Waking Up at the Gates: Poems of Recovery, Healing, & Transformation received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Thomas Kudla.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Waking Up at the Gates: Poems of Recovery, Healing, & Transformation, 2024
What’s the book’s first line?
“NewLEAF: Live Each Attempt Fiercely.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Waking Up at the Gates is an epiphanic poetic journey from the daily grind of the working world to the imaginative mindscapes of creative rebirth. This book guided me through a really difficult time in my life; I hope it can do the same for those who read it.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
In 2015, I finished earning a master’s degree in writing and publishing from DePaul University (go Blue Demons!) Shortly thereafter, I published my largest and most time-consuming book yet, How I Am Different. Then I spent a year helping to develop an app based on that book called How We Are Different. By the end of 2017, I was burned out on writing and frustrated with the political climate. I did not want to write or publish books anymore. In 2020, after quitting work and dealing with some health issues, I published an old collection of poetry I wrote when I was in college and called it Disorder. But this somehow did not reignite my passion for writing. It wasn’t until 2024, about a full year after I faced my own mortality with continued health problems and another absence from work, that I realized writing and publishing books was too important to me not to continue.
The impetus for putting Waking Up at the Gates together was this fear in the back of my mind that I could die at any moment and would probably have no legacy; no way for people to remember and celebrate my life; and no wisdom to impart. And there was so much that I learned and could share with the world—it seemed selfish to keep that writing locked away in a desk somewhere.
While Waking Up at the Gates was written from 2023 to 2024, it inspired me to publish everything I have ever written—and even write the sequel to How I Am Different last year, entitled Now I Am Different. 2024 ended up being my most productive year of book publishing yet as the completion of all the writing projects I started and never finished became my primary goal. More than a dozen books later, I feel more complete and satisfied as a human being than I ever have, and I’m happy to know that people can read what I’ve written all these years if they ever feel so inclined.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
For those who have ever felt discouraged, Waking Up at the Gates will give you the hope and inspiration you need to move forward in your life.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
I always envisioned Waking Up at the Gates as a tale of a poet grappling with the desire to continue writing or an artist deciding to persist in creating. But it is meant as something much more existential, as if the poet were at the Pearly Gates and was told to prove why he should go back to earth to keep on living instead of dying only to be forgotten. And after much soul-searching, he realizes that the only reason he could think to return to the land of the living would be to share his writing, and the wisdom contained therein, with the world. At least, that’s what the speaker’s words mean to me in this book.
When did you first decide to become an author?
When I was 12, instead of vacationing during the summer or having fun playing outside in the sun with my friends, I was busy writing my first novel. Writing has always been my passion.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
No.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
After years of copywriting, proofreading, and marketing work, I have taken on a role in sales support that enables me to exercise the organizational side of my brain without sacrificing too much of my creative energies. I am very fortunate that I found a career that grants me the financial freedom and social flexibility to pursue my writing passion more adamantly in my spare time.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
It depends on the project. Waking Up at the Gates took me two years to write, including eight months of revision. My longest project to date took me four years to write and publish. And yet some books seem to materialize much faster, as if I’m on autopilot and the muse has taken control. Those books are special in their own way and can take me as little time as a spring and summer season to write and publish.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
The best part? Writing for the love of the craft without feeling like you need to perform—and perform well—for your audience and the publisher. Waking Up at the Gates is a testament to this. The hardest part? No one takes you seriously! They don’t realize that it was a conscious choice on my part to self-publish originally. I never even sent my manuscripts to a publisher or agent.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again because it is worth repeating: Never devalue your writing. Always remember that there is no accounting for taste and while it seems like you’re climbing an uphill battle every day, there are readers out there who would love to read your writing. You just need to find them. That, and you should be very proud of being an indie author. It takes a lot of courage, perseverance, and persistence to be an indie author.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Perhaps. But I’m actually quite content writing anything I want now without feeling accountable to concerns surrounding dollars and cents. I remember a creative writing director once told his class of budding writers to pray we never get a book deal because “the moment you sign that contract, it becomes a job instead of a passion.” I think this fear instilled in me as an undergraduate has persisted even to this day, inhibiting my interest in mainstream publishing. And yet… I’d be lying if I said I don’t like collecting royalties.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
I am motivated by figuring out myself and the world around me and how I can best use my talents to improve myself and to make a better world. In writing, I am able to understand things more clearly and share my observations, perceptions, and ideas with other people. It’s very intellectually stimulating and rewarding.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
This has not changed: Hafiz. He was so wise.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
Usually I say Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace because I’m always impressed when writers extend beyond the traditional boundaries of their form. But these days, I think I would have wanted to write Dog Songs by Mary Oliver. To be able to do what you love, to write, and to have the topic of your writing be something you love equally as much as the act of writing itself—that, to me, sounds sublime.