So far, 2025 has been quite a poetic year. Featured in a few books here and there (most recently last month, in the Midnight Treasury of Macabre and Weird Poems), my last commission was for an author who’s not only an inspiration to me, but also a friend. A couple of years ago, I read…
Tag: poetry
How poetry taught me to write better fiction
Whether it’s the sweep of a stanza or the careful construction of a scene, there’s a curious intimacy in the act of writing. For years, I was a poet first. My early writing life was laced with line breaks, metaphor, and breath. And much of my prose still is! Though I now straddle the worlds…
Why I write the strange, the quiet, and the beautiful
There’s a particular moment, just before the sun rises above the houses at the end of our street, when the light turns the treetops copper. The shadows stretch, the birds awaken, and for a breath or two, the world feels both ancient and oddly delicate. Like something could slip through a crack in the sky…
What happens during the production of a chapbook?
I thought it might be nice to do a little blog about the process I’ve experienced while producing my first poetry chapbook! Before submitting, I used to Google this a lot, searching for advice, reassurance, and what to try. Even though everyone’s experiences are so different, they really did help me to get my head…
Healthy Body = Healthy Brain?
You know that feeling when you’re tied up in a few too many tangles and you begin to feel a bit like you’re drowning? I know that feeling only too well. I have a habit of excitedly starting several projects – sure that I can manage them no problem. ‘Another submission? Sure thang!’ But I’ve…
Your One Phone Call
I’ve been a bit slow with updating this blog with little poems I’ve had published here and there, so I thought I’d do a mini one now! A few months ago, Your One Phone Call published two of my poems on their website – ‘My Place’ and ‘Sun Burn’. You can read them through these…
Journal#2: Ghostly Words
I keep coming back to the more otherworldy words I write. Telling a ghost story can be as simple as telling a very ordinary story where something goes dreadfully wrong, and it’s hard to understand such an unusual turn of events. A hand found behind the curtain, a finger dropping off when a knuckle is…
Caroline Hardaker Author 