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STAMFORD, Conn. With extra time on his hands last summer, Stamford English teacher Edward Donnelly began looking through some of his old poetry. While reading it, Donnelly realized that it tells the story of the last five years of his life.
He then spent the next six months organizing the poems with photos he took and has published Eddys Life Poetry. The book shares some of Donnellys happiest and saddest moments and everything in between, as he saw and felt it at the time.
It was about being completely and brutally honest as possible, Donnelly said of his goal of having his book published. I wanted it to be very intimate.
Donnelly, who teaches at the Academy of Information, Technology & Engineering, has wanted to write a book since he was in graduate school but admits he was nervous about sharing his life with the world. But Donnelly said he went through with it because he wanted to take a risk.
You just have to throw yourself out there sometimes, he said about following through on his dream of being published. The high school teacher said most people are accepting of those who share very personal details of their lives, such as the death of a family member, which comes up in Donnellys book.
Though he wanted to take a risk, Donnelly made sure the poems and photographs were set up just the way he wanted. He and a friend also reviewed the poems about a dozen times before publishing, he said.
The collection of poetry is his first published book. Donnelly's work also appears on Helium, a website where writers share their work and can develop their skills while receiving feedback from other writers.
Currently, Donnelly is working to publish his second book, which will be made up of short stories, and he has written about 100 pages of a novel. Eddys Life Poetry can be ordered on Amazons website.
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