Sometimes in life we are lucky enough to meet someone that gives us inspiration and motivation to do the things we love to do but for some reason put off doing.
I know I get inspired to do baking and trying new recipes when I watch those delicious cooking programs on T.V.
Likewise when I get the chance to talk to a writer I get inspired to write more poems and short stories.
Recently had the pleasure of doing an interview with author and poet, Josephine Ranes.
I’ve known Ms.Ranes for nearly a year now, and she never fails to inspire and challenge me to do my best work.

During our interview I just had to ask her, have you always loved writing?
JR:
“I haven’t. I wrote when I was younger, and then was told it was just a waste of time and not worth doing it. Something that was a simple pleasure for me as a child was taken away from me, in lieu of farming and helping with the animals. When I began writing again, a couple of years ago, I realized how much I loved doing it. Sometimes though, it’s absolutely nothing but a pain. I get an urge to write and it’s at just the wrong time (like in the shower.)
I think if I had done it all my life though, I wouldn’t have the experience to go back to like I do now.
I would have written about it when it happened and have hardly anything today to write about.”

So, when do you get your best inspiration to write, what times of day.
Where do you feel most comfortable writing?
When is there a time where you can be you and let your creative process flow.
JR:
“There are so many variables, I absolutely must have quiet, and even the phone ringing is too much of a distraction for me to write. Then something really has to hit me, and pretty hard. Either something I hear about, or see in a movie, or then I realize I can relate to it, and can write about it. Much of what I write about has little to nothing to do with me, I may understand the feeling of it, but the story of it isn’t typically me.
I feel most comfortable writing in my office. It’s a complete disaster most of the time, but the one place I can shut the door and the entire world just goes away.”

What do you feel is your best or most favorite accomplishment to date?
JR:
“I am so proud of my latest book. It has some of my later work, as well as some of my newer stuff in it. Some of my favorite works are in that book! It is the one thing that when I was finished with it, I went “aha!” That is what I spent all this time writing for; to have it in print and to be something other people can read.
My most favorite accomplishment is all of the collaborations I have done. I think it’s terribly awesome when people like your work enough that they want to do it with you. I’ve gotten to collaborate with people all over the world. People like Siddartha Pierce, Adam Cheshire, Steve Scott, David Roraff, and Keith Alcorn. These people are everywhere from the USA to the UK. Now that, is pretty darn cool. “

That is pretty darn cool, indeed!
It must be pretty amazing to be able to pick the proverbial minds of other authors and artists.

So, what are authors that you love, that inspire you?

JR:
“My most recent favorite is by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Moliere) called “The Doctor in Love” but I also dearly love his “The Misanthrope.” It would be hard to choose between those two. He is such a brilliant writer, I haven’t been reading him as long as I have Keats, Donne, Yeats, and Wordsworth, but I like his work a lot better. There is always such an intricate plot to try and follow in his work, and a really valuable lesson. I just love it.”

What are two of your newest poems/prose that you can give our readers a sneak peek of?
JR:
“This one I wrote recently (8.7.12)

Beautiful Music
Sitting in a room, largely ignored..
Dusty, from not being used..
I walked in, and wiped it clean..
Sat down at the bench..
Plucked a key, out of tune..
Did it again, just to hear the beautiful noise.
I played a masterpiece..
I closed my eyes and played and played..
The beauty of us sitting there..
Making beautiful music..
Is more than one can describe..
When the song was over..
I whispered ‘Je suis à vous’
We are one another..
Broken and ignored..
Sitting in a corner, in a room..
Nobody ever visits..
Nobody hears the beautiful music we make..
I cried as I thought of how large our similarities are.
Both so tenderly beautiful..
Yet here we sit..
With nobody to enjoy our beautiful music.

Here is another I was quite fond of that I wrote 9.15.12

Absconding
If you said I was as beautiful as this flower
I’ve plucked from the earth to kill,
Would you think I was a monster?

Or amazingly beautiful still?

I haven’t the patience for infinity
I tend to lose interest in sublime
But give me some room to run around
And I’ll show you a lady with a rhyme.

You can spew loving words from your mouth
Maybe even mean seven of them.
Not a single one will hit my ears
Because I have the innate ability to condemn.

Judge, jury, and executioner
Of everything you say.
With the ability to decipher
And a guarantee I will not stay.

There are women that would swoon
At the words a man said.
I would rather hear the wind through trees
Or the sound of nothing instead.

I would rather grab a man’s mind
Than to ever grab an appendage.
Second to that, his heart, of course
Then you have the advantage.

You needn’t ever ask if I believe what you say
Because the answer will always be “no”

Save yourself the trip to absconding.

And when you feel an attraction to me, just go.”

Where can your readers and new fans go to see/purchase your work?
JR:
“I have the following:”

Facebook page with all of my poetry:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/JosephineRanes
Blog with more poetry and ramblings:
http://abeautifultragedyjosephine.blogspot.com/?spref=tw
Here is my latest book:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/josephine-ranes/a-beautiful-tragedy/paperback/product-20284913.html

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to get a better picture of you, as a writer, Josephine.
With that, we ended the interview and I sat there thinking even more about how I should write more prose.
My mind swirled with ideas for them and I drifted off to sleep, letting the writers write and the dreamers dream.