a mother forms, She drops her traumatised head low, Her hand covers a hand recently warm. Tears rush down her face and calm her son, His soul climbs to Heaven and God, Finally, free from suffering, he can run, Along paths his ancestors recently trod.

My body relaxes as it recognises a crow, The bird does not chirp nor care for its eggs, Nor feed its cute chicks, For they are riddled with cruel shells. The crow’s head drops and weeps, It has no home, family or food left, Yet, it still announces the morning call, Soldier, and animal, the bird morns all.

I listen for the sounds of Christmas - none, I feel for an angel or star nearby - none, I taste the air, hunting for turkey - none, However, I feel joy from the sun. Nature engulfs all the dead and dying, Littering them with lights and holy spirits, She carries the emotions of families who are crying, Maybe nature alone knows man’s limits.

To all who have sacrificed, And celebrated Christmas in a trench, I say cheers to every soldier, Be you British, German or French. The plains will echo a Merry Christmas, With my last breath, I wish you good luck in the fray, And as dawn turns to a silent dusk, Innocent bells cease their ringing and carry me away.