I’ve had me a girl-interrupted turn these last few months. When your life comes to a full stop for a considerable period of time it’s hard to pick up the threads of the life you had before, as they seem to have drifted off in the wind somewhere. This is both liberating and disorientating.
We tend to run on habit and routine, losing that can mean a loss of our sense of self and security; but there’s also the opportunity to “start fresh” because you are so far gone bailing on any commitments you may have made. You are faced with deciding to do things because they really matter to you, for who you are right now, not who you were months or years ago when you first fell into that routine.
For me, this time, I am finding this more a refinement than the drastic course corrections I did in my 20’s (and even 30’s) whenever I got derailed. I must be getting closer to figuring out who I am and what I’m about in this world if I’m not tacking all over the course any more.
So, what’s changed? What stays the same? I definitely still suffer from All The Things, so now more than ever I am putting an: interesting, but letting it go on a bunch of stuff. I’m still deeply curious about the What It’s All About, and spend a lot of time thinking about suffering, vulnerability, relationships and interdependence, but I’ve grown all quiet inside again and want to approach that obliquely. It just feels like anything really worth saying on the subject needs to be said with something other than words. More doing, less thinking.
The words I do feel like writing right now aren’t mine, rather the stories of characters who explore the world on their own terms with their own struggles and insights. I feel drawn to writing fiction more now than I ever have before, and because this girl has only got so much brain I’m stepping back a bit from the care and feeding of my website. I’ll still be checking comments and may even drop in once in a while for updates, or insights, or just some utter bloody silliness.
In the meantime, if it’s quiet on here, I’m still around, I’ve just gone fiction-ing.
Valerie Roney 
In the meantime, if you’re new to my site, feel free to snoop around. You are pretty much guaranteed to find something relevant to what you are struggling with right now; I certainly seem to keep learning new aspects of the same lessons so even I get something out of my old posts.
Check out the tag field for inspiration, or use the search box. A cursory search has already demonstrated half a dozen insightful posts on the topic of “poop” alone.
And for my regular readers, you could help a n00b out by listing your favourite or must-read posts for people to check out.
Have fun exploring my website while I have fun exploring my fictional worlds.
Ta!
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Ok, some of the feedback I’ve got on favourite posts includes:
A graph can say so much:
https://valerieroney.ca/busy-v-happy-a-graph
A classic Valerie-brain, I try and explain a concept in the Tao Te Ching referencing Stephen King in the idea of you isn’t YOU:
https://valerieroney.ca/the-tao-of-v-chapter-24
This one needs to be shared all over the place, at any given moment someone needs to be reading it. Also some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful comments I’ve ever had on a post:
https://valerieroney.ca/feeling-suicidal
This was one of my best posts of late, learning to let crazy people be crazy:
https://valerieroney.ca/lookit-the-monkey-driving-the-bus
Good to read in tandem with the one above, I write a lot about just learning to let shit go (plus there’s a Cannonball Run clip!):
https://valerieroney.ca/ask-me-if-i-am-a-tree
Burned out, laid up, or otherwise needing some self care? You need:
https://valerieroney.ca/the-art-of-doing-nothing
And I am particularly fond of my very first post, it’s still a great exploration of all the resistance and difficulty of making a big change in your life:
https://valerieroney.ca/escape-velocity
HAPPY READING. And feel free to comment, so many of these topics are timeless, I (and the rest of the readers) are delighted to hear your thoughts.
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You really must showcase a sohbet… at least 2 I think, one limericky or funny, and one deep. My favourite sohbet is the latter, started with a poem from a ??polish? fellow about ??straightening up from gardenning and seeing a sailboat in the bay?? I think that’s 2010.
xoxo me
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Good point! Gotta get the poetry representing too!
Here’s your fav jyanti, it’s called The Gift: https://valerieroney.ca/sohbet-gift it sparked a lot of discussion as well as some lovely poems.
For Utter Bloody Silliness, how ’bout the Headcold Haiku Tree? https://valerieroney.ca/sohbet-headcold-haiku-tree So many responses: of suffering, of solace, of snot…
A couple others that got really good traffic are:
https://valerieroney.ca/sohbet-late-night-street-sweeper Sometimes a simple poem can spark all kinds of discussion and diverse poems – this is what I love most about the Sohbet process
and a lovely, sensual series of responses to this In the Moment, Nature Loving poem: https://valerieroney.ca/day-31-barefoot-in-the-rain
These threads are all open; if any of them spark a poem in response, please do add it. More information on the Sohbet and how it works is can be found here https://valerieroney.ca/sohbet if you need it.
Enjoy!
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Happy fiction-ing!! :-)
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Valerie – yay fictioning! Yay 10 degree course corrections instead of major 60 degrees… or 180!
Editing is calling me – and unearthing, rereading, rewriting, fictionalizing… I recently got excited to realize how much I have to work with, short stories, life stories, and some poems. No more sitting around with my inspiring characters, waiting for the perfect plot to happen! But just now, I have a lot of commitments, obligations, and Highly Advisable undertakings, many with an End in Sight. I see literature at the end of the tunnel! ;-)
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So yeah, very happy to hear this.
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