blackbirdonline journalSpring 2019  Vol. 18 No. 1
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TRACKING THE MUSE

Since 2007 we have invited contributors featured in our annual Introductions Loop to comment on their creative process. This year, Jose M. Martinez, Caroline McCoy, Sejal Shah, Felicity Sheehy, Samyak Shertok, and Matthew Wimberley step up to the task.

Jose M. Martinez Jose M. Martinez
   Tapping into Roots

If I were to say anything about the creative process behind my stories, it’s that I always try my hardest to start with the characters . . .

     
     
Caroline McCoy   Caroline McCoy
   Documenting Landcapes

After college, I earned jobs in the editorial departments of several lifestyle and travel magazines. Most of the articles I wrote or edited were frivolous in nature . . .

     
     
Sejal Shah   Sejal Shah
   They Say Two Thousand Zero Zero
      Party Over, Out of Time

For the most part we were not visible in the public sphere—media, arts, business, and politics. I never published “India West,” which I thought of then as a story, as fiction. . . .

     
     
Felicity Sheehy   Felicity Sheehy
   Ritual and Repetition

My poems often begin with a turn of phrase that gets stuck in my head, a bit like a verbal earworm. When I was younger, these would be the endings of poems . . .

     
     
Samyak Shertok   Samyak Shertok
   Silence of the Moonbugs

I look out my Salt Lake City apartment: it’s snowing. The flakes falling softly. A muffled lullaby. Almost a sacred hush. Dust of the moonbug wings . . .

     
     
Matthew Wimberley   Matthew Wimberley
    The Image Is a Spiral

Some days, the poem comes easier than others, but most mornings (when I write best) I open my notebook and try to find a certain rhythm . . .



Introductions texts appear in different sections of Blackbird but are organized in this alternative menu, a featured reading loop allowing easy navigation of related material.

A link to this “Introductions Reading Loop” menu appears at the bottom of every Introductions-related page. You may also return to this menu at any time by visiting Features.