The “People of MQR” series highlights the people who make up the MQR staff as they consistently contribute to the richness of the magazine and work towards making each issue the best it can be. As the people of MQR work behind the scenes, their individual writing goals, experiences, and backgrounds are not at the forefront of the magazine. This series allows us to get to know each of the people of MQR through a Q&A series about their own writing, their favorite part of working with the magazine, as well as other related questions about the writing process.
Katie Willingham is a poet and the author of the collection Unlikely Designs (University of Chicago Press). Her work has been supported by Vermont Studio Center, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and the Helen Zell Writers Program where she earned her MFA. Her work can be found in such journals as Kenyon Review, Poem-A-Day, Bennington Review, Diagram, and Rhino,and in the anthology The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poems at the Extremes of Feeling. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Katie Willingham currently serves as a Contributing Editor and served as MQR’s Poetry Editor from 2018-2021.
What do you like most about working with MQR?
I love a challenge and editorial work always has me asking the hard questions. Curating has to be about so much more than what you as the editor happen to like and it keeps me asking about what poems can do and where and how they bubble up from all the writers out there sending us work. I try to stay curious and keep learning and when I’m doing it right that it is the most enjoyable thing because I really do love to learn and being surprised and inspired by our contributors.
What is your favorite piece from MQR?
Having just put together an anniversary issue, this question is downright cruel! It was hard enough to narrow down to that thick issue, let alone a single poem. I am also a libra so I’m deeply indecisive and my excuse for that is a strong belief in fairness. Is it even right to pick just one? Different poems work for me at different times and in different moods or in conversation with other things I’m thinking and reading and feeling. My unending gratitude for the embarrassment of riches in our archives.
What writing tips or advice would you give to other writers, especially other emerging writers?
Read a lot and question everything! Never take anything out of your toolbox – you never know when it might come in handy. A lot of writers get stuck at a certain point thinking a certain way or that they’re writing has to keep going in the same direction especially if that direction was working and brought success. But it doesn’t have to and probably at some point, won’t. Veer off the tracks. If you want to turn back you can do that too. A lot more is possible than you probably think!
Another pro tip: if you’re feeling lost, go back to something you wrote that still moves you and impresses you. You did that! That’s your voice! Remind yourself when you need to.
How would you describe your writing process?
I enjoy doing research and collecting notes that I keep in my phone for later. I also like exploring long poems, which is so different from short poems that might come out all at once. I’ve written a poem I’m proud of in 20 mins and also over the course of three months or a year. I try to make space for writing and thinking about writing but it doesn’t mean something I’ve been thinking about is ready to be written at the moment I was able to give myself. If I’m struggling, I go back to revising something that feels close to done and gnaw on that problem for awhile instead of insisting on starting something new.
