Joseph and his lovely wife Joyce.
1. Tell me about your book.
This
collection of one hundred poems shares messages of praise for Christians while
encouraging others to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. The common
thread that links these poems is that people can overcome past troubles to
achieve a life of abundance as laid out by the Scriptures. This is a poetic
expression of one man's Christian faith in God.
As
reviewed by New York Times best selling author Ellen Tanner Marsh
Any
Christian surveying the current state of modern poetry could easily become
discouraged, given that much of that poetry can only be categorized as
nihilistic. At worst, such poems seemingly promote despair and violence—against
society, the church, or even against oneself. At best, they consist of self-centered
whining and over-dramatic emotionalism, completely devoid of spiritual muscle
and ethical backbone.
New
author Joseph J. Breunig 3rd, in his fine debut collection Reaching
Towards His Unbounded Glory, takes a fresh stride in the opposite direction, in
a poetic compilation that should delight anyone who enjoys reading Christian
literature as well as poetry. The book comprises over 100 poems of various
lengths, although they generally do not exceed one page. In a slight concession
to modern poetic style, some of the stanzas are unrhymed, yet all of them speak
to Christian themes, such as faith and its testing, seeking a higher road, the
state of grace, error and sin, biblical people and events, and personal
redemption through God's word.
A
common thread that runs throughout the majority of the poems is that
individuals— regardless of any mistakes they may have made in the past—can
still turn to Christ as their Savior and begin the slow, sometimes painful, but
always positive process of redeeming themselves, in developing a new life
filled with abundance and spiritual serenity. By reaching for this new and
uplifting collection of Christian poems, readers can indeed begin reaching
towards God's glory.
2. How did you come up with
that idea?
For
about three years, I had been writing thousands of Haikus and Senryus, but
never felt fulfilled by the accomplishment of completing five manuscripts- each
one contains 505 unique verses.
Once
I felt spiritually inspired, I began to write longer, traditional poems that
explored the depths of my Christian faith. (Although I’ve been comfortable with
my faith for many years, I had never given a tangible voice to it, so that I
could more easily share my understanding of it with others.)
I
had been downsized from my I.T. (Information Technology) position and was
unemployed for nine months; each morning of my job search, I spent 30-60
minutes writing poetry to develop my style and to frame my mindset for the day.
Once re-employed, I discovered that I had completed 75 original poems; it was
at that point, that I seriously considered publishing my work; however, I felt
that the volume of work was insufficient. So I composed another 25+ poems,
while researching available publishers; eventually I chose BookSurge during the
summer 2006, which was later renamed CreateSpace. My book, Reaching Towards His
Unbounded Glory, was completed mid November 2006.
3. How did you get interested
in writing this particular subject?
I
was primarily raised under the teachings of the Baptist Church, was saved in my
early teen years and regularly attended services. As my spiritual hunger
progressed and grew, I migrated to the Pentecostal Church as an adult. Prior to
embarking on this poetic journey, I had become “Spirit-Filled”, whereby I could
speak in “Tongues”. This transformation of my heart enabled me to be more
concerned about having a personal relationship with Christ from a person who
had lots of knowledge about Him.
4. What kind of research did
you do for this book?
No
external research was needed; I looked inwardly at myself and forced myself to
come to terms with my “identity in Christ” (having attended Church for three
decades).
5. What's a typical working day
like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?
Presently,
my typical day entails the ongoing job search and writing/sharing/marketing
poetry and my book; although I’ve never set a (formal) daily writing goal, I
expect to complete a second manuscript (tenth overall) this year and have set a
personal goal to write three more manuscripts next year.
6. What is the hardest part of
writing for you?
Besides
getting meaningful/timely feedback from my readership and training others to spell my last name
properly (when my poems are accepted by literary organizations), it’s earning a
successful living from my writing.
In
addition, too many people suffer from the mindset that “poetry has no real
value”- while adoring their music collection(s), failing to recognize that a
song is actually p-o-e-t-r-y accompanied by a tune. Therefore, these same individuals “pass
judgment” without having taken time to actually read your work and just assume
it’s bad. (IMO, the real problem is that there is an abundance of poorly
written poetry readily available.)
7. What’s the best thing about
being an author?
The
freedom to express myself freely about my Faith; people tend to be surprised at
the variety of topics that I’ve addressed in my poetry, as well as the quality
of my writing.
8. What are you working on now?
Presently,
I’m completing the fourth sequel to my original title; it will be the second
manuscript completed in 2014. (Currently, I have enough notes to write another
10+ manuscripts of 120-125 poems, with more ideas/topics being developed each
week.)
9. What advice would you give
aspiring writers?
Be
authentic; be transparent; be passionate; be consistent; understand your target
audience; write with conviction about what you know and have experienced; focus
on the work and not money; without quality of work in one’s writing, no one
will be willing to spend their money buying poorly written books. Lastly, have
your manuscript properly edited by a professional. Spelling, grammar and
punctuation is STILL important- especially in poetry.
10. Do you have any favorite
authors or favorite books?
William
Wordsworth and Gershon Hepner are among my favorite poets; my favorite book
is: How to Rule the World (edit聽title/settings) / A
Handbook for the Aspiring Dictator
(which contains lots of parallels to I.T.)
See
www.shelfari.com/jjbreunig3 for more details!
11. What question have you
always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
What
kind(s) of impact would you like to see your poetry have?
I
hope and pray that:
l
Unsaved/unchurched
people be more receptive to ideas of faith
l
Christians
will become stronger in faith
l
Christians
will find their identity in Christ (if unknown)
l
Christians
will become more articulate in expressing faith
l
Christians
will expand my work into new songs and other Christian materials, such as
greeting cards
l
People
will gain a greater appreciation of Eph 2:10- its implication is that people
are the embodiment of God’s poetry
l
Churches
would partner with people like me and build a true army of God
12. If you were writing a book
about your life, what would the title be?
Not
sure; working titles would have to include:
l
Both
Brain Hemispheres Function
l
An
Analytical Tumble into Poetry
l
Sealed
and Approved by Christ / My Journey of Poetic Faith
l
One
Maine-iac’s Journey of Faith
l
Overcoming
Sin’s Blackness / My Witness of Faith
l
A
Personal Mash-Up of Software and Poetry
Thank you for your time Joseph. If you would like a copy of his book just click here to purchase Reaching Towards His Unbounded Glory.
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