Language, Line Breaks, And Punctuation. Poetry With Abi Pollakoff
The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers
Joanna Penn
4.8 • 745 Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2025
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What can prose writers learn from poets about language, line breaks, and punctuation? How can we help people engage with our work in different ways? Abi Pollakoff talks about her advice from poetry.
In the intro, how to reframe success as a writer [Ink in Your Veins]; How I Write Podcast with Dean Koontz; Direct selling [SelfPublishing Advice]; Successful Self-Publishing 4th Edition; ElevenReader publishing.
This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com
This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn
Abi Pollokoff is an award-winning poet, editor, and book artist. Her debut poetry collection is night myths • • before the body.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.
Show Notes
* What makes a good poem?
* Balancing academic and fun elements in poetry
* Judging poetry on its purpose and impact, rather than on personal tastes
* Relevance of poetry techniques in prose writing
* The significance of punctuation in both poetry and prose
* The importance of page layout in poetry
* Tips for performance and spoken word poetry
* Creating and marketing a poetry collection
* Commercial realities and opportunities for poets
Find out more about Abi at AbiPollokoff.com or on Instagram @AbiPollokoff.
Transcript of Interview with Abi Pollokoff
Joanna: Abi Pollokoff is an award-winning poet, editor, and book artist. Her debut poetry collection is night myths • • before the body. So welcome to the show, Abi.
Abi: Thank you so much, Jo. I'm so excited to be here.
Joanna: Yes. So lots to talk about today, but first up—
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Creative Pen podcast. I'm Joanna Penn, thriller author and creative entrepreneur, |
| 0:08.0 | bringing you interviews, inspiration and information on writing craft and creative business. |
| 0:14.7 | You can find the episode show notes, your free author blueprint, and lots more at thecreativepen.com. And that's Pen with a |
| 0:23.7 | double N. And here's the show. Hello, creatives. I'm Joanna Penn. And this is episode number |
| 0:30.5 | 808 of the podcast, and it is Sunday the 11th of May, 2025 as I record this. In today's show, I talk to Abby Polikoff |
| 0:40.5 | about what prose writers can learn from poets. We geek out about punctuation, page layout and line |
| 0:48.5 | breaks, as well as having fun, permission and self-censorship. Plus, Abbey is devastated to hear that many TikTokers think |
| 0:57.2 | the M-Dash is a sign of AI writing and it makes us both crack up because, of course, |
| 1:03.2 | wheelwriters know the M-Dash and of course any kind of dash is a crucial part of the writer's |
| 1:08.9 | toolbox. So it is a fun conversation and Abby is a delight to talk to. |
| 1:13.7 | And you don't have to like poetry to enjoy the discussion. |
| 1:17.2 | And perhaps we might even change your mind along the way. |
| 1:20.7 | It's pretty wide-ranging chat about writing, performing our work, out loud and more. |
| 1:27.1 | So that's coming up in the interview section. |
| 1:33.4 | In writing and publishing things. Well, on Rachel Herron's podcast, Inc in Your Vanes, |
| 1:39.8 | she discusses how to reframe success as a writer with author Nicole Grave-Lipson. I think this is so |
| 1:46.8 | important because I'm always asking people to focus on their definition of success, their |
| 1:52.6 | definition of success, because it's often a mismatch between what others tell you you should want |
| 1:59.1 | versus what you really want. And the word should is so |
| 2:03.1 | difficult, obviously. And in the interview, they suggest that success in writing doesn't always |
| 2:09.1 | mean hitting a specific word count or achieving traditional productivity goals. It can be as simple |
| 2:15.4 | as finding one phrase that's golden during a free writing |
... |
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