Today we’re talking with Ken Zak about writing poetic prose and the process behind his book The Poet’s Secret.

Kenneth Zak is an aquatic nomad of Bohemian-Polish ancestry. As a lad, he dove into Lake Erie in search of a silver coin. Decades later, he surfaced off the island of Crete with a tale filled with mystical sea turtles, sunken treasure and a young woman’s search for a reclusive poet, his muse and the myth of eternal love.

A summa cum laude graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in Business and concentration in Art History, Zak went on to receive his JD and follow the waves to California. He eventually shut down a successful law practice in quest of a deeper purpose, freeing his creative self in a mountaintop village in Crete where he began his debut novel, The Poet’s Secret. Since his time in Crete, he continued work on the manuscript and his poetry in Bali, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cambodia and South America.

An avid surfer and free diver, Ken’s passions also include reading, music, ocean swimming, the Tibetan Rites and yoga. He currently serves as General Counsel for a large private brokerage company and resides in San Diego, California.

In this episode Ken and I discuss:

• Juggling real life and writing.
• Building a support system to help you achieve your goals.
• The role of poetry in writing prose.
• Being a guy who writes Romance.
• The decision to self-publish and why you should build a publishing team.

Plus, Ken’s #1 tip for writers.

Tweet this.

About The Poet’s Secret

In The Poet’s Secret, Elia Aloundra, a young lit student, sees the reclusive poet Cameron Beck recite a poem at a campus pub before he vanishes—for a second time. Ten years earlier, Beck had dropped from the public eye, leaving only an acclaimed collection of odes to an anonymous muse and a decade of speculation over his disappearance.

Elia sets off in search of Beck, longing to know the man whose words have moved her so, hoping perhaps the ghost poet will unveil the secret to eternal love. What she doesn’t know is that as her quest begins, Beck is perched atop a cliff on a remote Caribbean island and about to attempt suicide. As Elia faces off with Beck’s protective circle on the exotic island hideaway, the same island where decades earlier a Spanish shipwreck entombing mystical Aztec relics was found, she finds herself swept up in the mystery of the muse. What Elia cannot fathom is that Beck’s secret will change both their lives forever.

To learn more about Ken Zak, The Poet’s Secret, and his many adventures, visit his website at kennethzak.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook. And check out this awesome book trailer for The Poet’s Secret:

Link to Episode 63

(Right-click to download.)

Want even more tools to help you master the craft?

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 63: Writing Poetic Prose – Interview with Ken Zak appeared first on DIY MFA.