Interview with Alyssa Brockob

  Alyssa Brockob has been published in every issue of Hot Dish Magazine, including our current issue "Words Become Reality". The Hot Dish Editors finally decided that it was time to figure out what drove Alyssa to write and submit said work to our magazine. Below is an excerpt from the email interview conducted with Alyssa.

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What is your writing process?
I write what I feel, or see. I am rarely able to just sit down and think to myself "Okay, it's time to write." Personal experience, pain, and beauty in the things around me are what help me to be able to create poetry and stories. I write on impulse, and once that impulse starts, everything else just comes together.

Where do you draw inspiration for your pieces? 
I found inspiration for both my pieces in my friends and the things we speak on and accomplish together. I have found that lately, I have taken many of my experiences with them and turned those experiences into poetry—it does help, however, that all of these people are artists in some shape or form. They are natural muses.

How does it feel to be published in Hot Dish Magazine two years in a row? 
It feels very good; I remember the excitement I had when I received the email last year saying that I was getting published. It was my first published piece of writing and really helped me to expand my work, as well as get more confident with sharing it to the world.

Has there been anyone that has helped or inspired you with your writing?
Everyone. Without the people around me at school, home, and in the place I live, I would have nothing to write about. However, my two best friends have been so helpful in devoting themselves to create in me a better writer. They easily accept my late night requests to read some half-well-put-together poem or monologue. Both of them are wonderful givers of feedback and praise, and truly want for me to succeed.

Do you have any words of wisdom for other young and emerging authors?
Find something that pains you, something that makes you tear up. The passion that comes with pain, I have found, is nowhere near the passion that comes forth in excitement. Write with a bleeding heart— hold back nothing, and never stop writing. Writing is a pastime, an anti-depressant, and a companion. It's a beautiful thing all should experience.

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