A Pretty Big Toolbox
Dear Worlds,
Welcome! My name is Brune, I am a 34 year-old French woman living in Toronto, and today I am telling you a little bit about my intention for this daily blog.
I think of daily blogging as embracing the imperfection of a simple take on something that speaks to me, for the sake of connection, creativity, ritual and purpose. It is also a practice of writing, in a language that is not my native language but that I have always been attracted to - which bears meaning, but that's for a future post!
Last year when I was living in Montreal, I started letting my friends know that I was writing: I had started working on a memoir. In French, because it is my primary toolbox, my culture, the territory I have inhabited with my whole being for most of my life. French is where I first learnt how to be, and how to connect with other people. It also is where I was when I lived most of the things that will be in my book.
But since I moved to Toronto (because: crush on a guy), I have had difficulties getting back into my memoir. At some point I identified that it was because, one, the many aspects of settling in a new city took time and energy and I needed to dedicate some time to just living, and two, I couldn't share my work in progress in French here. Sure, I could find French people or Francophones to exchange with, but for some reason (another future blog post!), that's not the community I have been drawn to since I arrived.
But. I don't want to stop writing. I don't want to stop finding, learning, sharing and repeating. I want to connect and engage with my new anglophone community.
So.
I decided to overcome my limiting belief that I can't write in my own blend of English, my imperfect chosen language:
- I am accepting and organizing my break from writing my memoir in French, thanks to insights from my autobiographical writing workshop teacher in Montreal, Sarah Bigourdan.
- I just signed up to an online Creative Nonfiction Writing Workshop in English (where the first tutorial is by Roxane Gay!!!).
- I just launched this blog!
Have a great day and I'll talk to you tomorrow,
Brune
Welcome! My name is Brune, I am a 34 year-old French woman living in Toronto, and today I am telling you a little bit about my intention for this daily blog.
I decided to start this blog after reading Stephanie Pellett's inspiration post - thank you Stephanie!
I think of daily blogging as embracing the imperfection of a simple take on something that speaks to me, for the sake of connection, creativity, ritual and purpose. It is also a practice of writing, in a language that is not my native language but that I have always been attracted to - which bears meaning, but that's for a future post!
Last year when I was living in Montreal, I started letting my friends know that I was writing: I had started working on a memoir. In French, because it is my primary toolbox, my culture, the territory I have inhabited with my whole being for most of my life. French is where I first learnt how to be, and how to connect with other people. It also is where I was when I lived most of the things that will be in my book.
But since I moved to Toronto (because: crush on a guy), I have had difficulties getting back into my memoir. At some point I identified that it was because, one, the many aspects of settling in a new city took time and energy and I needed to dedicate some time to just living, and two, I couldn't share my work in progress in French here. Sure, I could find French people or Francophones to exchange with, but for some reason (another future blog post!), that's not the community I have been drawn to since I arrived.
But. I don't want to stop writing. I don't want to stop finding, learning, sharing and repeating. I want to connect and engage with my new anglophone community.
So.
I decided to overcome my limiting belief that I can't write in my own blend of English, my imperfect chosen language:
- I am accepting and organizing my break from writing my memoir in French, thanks to insights from my autobiographical writing workshop teacher in Montreal, Sarah Bigourdan.
- I just signed up to an online Creative Nonfiction Writing Workshop in English (where the first tutorial is by Roxane Gay!!!).
- I just launched this blog!
Have a great day and I'll talk to you tomorrow,
Brune
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