Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Smith.
Hi Sarah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I became interested in the creative arts from a very young age, specifically creative writing. I started writing short stories in elementary school, but when I started middle school, my love of creative writing blossomed. I competed in Power of the Pen competitions in 7th and 8th grade, where competing team members were given a prompt and had 40 minutes to write a short story. This was one of many experiences in middle school that sparked a passion that would only grow with age. While I had been writing mostly creative fiction and short stories, I did start writing poetry in middle school, as well. I began with topics surrounding nature and had pieces published in a couple of anthologies for young writers.
This affirmed that I was doing exactly what I was always meant to be doing and that my work was strong enough to be published. After exposure to poetry as a creative writing form, it became my number one coping mechanism, helping me work through all of life’s stressors. It allowed me to process the grief of my younger sister, who had passed away when I was in middle school. It allowed me to process various traumas throughout my young adult life in a safe way, from mental illness and an eating disorder to leaving an abusive romantic relationship.
Before Chronicles of a Disillusioned Optimist (designed in September 2016) I had another blog entitled The Real Me in Bloom, where I posted reflections and poetry, giving me the experience needed to create Chronicles of a Disillusioned Optimist. Chronicles of a Disillusioned Optimist took on a life of its own over the years. What started as a WordPress Blog is now a personal brand, with four poetry anthologies available on Amazon and Kindle inspired by the blog: Rising from the Ashes (published in 2018), “of sunshine and shadows (published in 2019), Manic Pixie Dream HURL (published in 2020), and Vices, Virtues, and Filling the Void Within (published in 2022).
I have a poetry anthology in the making entitled BEAMING that will be released in June 2024 through Amazon and Kindle, also inspired by Chronicles of a Disillusioned Optimist. I also have a professional Instagram, Facebook, and Threads account for Chronicles of a Disillusioned Optimist, which features artwork, nature photography, poetry, and tidbits from my life as a writer, artist, wife, and cat mom.
A fifth anthology was published in collaboration with BookLeaf Publishing. I had completed a challenge to write 21 poems in 21 days, and my anthology, Prompted Reverie, is also available for purchase through Amazon. Recently, I started a new chapter in my writing career, where I am seeking to publish my work in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies. So far, I have been published in scholarly journals such as The Huron River Review and Anti-Heroin Chic. I have also been published in the poetry anthology Ohio Bards, featuring Ohio poets.
I am passionate about the creative arts, which have kept me alive. Finding beauty in pain, learning lessons from all life experiences, accepting the dark with the light, and having a voice to speak up are crucial to me as a writer, artist, and human being. I will never stop writing and creating. Sharing my work with others is a great honor, and I am forever grateful for all platforms that allow my work to be seen and heard.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have had a unique set of life experiences that have forced me to face difficult periods and emotions around mental illness, trauma, and addiction: my own and my loved ones. While this has fueled my writing, it has been difficult going through chapters where I’ve had to confront pain, manage symptoms of chronic illness, and learn to accept the actions of those who had hurt me radically.
I’ve sought treatment for my mental illness and am a huge advocate for mental health. There is so much stigma around mental illness and mental health, but that only makes me want to speak out even more. I’m incredibly open about my recovery in my poetry anthologies and on social media. If we can start the conversation, we can open the door to seeking and finding understanding in others, helping alleviate stigma in the long run. I’ve come a long way over the last 10 years and I try to be a person my younger self would look up to.
While it was hard to heal, I’m grateful I did the work. By going to therapy all these years, I was able to remain whole despite facing abuse, assault, and mental illness. I continue to go to therapy, and the work I’ve done with EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) treatment and Internal Family Systems Theory, also known as parts work, has inspired the paintings I am most proud of, which are featured at the bottom of this interview. With lived experience comes wisdom, and I aim to share what I’ve learned in my art and writing.
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have had a love for the creative arts my whole life. Being a writer, a poet, an artist, a photographer, and a painter is a large part of who I am. My writing explores themes around what it means to be human, philosophical difficulties of this life and why the world is the way it is, finding the light within the dark, accepting the shadows that are a part of all of us, and embracing the resiliency needed to bounce back from adversity. Real-life experiences have inspired these various themes.
There is meaning behind every creative decision I’ve made. I draw from experiences around recovery, and many writings chronicle my journey. Every poetry anthology self-published through Amazon and Kindle features some facet of my recovery. The poetry anthologies list dates alongside poetry titles, and pieces are presented chronologically, like a journal or diary. Other writers and readers have told me that my style is confessional, which feels accurate as the pieces I write involve storytelling and philosophical epiphanies based on day-to-day life.
My poetry is honest and, at times, blunt, reflecting on the “why?” behind what happens in this life. As the banner of my WordPress blog Chronicles of a Disillusioned Optimist states, “Life is made of unfavorable and favorable circumstances. Without the dark, we would never be able to appreciate the light. Adversity allows us to grow. Serendipity gives us a reason to glow.” This is my everyday philosophy as a writer, artist, and human.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
For independent writers, support does not have to be a book purchase. It can be leaving a review on Amazon for one of my poetry anthologies. It can be sharing the book with friends and family. It can be a post on social media or sharing content from my blog’s Facebook page or Instagram page to spread the word. It can be sharing honest, constructive feedback with me on the artwork and poetry I share on my blog and social media platforms. But most of all, the most extensive support can be simply reading my writing, whether reading my poetry in a literary journal, reading the poetry I share on WordPress, reading the reflections attached to the paintings on my social media, or reading the poetry anthologies I’ve written and published.
Ultimately, a writer wants to share their writing with readers and publishing allows us to do that, whatever form that may take. Written pieces are a part of the writer’s heart and soul, just as all artwork is a part of the artist. Hopefully, readers will resonate with the content and connect to it in some way. An artist aspires to be seen, as visual art pieces take time and are fueled by the artist’s life essence, which is why the process of creating art is so special to me. I try to make my work as accessible and easy to find as possible so that my messages can be shared and received. I have also collaborated with other writers in the past to create influential poetry anthologies with deep and meaningful content to share and look forward to future collaborations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sarahelisabethsmith.wordpress.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a_disillusioned_optimist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DisillusionedOptimist
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahesmith1020/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahesmith1020
- Other: https://chroniclesofadisillusionedoptimist.wordpress.com/
Image Credits
Photo of Sarah Smith with Lake Erie and the Cleveland Skyline was taken by Smith’s aunt, Pamela Dreher.
