We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bryanna Licciardi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Bryanna, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
As someone who grew up with social anxiety, I learned to develop a very logic-driven strategy to keep me from caving into emotional duress and the urge to run away. Whenever I want to give up, I lay out my options as objectively as possible: I can quit now or I can give it one more day and quit tomorrow. Every time, I manage to convince myself one more day is feasible. The next thing I know, all of those days have added up to a degree, a manuscript, a career, a relationship. One of my favorite sayings is to do something that scares you. I use this in my writing, too: write the thing you’re scared to write. It’s in that fear that one truly discovers the self.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a writer. I’ve written all things (memoir, short story, educational lessons, essays), but what I’m most known for I’d say is my poetry. As a kid, I was obsessed with the horror genre, so I figured I’d grow up to be the next Stephen King. When I got into my first creative writing class, however, I met poetry and completely fell head over heals. This genre was mysterious, obscure, and seemed to mean something different to each person in the room. I went into a Masters in Fine Arts creative writing program to help hone my craft and write my epic poetry book. But I didn’t know who I was as a poet, because Stephen King and poetry doesn’t quite fit with the literary crowd in my poetry program. One night I fell asleep watching a documentary about a serial killer and had a dream that we were hanging together. Nothing crazy happened. It was all eerily normal. When I woke up, I had goosebumps and a poem already writing itself. Combining my love of horror and poetry? It seemed like fates aligned for me. Unfortunately, at workshop, my poem “At a Party, John Wayne Gacy Puts his Arm Around Me and Says We’ve All Been There Before” was not what you’d call a crowd pleaser. In fact, the other poets were appalled and creeped out. How could I write about a prolific serial killer like he was just some guy? But see, that’s what I found so terrifying about the poem. That so many of these people get away with it for years because they’re “just some guy” to those in their lives. My professor pulled me aside and told me, “Everyone hated that. You have found your niche. Keep going.” And I did. I ignored the naysayers that said this wasn’t proper poetry and over the next few years, published my entire serial killer series, in fact, (yes I wrote a series) one at a time across several journals.
While not every poem I write is dark and spooky, I would consider my brand to be darkly funny, unpretentious, but discomforting. People learn best when they’re laughing or when they’re scared, so I often aim to do both in my writing.
I’ve published a poetry chapbook called SKIN SPLITTING (Finishing Line Press, 2017) and now finally have my first full length collection forthcoming at the end of this year, FISH LOVE (Alternating Current Press, Dec. 2023). In between those years, I took a hiatus to focus on my career in higher education. I worked as an academic advisor for several years while I went to school, yet again, to earn my doctorate, and have now moved into a faculty role teaching English and Women & Gender Studies. Now that my dissertation days are behind me, this impending publication of FISH LOVE has me motivated to turn my attention back to writing! I’m not a very good self-promoter, but I have booked a reading closer to the release date and plan to keep adding to my calendar. You can find my upcoming readings and publication details on my personal website www.bryannalicciardi.com.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1) Learn how to listen to your inner voice. Writing is like offering a piece of yourself, so the instinct is to want everyone to love it and to get it. But that’s not going to be the case. Some of the advice and critiques you’ll receive will do wonders at helping you to hone your craft, but not all of it will. So learn how to filter criticism through your inner voice to help you decipher the good advice from the misinformed.
2) Practice sharing your work with strangers. It’s very tempting as a new writer to either show your work to people who love you or to no one at all. And while your loved ones are a great audience, they can’t be your only audience because they might have a hard time pointing out some flaws in your plot development or technique. Bringing your writing to workshops wherein people are there eager to help you build your skills, who in fact read and write for a living, will help you to see how your work is actually being interpreted to strangers.
3) Try things that scare you. Don’t get stuck in a writing rut because you’re good at it. Don’t be afraid to “kill your darlings” because getting too attached to a character or poetic style can really stunt your growth. Experiment with forms or genres. Use a random prompt generator to help you with new content. Read books or forms that you’re not used to. You’d be surprised what you wind up liking and wanting to incorporate into your own craft.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The challenge I’m currently facing is my fear of self-promotion. Even though I am a lecturer and speak in front of people for a living, reading my own work is a different ballgame. I get terrified to speak to crowds about myself and my work. Getting book exposure means getting your name added to poetry readings, networking for reviews, and hosting parties… all of which kicks in my social anxiety. My husband has been really great at keeping me motivated. He’s come up with ideas that would reduce my public speaking obligations, like inviting other local poets to share their work and read a poem or two from my book. Having someone in your corner that is just as excited for your accomplishments as you are is so crucial!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bryannalicciardi.com
- Instagram: @brick_house88
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bryanna.nichole.l/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/bryannalicciardi
Image Credits
Kelly Chapman Photography (author photo)
