Welcome to the Moran Publishing blog. Here you'll find reflections on the writing process, inspiration drawn from nature and everyday life, tips for poets and self-publishers, and personal stories behind the words.
What it is to write. To me
Posted on January 22, 2026
First Blog post….
What is writing? What I love most about writing is it is multifaceted. I fell in love with song lyrics. There were beauty and flow and imagery in them. They felt powerful. I wanted to write like that. I started to write poetry because it just felt right to me. I wrote for no one but myself. And I think that is how we should all start. Write because you love it not because you have to or feel you should. When I write I feel a release from it. I feel lighter. I feel better. The act of writing is cathartic. Now, not everything may turn out great. I may not absolutely love the finished product. But I love moving the words and sounds and images from my mind out to a physical representation. It feels like I have given life to them. I’ll write a poem, an essay or a short story. Sometimes I just have a phrase that pops into my head, and I want to note it. When I do that, it will lead to an extension of that into something more tangible. Often times I’ll write until I feel it’s done. It is a literal feeling.
When to stop....
Posted on February 2, 2026
When to stop….
This has always felt like a somewhat difficult aspect of writing for me. I’ve read that certain writers sit down and they do not stop writing until they complete a certain amount of words. I think that this may work for story or essay writing. But, for me, it simply does not work for writing poetry. I will sit down and usually have a topic that I’m thinking about, or an emotion that I want to spin words around or a phrase that is going through my mind. I’ll start writing on that and reach a point where it just feels done. I’ve sat and felt that I could push it forward and continue to write on it but it no longer feels “right”. The moment is gone. The inspiration, the spirit, the flow is over…. The verse is complete. It feels, often, that the piece has come out as it should and any additional words should be used to construct a new piece. Now….. if I’m using poetic structure to tell as story, I may push it forward. But if I’m using poetic structure to evoke imagery or emotion or a flow it’s done when the feeling is done, for me.