Interview with Korina Chilcoat

Korina Chilcoat is a 19-year-old full time college student from southwest Florida. In addition to writing, she also dabbles in the performing and fine arts, as well as fashion blogging and design in her spare time. Korina's poem "What Makes You Happy?" is featured in Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing. Read her guest post "A Young Writer's Journey to Success" here.

Describe your piece that was published in Dancing With The Pen. How did you get your idea for the piece? Take us through your writing process. 

My poem “What Makes You Happy?” basically was formulated from the idea of as we grow older our optimism fades and we forget the simple joys that made us happy as children. After I conceived that idea the words seemed to flow from there. That’s how most of my pieces start. I get a flash of an idea and I immediately have to put it to paper or it escapes me. So, usually I always carry around a notebook no matter where I go so if I suddenly get an idea I can write it down. I suffer from writer’s block when the ideas don’t come at all. But that’s rare, usually I can’t write the words down fast enough.

Have you been writing for a long time? What do you like about writing? 

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember but I originally hated to write, probably because I wasn’t very good. But, as I learned how to write better I discovered that it was actually quite enjoyable and another way to express myself, other than artistically. I love being able to convey stories, information, as well as to debate, discuss, and analyze current social and cultural issues and topics. Now writing is my vice, I can’t live without it and sometimes it controls and dictates my life. I’ve been known to write ideas in ink on the back of my hand before. People call me crazy but I would rather be crazy than normal.

What does it mean to you to have your piece included in this book? 

I was thrilled when I received news that I was going to be published in Dancing with the Pen. I know all too well the sting of rejection so it was not only an honor but a relief to be published, validating that I was doing the right thing by continuing to write. If you don’t get reaffirmation about your work, no matter what you do, it’s a struggle to continue because you question whether you have anything to offer the world. Is your work good enough? Should you keeping working at it or quit? All I have to say about that is don’t ever quit. If it’s your destiny to work for five years until you get your big break, contemplate whether you would be willing to wait and work that long. Then you will truly know that you’re doing the right thing.

Do you have any advice for other writers, or for other young people going after their dreams?

Never let a single person convince you of anything you don’t believe. If someone rejects you or tells you no keep going and working until you get what you want. The only way you can truly fail is if you stop working altogether.

Can you share a few of your favorite books or authors?

I absolutely love Jeanette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle. I’m also a huge fan of the works The Catcher in the Rye, Wicked, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. One of my favorite authors is Gregory Maguire.

What inspires you? 

You inspire me, all of the different life stories of individuals all across the globe are such huge inspirations for stories, articles, poetry, and every other form of writing. I love getting to know people for that reason because everyone has a fascinating story, even if they don’t think so. Stories of love, loss, longing, and life in general. I’m also inspired by locations. Whenever I travel to someplace new, whether it’s local or international, my mind creates a story around the setting, whether it’s sitting in a city diner, getting inspired to write a story about a waiter turned underground rockstar, or strolling down a boulevard, picturing writing a poem about the cracked pavement beneath my feet.

What’s next for you? 

Currently, I’m working on several projects including a novel and a collection of poetry that I hope to complete within the next few months.

Anything else you’d like to add? 

Yes, please check out my literary blog “Louder Than Words” at http://korinachilcoat.blogspot.com or contact by email at korinachilcoat@yahoo.com.

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Guest Post by Korina Chilcoat: A Young Writer's Journey to Success

Today we're kicking off the summer Dancing With The Pen blog tour with this beautiful essay by Korina Chilcoat, one of our contributing young writers. Come back tomorrow for an interview with Korina. You can read Korina's poem "What Makes You Happy?" in Dancing With The Pen.

A Young Writer's Journey to Success

by Korina Chilcoat

We are artists. Yes, we use the title “writer” to describe what we do but, in fact, we are artists who paint pictures with words. As artists, there is a far different connection with our work than individuals who perform a typical 9 to 5 job. Our work is an extension of our souls, so when we face rejection, are criticized, or don’t have our work accepted it’s not like someone is simply judging the quality of our work. They are judging and evaluating everything we are and who we stand for. It feels like they’re not saying the work isn’t good enough; they’re saying we’re not good enough.

As a fellow artist, I know as well as anyone the heartache that follows after a painful rejection. Like any breakup, the aftermath, for me, is usually marked by several tears shed and a bantering rage against the imbeciles who didn’t find my submission up to par, followed by cookie dough binge eating.

However, somehow I manage to pick myself up and dust myself off and continue on after each fall. To quote a line from the song “Moving Too Fast” from one of my favorite Broadway musicals The Last Five Years, the protagonist Jamie, also a budding author, utters, “Things might get bumpy but some people analyze every detail. Some people stall when they can’t see the trail. Some people freeze out of fear that they’ll fail, but I keep rolling on. Some people can’t get success with their art. Some people never feel love in their heart. Some people can’t tell the two things apart, but I keep rolling on.”

My writing journey started three years ago. Previously, I had written casually for fun and leisure but I thought to myself, maybe I have something important to share with others where they can read the words I write and feel the same way about the things I’m so passionate about. So, I began to research writing contests online. Amidst my busy schedule I would somehow find time to pen thought-provoking essays, emotional poetry, and scandalous short stories. Contest after contest after contest, I would eagerly mail in my carefully crafted literary pieces, ensuring each word rang out clear and vividly on the page.

Unfortunately, editors and judges weren’t as eager. My collection of rejection letters grew into medium-sized heap shoved into a shoebox under my bed, out of sight. But this only made me determined to prove them wrong, that my work was worthy.

I soon doubled the amount of submissions I sent out, sending work to any publication house or contest which I was eligible. My work consisted on everything from the dancing pattern of honeybees to poetry about heart-broken, distant lovers. Still, I wasn’t getting the news I desired. My unbridled optimism began to fade with the passing days and increasing income of rejection letters and worst of all no news at all. I began to doubt myself. Was my work good enough? Why didn’t anybody see potential in what I was producing? Should I continue to create or choose a more sensible, rewarding hobby? My submissions slowed and eventually nearly came to a complete halt.

Then, one ordinary day, in one ordinary week, of an ordinary month, I logged into my email account, like I did several times a day, to find an email from a Dallas Woodburn. Dallas Woodburn? That name seemed familiar and I kept repeating it over and over in my head. I decided not to simply sit there and continue to guess like an imbecile so I clicked open the email. To my shock it was a writing contest I had entered several months back and I was thrilled to discover that I had placed honorable mention in this national contest for my poem!

This was the news I needed and had waited so long to hear. Two years spent sending submissions around the country and the world to finally have the gratification of finally knowing that I did something right. My stall ended and I went back into writing full force.

So now, as I recently celebrated my nineteenth birthday, I am proud to say that I have been published in the national youth magazine Teen Ink (which my article made the cover), in several national anthologies of writing (one of which I won first place in the nation and received a congratulatory letter from my state's Senator), and one of my poems is in the final round of submissions to be published in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book, hitting bookstores across the nation July 2011. Looking to the past is bittersweet, seeing that teenage girl furiously typing away at her computer, ignoring the rejection letters stuffed in a pile.

But this story isn’t just about me -- it’s about you, too. This is the message, the mantra, the manifesto of the wanna-be writer: failure isn’t fatal and those who fall are only failures if they stay sitting on the ground. You do not know which unsuccessful attempt is the last one right before your moment of glory, your big break, your time in the spotlight. So keep pressing forward, do what you do, and you just might find out that your dreams can come true.


Korina Chilcoat's poem "What Makes You Happy?" is featured in Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing, the debut anthology from Write On! Books. To contact Korina regarding writing inquires and speaking engagements you can email her at korinachilcoat@yahoo.com. To find out more about her, check out her literary blog “Louder Than Words” at http://korinachilcoat.blogspot.com