playish words

writing is my first art

my first love

the first freedom I ever found in the world, I found on an empty waiting page

even after years and miles of exploration through other expressive mediums, the power of story is still what pulls and calls to me

I am always following some kind of narrative thread

and I have come to believe that this is due to one simple, inescapable fact:

the world itself runs on stories

fiction is the first home I built inside myself, creating entire worlds for me to escape into

and in recent years, it’s something I’ve learned to love to do collaboratively:

• as a ghostwriter working in the serialized/scrolling fantasy fiction format. the creation process is a partnership between reader, editor and myself. stories flex and flow with input from each of us

• I’ve created a substack specifically as a place to welcome and encourage group writing. called “roll for narrative!” my newsletters is a semi-regular expedition into collaborative expression. I start the story, and then readers pick it up and carry it down the line

• my own writing continues to deeply satisfy and challenge me, as the best relationships always do. I make note of it as it comes out into the world on my instagram

poetry is its own animal

something I have learned to follow, slowly

there have been times in my life when fiction escaped me. when the camera no longer came easily to my hand

in those times, it was poetry that remained, an affinity for the feel and the flow of language, the inutterable delicacy of a simple pause

taking my poetry out into the world usually involves a table, a typewriter and a simple little sign:

“pop-up poetry”

at bookstores and art fests, on a corner downtown on a tuesday afternoon. poetry moves me out into the world with a shockingly fearless vulnerability

I share this writing and post about these events when they happen on my instagram

I am a grade a chit-chatter

shooting the shit, chewing the fat, jawin’ a while – these are my meat and potatoes

and while I am not in any essential way religious, I do approach the art of conversation with something akin to a spiritual purpose

if there is one thing I want to do with my life, it is to take the time to pass the time in conversation

an ephemeral exchange between strangers or an on-going conversation that deepens a life-long relationship – it doesn’t matter

I embrace a “be here, now”-ness that centers the stand-around-in-a-circle chat, the fireside conversation, the long sunday afternoon visit

the power of simply being together and talking together, telling stories and sharing our minds, is one that I believe can move mountains

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my love and appreciation for the power of conversation have led me to deeply meaningful work in my community, including:

• transformational mediation

• group facilitation

• civic conversations

• storycircles

• and of course the absolute chaos my gremlin-style storytelling groups (where the only rule is there kind of are no rules)

I am beginning to share more about this work on my instagram, but for more information or to start our own conversation, please reach out to me at artlifestory@gmail.com