What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?
Moonlight Over Still Water grew out of quiet moments—those private hours when the world becomes still enough for us to hear what is happening inside ourselves.
The poems were inspired by love, loss, longing, memory, solitude, beauty, and the small spiritual questions we carry with us every day. I wanted to write about the emotions that often remain unspoken: the things we feel deeply but cannot always explain.
The title came from the image of moonlight resting on still water. The moon does not disturb the water. Its light can still transform without disturbing. I think poetry can do the same. A few words can touch something inside us, change us without making noise.
More than anything, this book is my attempt to find beauty in fragility and meaning in the moments that pass too quickly.
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?
Because this is a poetry collection rather than a traditional novel, I would say the main “character” is the human heart itself.
If I had to give the book a musical spirit, I would choose music that feels intimate, timeless, and slightly melancholic—something like a quiet piano piece heard late at night, when the world has gone silent, and memory becomes louder.
What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
I am drawn to literature that explores the inner life of human beings—poetry, literary fiction, philosophical writing, and novels that examine love, suffering, morality, and the contradictions within us.
The writers I admire most are those who are interested not only in what people do, but in why they do it and what remains hidden beneath their actions. That is also what I try to explore in my own writing, whether I am writing poetry or fiction.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
My reading list is always changing, but I continually return to writers who explore the human soul with honesty and depth. I am especially interested in revisiting works by Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ernest Hemingway, Rumi, Khalil Gibran. I also enjoy discovering contemporary poets whose work is simple on the surface but emotionally lasting.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
Since Moonlight Over Still Water is a collection of poems, there is not one traditional scene, but there is a recurring moment I loved writing: the moment when a person is alone with himself or herself and suddenly understands something that had been hidden beneath the noise of everyday life.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
I tend to write when an idea or emotion arrives rather than forcing myself to follow a strict schedule.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
Yes. I try to live by one simple idea: “Empty yourself before you leave.” To me, life is not about how much we collect, but how much we are able to give away before our time is over — our love, our kindness, our knowledge, our forgiveness, our creativity, our courage.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
I would hope they remember that sensitivity is not weakness. To love deeply, to grieve deeply, to question, to long, to feel beauty, and even to feel pain are all signs that we are alive. If one poem makes a reader stop for a moment and recognize something within themselves—something they thought only they had felt—then the book has accomplished what I hoped it would.
