Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
A1. My name is Bri Bruce, writing under the name B. L. Bruce, and I am an award-winning poet and two-time Pushcart prize nominee from California. I hold a bachelor’s degree in literature and creative writing from the University of California at Santa Cruz, with work that has appeared in dozens of anthologies, magazines, and literary publications. My poetry has most recently appeared in The Lakeshore Review, Red Wolf Journal, Bivouac Magazine, The Sunlight Press, Riverstone Literary Journal, and Gone Lawn, among many others, with haiku widely and internationally published. Blue California Sky is my fifth book and first collection of prose poetry. When I am not writing, I am curating the literary magazine Humana Obscura and work as a marketing director in the renewable energy industry.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “Blue California Sky”?
A2. Blue California Sky was an emotional book to write, but it was also very therapeutic. It is very raw, and based on my own experiences during the pandemic as a follow up of sorts to my last book Measures. I was struggling with my own mental health as well as with insomnia. The constant barrage of terrible news, both in my personal circle and of the state of the world, was weighing heavily on me. I have certainly channeled my emotions into this work, and have found that readers are relating to the more universal themes I touch on in this collection.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
A3. Having studied post-modern American literature with a poetry concentration in college, I was introduced to a number of poets that were part of the Beat movement. Writers like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Richard Brautigan influenced a lot of my early writing but it wasn’t until the end of my schooling and in my early adulthood years that I found my reader’s niche in nature poetry. Gary Young, a prose poet, former Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County, and a former professor of mine at UC Santa Cruz, first introduced me to prose poetry. Mary Oliver is—and will always be—at the top of my list as far as authors whose writing influence and inspire my work. I discovered and continue to enjoy the work of May Sarton, Maude Meehan, Ellen Bass, and Robert Hass. I’ve also come to enjoy the work of haikuists and short-form poets like Issa, Basho, Tu Fu, and Li Po, among others, which has me experimenting with the American haiku form, and I am currently working on a book of haiku.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
A4. There are so many beautiful places in the US, many of which I have yet to visit. So much of my work is rooted in the place I’ve lived my whole life in California, and I am fortunate enough to live somewhere where people from all over the world visit. It holds a special place in my heart, as it has for generations of my family before me, and I don’t see leaving any time soon. My whole life is here, family and friends, and anchored by the natural beauty—the ocean, mountains, countryside, and wildlife that heavily influence my work.
Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘Blue California Sky’?
A5. The biggest driver for this latest collection was my need to channel my own emotions and experience into something during the early days of the pandemic, in a way that was different from Measures. The challenge of writing in a new form also helped propel this collection forward.
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘Blue California Sky’?
A6. I wrote Blue California Sky over the course of a year or so while I was also writing my last book Measures. While it is a short collection, it was very intentionally written and I took my time to edit and perfect it before submitting to publishers.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
A7. Blue California Sky is available for pre-order on Finishing Line Press’s website: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/blue-california-sky-by-b-l-bruce/
After its release in October, it will be available on Amazon and a few other select booksellers. My other books can all be found on Amazon.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘Blue California Sky’?
A8. The title is an amalgamation of several phrases taken from multiple pieces included in the collection. There is also a stark contrast between the title and the book’s subject matter and themes. Contrary to what the title might lead readers to believe, it is not all blue sky and sunshine, though California and its natural landscapes and life give the collection its sense of place and provide a grounding, common thread.
The artwork on the cover, “Everywhere Blue Sky,” is by talented Cuban American artist Sasha Jimenez French, whose work was featured in the Spring/Summer 2022 issue of Humana Obscura, a literary magazine I curate and publish. I am incredibly grateful for her interest in collaborating on this cover and feel her work was a wonderful fit for the mood of the collection.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
A9. This is my first collection of prose poetry, so that in and of itself is new and fresh for both me and for my readers. Exploring this new form proved to be a welcome challenge and tested my capabilities as a writer and as my own critic and editor. While I still don’t typically write longer-form prose, this collection was a way to very intentionally make the most of each word, saying as much as I can without over-telling and using brevity in a way that is helpful rather than hindering.
This collection is also a little more raw and darker than my typical work and incorporates events that happened during the unprecedented and at times tumultuous early days of the pandemic.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
A10. Seek new experiences. Traveling and getting out of my comfort zone are always very creatively triggering for me and gives me a fresh perspective when returning home to where I do most all of my writing. I draw on a lot of personal experience when writing, and whenever I am feeling stuck or am hit with writer’s block, I always come back to this piece of advice.
Sassy Reviews 