top of page


My Writing Philosophy: How ideas form, and why it's OK if they're bad
One of my earliest illustration drafts, "Something's Fishy" I'll be honest: Most of my ideas for poems don't get made into a rough draft. I have a long list of ideas going back years, and some I cringe at every time I read them. On top of that, many of my rough drafts won't ever make it into a book. Same thing: some are laughably bad, some are just terrible. For some, I can't ever see a way they'll be useable. But I'll let you in on a secret: That's OK. The first step to m

Derek Allen
Feb 184 min read
bottom of page
