Meet Mea Cohen

If life sometimes feels like digging in a briar patch for salvation, then Mea Cohen’s prose is like feeling your pulse in the fresh cuts on your hands. The immediacy of her imagery and the rawness of her voice hypnotize, like holding your throbbing fingertips inches from your face. Painful, yes—but also a signal of mending, a reminder that you’re still alive. She hurts and heals, stubbornly. Vulnerable, but insistent, she turns doubt and agony into self-reclamation and transformation.

Follow the Links Below to Read Mea’s Work:
One Good Night
Everywhere/Anywhere
Something Else Entirely

Read More From Mea Here:
The Argyle Literary Magazine
The Good Life Review
West Trade Review

Learn More About Mea by Following the Links Below:
Meacohen.com
@meacohen

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Mea was kind enough to answer a few questions for us. Please enjoy.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself outside of writing?

I’m an amateur painter. I started painting about two years ago and I’ve taken two portrait painting classes in the past year. I love faces. To me, painting is a lot like writing. It’s incredibly challenging and often frustrating. I also want the faces I paint to tell a story, to explore an emotion. 

What is a writer to you? When did you realize you were a writer?

A writer, to me, is any person who consistently puts pen to paper and makes art with ink. I realized I was a writer when I took a class in creative writing during my undergraduate studies. Once I started writing, I  just couldn’t stop. 

Your writing has a deeply personal feel, almost like you’re whispering secrets into the reader’s ear. Have any of your pieces ever complicated or changed relationships with people who recognized themselves in your writing?

I recently went through a pretty rough break up and wrote a few pieces about my experiences in that relationship. I do wonder if the man I was seeing will read these pieces and recognize himself in the work. Honestly, I hope he does read them and ultimately gains a deeper understanding of how I felt/feel now. Who knows what will come of that.

Do you have anyone you share your ideas and work with before they’re finished, or do you keep them guarded until they’re ready to fly on their own? How do you determine when a piece is ready for publication?

I often share my work with a very close friend, someone I met in my MFA program. They’re opinion is so valuable to me, I always appreciate their feedback. When I can’t stand reading a piece of my writing any more, usually after a handful of edits, that’s when I know it’s done. 

Your voice is raw on the page, but your writing feels deliberate. These are difficult to balance. Do you consciously think about this balance while writing, or does it emerge naturally? Are you someone who edits as you go, or do you prefer multiple drafts—or do you revise at all?

I think about rhythm while I write, and often read a sentence aloud after putting it down on the page. Rhythm and pacing are really important to me. I edit after I write a complete first draft. Usually several times over the course of a week. I revise and revise until I can’t stand to read the work anymore. 

Describe your writing routine or lack thereof. (E.g., early morning, late night, sporadic, feast or famine, number of words daily, etc.)

I don’t have a specific writing routine, per se. I write when I feel inspired, often while I’m reading poetry. I love reading poetry to find inspiration for short pieces. A line in a poem will frequently jump out at me and spark something beautiful in my mind which I feel compelled to draw out on the page. I think reading is the best way to produce work.  

Have you ever been in the middle of a personal experience and recognized that it would make for compelling writing?

Definitely. Specifically negative experiences. If I feel defeated by anything I experience, I use it as fuel for art. What better way is there to turn a mood around? 

How do you balance personal experiences with universal themes in your writing?

I rarely consider universal themes. I write mostly based on personal experience or personal ideas. I never focus on trying to reach a broad audience. I know not everyone is going to be my reader and I’m okay with that. I just like to write what I feel like writing and hope it’s well-received by a handful at least. 

What are your current creative obsessions or preoccupations?

I’m working on a novel right now. I actually just applied to a handful of residencies in the hopes of using that time to edit what I believe will be the final draft. Wish me luck!

Great work always leaves you wanting more. Where else can we find your work? Do you have any future plans for writing?

Links to all of my previous publications can be found on my website, www.meacohen.com. I have an agent currently pitching my memoir to publishers, so here’s hoping it’ll get picked up! I have daydreams of writing more books after I finish the novel. I’ve got ideas written down just waiting to be fleshed out. We’ll see what comes of them.