Queen’s student releases poetry book

Don’t miss Bella Crysler’s ‘Bubblegum and Black Coffee’

Image supplied by: Supplied by Bella Crysler
The collection features over 70 poems.

Becoming a published author as a young person can seem impossible. Queen’s student Bella Crysler is re-writing the narrative with her newly released poetry book, Bubblegum and Black Coffee.

Crysler, ArtSci ’23, is a dedicated and consistent poet. She spoke with The Journal about her writing and why she chose to self-publish.

“[Bubblegum and Black Coffee] is a poetry collection I wrote over the past five years—it all comes from this notebook I’ve had,” Crysler explained.

The book features over 70 poems written across that time, covering Crysler’s high school days to the first three years of her undergraduate studies. Despite having outgrown some of it, she believes including her older writing was essential to create contrast.

“I think a lot of it is funny because there’s a lot of melodrama about things that now seem like nothing in retrospect,” she said. “Even if it brings up embarrassment, it puts things into perspective so you can compare your experiences [to the present to] remember what you’ve learned.”

Crysler believes omitting some of her older poems would have been inauthentic.

“I wrote those poems at an age where I wanted those things to be said—to exclude them would be a disservice to anyone younger who is reading my book and feeling those things.”

Crysler considers poetry to be an especially healthy and productive outlet because it offers a level of artistic freedom often unavailable in prose.

“Poetry is a no-stress genre for me because you’re not limited by form in any way. If you’re thinking in a fragmented way, or you’re not having a clear picture, but you have things you need to conceptualize through words, poetry allows that.”

Crysler decided to self-publish Bubblegum and Black Coffee after much thought and consultation with experts in her life.

“Being an author is something I’ve wanted to do with every fibre of my being since I was old enough to read. It always seemed like this unattainable thing where someone needs to find you, and call you, and pick you to be an author,” she said.

“I ended up finding this company [offering] a free call with a publishing agent who could explain the process. They explained to me most people self-publish first to build up a network and a fanbase to prove they’re a profitable, interest-worthy person. Once you have that, you can go to bigger publishing houses and show them your repertoire.”

Self-publishing her book through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing has given Crysler print-on-demand flexibility as she gets her work into readers’ hands.

“I thought it would be best for the environment and [the] most risk-free [option] for me because I wouldn’t have to order a hundred books [and then] have them in my basement stressing me out.”

Crysler described the whole process as being relatively seamless, and she was impressed with the book’s quality when she received it.

Now, her focus has shifted to building a following.

“I started an Instagram for my book because that’s how I’m most connected with the writer universe,” she said. “Hopefully, I’m going to make a Facebook account, too.”

While advertising Bubblegum and Black Coffee is her top priority, don’t expect Crysler to stop writing anytime soon—more is already in the works.

“I don’t know what happened, but 2022 is my year for writing.”

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Poetry

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