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Amber Koneval

Goodreads Author

Born

in Highlands Ranch, The United States

Website

http://amberkoneval.wix.com/theamberofthemoment

Twitter

ambermoment

Genre

Poetry, Religion, Contemporary

Influences

kathleen norris, warsan shire, gerard manley hopkins, john donne ...more

Member Since

April 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/upulkuchen

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Amber Koneval is a twenty-something in Denver, Colorado, who has a double B.A. in English and Religious Studies.
She has been published in more than thirty different journals, both in print and online.

Her first collection of poetry, 'Drunk Dialing the Divine', was released November 12, 2012 from eLectio publishing. In 2013, she received the 2013 Doxa Award in Poetry from the Nebraska Christian College. In 2014, her poem 'Word Sexual' was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Stepping Stones Magazine. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Edward L. Maginnis, S.J. Award for most creative scholarship in religious studies. ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

How'd you think up the title "Drunk Dialing the Divine"?

Amber Koneval It comes from a poem in the collection of the same name, which is a reflection on this specific moment. A friend of mine called me super late at night…moreIt comes from a poem in the collection of the same name, which is a reflection on this specific moment. A friend of mine called me super late at night, drunk off his rocker, in fairly standard booty-call style. But instead of saying the typical drunk-kid stuff, he just begged me over and over to pray for him. To talk to God for him, to help him talk to God.
Which got me to thinking a lot about the nature of vulnerability and how it plays in with our relationship with God- was this kid the worst kind of sinner because he was obviously not living a 'holy' life, or was he more on the way to holiness than a lot of the pew-warmers I knew because he was willing to cry out to God any way he could when he was at his lowest?
The collection 'Drunk Dialing the Divine' hinges on that kind of tension, that kind of feeling. It's not a collection that comes from a place of calmness- each poem comes from a place of chaos, of longing, of anger or a sense of abandonment, and struggles, really fights, for a sense of peace and God's grace. When I'm struggling with my faith, when I'm deep in a dark night of the soul, I kind of feel like that kid who called me at 3 a.m.- disoriented, lost, desperate and jumbled. I'm searching for anything, anyone, who can help guide me out of that place and at the same time God is reaching out to help direct me to the people, to the experiences, that will best help me with that.
So it's a collection for all those times that I felt like I was drunk dialing God with all of my baggage. It's my hope that it can be relateable to those who have gone through the same things. It's a kind of roundabout love letter for God, as well as a kind of 'it's okay. you're not alone' letter to those who've felt like they are lesser Christians when their lives, when their faith, gets messy. (less)

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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Amber Koneval With poetry, I let it be. If I'm not feeling the need to write verse, I won't. This can lead to weeks, months going by without any new poetic material…moreWith poetry, I let it be. If I'm not feeling the need to write verse, I won't. This can lead to weeks, months going by without any new poetic material- but I've made my own peace with that. (less)

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Combine Editions
Amber Koneval’s books

Average rating: 4.35 · 23 ratings · 4 reviews · 3 distinct works

	Drunk Dialing the Divine 4.07 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Crack the Spine: Summer 2012 by Kerri Farrell Foley (Goodreads Author) (editor), Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal (Contributor), Kate LaDew (Contributor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Stray Branch: Fall/Winter 2013 by Debbie Berk (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Rex Sexton (Illustrations), Dana Stamps 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

159 posts
Amber Koneval's Blog

Whelp

I ended up sticking really good to that resolution about posting twice a month, didn’t I? It shouldn’t surprise you that I also haven’t been doing very well with my writing schedule, either. The dream job offer I got ended up being, well….. even better than I had prepared myself for! But with that has come a larger amount of responsibilities, and a lot of emotional and physical energy being expend

Amber is Currently Reading

Amber is currently reading

Divine Renovation: From a Maintenance to a Missional Parish

by James Mallon

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Oct 26, 2017 08:54AM

Quotes by Amber Koneval (?)

“A desperate plea to the Trinity
is not something you can just
apologize for in the morning

-Drunk Dialing the Divine”
― Amber Koneval, Drunk Dialing the Divine

tags: anger, brokenness, catholic, christian, despair, desperateness, god, religion, spirituality

5 likes

“a criminal sketch of Christ
on a diner napkin
-'Poet Prophets”
― Amber Koneval, Drunk Dialing the Divine

tags: catholic, christian, god, identity, religion

2 likes

Amber’s Quotes

“I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
Alive
with closed eyes
to dash against darkness”
― E.E. Cummings, Poems, 1923-1954

2378 likes

“a criminal sketch of Christ
on a diner napkin
-'Poet Prophets”
― Amber Koneval, Drunk Dialing the Divine

tags: catholic, christian, god, identity, religion

2 likes

“A desperate plea to the Trinity
is not something you can just
apologize for in the morning

-Drunk Dialing the Divine”
― Amber Koneval, Drunk Dialing the Divine

tags: anger, brokenness, catholic, christian, despair, desperateness, god, religion, spirituality

5 likes

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

tags: love

11932 likes

“Laughter is wine for the soul - laughter soft, or loud and deep, tinged through with seriousness - the hilarious declaration made by man that life is worth living.”
― Sean O'Casey

tags: joy, laughter

2633 likes

More of Amber’s quotes…

recent posts
Amber’s Groups

THE Group for Authors! — 12919 members — last activity Nov 26, 2025 04:30PM
This is a group for authors to discuss their craft, as well as publishing and book marketing.

¡ POETRY ! — 22610 members — last activity Nov 19, 2025 04:25PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read it!) Goodreads honors wordsmiths: poets and poetry promoted and prompted here. ~~~ "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits." -- Carl Sandburg “God has a brown voice, as soft and full as beer.” —Anne Sexton On Clouds – “…what primitive tastes the ancients must have had if their poets were inspired by those absurd, untidy clumps of mist, idiotically jostling one another about…” —Yevgeny Zamyatin “If the poet wants to be a poet, the poet must force the poet to revise. If the poet doesn’t wish to revise, let the poet abandon poetry and take up stamp-collecting or real estate.” —Donald Hall “Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation’s tears in shoulder blades.” —Boris Pasternak “Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.” —Charles Simic “Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.” —Gustave Flaubert “Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.” —Allen Ginsberg. ~~~~~ Amy King, Moderator Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the WNBA Award (Women’s National Book Association). Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She serves on the executive board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and is co-editing with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology, Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She is also co-editing the anthology, Bettering American Poetry 2015, and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at SUNY Nassau Community College. ...more

Christian Authors & Readers — 998 members — last activity Jul 29, 2025 07:38AM
This group is for Christian authors and readers here at GoodReads. We'd love to hear about the books you've written and/or the books you've read that ...more

Struggling Writers — 5271 members — last activity Aug 30, 2025 11:16AM
A space for aspiring writers, indie writers, passionate writers, fun-hearted writers, struggling writers 6/2020: As of June 2020, this group ...more

Christian Readers — 6354 members — last activity 5 hours, 45 min ago
This is an open forum for people to discuss Christ-themed books. Whether you'd like to discuss theology, biographies, church history, novels or anythi ...more

Christian Goodreaders — 2308 members — last activity Nov 26, 2025 09:00PM
This is a group for any Goodreads member who is a follower of Christ.

Ask Amber Koneval — 5 members — last activity Nov 29, 2012 02:08PM
Amber Koneval, author of 'Drunk Dialing the Divine', will be answering questions about her latest publications, as well as anything you might want to ...more

Catholic Readers — 2030 members — last activity Nov 25, 2025 10:31AM
A group for Catholics to discuss the (Catholic) books they're reading. Please read the group rules before joining and posting. Any promotion of mate ...more

Regis University Readers & Writers — 7 members — last activity Apr 09, 2014 07:55AM
A group for students, faculty and alumni at Regis University to share their favorite stories and poems, whether those stories are written by them or a ...more

Christian Poetry — 31 members — last activity Jun 24, 2023 05:18AM
A place where Christian poets can share their published books and exchange marketing ideas.

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