Unsettled

I had a weird week. I have started a dozen different entries — only to stop writing halfway through to start another. As I write this, I’m staring at several crumpled papers which lay strewn across my bedroom floor. This week, I was walking down the street and suddenly, I had this desperate urge to write. Without my notebook and pen, I ran sprinted to a nearby store to buy the necessary supplies. I sat on a bench and wrote for an hour and a bit only to abandon my work midway by disposing of it in a nearby trash can.

Fingers crossed, next week will be better!

Have a great week, everyone.

S.

The importance of fostering young writers

Yesterday, steered completely by serendipitous events, I found myself at the most unusual coffee shop up at Dufferin and Bloor called, Intergalactic Travel Authority/Storyplanet (http://storyplanet.ca/). I bought an Americano (yes, it was fabulous) before I realized that I was actually standing in a creative writing centre for kids. As I drank my coffee and chatted with the owner, it dawned on me that I was exactly where I was suppose to be. Please watch this amazing TED Talk by 826 founder and author, Dave Eggers who started this crazy and wildly inspiring concept. You’re going to love it! I promise.

S.

Alyson Provax’s time wasting experiment

When I first came across Alyson Provax’s time wasting experiment on Etsy, I was at a coffeeshop and I let out a startled gasp! (and then quickly apologized to the irritated man beside me) It was like bumping into a kindred soul on the street and feeling that instant, glorious connection.

The Portland-based printmaker’s documentation on time nicely narrates my own relationship with the ticking clock. I am wildly interested in time; I obsessively think about how it works and often ponder why it sometimes rapidly speeds up for one person, yet slows down for another who also occupies the same space. And then on occasion it seems to go missing, doesn’t it? Poof. It’s gone. I know that there is a 3-month period of my own life that feels unaccounted for – it’s as if it never occurred at all.

There is a wonderful interview on her time wasting experiment here. This is a great excerpt:

As the project goes on I have become more restrictive in my definition of what a waste of time is. I see it as any situation that I feel was useless or uncomfortable and offered little or no redemption. I realized early in this project that much of the time that I had casually thought of as wasted was actually pretty productive. For instance, daydreaming can be very useful, as can going to get a cup of coffee. There are just some experiences that have nothing to do with production and yet are obviously valuable.

Check out Alyson’s work and let me know what you think! I can’t wait to line my walls with her work.

S.

Do you write?

A friend sent me this article from the Washington Post that outlines why famous authors write. I relate a lot to what Sebastian Junger, author of the Perfect Storm wrote:

“When I write a sentence of a paragraph or a chapter that’s good, I know it, and I know people are going to read it. That knowledge — Oh my God, I’m doing it, I’m doing this thing that works — it’s just exhilarating. Lots of times I fail at it.. . . But when it’s good . . . it’s like going on a date that’s going well. There’s an electricity to the process that’s exciting and incomparable to anything else.”

(Fellow wordsmiths: Doesn’t that sum it up beautifully?)

I remember watching Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talk entitled, “Your Elusive Creative Genius”, where she shared that for her, writing is such hard work! I remember hearing this and nodding in agreement as she compared herself to a sweaty mule, sitting at her computer wrestling with each painstaking word.

But there are also times when you feel like you just wrote a bunch of shit and then revisit it the next day with fresh eyes and you find yourself thinking, “Damn. Did I write this? That’s some great work!”

Easy. as. pie. 

How about you? Do you write? Do you find it both painful and exhilarating like me?

S.

Me too, Mr. Fitzgerald

25 signs that you’re a writer

A friend sent this article to me this morning and it really made me laugh. Number 20 especially made me chuckle (because…it’s true).

When you go on dates with people, they always ask if you’re going to write about this, and you assure them, “No, silly! Of course I’d never write about you.” You are a dirty liar. You will absolutely write about them. You’ve already started that piece in your head.

S.

New year, new possibilities

Well, it’s that time of year again, it’s time to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions!

Whenever I think of January 1, I have a flashback to when I was young. I used to love cracking open a brand new journal or day planner — to me, it represented a fresh start, a new beginning. I would carefully pencil in important matters like my up-coming birthday and would write poetry or long and lengthy entries, documenting my days.

I’m a goal oriented person to a fault and so my biggest problem is coming up with too many resolutions and then feeling let down when I don’t achieve them all (it’s only slightly neurotic).

I’ve managed to whittle my 2013 goal list down to three. In 2013 I want to focus more on my private writing projects, take solo vacations (I can’t wait to blog about this) and try to be more spontaneous in my day-to-day life.

Are you making New Year’s resolutions? If so, what are they?

S.

A look back

2012 has been a crazy year for me! After surviving a very painful breakup in the summer of 2011, while simultaneously starting a new career as a writer, I was so emotionally and physically depleted that I found myself bedridden with mono for the first three months of 2012. I know now that, those sleepy months of hibernating like a little bear while the rest of the world went on with their lives was vital for healing my heart. That 3-month pause gave me the strength I needed to discover how I wanted to live my new life. I remember the day, near the end of my recovery, I awoke early and popped out of bed with such urgency; I raced to my computer knowing that I was about to start a blog. Reflecting back, I can clearly see that 2011 was the year my life fell apart and 2012 was the year I put it all back together – solo.

During the next few weeks, I’m going to be re-posting my favourite blog posts of 2012. For those of you that have just joined, I’d love to hear your feedback! And for those loyal readers that have been around since the beginning, I promise to sneak away from a few drunken holiday parties to blog.

Xo,

S.

Kindness

Last Wednesday, I navigated through my day in a dismal funk. Work was work and the sadness from Monday was still weighing heavy on me. After work, I moped around my house in sweats, ate a bunch of cheese (it didn’t cheer me up) and used up the last of the Kleenex boxes. I just wanted to crawl into bed and cry when I got an e-mail from a total stranger. My first piece of “fan mail” to be exact.

It was so nice! Really nice. Someone I didn’t even know took time out of their day to pay me a compliment. I actually woke up with a smile on my face Thursday morning. And you know what? That e-mail probably only took 2 minutes to write, but it lingered with me for days, giving me the push I needed to get me through the rest of the week.

So thank-you again, Madeline.

Go give someone a compliment today. Words make all the difference, writes the writer.

S.

101 little solo stories

Today’s a big, big day! I’ve posted 101 blog posts on A Solo Affair and I can hardly believe it! What’s crazier is that people are actually reading what I write! Even though I make a living as a writer, this blog, however silly, means more to me in some ways. I have the freedom to write whatever I please without a dreaded deadline or content stipulations lurking over my head. It feels more like play, which is such a relief.

I’ve been writing my entire life. Journals, private blogs, stories, essays, and before I could write, I was telling elaborate lies — ah, the mark of a true storyteller.

As most of you know, I’m no stranger to blogs, as I’ve been privately blogging for close to 10 years now. A Solo Affair became my first taste of blogging out of the closet and at first, I was utterly terrified. It feels funny to write now, but when I first started this blog,  I didn’t want to tell anyone about it. Although I’m a fan of blogs, writing my own content felt silly for some reason.

I remember the day I first publicized a blog post to my Facebook account. Jazzed up on multiple cups of morning java, I discovered the publicized button and recklessly submitted my post. I felt the blood drain from my face at the very thought of my private words and feelings being exposed for all to see. I paced my living room, watching the stats on my blog go up and up, until I thought I was going to explode from embarrassment. Ha Ha. And that was that. There was just no turning back.

If you knew me in real life (and some of you do) you’d know that I’m drawn to genuine people like a magnet. I don’t think it’s possible to have any type of relationship, whether friendship or blogship (yep, I just made that word up) without honesty being front and centre. Authenticity is something that I deeply respect and value and will continue to explore it in my work.

I’m hoping that this blog will continue to evolve in that direction. A space where we can explore, talk, (please start talking to me) daydream and unravel life issues. But more than anything, I hope this blog will continue to be a space to just play.

Here’s to 101 little solo stories and all that have yet to be written,

S.