Written By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD
“This is my first book,” Natalie Merritt-Broderick confirmed. “I've been writing long enough and finally decided I needed to take that leap of faith before I die.”
Hastening to assure us of her good health and not actually in fear of an imminent end, she went on, “There are 60 poems, written over lots of years.”
She loves to travel and to write while she is a different place, saying, “A vacation is a great place to lose yourself. I do a lot of writing when we go to St. Martin.”
Her ambition to publish is born “because I've always wanted to be an author – it's something I've always wanted to do. Too many people have dreams of a life time and never do it. I told myself, this is what you always worked for and now it's time to do something about it.”
She really enjoys writing poetry, writing as she does, spontaneously, “My poetry is free flowing – I let what comes just come – I've learn along the way that, when I'm in the zone, I'm great; if I try to force it, it does not work.
“I've been writing since I was 13. It was probably when I was in my mid-20's when I started writing poetry. The ease of poetry is it's a quicker way of telling something.
When I found out I wasn't going to be able to have children – that's probably around when I first found poetry. It was a way of dealing with the emotions of not being able to have kids.
“We didn't adopt – more just dealing with the fact of not having kids while others were. My poetry is about my personal life – a mix of different things I've been and then things I've seen and it comes into life.”
In addition to her writing, Ms. Merritt-Broderick has become, “a creative Acrylic Pours: abstracts. I'm working on that.
“Now, I'm doing vendors shows. I've been reaching out and signing up for them. People get to know who I am. At the moment, people don't know me because I've been at home doing my art work and writing my poetry. So now, I have to get out and let people know what I'm about.”
Briefly, her personal history is that she was born and raised in Guelph. “I got divorced in my 30's and just recently got married in 2016. I was 28 years in the corporate world and I left in 2017 to work on my creative life.”
Ms. Merritt-Broderick and her husband moved to Orangeville in 2009. “He grew up in Shelburne. When his father died we bought the Shelburne home. He has been very supportive.”
Coming to this intensively arts community, Ms Merritt-Broderick remarked, “I know how important the art world is up here, so I felt comfortable reaching out to the art community. At the vendors' markets, I take my art and I have my book with me. It's also in BookLore and the Shelburne Library and Orangeville Library.
“I've done well with the book. I've been really pleased; people have said to me they relate to certain poems. They say, ‘I enjoy your writing' – that means a lot to me.”
In the early days of publishing, it is natural to experience some self-doubt, she reflected this by mentioning, “I didn't trust in myself as a writer. I published through ‘create a space' on Amazon. I got great help with an individual from Quebec who helped me with my social media.
“I can be on social media, although I try not to spend a lot of time but enough to let people know what I'm doing with my writing and my art.”
She began her Acrylic Pours art with paintings and then, “I'm now doing objects – vases, Christmas ornaments, pumpkins – skulls. If I think I can pour paint on it, then I do.
“I was on YouTube and I happened to come across pourers. I'm not a drawer as such but I love colours and started on the canvases. Then I saw someone pouring on a vase and I thought that was fun. I love being creative and I love colour.”
Writing poetry “...teaches me about myself and I hope that others, when they read them, will learn something about themselves and the world in general. I don't have a set theme. There'll be things that just pop into my head. Now, I have the feeling I want to write a book about lessons in life that helped me. I haven't wrapped my head around that yet.”
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