Donna Ashworth

So it happens everywhere at once, which has because I have actually brought out two to three books a year.

Do you know why there's so many?

Because I'm not judging them or editing them or perfecting them or worrying too much if they're going to be perfect.

I made that decision in the very beginning that

When I write the poem, the poem goes out and we do not carve at it.

Because once you start carving at it with critical eyes, judgmental eyes, imposter syndrome, you shave off the rough.

And you're left with something clinical and similar to other things.

So I made that deal with myself right at the very beginning.

Do not judge your poems.

Put them out as they are.

And I had a feeling that this was the only way I was... Because I would ruin it for myself.

I would end up with five poems that I thought were perfect and nobody would ever get to read them because, you know, I was too shy.

So because I don't edit, it's like you take your foot off the hosepipe of creative flow.

It just comes out and you can allow it.

If it's going to find its people, it will find its people.

If it's not, it's not.

We do not judge.

We do not shame.

We do not blame.

Let the words go and do their thing.