Solarune

Hello, my dears! What a long time it's been. It's strange coming back here, like blowing the dust off things, but I see that the lit community is still very much thriving, which I'm glad for. I hope you are all well and wonderful and continuing to write and keep yourselves happy and safe. The world is a scary and violent place nowadays, and it seems increasingly difficult to do that.

This is mainly a post to say: I started a blog! It's called I Wish I Could Drink Coffee. My first post is here, and it's about social media and mental wellbeing. I hope to update it reasonably frequently, as I've got quite a few things I want to talk about that were getting too long to keep posting on Facebook. So it's not fiction, and it's not poetry, but there it is, if anyone here still wants to read my writing.  

Unsolicited me-udpate: I'm now training to be a piano tuner-technician (because no-one could have seen that one coming). I'm exhausted a lot of the time (because who knew, a 50 mile commute three days a week + work + winter in the North of England takes its toll on a Sol. Ooh, unintentional rhyming – maybe I've still got it?). I'm still doing lots of folk dancing. I call (teach) folk dancing sometimes, and even more sometimes get paid for it, which is scary and cool. I'm playing music, though not quite as much as I'd like. The home education festival I've been going to since my late teens, where I met my partner, collapsed and I'm now on the committee for a new one which is tiring, stressful, delightful and rewarding. Here's the website if you're interested. 

I've had lots of scary thoughts and mini (and not so mini) crises about my life choices. I've worked out that I'm bi and polyamorous, which is scary but also a huge weight off my shoulders. I've learned to give less of a fuck about the little things and more of a fuck about the things that matter. I've made a bunch of amazing Real Life Friends who I love to pieces and engage in cuddle puddles with whenever we meet. I've fallen in and out and out and in of love. I've reluctantly accepted that I probably have depression or anxiety or Something. I'm still a shy awkward fucker but a bit better at expressing myself and standing up for things and actually, y'know, talking to people. I've cut my hair off. I'm singing more. I read a short story at an open mic and everyone liked it. I went back to Spain and met some long-lost family and finally felt like I'm starting to reconcile the Spanish and English bits of me. I've discovered nail polish. I've spent some of the last two years laughing and running around in ecstasies of happiness and some in despair and hurt like I've never felt before. But I'm very, very, alive, which is the important thing.

Hello, my dears! What a long time it's been. It's strange coming back here, like blowing the dust off things, but I see that the lit community is still very much thriving, which I'm glad for. I hope you are all well and wonderful and continuing to write and keep yourselves happy and safe. The world is a scary and violent place nowadays, and it seems increasingly difficult to do that.

This is mainly a post to say: I started a blog! It's called I Wish I Could Drink Coffee. My first post is here, and it's about social media and mental wellbeing. I hope to update it reasonably frequently, as I've got quite a few things I want to talk about that were getting too long to keep posting on Facebook. So it's not fiction, and it's not poetry, but there it is. 

Me: I'm now training to be a piano tuner-technician (because no-one could have seen that one coming). I'm exhausted a lot of the time (because who knew, a 50 mile commute three days a week + work + winter in the North of England takes its toll on a Sol. Ooh, unintentional rhyming – maybe I've still got it?). I'm still doing lots of folk dancing. I call (teach) folk dancing sometimes, and even more sometimes get paid for it, which is scary and cool. I'm playing music, though not quite as much as I'd like. The home education festival I've been going to since my late teens, where I met my partner, collapsed and I'm now on the committee for a new one which is tiring, stressful, delightful and rewarding. Here's the website if you're interested.

I've had lots of scary thoughts and mini (and not so mini) crises about my life choices. I've worked out that I'm bi and polyamorous, which is scary but also a huge weight off my shoulders. I've learned to give less of a fuck about the little things and more of a fuck about the things that matter. I've made a bunch of amazing Real Life Friends who I love to pieces. I've reluctantly accepted that I probably have depression or anxiety or Something. I'm still a shy awkward fucker but a bit better at expressing myself and standing up for things and actually, y'know, talking to people. I've cut my hair off. I'm singing more. I read a short story at an open mic and everyone liked it. I went back to Spain and met some long-lost family and finally felt like I'm starting to reconcile the Spanish and English bits of me. I've discovered nail polish. I've spent some of the last two years laughing and running around in ecstasies of happiness and some in despair and hurt like I've never felt before. But I'm very, very, alive, which is the important thing.

I don't know if it makes sense for me to do this (especially when 2015 is nearly over) given that I'm hardly around here any more, but I was inspired to fill it in at this ungodly hour of the morning and thought what the heck, maybe someone can get something out of what I've written.

Link to orig. questionnaire: :thumb571916833:

Hope you're all well!

1. How long have you been a member of DeviantArt, and for how long have you been writing? If you don't write what realm of art do you work in?
Since 2009, but only active since 2010. So five years ish, I guess. Been writing since... since I was about 12, I think?


2. Why did you become a writer? Is your reason to write the same now as it was then? 
I don't remember "becoming" a writer – it just seemed like a natural extension of reading and playing fantasy games. I wanted some way to record the stories that were in my head, so I wrote. Later I started roleplaying with a friend and became more interested in developing characters and storylines.


3. Do you compose haiku? Or are you a dabbler in six word stories? Share what type of literature is your go to when you put pen to paper. And for those who don't write (as well as those who do) - Do you read any literature here on DeviantArt? If no. Why?
OK I mostly write short stories, but occasionally dabble in poetry (free form – I'm nowhere near good enough to do fixed! I leave that up to cool people like Vigilo).
I do read lit on dA, but not as much as I used to. I find myself tending to read poetry more often, maybe because it's easier to find good quality poetry and maybe because it suits the online medium better due to its brevity.

4. What in your opinion makes a good writer?
Lots of things. Empathy is pretty high on the list. Many people can create beautiful images, but the ability to get right to the heart of a matter or character, to actually touch someone's soul, is a pretty rare gift I think.

5. Writers, share a thumbnail of a literature piece you wrote, you're proud of, and non-writers, share a piece of literature you really enjoyed. Briefly explain why.
It's been ages since I wrote anything, but I'm quite pleased with the last piece I submitted. I think it's self-contained as a story and in a good place with characterisation and imagery. Georgie's CrumbsThe scars lie in zigzags across my throat. I don't remember the knife that made them, and they're not the point of this story; Annie is, and I'm mentioning them because she never asked about them. I loved her for that. Instead, when she found that I always played extras at the drama club because there were days when I couldn't speak in anything but a whisper, she taught me how to mime. I spent hours practicing in their dusty living room, swaying to the clatter of Georgie's nails on the piano keys. Georgie plays piano like Annie rides horses.
I still find the memory of her down by the old dirt road, where he put Georgie's piano. I turn my head and catch the scent of the wind, the way the air felt when she smiled, the way the dirt tasted when I stumbled off the horse and she caught my hand and brought me up beside her, drew me up to the sky.
I sometimes wonder what she'd have done if I'd been on the ground that day. I drew up Rook before the corner because I wasn't bold like Annie, didn'


6. Writers, share a thumbnail of a literature piece you wrote which you don't like, and non-writers, share a piece of literature you found to be terrible. Briefly explain why.
Is it really self-important not to share anything? I'm displeased with a lot of things I wrote, but mostly because I've grown as a writer since then. I was happy with most things I wrote at the time. I think maybe the piece I'm most unhappy with is this, because it was trying to complete a collaborative story, which was really difficult to do, and I think I managed to be even more vague and plotless than usual. Odyssey into 2012 - Chapter 8: The Tokyo LoopThe eighth gate is white mist. Kaylin slams open the door, Zephyr lurching inside her, and Darus, lizard-quick, slips inside.
"Get out," she hisses. She isn't afraid any more.
He sneers. "Don't be stupid, kitling. You left Tokyo through this gate, like always. Opening it restarts the process. It's an endless loop. Destroy the gate and finish it. I'm tired of fighting –"
Murderer! Liar! Traitor!
Kaylin rips Zephyr through his mind. He slumps, white and shaking, and she draws out the truth.
"You sealed the gates to weaken me, so I'd be easier to kill. But you had another plan in case I managed to open them. Destroying the final gate would kill me – Zephyr's not meant for that." She trembles. "Earth – this Earth, in the time loop – wouldn't stand the shock. But it would carry you out. You and the real Earth might survive, if the shock doesn't escape too."
"I would survive."

"You'd risk everything for that! You selfish –"
Darus spreads hi

7. As a writer, what are your literary goals? Non-writers, do you have any plans to write any literature?
Right now? Just to write more, and maybe get a few pieces published. I'd love to publish a novel one day, but that's a long way off right now.


8. Are you a member of any of DeviantArt's literature groups? Which are the ones you use most? Are they effective in helping your writing? Do they offer features, or contests, or prompts? Would you recommend any of these groups?
I hardly go on dA any more, but I can recommend theWrittenRevolution above and beyond any lit group ever. (I used to admin for them, so I'm biased). Live-Love-Write and DailyLitRecognition are also good.

9. Using six words, what advice would you give to new writers?
Listen. Learn. Share. Experiment. Observe. Love.

10. Who or what influences you as a writer? And for non-writers, does literature influence you as an artist?
Photos and aesthetics. Nature. The sea. Music. Reading.

11. Have any published poets, authors, or playwrights, living or dead, inspired you as a writer or as an artist?
God, so many people. A brief list of ones who've influenced me: Philip Pullman, B.R. Collins, J.K. Rowling, Winston Graham, Arthur Conan Doyle, Hayao Miyazaki, Cornelia Funke, Jodi Picoult, Mary Stewart, Cliff McNish. Plus loads of fanfiction writers and poets and writers here on dA.

12. List five things about literature you love.
It's intensely personal – no two interpretations are the same / it's transformative and transgressive / it shapes your world and self-view / it can make you laugh, love and cry / it has such beauty in shapes of sound and picture while being totally silent and imageless.

13. List five things about literature you hate.
It's static, you're always only experiencing it through words on a page / it's confined to one language / it's difficult to share with others / it can be elitist / it's held up as the pinnacle of intelligence.

14. Final question. Are you happy with the state of the literature community? If not, why?
The literature community on dA? I've not been around in it for so long, and there are always infights and changes, but I'm happy that it's still going, and that it seems to be welcoming newcomers and growing healthily.
Just, a small word to the old and snarky stalwarts: you're great, and the community needs you, but it won't kill you to be a bit kinder and a bit less snarky now and then.

So, I did a thing. 

As some of you may or may not know, I am a little bit obsessed with traditional folk songs and music. Most of these songs that you hear are lovely, but very cis-white-straight-male-able-bodied-etc. centric. So this is a new project that I've started, to compile (because I believe there must be some old trad songs out there), to edit (because some only need a little tweaking and it's always good to see things from a different perspective) and to write (in the traditional style) folk songs that are diverse!

What do I mean by diverse? I am thinking of intersectionally feminist, LGBTQIA+-inclusive, disabled-inclusive, people-of-all-races-inclusive songs. Things that you don't hear about so often in folk.

This is NOT a project just to collect feminist folk songs (i.e. songs about straight white cis women empowering themselves). These songs are great and are not excluded from this, but there IS an established feminist folk canon. This project is to be heavily focused on LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people and ethnic minorities. (And any other minorities/underrepresented groups that my brain has missed out.)

I want to welcome anyone and everyone to this project, regardless of how much time/support they give and regardless of what experience they're coming from!

PEOPLE WE WANT: folk song experts, programmers, performers, singers, writers, academics, translators, artists, people who can help promote this, and anyone who is interested!

I'm really excited about this project and I would love people to get involved, so please join, share, follow and spread the word! Thank you so much! 

The wiki can be found here, and the Facebook group can be found here.

Thank you!!!

Hi, dA! It's been a while. I finished a first draft of a story just now; it's 10k words and crappy and needs total deconstruction and rewriting, and stopping just as I type the final word to pat myself on the back and let myself kick around on social media for a while probably isn't the best attitude for a writer to have, BUT it's the first thing I've actually finished for absolute ages, so heigh ho. I'm happy. If I finish it nicely, I will probably submit it somewhere, if everywhere rejects it, it will probably go on dA eventually.

I'm trying to get back into writing. It's a slow process. I have been doing some non-fiction writing as a reviewer for the folk music website Bright Young Folk. You can read my first review here, if you're interested. Writing non-fiction to a regular schedule is slightly strange, but also pretty fun, and it's great to have a regular (if unpaid) writing gig!

In other news:

– I met Vigilo!!!!! For real. Like, in real life. She is amazing and wonderful and lovely and we went to museums and had hot chocolate and basically Vigilo is the best, and you should all go and read her poetry if you haven't already.

– Also I'm meeting IndigoSkyes and WyvernLetDie on Wednesday!!!

– Weird anecdotes from jobhunting: I apparently can't apply to be a trainee pizza chef because I'm too short. They want people over 5'6" (I'm 5'4") for health and safety reasons, allegedly. Why?!?!

– If you haven't listened to the Good Omens radio play, you need to.

– I got a sheep onesie for Christmas. I'm not sure my calling in life is to be a sheep, but we'll see how this goes.

– People who know me might know that I've been more or less living in Spain (with a lot of travelling) for the past five years. Now that's over, house is sold, I'm living in Sheffield, UK with my partner, and my family are soon to come to live here too! So lots of big changes. While I'm kind of sad that it didn't work out in Spain and I never integrated very much with the community, I am enjoying the hell out of living in a city. (And especially because it's pretty close to the countryside so I can go out into the Peak District when my countryside upbringing demands fulfilment.)

I can't think of very much else of importance, and it's approaching my bedtime, so I'm going to sign off. I hope you've all had wonderful holidays/Xmasses/New Years/whatever you celebrate, and that all is good in your lives.