- Sep 21, 2022

Meet Twinkle Zaman

Twinkle Zaman was born on November 9th, 1993, to a mother who studied meteorology and a father who worked in banking. Growing up in a traditional household, Twinkle longed to express how she could bridge her family traditions with her personal curiosity of the world outside her home. Her first exposure to writing came when Twinkle would journal life events, she felt her peers couldn’t relate to. As she got older, Twinkle found writing was a therapeutic and healing experience.

While enrolled in college, Twinkle struggled with following her passion versus following a traditional career trajectory. During this time, she took a break from writing to evaluate what she truly wanted in life. In this hiatus, Twinkle found that writing was something she turned to when dealing with the highs and lows of her life. It dawned on Twinkle that writing was a way of self-discovery, and she realized her true calling was to pursue poetry and songwriting. Ultimately, Twinkle chose to step out of her comfort zone and to make writing the focus of her daily life.

In 2016, Twinkle made the leap to publish her collections with Xlibris Publishing Company. Her first book Transparent was released in August 2016 and was well received by readers across the United States. Her second book Twenty Something was published in April 2017. Twinkle has done various radio interviews with major stations such as WBZ 1030 CBS Boston, WTM 620 Milwaukee, and WCCO 830 CBS Minnesota. She is currently working on a new project.

While writing is her main priority, Twinkle continues to search for opportunities to expand this into her full-time profession. As her work evolves with new experiences and personal growth, she aims to always be authentic, honest, and relatable to her readers. To learn more about Twinkle visit her website at www.twinklezaman.com.

Describe your writing process. Do you have a set spot where you get your best work done? Do you write every day or strike when you get the spark of an idea?

It just really depends. I’ve never been the kind to be able to sit down and write every single day. If I am working on a book there is a level of consistency where I’m writing frequently, or my mind is always in that mode so if something comes to mind, I’ll quickly put it in my phone notes and go back and work with it later.

How do you come up with the ideas for your poems and their titles?

That’s the easy part! I’m inspired by all of life’s real moments. It’s always scary to put your heart out there but it’s also freeing and there’s a thrill to that!

How long did it take you to write Love Notes - Single Hearts Affairs? Tell us about any bumps in the road and how you dealt with that.

Love Notes was already written. I decided to go back and rebrand/relaunch the book. I felt I had grown as an individual since the first release (2018) and I had so much more to say. The ‘Single Hearts Affairs’ version I would say is who I am now. The hardest part was deciding how I wanted to finish the book. I went back and forth with different ideas then I also struggled with different phases of how I was feeling. I think when someone reads the book, they will see how my emotions shift throughout. I’m happy with how I decided to finish the book. The ‘Love Bible’ at the end means a lot to me. It’s something I will stand behind forever and definitely use as a reminder to myself on the hard days.

Please share a brief synopsis of Love Notes - Single Hearts Affairs.

Love Notes - Single Hearts Affairs takes you through the journey of a woman finding herself and the one she has become, chasing love and her wildest dreams with all the road bumps, from magic to true madness, and rediscovering her truest self and rebuilding and finding her faith in God.

This title shows the beauty and passion in being a woman in today's world and finding not only herself but using her voice, seeking her desires, and finding freedom in exploring her soul.

The sections in the book take you through the struggles most women face but feel ashamed to speak out about. Woman Within will help you maybe fall in love with yourself a little bit more and discover all the hidden gems that lie within, Chasing Love will have you thinking of that someone special in your life or encourage you to go after that fairy tale. Maybe it doesn't only happen in the movies. Finding God will surely give you that faith maybe you’ve lost along the way.

From the quirky lines to the passionate fantasies, and heartfelt stories you’ll see that being a woman is such a powerful feeling. You’ll feel empowered to put on that red lipstick and leather top, become someone different for a night, and turn yourself on. Empowered to not settle in love, but always keep your heart open to the wildest adventures, and lastly when you have a moment and can’t pick yourself up, you’ll feel empowered when you speak to the man upstairs. You’ll understand that nothing in this world is out of reach, if you just believe, and God will take you to all of your wildest dreams.

This a book for the soul searchers, the go getters, and the crazy dreamers. It’s every woman’s fantasy put into my own words. Chase your dreams, chase the man, and no matter what even if you don’t find him you could have just found yourself!

The Republication of this version took almost two years. There was so much going back and forth.

I’m sure many will relate to the poems in this book. Which one is your favorite, and why?

I love the first one that I start the book with ‘Identity’! I think that poem summarizes the whole book in a sense. Losing yourself in someone else where they become your identity but then you discover this whole new version of you throughout the journey.

Please tell us about Transparent. What inspired you to write this book and is there a main theme?

Ohh, that was my first book! I remember I had a fire in my belly at the time. I was feeling creatively high from life. That book doesn’t have a theme. That book is honest. It’s honesty. Me writing out my life and accepting it as it was then. I was struggling with wanting to finish college, I was tired of my work environment at the time, but I found the light to get me by when I’d escape my everyday life every now and then. There’s a little bit of everything in there. The days of dipping my toes in the water for the first time as a young adult.

Please give a brief synopsis of your book, Twenty Something.

‘Twenty Something’ was me expressing all my frustrations as a twenty something year old in this day and age. The pressure to do this, do that, get married, have kids, and be successful in a career path! It’s like hold on, why are you literally expected to climb the whole mountain in one decade? What about the rest of your life? People get tired of the pressure and get in such a rush that the decisions they make ultimately leads to unhappiness down the road.

The titles of your books are interesting. What comes first for you, the book titles, or the compilation of poems? Do you have a theme in mind ahead of time?

It just depends. The first book I had so much of the material written before I even considered going down the publishing path. With ‘Twenty Something’ I wanted to curate that book around the theme of being twenty something so the title did come first. ‘Love Note’s’ just came to me during the writing process as I realized they were pretty much short love letters I was writing.

Which poets, if any, have inspired you?

I love Hemingway. I love all forms of writing though. I’m inspired by anyone who is not only a great storyteller on paper but someone who can sit with you, and you can envision exactly what they are saying.