Click on the video above to hear about Robert’s experience with Writer’s Relief!

As you grow and develop as a writer, you try new things and take chances. But there was one thing Robert Guard wasn’t taking any chances with when he returned to writing after a ten-year hiatus. Robert remembered how successful he had been working with Writer’s Relief—and promptly rejoined! His still-growing list of publication credits proves he made the right choice: Robert’s work has appeared in Harpur Palate, Amoskeag, Apricity Magazine, Birmingham Arts Journal, Chapman Law Review, California Quarterly, Chaffin Journal, Clackamas Literary Review, Courtship of Winds, DASH, and Down in the Dirt—just to name a few!

Read on and watch the video to learn how Robert knew returning to Writer’s Relief would help reboot his writing career.

In Robert’s Own Words

After a ten-year hiatus, I submitted my application to be reinstated at Writer’s Relief and was graciously accepted. Why did I ever leave? I think the usual: a dry spell that turned into a desert. Why did I come back? I had enjoyed great success in that first engagement. I remembered how the expert team at Writer’s Relief encouraged me and made the hard decisions about selecting publications for each group of poems. I also had begun to write again and was sharing work with friends and family. It felt good getting the work “out there” even if close in. I knew Writer’s Relief would get my poems in front of a wider audience. I decided I was ready.

This second go-round with Writer’s Relief has been everything I hoped and more! Not only am I publishing lots of poems, but I’m writing differently. I decided (or poetry decided) to take more chances in my work this time and to reach for connections and metaphors I might have missed before. I am trying out different voices and styles—because I can. And if I’m stuck, I have that date on my calendar reminding me that 3-5 poems are due to Writer’s Relief for the current cycle. Sometimes that’s all it takes. Glad to be back!

More About Robert

Robert Guard has also been published in El Portal, Glint Literary Journal, Midwest Quarterly, Nixes Mate Review, The Opiate, Perceptions Magazine, Poet Lore, riverSedge, and The Round. He attended the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop and studied under David Baker and Rosanna Warren. Robert worked for thirty-five years in advertising as a writer and creative director. He teaches yoga and has an energy healing practice. He also conducts workshops on various health and fitness topics, including meditation and stress reduction.

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