Reader Views is talking today with Janet Grace Riehl, author of the deeply personal, yet universally poignant book of poetry, “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary.” Janet is interviewed by Juanita Watson, Assistant Editor of Reader Views.

Juanita: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today Janet. Please tell us how this unique book of poetry unfolded onto paper.

Janet Grace RiehlJanet: My sister Julia died in a car accident in August 2004. My 56th birthday gift in December 2004 was the spiritual guidance to write what became Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary. I felt a spiritual leading to begin writing poetry when I went on a small retreat at the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate in Southwestern Illinois. I received this message: “Cleaning. During this quiet time.” The whole world seemed charged with meaning. I resolved to tease out that meaning through writing these poems.

Once I started writing, the work just flowed. The actual writing of the body of work after its inception in late December took nine months. Through spiritual guidance—common sense really—I was shown not only how to begin but also how to protect the work while writing. I wrote with the door closed, so to speak, without much commentary or critiquing from others. I simply wrote from my heart.

I carved out my time in the morning. This was private time of solitude when I felt most open. I believe that creative products come through us more than from us. We have to find a place, time, and way of listening.

I’d thought that my friend and book-coach help me shape the book once I wrote the poems. But, he told me that was the next stage of my creative work and I’d intuitively know how to do it. I’d never worked beyond the individual written piece before, but he was right. I did know how to do it.

Read the rest of Janet’s Interview