Kait Quinn: "There are definitely times when I feel less creative, but I know that I’m always capable of writing."
interview 1/12 - special addition to issue01: LOVE
this is THE CRY LOUNGE; a creative publishing studio + magazine. Read our past issue01: LOVE & join our online writing camp this Summer - more details can be found here! 🎀🏕️ ✍️
Due to this being the very first issue of my magazine, I invited most of my writers to get interviewed about their creative process, where they find inspiration & motivation to show up for their writing and work and much more.
Please enjoy the interview with Kait Quinn.
Introduce yourself - what kinds/genres of writing you work on? If you wanna shout out any published work, add the links for the reader to check out :)
Hi! I’m a Texas-born-and-raised, Minneapolis-based poet who loves cats, tattoos, oat milk lattes, and vegan breakfast foods. I only write poetry but have dabbled in non-fiction and would like to experiment more with it. I’ve spent the past two years meeting in the middle by writing more narrative poems.
One poem I’m really proud of, titled “Friendship," recently received first place in Sad Girl Diaries’ Fall 2023 Poetry Contest. Read it here!
When did you start writing poetry? Do you remember your first poem?
The first “poems” I wrote were actually songs that I made up when I was a pre-teen. One was a pop song about blue being my favorite color; the other, a country song about living in Texas. Do I still remember the lyrics/melodies? Yes. Will I ever share them? We gotta be REAL close for that!
The first poem I wrote was in my 8th grade English class. The teacher handed out vintage postcards and asked us to write a poem inspired by the image. In what would eventually become true Kait Quinn fashion, I wrote a depressing poem in which I imagined the sad woman on my postcard was the victim of domestic abuse. I don’t know how I was aware of such a subject at that age - especially because I was very sheltered - or why the teacher at my teeny tiny private Lutheran school didn’t say anything to my parents out of concern. I do NOT remember the full poem, only a line here and there, and I don’t think I still have it.
I intentionally started writing poetry in my sophomore year of high school when I started getting the feels.
What inspired the poems you sent in? Do you wanna share the story behind them? (here you can pick one or answer with all three of them)
I LOVED writing “Amas Veritas”! It was a prompt from Laura Jean (@betweenthelinesandspaces) from last October. It’s based off a scene in the movie Practical Magic where young Sally Owens casts a spell for finding her perfect love. I kind of went backwards with the idea and wrote a “spell” using all the things I love about my partner of 11 years.
Where do you find inspiration?
I’m mostly inspired by prompts. There are so many great prompt lists that other poets on IG share each month. I’m also heavily inspired by other types of art, especially music. I almost always listen to music while I write. Most recently, I’ve been inspired by pop culture, and I’m even releasing a book inspired by the show Twin Peaks this summer. (trailer available to watch below + pre-orders are open now!)
What is your creative process?
Pretty much all of my poems start as free writes. I type a list of all the prompts I want to use for inspiration, set a timer for 10 minutes, and TRY to write without stopping or thinking too much or pausing to research something. I’m not always successful at free writing, but I think I’m getting better at it. If I’m really into what I just wrote, I might start editing it once the ten minutes are up. Otherwise, I let it sit for a few days, sometimes even a few weeks. When I come back to it, I start breaking it up into lines/stanzas, improving the language/images, playing with diction and sound, researching (as needed). I may do this process multiple times, refining a little more with each pass until I think it’s complete. I also try to employ revision techniques and formatting ideas I’ve learned from writing classes/workshops, though I struggle to know which to try for specific poems and tend to just forget about them. That’s definitely something I’d like to work on.
Do you have a writing routine? If yes, what does yours look like?
I don’t currently have a writing routine. In the past, I preferred to write early in the morning. I’d get up (usually before the sun), make my coffee, light a candle, then spend half an hour writing. As my priorities have shifted over the years, I definitely don’t write regularly or at any specific time. I try to at least free write everyday when I’m able to set aside some time.
Do you experience writer’s block or more procrastination? What cures writer’s block for you?
I don’t really believe in writer’s block. I think what feels like writer’s block is either perfectionism, self censorship, or procrastination. There are definitely times when I feel less creative or don’t love what I write, but I know that I’m always capable of writing and sometimes I just have to get through the sucky writing to getting to the good stuff. Prompts help a lot. They’re a great tool for maintaining a regular writing practice. If I’m just not feeling into writing, I’ll focus on editing my endless pile of draft poems or creating erasure/blackout poems.
Kait Quinn (she/her) enjoys repetition, coffee shops, tattoos, and vegan breakfast foods. Her work has appeared in Reed Magazine, Olney Magazine, Watershed Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Minneapolis with her partner, their regal cat, and their very polite Aussie mix. Find her at kaitquinn.com.
this is THE CRY LOUNGE; a creative publishing studio + magazine. Read our past issue01: LOVE & join our online writing camp this Summer - more details can be found here! 🎀🏕️ ✍️
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