Hey there folks, happy Friday, we’ve made it to the weekend again!

Just a quick note before the fun and games start – I link to a lot of other articles in my posts, so WordPress users please check your spam folders and approve any links/pingbacks that you find from me to improve the visibility of your own posts, as well as mine, it’s a win win for us both 😉

And now for the main event – drum roll if you please my dear friends 🙂

I have had the greatest pleasure of interviewing a dear friend and very talented lady for the Author Interview series who is also a superb musician too.

For your entertainment tonight, I therefore bring you the amazing words and delightful sounds from Canadian author, poet and musician Anaïs Chartschenko.

Enjoy the show and your weekend too 🙂

 

Hi there Anaïs, thank you for being here to talk about your passions that influence your wonderful music and poetry, along with sharing with us your writing experiences and influences.

Thank you so much for having me on your site!

Let’s start with all of your poetry collections in the order that they have been published – “Bright Needles”, “The Whisper Collector” and your latest release “The Weightless One” (a book written in verse but is actually a novel in its own right). Please go into more detail about each of them, along with the themes behind them and your own mantra/philosophies that you infuse into your work when it comes to your writing style.

Bright Needles is all about confession. Confessing sins, confessing secrets that others seek to hide, confessing the need to distance oneself from a toxic community and eventually become stronger through self-determination.

The Whisper Collector is dark poetry. There are five distinct collections of poems- Provincial Lies, The Lacerations of Longing, A Tethered Ghost, Mother Tongue, and Munin. The theme is relationships with others. Trust and betrayal come up a lot.

The Weightless One is a YA novel in verse about a girl who is committed against her will to an eating disorder inpatient program. The novel follows her story from the first day of treatment until the day she is released. I wanted the novel to feel real, so I culled from my own experience in a treatment facility. Miranda is not me, but I did have group therapy with a Circle of Feelings that I loathed at the time. The theme for The Weightless One is hope and healing.

The theme that comes up in my work time and again is to think for yourself, and everyone is responsible for their own choices. I try to practice that kind of thinking myself in my day to day life.

What does it mean to you personally being a poet? How do you feel that this influences how you see, feel and interact with the world around you?

I store away experiences to be lived a second time when I write about them, and them lived again when I read them later. I hope it makes me more aware of cause and effect, so that I can avoid potential disasters in the future. But I’m not sure that it does… at least if I make a particular blunder I can write about it later! There’s some poetry bright side.

How does a poem begin for you? Does it start with an image, a form or a particular theme?

Usually it starts with a phrase in my head. I get out my notebook and just start writing.

Has your own opinion or idea of what poetry is changed since you first started writing and performing poetry?

I’ve been writing since I was a little kid, so it has always been there…It is a comfort to me to craft worlds I can imagine myself in. As I got older and read other people’s work it became a stronger refuge. Plus, I like the idea of books being like a time machine of sorts. I can read someone’s thoughts from years and years ago! Amazing.

(The Writer’s Edge: Poetry in an Age of Prose)

You also make music, with many songs and your lyrics available at your blog (http://anaischartschenko.weebly.com/music.html). You have also recorded a feature length album called “Howling at the Moon: Live from My Living Room”, which is available for purchase here (https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/anaisbelieve). How you go about composing a typical song – do you start with a melody or a lyric or do you begin with some other starting/jumping off point? Feel free to go into much further detail regarding Howling at the Moon too to give us a taste of what the album is all about.

When I write songs, it generally happens one of two ways. I sit at the piano and start playing and then go- whoah, that was a song! Then, I start the tedious process of learning what I just wrote. Or, I hear a phrase of music in my head until it drives me crazy. Those songs can take forever as I wait for my brain to fill in the gaps of sound. Sometimes I even dream them.

My song writing has changed a bit after studying opera for aprox. 10 years now. I’m more aware of things like diction!

Howling at the Moon was recorded live in my living room, just me singing and playing my big upright piano. It is Low-fi. I have always loved old bootlegs of concerts, especially acoustic sets where you can hear the artist’s breath or them messing with their pedals. So, I figured, why not? Studio records are awesome, but there is something neat about a live performance.

Do you have any plans to perform your music live at local venues?

I have performed live shows in the past, but right now I am focused on finishing a novel. No plans for the immediate future.

What type of music do you listen to for fun and/or for inspiration?

All sorts! Coil, Alice in Chains, Tori Amos, Rabbit Quinn, Underworld, Anna Netrebko, Patricia Petibon, Billy Joel, Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, classical…I enjoy searching cdbaby for indie artists. I’ve found some real gems there, like Lily Holbrook.

What do you find the most difficult thing about writing? And what do you find the easiest?

For me all the technical aspects are hardest, like formatting. The actual writing is the easiest part.

Who are some of the authors, poets, musicians and historical figures that inspire you?

Leonard Cohen, Baudelaire, Machiavelli, Sappho, Tori Amos, Coil, Alice in Chains…

What sort of research do you do to write your poetry and music?

I read a lot, and I studied opera. Beyond that, I am writing a fantasy novel and for that I have researched all sorts of fun stuff including demonology.

Why do you write? What inspired you to become a writer?

It must be part of who I am. I started creating stories as soon as I developed language, and haven’t been able to stop myself since.

What keeps you motivated during creative slumps? How do you deal with Writers Block?

I read/listen to other people’s work. I practice technical skills, like scales. I read about neurology, and am comforted that brains are highly plastic. If I keep creating, new connections will be made. Sometimes your brain just needs a rest. I try to be patient with myself, and enjoy the library.

You have access to a time machine. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Relax, you’re still alive.

(Anais The Moon artwork by @Luci_Designs)

How do you spend your free time when you are not writing?

I paint, read, work on my YouTube channel, game, and consume copious amounts of tea.

Tell us more about your upcoming projects. Are you working on anything specific or have plans in the pipeline?

I am currently writing a fantasy novel titled The Darkest Thread. It is about one of the Fates, who had her sheers stolen. No one is getting their life thread cut as they should, and it turns out immortality isn’t all butterflies and roses.

I am also planning another book of poetry.

Finally, are there any nuggets of wisdom that you can impart to other aspiring writers, songwriters and poets?

If you want to write, just do it!

And that’s a wrap! Thank you for taking the time to help us to get to know you and your work better, with all of your poetry and music, there is certainly a lot of interesting stuff for us to discover 🙂

Bio:-

Anaïs Chartschenko hails from the Canadian wilderness. She has come to enjoy such modern things as electric tea kettles. Her published works include two collections of poetry, Bright Needles and The Whisper Collector as well as a novel in verse, The Weightless One.

You can connect with Anaïs via the following Social Media channels:-

Facebook:- Anaïs Chartschenko – Author, Poet & Musician (FB)
Goodreads:- Anaïs Chartschenko (Goodreads Author)
Instagram:- @anaischartschenko (Instagram)
Twitter:- @anaisbelieve (Twitter)
Website:- The Website of Anaïs Chartschenko
YouTube:- Anaisbelieve (YouTube channel)

You can buy her books here:-

Buy Anaïs Chartschenko’s books in Canada

Buy Anaïs Chartschenko’s books in the UK/Europe

Buy Anaïs Chartschenko’s books in the US/Rest of the World

You can buy her CD’s here:-

Buy Anaïs Chartschenko’s CD’s at cdbaby

If you too would like to be interviewed on my blog at TooFullToWrite and you have a book or a series of books that you would like us to chat about then fill out the Contact Me form here with your details and we can arrange a future interview slot.

Still want more? Well, Anaïs’s poetry and music is very tender, moving and als o very inspirational too. For more articles on the theme of ‘Tender’ then check out the links to the articles written by my fellow blogging colleagues below:-

1. Relieved – What Wendy Writes
2. Mind Whack – awesomeloopy
3. Bonkers Away! – Tender
4. shame – Sleeping love
5. My Own Little Wars – Tender
6. Take your broken heart, make it into art. – The Tantrums of Silence
7. Calvin… (or Life 2017) – World Through My Eyes
8. Triumphant Blooms! – thinkinkadia
9. Galley goodness! – The Alpha Odyssey
10. Morning Light – kittysverses
11. “Tenderly.” – Nomadic Adventurer
12. Short Story – Daily Post – The Dog Rides
13. Puppies – Dog Tales
14. The thunder that came with you – Touchwords
15. Invisible Illnesses – Triumph – Daily Prompt
16. How To Choose The Right Theme For Your WordPress Blog? – Marketing Singh
17. Building Walls – Essentially Rebellious
18. Murtagh’s Meadow – June garden – Vegetables
19. Chicken Brain – Magic and Mayhem
20. Tender kisses dance – jacey caitlyn speaks
21. Feel good – Just me and us blog
22. CONGRATULATIONS. . . – Keep On Moving
23. I See – andsoitisborn
24. New Orleans Streetcar – Thoughts from an Alabaster Beach Girl
25. Summertime – neilsworldofenglish
26. Other Side – Zeckrombryan
27. Scraps of Paper – Your Presence
28. The one who cracked the shell – The Chaos Within
29. Reaching – Melinda J. Irvine
30. To my little brother… – The peepal
31. Anna Love Life – Flirty Floral Dress
32. Tender ImPerfections – LiveFree LoveOnPurpose
33. How to create a successful website – Daily Inspiration
34. Maine Forest Cafe – All That Was Left
35. Bundled Tenders – Life After Fifty
36. 6 Reasons for Delayed Achievement (2 min read) – LifeBlog
37. SIX REASONS FOR DELAYED MIRACLES (3 min read) – LifeBlog
38. About Love. – Dimitra Pyromali’s Blog
39. Shower of Whites! – Pebbles
40. I Talked to The Moon – Debbie Gravett
41. I love you Mum… – Mum’s the Word Blog
42. Mere Thoughts – The Tender
43. Nature Whispering – Dew
44. Love me Tender – Run and Travel
45. sonja benskin mesher – . is it rags today?.
46. A Mixed Multitude – Snowflake?!
47. That tender touch… – The Mistful Mind
48. TLC can be hard to see – Hannah’s Happenings!
49. Caring Moments – Leigha Robbins
50. juantetcts – Daily Post
51. The Shower of Blessings – Tenderly Love
52. Those Summer Nights – The Chicken Grandma
53. Tender – The Bag Lady
54. Where is life? – Serendipitous Web Life
55. On Change – Facilius Dictū Quam Factū Est
56. Lessons from the Tollbooth – Positively Un-broken
57. Getting My Groove Back – Words on Education–Both Outdoors and Indoors
58. Time with a Tenderhearted Friend – Adventures of a Busy Mom
59. I don’t want tender tonight – Beauty Mirrors Beast
60. Living In Crimson – Phoebe
61. Love Thy Tendy – The Hockey Mom Fit Life
62. Who The Fuck You Looking At? – GirlSoWoke
63. Tender love, my tender daddy – Beauty Mirrors Beast
64. Farm Life Fridays – She Calls to Me – Wendy Mair Clark
65. The worst but most respected job in the world – Sewer cleaners – Let your words speak what your heart thinks.
66. Untitled – Caillen James — Author
67. Touch Me … – jansten56
68. Everyone Can See – authoranonblog
69. Tender – Book Meets Girl
70. Try a little… – A Song for Everything
71. Tender – mycreatorscreation
72. Quitting Time? – The Money Fast
73. Lee Aspland – Tender
74. Headache Free Foodie – Migraineur’s Mirepoix: Setting the Stage for a Trigger Free Dish
75. Notes to Women – Mr. Thornber
76. A time for tenderness – abbisoul
77. Netdancer’s Musings – A Tender Moment at the Denver Zoo
78. Shadow of Dawn – Thoughts of Words
79. Tender – aYoKa
80. ~159 Of 365~ – ……….365 Days………..
81. Tender–Daily Prompt – Fearless
82. Blue Ribbon F – Tender
83. Poems and Petals – Under My Skin
84. OUCH! – Inner Whispers
85. A gentleman has his eyes – Present and Presentable
86. Exposed – a moment teller’s
87. Post-Race Day – Beautifully Active
88. Coinstar – MAG Stories
89. 9 – Written by Beth
90. VirtuousParagon – Wisdom
91. Le Drake Noir – Triple prompt
92. Cimmerian Sentiment – # 19 It’s Not You It’s Me (Waking Up Jayla)
93. EVERYTHING COMES WITH AN EXPIRY DATE – Rainbow
94. Tender – All About Writing and more
95. Tender Drizzles – Dream Desire Achieve
96. Listen to the Angel on Your Shoulder – Daily Prompt (Tender) – A K Rockwell
97. Short Story – Day Seven – Kelly Freestone – Daily Prompt
98. How To Choose The Right Theme For Your WordPress Blog?
99. “Swear your undying allegiance to me” ! – Your Nibbled News – 2017 YNN
100. Tendering my resignation. – Resting Bitch Personality
101. Life of a ChickPea – A Great Big World – Music rec
102. Can’t Say No – Lives in the Lyrics
103. The Wriggly Giggly Worm – thehouseofbailey
104. Circle of Five – thehouseofbailey
105. TENDER – bowaleXO
106. The Sting May Still Be a Little Tender (Daily Word Prompt is Tender) – My Loud Bipolar Whispers
107. Musings and My Two Cents – TLC
108. Updates … – You are entering my Mind
109. my boy – What does nelkumi think?­
110. The Charm of a Tender Heart…. – SilentWordz
111. The dance of my prey – Sarahs Crazy Mind
112. I FEEL THIS TEDERNESS – Grief Poetry
113. The Flittering Soul – The Cursed Lipstick
114. Swell Time – Conversation with a dominatrix
115. Success Inspirers World – I tender my apology
116. Na’ama Yehuda – Tender
117. Micro poesie du vendredi… – Cyranny’s cove
118. Pennies from Heaven ⋆ Obsolete Childhood
119. Love me tender – In my world
120. Christina Says Things – Emotions are Tender…Weak..and frightening
121. Trying to be productive – The Musing Monkey
122. I Have Pretty Strong Convictions, I Guess – Tender
123. Tender – Sherwyn Jellico – Author
124. Tender – Kerrstee
125. prakratii – For Him….
126. Scottish Legend’s Blog – It’s happened again.
127. Fall like rain on tender plants… – A Place to learn and grow together
128. Insach – When you are young and tender.
129. Tender Obsession – erotic wave
130. Gathering Grains of Stardust – The Voice Of God is Nothing Like The Thunder of Zeus
131. Tangled Webs – Strong and Tender
132. TALES FROM THE MOTHERLAND – Bringing My Father Back: A Father’s Day Love Story
133. In the World of Thoughts – LOVE-Tender & Strong
134. Following Him Beside Still Waters – Emerging From The Cocoon
135. Martha L Shaw – POWER OF LOVE
136. Curious Hart – Multiple Interpretations
137. Tender – Dirty Little Daydreams
138. Tender Coconut – My Creative Rewiring
139. Tender submission – THEGIRLVERSUSWORLD
140. Jupiter Star – Sweet & Tender
141. Tender Heart – epiphanyofsumi
142. Tender Ages and (In)Validations – Synapse
143. Met with my maker – cries from an unkempt garden
144. Read to Recharge – koolest1uknow
145. Animal Welfare/Animal Care/Animal Rights/Animal Farm – themanbehindtheglass
146. Nature’s Fastest Marathon Runner – Developing Explorers
147. Rivalry of Heart and Mind – E. Denise Billups, Writer
148. Legal Tender – genusrosa
149. Making your stories tender, not tough – Mindflight
150. the struggle of a boy – positive guider
151. Tender – the nathan estibeiro
152. tender voice – alter oculos
153. I have to Think More – a kind of diary
154. Flowers and Breezes – Tender
155. Urban Poetry Urban Poetry 2017 offers readers an extensive selection of urban haiku, free verse, rictameter poetry for enjoyment and modern digital art copyright by author Linda J. Wolff. We also offer a daily poetry and meetups. Poetry – Stardust i
156. B*_ live – Some More Loving
157. Cookies & Moo – Trains
158. Your tender footsteps… /Suzhalgal
159. Exploring the World around us – Tender Heart
160. Tender Creatures – Islamic Methodologies Made Easy
161. The Week Story (and one bad thing that happened) – Letters and Poems
162. Lame – Jalapeno Girl
163. Five bridges of Porto – Don’t hold your breath
164. even now, even then – DRAFT BOULEVARD
165. tender – awonderingsoulsblog
166. Eccedentesiast – plasticsouls
167. Tender- DailyvPrompt – Shereena Badu
168. To all those dancers who think they cannot do maths….. Think again – Daily Inspiration
169. The Boomerang Kindness Is!
170. My Sunshine, My Rain – Emotions That Matter.
171. Are My Characters too Soft? – thepathtocreativity
172. Telling the Truth – My one-of-a-kind body
173. Innocence So Tender – THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
174. tender hearts – Love it Now
175. Tender my goodbye – Oh, border!
176. Phoenix Grey – Tender
177. Dronstad – Soft spot
178. Music – Just Writing!
179. Giggles & Tales – That First Kiss…
180. Biryani – My little storybook
181. back and forth – As Many Loves As Stars In The Sky
182. She’s in Heaven – One Stone Away…
183. What are the words for Self-Compassion?
184. thelonerose – 3 Ouchies
185. Making it write – Interesting times
186. Sandmanjazz – The Tender Trap
187. Act As If… – Pauline Njah
188. Autism Siblings – Autism in Our Nest
189. Tender – Uniquesus
190. Life On The Skinny Branches – Breaking Through
191. Tender … fragile … yes? – XDrive
192. lifelessons – a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown – Big Spender
193. The [Password] is “Password” – Treasury Department
194. Wonder Woman – The Girl With The Scorpion Tattoo
195. Kimberlee K. – Congratulations & Thanks, Little Brother
196. The Cat Chronicles – Tender is the feline
197. Charmed Chaos – Roads
198. New Ideas And Inspirations – Tender & Crisp
199. Baby love – My little storybook
200. Rosemary Carlson, Freelance Writer – Tender Betsy
201. Giggles & Tales – He Seduces Me Tenderly…
202. Lamont and Dude Discourse on Wealth – I’m a Writer, Yes, I Am!
203. SHINE MAGAZINE – How to break through you limitations
204. Thoughts on Life – Tender
205. Long After the Birth of the 2008 Financial Crisis, The Republicans Want Another Baby – A lot from Lydia
206. LOST TENDERNESS – breathingpark
207. One of Life’s Greatest Challenges – Dealing With Loss
208. Photography – Combretum indicum – The Diary of a Weird Teen Boy
209. LadyLebz – The Importance of a Father in Parenting
210. Tender emotionally because he seems gone – Bird Flight
211. Charron’s Chatter – Tippin’ Point
212. Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss – It must be tender
213. Soy de luz y sombra. – Orion’s Belt
214. Giggles & Tales – The Daily Prompt – Tender!
215. regiannelly – TENDER
216. LadyLebz – Asking My Crush Out on a Date
217. MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO – Tender
218. Hot Dogs and Marmalade – Tender Mercies
219. Myammy! Moving in together at 50… – Love me, Tinder?
220. Scrambled, Not Fried – NOPE
221. Tender – Emovere
222. Her Touch – emotionsoflife2016
223. Piper’s Adventures – Summer Beach Day
224. My Feels – Reactionary Tales
225. Tender Thoughts – damswriter
226. Zombie Flamingos – What am I going to post today?
227. Just Brittany Moments – Tender Lover
228. Review of the fabulous catering company that ran our christmas party last year – My travel & Food Adventures
229. So many things… – Poetry, Fiction, Politics (PFP)
230. Success Inspirers World – Tender, loving woman
231. A Quick Poke – CD-W, Author Flawed to Perfection
232. Tenderizer – Eat life; make meaning.
233. Nothing Can Bring Back the Hour – Thoughts on Letting Our Childen Go – Jacki Kellum
234. Pregnancy – Site Title
235. You’re always in my thought – mslazyboots
236. Piper’s Adventures – Summer Music
237. Tender – wordsareallihavesite
238. Walk with God – Try a Little Tenderness
239. Writing the wrongs
240. Forgiveness – The Mind of Nox
241. catering – moopanoop short fiction
242. Tender – But Should We Be? – fibijeeves
243. Vulnerability – As I was saying…
244. WOMAN – I-read
245. Tender – Progressing into Solitude
246. Love me Tender – aroused
247. Tender – bushboys world
248. The Tender Tender Tends to Tend (He said She said; Very Short Story) – Jittery Goat
249. Stars Of My Sky – Wings Of Poetry
250. Tenderised – By Sarah
251. ….on pets and prisoners….. – daily prompt: tender
252. My family and I. Part 5… A letter to my dad – Depression, Stress, Money Worries and Me
253. Frank Prem – one from six
254. I am the voice – World Imagined
255. Frank Prem – correcting a design flaw
256. the15thday – new life (a haiku)
257. Frank Prem – tenderfoot dancer
258. Science Traveler – Being Inside the Fish Bowl of St. Barts (aka, We All Live in a Yellow Submarine)
259. Going it alone – Redux Of Rex
260. Tender Halo – short poem – In2Lauren
261. Jaellekatz – Alles fuer die Katz #58
262. The Wandering Poet – Moment
263. Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, Thinking Less Is Better, The Forrest Gump of the Internet, New Tunes, and More – Wells Baum
264. The Browning ‘girls’ go on an outing! – Chronicles of an Orange-Haired Woman!
265. Designer Sophisticate – Could this be the easiest blog post ever?
266. Lantern Words – Tender Care