Journeys Poetry Contest  First-Place Winner 2006-2007

Tamatha Cain is a 36-year-old student, wife, and mother of three. In the early 1990s, she attended South Campus on a vocal scholarship, and last fall she returned to FCCJ to complete her degree.  

Tamatha traces her beginnings as a writer to a contest she won in her middle school years:  “It gave me a bit of much-needed confidence and some 'cred' with my family and friends. Before that, I was just a weird kid with a strange love for blank sheets of paper, pencils, pens, office supplies in general. Nothing made me happier than having a stack of blank paper in front of me and a good, sharp pencil in my hand. It’s exhilarating, because anything is possible at that moment!”

As a busy adult, Tamatha writes “as often as possible, usually late at night after the family is asleep.”  Her interests include short stories, song lyrics, traditional rhyming poetry, and free-verse. Although she hopes to make a career out of writing, she is also an accomplished and successful singer: check her out at www.downtownsoundband.com. 

Tamatha’s current writing project is a novel, which she describes as “both interesting and challenging” in comparison to the poetry that remains her favorite genre. “As a poet, you learn to constantly pare it down and make your point concisely. Having the freedom to add more and more detail, as is necessary to create interesting characters and situations in a novel, is very exciting.”  

A piece of advice for developing writers: “I try to write first for my own pleasure, but I really try to always keep the reader in mind. It’s very important to me that someone other than me will be able to read my words and understand what I was trying to convey. If they can then personally relate to the piece and find their own meaning in it as well, that’s even better.”