Born with a pen in her hand, Katie Lewington has continued to write since the year dot, and develop her unique style of writing. She has self-published several chapbooks of poetry on her travels, experiences of love, and humorous food themed pieces too. She works on her blog The Poetry Hub reviewing books, sharing poetry, and interviewing writers. She likes to engage with other writers and bibliophiles through social media.
Isabelle: What do you hope to achieve through your writing?
Katie: Short term, something that will entertain people. I'm told my writing is good at pointing out the little things other people might miss, so if I'm encouraging people to be aware of what is around them, that's good. I see so many people on their phones these days, they seem to have forgotten they have five senses, and technology is only enabling people to use one of those senses.
Long term, something that outlives me.
Isabelle: What themes do you find emerge through your work?
Katie: Mental health is a theme. I find more and more I'm writing about people. Partly because I'm very much a fly on the wall in social situations and find listening in on people can be quite eye opening. I also have a sense of humour, but because it's a very dry sense of humour, it often goes unnoticed, but it's always evident in my writing. I rarely take anything seriously. Apart from football. There's nothing funny about your team losing a match 1-0.
Isabelle: Which writers inspire you and why?
Katie: The ones that write without an audience, or fans, just write because they love to, and hope in the future maybe they'll be picking up awards, and earning a decent wage from it. And the ones that write despite a lack of education, or encouragement.
Isabelle: How do you go about promoting and marketing your work? What advice would you give to writers who are not sure where to start on this?
Katie: I would start with a website that you update regularly. I think you've got to let people in and be open with your potential audience. Giveaways and freebies help too. I usually throw out the odd tweet or Instagram post on my books. I'm currently concentrating on my book blog, which helps gets fresh eyes on my books, but you shouldn't start a book blog BECAUSE you want to exclusively promote your books. It's always best to remember engaging with potential readers is what will work wonders. The human touch. Nobody likes spam.
Isabelle: What are you most proud of? (Doesn't have to be writer related, can be more personal if you prefer.)
Katie: That's a good question. I think personally, six years ago I was going to commit suicide and the fact I'm still here is quite extraordinary. That I've managed to turn my pain into poetry that resonates with people I'm proud of.
Isabelle: What are you working on at the moment?
Katie: I'm working on a personal collection of poetry, which will be about my experiences of depression and anxiety, as well as having inspirational poems in there too. I post examples of these on my blog every Wednesday, under the title of #breakthecycle which I think is a process everybody is going through. I also have a chapbook out on the twelfth of December We have a few good memories, don't we? which I think has some of the best poetry I've ever written. I'm looking forward to its release!
Links links links (follow Katie all over the web!)
Twitter: lewington_katie
Facebook: KLpoetry
Insta: katielewington
Psstt I'm on Amazon...