My name is Summer Collins. I’m a poet, an author, a lover, and a finder of people, animals, and ideas. Thank you for stopping by.
I’m a poet based in the foothills of North Carolina, where I live with my husband and our yellow lab. Many of the ideas for my writing come from the local culture and people. I am passionate about bringing to light the uniqueness and immeasurable importance of “ordinary” people through poetry. I often write about people I have observed from a distance. I find that in some ways it is easier to get a glimpse into the complexities of human beings by being an outsider watching them as they interact with themselves and others.
Although I have been writing for most of my life, I first began to think seriously about it a few years ago. I continue to learn and improve the quality of my craft. I think every person ought to write, whether or not they have a natural talent for it.
Writing from experience
Of the things I write about, most of them are from real experiences I have had. Your life is as interesting as you choose to see it. You do not need to have an especially unique subject to have an interesting piece of writing, you just need to have something real. Everyone loves a good coming of age story, not because they are exciting or fantastic, but because they are take us back to something we all went through. In the same way, it is not so much important to write about something exciting, as to write excitedly about something.
My Target Audience
My writing is aimed at people engaged in love affair with life itself, seeking to remember the past, while embracing the present, and looking forward to the future.
Why?
My ultimate goals in writing are:
To help myself and others remember small things and the people that could easily be forgotten. It is from the small things that we become who we are.
To love others fully and well, seeing both their beauty and brokenness, and to encourage people to take the time to notice their fellow members of the human race, strange as they may be. I believe that this was perfectly modeled by Jesus Christ, who saw others in their true and most hideous states and madly loved them anyway.
If I had to describe in three words the legacy I hope to leave behind when my life is over, they would be:
“She saw people.”
If this idea resonates with you, I hope you’ll stick around and check out some of my writing, or even pick up a copy of my book, A Collection of Strangers
All writing belongs to Summer Collins and is not to be used without permission.
Photos by Abigail Eager