We were lucky to catch up with Susan Scott recently and have shared our conversation below.

Susan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I am the secretary of our town’s historical society and am also a member of a small group of local poets that meets once a month in a coffee shop to share our poems. The historical society this year is leading a city-wide celebration of our founding 175 years ago and has asked local groups to participate in different ways. Our challenge was to write poems about life here almost two centuries ago, describing events, places, etc. We are putting together a display of our poems for the new city museum and will share and read them during the celebration. I contributed four poems for this particular topic. We will be in costume, even! It looks to be fun, and was a challenge to research, think, and write. We hope to publish on Amazon as an E-book soon.

I suppose this process is meaningful to me because I was able to compose poems “on demand”, so to speak, on a certain topic with a theme. I was able to do that within a time frame. I usually just write when inspiration strikes.

Susan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I always did well in school. English was my favorite subject. One of my teachers in seventh grade creative writing class had us compose stories and poems. He thought mine were good enough to submit in a competition. My poems got honorable mentions, and my short story a third place.

For decades, I didn’t write again, except for themes, research papers, and the like. One day, I posted a rather sarcastic poem onto my Facebook page, which got some positive attention. I was then invited to join the local poetry group. With encouragement, I have started writing again. My church even posted a poem I wrote about Advent.

Now that I am retired, I have more time to compose. I have started writing haiku as a brain exercise, which I recommend to anyone.

Commercial success has never been a goal, and I don’t seek attention. Poetry truly is an introvert’s genre.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I am a survivor of child abuse, spousal abuse, (violent in both cases), loss, and cancer. I believe that you can choose your responses to whatever your life has given you. “You can be pitiful, or you can be powerful, but you can’t be both.” (Joyce Meyer)

Therapy, introspection, prayer, and study have enabled me to live a “normal” life, which I don’t take for granted. Writing has been a way to share some of my experiences with a core of trusted fellow writers. Most therapists recommend journaling, but I prefer writing poetry.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Of course, everyone enjoys praise. When someone tells me that they “get” what I’ve written, that makes me happy. When someone tells me that what I have written is good, rather than worthless (and some of my poems are), it is satisfying. My poem that was published in the church newsletter is one of my favorites. It’s interesting that one’s writings can be your babies, so to speak. Songwriters often express the same emotions about their songs.