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| A M Rees, Author THE JOURNAL |
A M
Rees, writer of prose and poetry, brings us THE JOURNAL (coming soon!), described as “a story of one Woman’s journey through pain and
into love.” Mixing poetry with prose, Rees intends for readers to “connect” to
her story of self-discovery. To enhance the reader's experience, she keeps the
character and setting “subtle,” although admits a strong influence by the
ocean, her muse.
When Rees is
not working on her novels or poetry, she writes stories on life coaching and traveling and covers competitive surfing as a free lance writer. She recently
moved from the UK to Sydney where she enjoys surfing, frequenting the beaches,
and watching sunrises and sunsets. She has written a first draft
sequel to THE JOURNAL, as well as a novel based on horse racing.
Don’t miss the
excerpt to THE JOURNAL following the interview, illustrating her use of poetry
within her prose.
A M Rees: The idea of THE JOURNAL came together after receiving some truly touching emails from readers
of my blog. The rawness of sharing personal thoughts that usually go unheard in
polite society seemed to connect with many readers. It was through that process
that I developed the story of a woman sharing every intimate emotion and
brutally honest thought in a journal.
Q: Early
reviewers praise your writing in THE JOURNAL as a “combination
of emotive poetry and colloquial prose.” How do you combine these to entice
your reader?
A M Rees: THE JOURNAL consists of ‘snapshots’ of life,
ideas and thoughts through an inspirational journey of self-discovery. It is
written in the relaxed manner one would expect when journaling moments and
memories, giving it a simple, raw and intimate feel. The poetry is
intermittently scattered in-between prose, connecting the story whilst sharing
deeper, emotional thoughts that prose alone cannot always achieve. This, I
believe, is the magic of poetry.
Q: How close to a real person is your
protagonist? Is she based on anyone?
A M Rees: Many of the diary extracts and poetry pieces in this novella are
hauntingly similar to my own experiences, and I believe it is the honesty of
sharing real emotions that connect with the reader, and inspires them to find
their own courage. That being said, it is not my own personal journey - there
are also pieces of every woman I have ever met within the protagonist, which
may help all women to feel a connection to the story.
Q: You are a
journalist, a poet, and now a novelist. Which is your favorite?
A M Rees: I simply adore
the journey that writing a novel takes me on, it is an obsession that clutches
at every part of my life. When I am writing a book, I can do little else. I
write about it, think about it and dream about it constantly. I find myself in
a state of wild, obsessive excitement, although that pleasure comes with equal
amounts of pain. There are days, weeks maybe even months when the long haul of
novel writing seems to take its toll in the form of self doubt and loathing.
This is when writing articles rescue me – mini milestones of acknowledgements
that I am not in fact a complete failure! Then the inspiration comes back and I
am flying high once again.
But
poetry has always been a release for me, an escapism, a way to shrink the
universe around me to fit inside my heart. It allows me to understand the
world, it allows me to understand myself… it allows me to keep the therapist at
bay!
Q: How do you
engage readers to care about your characters?
A M Rees: THE JOURNAL is a quirky little thing
for many reasons, one of them being that none of the characters are named. This
is in an attempt to highlight the fact that you do not need to know or label a
stranger to empathize and understand their pains and emotions. It leaves the
door open for the readers to make the characters their own, perhaps their
friends or sisters, maybe even themselves.
When
reading THE JOURNAL, I want the overall experience to feel as though you have
taken a sneaky peek into somebody’s life and that somebody could be the woman
you sit next to on the bus or in a café but she’s out there, somewhere…
Q: Did you
write THE JOURNAL to entertain readers, to educate them, to deliver a message,
to inspire?
A M Rees: I think a good
story encapsulates all of the above. The craft is sharing a story that does
this naturally without preaching or being dictatorial in any way. For THE JOURNAL, I believe the strongest impulse was to inspire – to inspire courage,
inspire hope and inspire women to find their own path from heartbreak towards
self-discovery.
Q: How relevant is setting to your story?
Could it occur anywhere?
A M Rees: Just like the non-naming of the
characters, the setting is also very subtle, although there is a strong theme
to coastal areas – there is in everything I write, I can’t help it! The ocean
is my muse for life, love and loss, and in this case, it certainly helps
unravel the story within THE JOURNAL in many ways.
Q: How relevant is the concept of hero vs
villain to your story? Do you need a villain in order to have a hero?
A M Rees: Within THE JOURNAL, the villain takes the form of heartbreak itself, so in that context,
the protagonist is both the villain and hero of her own story. Every emotion we
feel, we allow ourselves to feel and we always have a choice to change it, no
matter how hard that choice and change can be. It is an empowering and
terrifying fact, but I believe the women who can fight the battles that reside
in the silent chambers of their hearts will become the heroes of their own
lives. We are not princesses waiting to be saved by our prince – we can learn
to save ourselves.
Q: What’s next?
Do you plan to write more novels?
A M Rees: I have a
follow up to THE JOURNAL that is in first draft form, titled, 50 Love Letters –
again, a clipped story, composed entirely of one sided love letters. This is
heart melting stuff and I am already very sentimental about it!
I
also have a completely different novel based in the fast paced world of horse
racing, titled Ambition. Ambition is a suspense
melodrama that explores the human need for success and the deceit people are
willing to create to get what they want from life. Having ridden racehorses all
of my adult life, my experiences behind the scenes from the very top of the
racing world, from the prestigious Cheltenham Gold Cup in the UK to the world
famous Melbourne Cup in Australia, enabled me to write Ambition with inside
knowledge, precision and the passion that engulfs all who become involved.
Ambition is in her final draft and I hope to send her out to the publishing
world within the next 6 months.
As for poetry, I begin the journey of
Spoken Word Performances this month during the Sydney Writer’s Festival – I am
incredibly excited and nervous all at the same time. Watch this space as they
say…
Q: Tell us
about A M Rees. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
A M Rees: If I am not
writing you will find me in the ocean, I recently followed my dreams, packed up
my life in the UK and moved to the sunny shores of Sydney. I take advantage of
that fact and surf with the regularity that could turn me into a mermaid. I
think nearly every lesson in life can be taught by Mother Ocean. I watch the
sunrise or sunset every day – a quiet few moments to reflect on how awesome and
magical this world is. I read in beachside cafes, partake in yoga and hippy
like meditations and eat ice cream.
For
a writer, I am an incredible social being. I have been referred to as ‘the glue
that brings people together.’ I like that – a nice closing sentiment, don’t you
think?
About A M Rees
A M Rees is a
strange individual with a life threatening romantic disorder.
As a Freelance
Writer, her inspirational musings have been repeatedly published
internationally, from motivational life coaching and thought provoking travel
documents to covering world class surfing competitions around the globe.
This enables A M
Rees to succumb to her barefooted wanderlust armed with a notepad and a
surfboard, whilst she explores the world’s oceans and emotions. And it is her
ability to share these emotions with delicate empathy and brutal honesty that
enables the pages of her debut novella, THE JOURNAL to come alive.
About THE JOURNAL (coming soon)
“Sometimes,
the best gift you can be given is a broken heart. It rips you open, exposes
your vulnerability and tests your courage. And I have been there. I have known
hurt and darkness. I have been that person crying on the floor in the midnight
hours, desperately clutching myself for fear of falling apart.
But
it is from this place you will hear your inner wisdom speak and if you listen
carefully, it will guide you from the darkness towards your own greatness. Are
you ready for that journey?
Join
me, as I share with you every thought and every emotion that scarred my heart,
through love lost, world travels, friendship and hope. Writing in The Journal
changed my life. Perhaps it will change yours too...”
The heroine is
not a princess waiting to be saved by a prince. She’s ordinary woman with an
extraordinary adventure, who learns to save herself. Sometimes heartbreaking,
sometimes hilarious but always inspirational. Follow her as she takes the most
important journey of her life – the journey of self discovery.
Excerpt from THE JOURNAL
The Sea Burial
After a broken heart one tends to deny that the love
ever existed, but you cannot deny something that has left you scarred. You free
yourself from the past by acknowledging that the love will always exist, that
it was real but it simply does not belong to you anymore - It belongs in the
vastness of the Ocean. That knowledge lifts your spirit and lightens the load
from a heavy heart. I wrote a poem on a scrap of paper and set it alight on a
piece of driftwood that I placed along with my emotions into the sea.
Now that your heart doesn't belong to me,
I'll send our love out to the sea,
And in the ocean it will always remain,
And as it drifts, so will my pain.
I watched and mourned as it
mirrored the inevitable burn out of a toxic relationship.
Starting with a fiery passion that becomes self
engulfing as you lose yourself in the flames, until exhausted, the fire gives
way to a smoky smoldering. The heat subsides, the flames go out and you
are left choking on the smoking remains of hopes and dreams until they
eventually turn to ashes.
I watched the ashes sink into
the Ocean's locker with a sense of freedom, content that I had given this
beautiful burden to the sea and in return I felt Mother Ocean lay salty
kisses on my tongue.
I took a step back and watched
as my sandy footprints became washed away by the shore as if I had never stood
there. The moment was already gone.
"The past belongs to
me," She whispered, drawing the shore back into Herself.
I turned away leaving my past
behind me making footprints into my future that one day too, will be washed
away to be nothing but a seaside memory.
Links
BookTrailer (and soon to show spoken word poetry performances)
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