Margaret Britton Vaughn, TN
Studied Poetry: My formal study of creative
writing began in college. I have also studied in writing workshops
under Lee Smith, Reynolds Price, Jesse Hill Ford, George Garrett,
and others.
Writing: I
first started writing love poems to little boys in the second
grade. In third grade, I wrote the lyrics to my first country
song, which was entitled, “Here
I Sit Alone at the Bar.” I took the song to my mother
and said, “Mama, I want to be a poet and songwriter,
and here is my first song.” Mama read the lyrics, looked
down at me and said, “Are you sure you don’t want
to be a nurse?”
Inspiration: I grew up listening to country
music and heard the lyrical poetry in that music. Country songs
can represent a novel in twelve lines, and I learned to write
in strong, concrete images from the stories those songs told.
Favorite
Poets: British Romantic poets such as Wordsworth,
Byron, Shelley and Keats have long inspired me because of
their love of nature, but my all-time favorite poets are
Robert Frost and Walt Whitman, who both wrote about the common
man.
Challenges: I
gave up a longtime career in advertising to become a full-time
writer, and the dismay of my family and friends, who actively
discouraged me from giving up financial security, created
a real dilemma for me. Finally, I just stepped out on faith
that writing was what I was supposed to be doing in life,
and I have never regretted my decision. The naysayers were
right about one thing, though: it is very difficult to make
a living as a poet.
Advice: I
always tell up-and-coming young writers not to get discouraged,
to study the craft of poetry as much as they can, and to
believe in themselves. Since poetry is often difficult to
get published, I encourage people to publish their own work
and to read poetry at civic organizations, clubs, schools
and churches in their own communities.#
