Kate Baggott's Blog: Cornfields of the Sea - Posts Tagged "friend-follow-text"
Entertaining Mischief and Mistakes
When I was 19 I had cancer. It was Hodgkin's Disease, which if you have to have cancer is the kind to get. Treating the disease was one bad year out of my life and, since then, I might have lived differently than others who haven't faced threats like serious illness.
Whatever life has to offer, I want to try it.
That does not mean it's all reckless abandonment, but I have taken some big risks.
I haven't been as careful with my career or guarded my future earning potential as carefully as other, smarter people. I have loved and created relationships based purely on that golden light of beauty and longing I saw in another, without ensuring that we had all the other boring components to go through life together with cooperation and care. I have indulged my children in their thoughts, feelings and impulses just because life is short and childhood is just a few seconds of being nurtured and held close unconditionally.
And, I've worked and written and taught and learned every moment of every day of my life. Once, I showed my resume to someone who said, "I see you do exactly what you want to do and nothing else."
That's not 100% true, but I wish it was.
Of course I have made sacrifices and compromises, but I have also never done anything I am ashamed of. Writing, teaching, consulting, editing and ghost writing all rely on the same skill sets and character traits. Doing all of them keeps me connected to every aspect of life and strengthens my connections to friends and family and colleagues.
I experiment. Sometimes I make entertaining mischief and sometimes I make mistakes. It's all part of the art of living. I'm not sure it's great for my development as a writer, as an artist, but if it strengthens my sense of community, my sense that there is a reason for everything, then I feel more complete and I think that is worth celebrating.
Speaking of celebrations, I recently got to read at the Toronto launch of Friend. Follow. Text. It was one of those moments in life that could have gone all wrong. I had to jump on the bus to Toronto immediately after work and, of course, rush hour traffic and bus company schedules conspired to make me late. I missed the other readings, I left friends I wanted to meet there waiting and the DJ had found the crowd's groove by the time I arrived. And still, everything worked out. Editor Shawn Syms stopped the music and told me to project, so I raised my voice and there, in the crowded Cafe, I used my story from the book to connect with everyone there. It was a moment that made me so happy to be alive.
And those are the moments I am always searching for. Whether I am writing about adopting our dog,or back to school shopping, or putting together a collection of short stories like Love From Planet Wine Cooler. It's all about experimenting until that connection with others is created and shared.
Whatever life has to offer, I want to try it.
That does not mean it's all reckless abandonment, but I have taken some big risks.
I haven't been as careful with my career or guarded my future earning potential as carefully as other, smarter people. I have loved and created relationships based purely on that golden light of beauty and longing I saw in another, without ensuring that we had all the other boring components to go through life together with cooperation and care. I have indulged my children in their thoughts, feelings and impulses just because life is short and childhood is just a few seconds of being nurtured and held close unconditionally.
And, I've worked and written and taught and learned every moment of every day of my life. Once, I showed my resume to someone who said, "I see you do exactly what you want to do and nothing else."
That's not 100% true, but I wish it was.
Of course I have made sacrifices and compromises, but I have also never done anything I am ashamed of. Writing, teaching, consulting, editing and ghost writing all rely on the same skill sets and character traits. Doing all of them keeps me connected to every aspect of life and strengthens my connections to friends and family and colleagues.
I experiment. Sometimes I make entertaining mischief and sometimes I make mistakes. It's all part of the art of living. I'm not sure it's great for my development as a writer, as an artist, but if it strengthens my sense of community, my sense that there is a reason for everything, then I feel more complete and I think that is worth celebrating.
Speaking of celebrations, I recently got to read at the Toronto launch of Friend. Follow. Text. It was one of those moments in life that could have gone all wrong. I had to jump on the bus to Toronto immediately after work and, of course, rush hour traffic and bus company schedules conspired to make me late. I missed the other readings, I left friends I wanted to meet there waiting and the DJ had found the crowd's groove by the time I arrived. And still, everything worked out. Editor Shawn Syms stopped the music and told me to project, so I raised my voice and there, in the crowded Cafe, I used my story from the book to connect with everyone there. It was a moment that made me so happy to be alive.
And those are the moments I am always searching for. Whether I am writing about adopting our dog,or back to school shopping, or putting together a collection of short stories like Love From Planet Wine Cooler. It's all about experimenting until that connection with others is created and shared.
Cornfields of the Sea
When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to be part of a writing workshop with author Barbara Greenwood. Every member of the workshop was to write a short story for a group anthology. I thought w
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