Victoria Chang Quotes

There's so much stuff being written! Every year, how many books come out? I can't keep up, and I read a lot. It's amazing. I've always done things that were good for me, whether they were viewed as being as prestigious or whatever. I definitely have favorite books by favorite poets, but poets' books also vary. I could like some books, but not like another book. For the most part, it's a world of artists that are very in their own heads. I love when I meet generous poets, and generous meaning nice people, who give to the poetry community, who do interviews, read other people's books, and talk about them, spread the...love, I guess. That means a lot to me. In general, I find that poets spend a lot of time thinking about themselves, and not a lot of time thinking about other poets, or other poetry. Unless they think about how it affects them, or how it could impact them. I've read a lot more than most of the people that I know, except for one of my really close friends reads way more than I do. I love being part of poetry conversations. I love talking about what I've read. The whole process of getting a book published is just part of the process. The last of the process that I enjo As I published books, I realized, that's not really what I want. I don't care about the books as much anymore. I just want to write poetry. Sometimes I feel like I'm on top of the world, and other mornings I feel like crap. I've always wanted editors that actually edited my poems. I'm a total bottoms-up kind of person. I like things to bubble up. I feel like I give myself all day long to other people and other things, and I still seem like I have something to write once in awhile. Not often, though. My gut was always that if I taught students poetry, I would give too much of myself to them and have nothing left. My life in general, orderly or not, it allows me more freedom in my own writing. Sometimes I wonder, though - I have friends that sit around and just write all day. And I think it's the coolest thing. My life all-around is really different than a lot of other poets. Not poets that are parents, too, but just that I can hardly find anyone who works in the industries that I've worked in. Everyone always says that having kids is messy and sloppy. It's true, but you as a parent have to try to bring some boundaries and control over that experience, or you'd have out-of-control kids. I just didn't want any order in anything. I have to leave an ordered life for them - the kids - and my job. I have to be at my desk at a certain time, and I have to answer e-mails within a certain time period. Having children can be such a gift, but it can be a crushing experience for a certain kind of mom. And I am that certain kind of mom. We're all just a part of this large, spiraling, constantly fluid hierarchy and changing. At some points in your life, you feel crushed by that, depending on who you come in contact with. I was sort of obsessed about corporate people committing suicide. Sometimes people ask me to do stuff in New York, like 'Can you read at this thing?' And I say, 'Nooo, I can't just get on a plane with these two screaming children - I can't just get rid of them on such short notice and take vacation and fly over to New York.' I've never thought about the con of living in New York as a writer. Because I always think, Oh, what fun to be around so many writers. Because I've never been around so many writers. I think I've always felt very isolated, and I'm sure lots of poets do. I think e-mail and social media and all that has made me feel way less isolated than ever before. I've always felt alone and isolated, and living on the West Coast, there's no poetry community out here, and if there is, it's really spread out - because it's LA, it's spread out. It took me awhile to not be ashamed to be a poet in the business environment, and to be a business person in the poet environment. Most of my writing friends are working in academia. Most of my business school friends are always talking about bringing companies public, and money, and making money, and lots and lots of money. It's just a different environment. I do think that given my background as a poet, and also I work in a different field, you're sort of neither here nor there.

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