This week, I began exchanging work with Todd Dillard. I met Todd at AWP a few weeks ago and we hung out over lunch and he complimented some of my work and I gushed over him signing his books for me—and this week, we exchanged poems.
It feels like I've been in the desert for so long on my own and someone finally comes along and says water is this way. It's been exciting and fun and I'm so thankful he's an extrovert because this wouldn't have happened on my own. And thank you to the editors at Only Poems, who published both of us once upon a time, and through a roundabout way, created a connection between us.
Through one email exchange, I've already started looking at my own work a different way, and it's refreshing. It's easy to get in a rut. It happens without you knowing it sometimes, like you get used to a certain kind of music, forgetting all the other types of music out there. So your soul gets comfortable and stops growing. And then your discernment for your own work starts to shift to something less discerning.
I'm just so appreciative for Todd taking the time and I hope it continues.
