An Interview with Kristine Ong Muslim

Kristine Ong Muslim has been published in over 300 publications worldwide, including Arsenic Lobster Poetry Journal, BeeswaxMagazine, Boxcar Poetry Review, Fifth Wednesday, Forge, GlassFire Magazine, Grasslimb, Iodine Poetry Journal, Knockout, Narrative Magazine, Otoliths, Ottawa Arts Review, Pank, Quay, Riddle Fence, The Pedesta l Magazine, and T-Zero.. She has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize.Her publication credits can be viewed here.

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I grew up in a very rural town in the Philippines. I mean, like really rural. The rough road leading to it has just been paved like around five, six years ago. I went to college in Metro Manila and got a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. I am currently based in Cebu City.

I have been published in numerous journals and anthologies worldwide. My publication credits can be found here.

Do you use writing prompts? If so, what is one? What are some other ways you get started writing poetry?

Writing prompts are really helpful, especially when I can’t think of anything to write about. When I can’t seem to get started on anything, I look for magazines with themed issues and prepare a submission based on the needs of that particular issue.

  

How often do you write poetry? Do you write weekly?

If I can, I will write everyday. I don’t have a strict writing schedule or a wordcount quota for a given day. Nowadays, I do little writing during days off from work. But then I have tremendous output, say 10-20 poems in an hour, when I am in the mood. There are also weeks when I slack off completely and do nothing.  

Is there a specific time you’d like to write?

Midnight to 5 a.m. I have been working night shifts for years, and my peak hours have been adjusted to this particular time period.

How do you decide what to write?

I don't. I just read several journals at a time to get myself in the mood to write. Some old, old journals I've bookmarked for their wonderful selections are Arsenic Lobster Poetry Journal, Born Magazine, Blue Fifth Review, Diagram, Mannequin Envy, Nthposition, Strange Horizons, Typo Magazine, etc.

Getting the word out: These questions are more focused on your professional life as a poet.

Do you have another job? How does it relate to your work?

I work night shifts in a call center, selling things to Americans and convincing them to keep an internet subscription they are planning to cancel. If writing can only pay the rent and the bills…

How do you decide which magazine to submit to? 

I am a sucker for publications with lineups of writers and editors whose work I like. The pay rate, of course, is always a primary concern. But through the years, I am becoming more and more moved to submit to a particular journal by the writers whom I can identify with and whose work I read and like. I read widely, print and online, and there are really writers whose work consistently impress me. To be in the same TOC with them is like an obsession.    

Do you set aside a specific day or time for submissions?

Not really. I come up with a batch of five poems, then I go from there. I have one or more different back issues of so many journals bought on sale online. I study the general tone of work published so I know which group of poems goes with which journal.  

Is this a haphazard process, or are you extremely organized about it?

I am obsessive-compulsive when it comes to the batches of poems I send out simultaneously to different publications. Five poems in a batch sent out simultaneously on the same day to three different journals. It is always three publications at a time, so I can easily manage withdrawing a piece in case of an acceptance.

How often do you submit?

At an average of thirty publications per month.

Do you have any current publications and/or upcoming publications? Have you ever won any awards or prizes.

I have poems set to appear in Adbusters, Cha, Coe Review, Cold-Drill, Crash, Diet Soap, Doorways Magazine, Dreams & Nightmares,Lonesome Fowl, Loose Yarns, Motel 58, Paper Crow, Polluto, Rough Copy, Ruthless Peoples Magazine, SFZine, Spindle, Strong Verse,Southword, T-Zero, Tales of the Talisman, Tales of the Unanticipated, The Blotter Magazine, The Maynard, The Panhandler, and Weber. Plus, stories forthcoming in genre magazines, Title Goes Here and Trail of Indiscretion. Five of my poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. I also received several Honorable Mentions in The Year's Best in Fantasy and Horror and nominations for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Rhysling Award. So many years ago, I won two of Sam's Dot Publishing's James Baker Award for genre poetry. Tyree Campbell, the site's amazing managing editor, sent me two of these lovely green trophies which I keep on top of the bookcase inside my bedroom.