I’ve been stalling writing a bio for the Carrot Ranch Congress of Rough Writers for weeks and weeks – a couple of posts on what makes me a writer were very useful – a diversion crawling up a label before getting down to the substance of who or what I am. This week Charli has posted her 99th prompt for another 99 words out of us so I thought it apt that I give myself 99 kicks up the backside and get on with it.
What to include?
Having decided I am a Writer there was still the difficulty of what else to include in a bio. Being a perfectionist I decided to research it. I won’t bore you with the stuff that comes up on google but it was mostly leadership-yadda for LinkedIn. How-Big-A-Cheese-In-The-Cheese-Shop you were and all that is work achievement and status based.
Then there are indeed more artsy bios for people like actors – again a list of successes, what they’ve appeared in, career awards, who’s directed them (but only if they’re a big stinky cheese in the directing world)
Writers then seem to fall into a couple of categories – those who have published enough to warrant a LIST! In fact these are no longer Writers but Authors.. (The blue veined Stiltons of the Writing World) And then there’s the rest of us normal or not-so-normal wannabes. (Perhaps an occasional whiff of soured milk but not much else.)
The wannabes are further subdivided into bios with trumped up and grandiose covering up of not much and finally a bunch who declare warts and all. I think I’m falling into the latter category. Love me, love my dog, love my writing.
And I don’t have a list of achievements – well, actually I do but I’m confused about which are relevant to my writing..
Should I throw in my MSc and my kick-arse career up to the point of cancer? Should I play the cancer card at all? It’s a weakness surely – a biological deficit or lifestyle error. No one selling themselves usually lays out their negatives..
Do I care for now? Probably not – I’m writing a memoir that may well be blown out of the water for even purporting to survive a terminal diagnosis. There’ll be plenty who will dismiss me as an hysteric who must be either deluded, mis-informed or misdiagnosed or somehow not of sufficient IQ to wrap my cortex around the preposterous break from the norm.
But in a way this is a digression. Let’s get back to the few words Charli wants and what I hope it achieves. It needs to say enough that anyone reading it on her blog is curious enough to pop over to mine. And the answer to that is..
I have no idea!
So, I decided to turn it around and think what inspires me to pop over to new blogs (even when I don’t really have time..)
What Inspires Me?
My attention is caught if you..
Show your human side
Tell me something unexpected
Give me a sense of your values
Tell me what you like
Perhaps what you don’t
Mention your love of cats and chocolate
Be a bit clever and a bit funny.
Be well crafted.
If I achieved all that, I’d be so smug you’d want to poke a stick in my eye.
And it would be way too long.
The “I am” Task..
I also I tried an exercise used in Psychology when researching individual’s sense of self. It simply requires that you complete 20 statements of “I am..” I cheated a bit – there’s some analysis that should follow. Instead I kept going to see what matters to me. If I wanted you to know me and words were enough, here’s today’s sense of who I am..
I am a novelty seeker and recovering perfectionist. I am slightly crazy.
I am a yoyo dieter and life-long learner. I am an oxymoron.
I am someone who reads widely but never autobiography or erotica.
I am someone who thinks in metaphors – If I was a stick of rock you would read Integrity running through my core.
I am the friend who turns up late most of the time because I was ‘just fitting something else in’ before I left. BUT I will always show up, I hope even when others wouldn’t. I am the friend who can sit with your pain.
I am someone who needs to be needed.
I am never seen in black – more often purple, red or chocolate brown.
I am not visually observant but notice sound and emotion. I am sorry there can be a delay if I am preoccupied for I am often preoccupied with something!
I am irritated by the sound of humans eating – but not any other creature.
I am gullible and have been trained by a cat to turn on taps for fresh water and latterly add a little hot when the water is too cold.
I am mindful with crackling logs fires, hooting owls, cat purrs and birdsong but suffocate thinking about my breath.
I am the person who can be relied upon to cry, laugh or applaud first.
I am clean but not tidy.
I am an eater of home cooked food but have cooked too much to enjoy cooking.
I am the infrequent drinker of organic gin with a specific, reduced-sugar, non-chemical tonic.
I am someone who hates assumptions about people and I am gutted when I make one.
I am poor at choosing gifts and maybe better at giving hope.
I am a prankster in sleep mode. Beware.
I am sorry when I am wrong. I am occasionally wrong.
I am someone who claims to hate routine but realise it’s usually other’s, not my own. (I am now taking Earl Grey teabags, soya milk and dark chocolate everywhere with me.)
I am an intense parent and a difficult wife but I am loved nevertheless.
I am onto the next thing before I am finished. I am never finished.
I am a daydreamer. If I could put one thing back in Pandora’s box it would be cruelty.
I am an animal lover but I am able to kill with my bare hands if it ends suffering.
I am moved to tears and joy by music – A favourite is Tchaikovsky’s “Theme on a Paganini.” Another is Supertramp’s “It’s Raining Again” for reasons I’ll tell another time.
I am a scaler of mountains natural and homemade. Favourites include Cadair Idris, The Shard and Mount Lafayette.
I am an over-thinker but not a worrier. I am calm in a crisis although you will hear me shout loudly to get things done.
I am a believer in digging deep. Understanding is the greatest company to keep.
I am a questioner of the status quo not least of all because you’re blind to humanity if you don’t.
I am like a cat with nine lives. I have come close with rock climbing, canoeing and cancer.
I am a fighter but only when I have to be.
I am a writer and I am realising my words should reflect more of the above.
I am intolerant of long posts but occasionally break my own rules. I can today – it’s my 100th post.
I am alive.
Finally – A Bio
So back to the head honcho (Madam Gorgonzola) over at the Carrot Ranch who’s wanted about 150 words to sum up forty something years of me. If you want to read what I eventually came up with, do pop over to the Ranch and have a look at me and the rest of us Rough Writers.
March 23, 2016 at 12:10 am
A whiff of your cheese, I mean bio is lovely, inspiring and encouraging. Your post is powerful and like Norah, I’m not sure how many “I am” statements I could come up with, let alone be prepared to reveal. The only things I’m on time for are meetings and appointments – and I rush like mad to get there. For anything else, I’m late (same reasons as yours), but I do show up. I listen – except when I don’t, but that’s another story. 😉 Lisa, I loved your final sentence, “I am alive!” That says it all.
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March 31, 2016 at 8:43 am
Ah thank you Kate. I’m sure you could come up with plenty if you started. It’s starting these things that’s often the hardest part.. and of course, you’d then be late for whatever was supposed to follow! Glad you’re another, packing stuff into your day xx
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March 22, 2016 at 4:56 am
Hey! Where’s my comment??? Roar. Anyway, I love this! It’s hilarious. 😀 Also, your bio is awesome and making me feel terrible because I owe one to Carrot Ranch, too. Ugh… I’m going to try the “I Am”. I struggle so much with these.
(Sorry. My other comment was longer and more interesting but it’s another late night.)
P.S. What the heck EVER caught your attention on my blog? I do mention chocolate but still…
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March 22, 2016 at 9:38 am
It’s that MFA or whatever I DON’T have! 😂
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March 22, 2016 at 9:41 am
Well the chocolate’s in there but I realise no cats, so wait a minute.. I’m reconsidering..
Oh well, that wry sense of humour will just about do.. “I have tons of spare time in which I’ve accidentally learned the names of cartoon characters I wish I’d never heard of as well as learned all the powers of the Angry Birds “ LOL ❤️
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March 29, 2016 at 5:34 pm
Ooh! Cats! 🐱❤️
Cats cats cats, cats, cats cats. Cats?
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March 31, 2016 at 8:34 am
Cats..
😾.. or else!
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March 31, 2016 at 2:57 pm
Okay, I was going to avoid this but…
😻🙀😽😸🙀
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March 31, 2016 at 10:24 pm
😻💖
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March 19, 2016 at 9:49 pm
Someone taking the time to visit… tempts a follow but a couple of comments, true connections and I follow and chat and talk incessantly just in case the new follower forgets to come back i lay a little humour and we now are virtual friends. 😇
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March 20, 2016 at 6:43 pm
Hi Ellen – that social botheredness is important. I’m not into much one way traffic but it gets hard to keep adding new people with the same commitment. I feel I’d have to ‘drop’ someone else at the moment to cope with keeping up. I’m supposed to be ‘blogging lite‘ but the rewards of ‘conversation’ mean it still takes up my immediate attention when I should be finishing the big projects. Aghhhh! A constant dilemma! 👿
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March 19, 2016 at 11:54 am
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post, Lisa. You speak to the heart. That’s something I look for in the posts of others. I appreciate shorter posts, but when they are as powerful as this one, the length is immaterial. I thoroughly enjoyed your “I am” list. That’s indeed self-reflection and understanding. I’m not sure how many statements I could come up with, and bravely share, if I was to try the same exercise. I enjoyed reading your bio. I didn’t realise it needed to be written in the third person. I checked mine out, and it doesn’t, and it probably needs to be undated. Oh boy!
Congratulations on your 100th post. Your final statement speaks to me strongest. “I am alive”! I think many of us take life too much for granted. We never know the hour or day, we have to make sure we make the best of what we’ve got – every minute, every day.
Thank your for being my friend who always shows up! Late or not, you’re always welcome. 🙂
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March 20, 2016 at 6:38 pm
Hee hee! I have no idea whether a bio is ‘supposed’ to be written in 3rd person – it’s just something I noticed. Do you think it happens because it’s easier to pretend it’s what someone else says or that people really think someone else writes them when you’re not Stephen King or JK Rowling!?
Thank you as ever for your attention to my words. I am alive. I am, still. This was quite a powerful exercise and I was still selective with what I posted even if I’m still a bit crazy for wearing my heart on my sleeve. 😊
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March 22, 2016 at 12:09 pm
Maybe when we write about ourselves in the third person we can give a more glowing appraisal than what we might if we wrote in the first. Maybe we feel as if we are looking at ourselves as “other” so look for the achievements rather that the warts and the failures, which most of us find all too obvious (or is that only me!)
I’m with you. I still like to keep quite a bit covered with my sleeves, but I do love finding out more about the awesomeness that is you. 🙂
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March 22, 2016 at 7:58 pm
Yes, because what is the point of this otherwise? 😘
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March 18, 2016 at 11:40 am
‘I’m gorgeous’ – you forgot to say ‘I’m gorgeous’ inside and out. Love you!! Love your writing. Jx
Sent from my iPhone
>
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March 20, 2016 at 6:32 pm
Spoke too soon. Here is a person from the real world I I inhabit. Jude I love you too. Thank you for this gorgeous comment and your recent validation. When can you move in, please? I’d like more on a daily basis! 💕💕💕
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March 18, 2016 at 10:23 am
Congratulations on getting your bio up there, Lisa, and it’s absolutely fabulous! Your dithering about this had got me worried about whether I’d submitted mine, but – sigh of relief – it’s there! It’s funny how these questions of how we present ourselves preoccupy us but I suppose we want to get it “right”.
Anyway, I really enjoyed your list and it’s good to break your own rules now and then. The one that most intrigued me was never seen in black – now that must be a challenge! And I want to know what cheese is in the photo – looks like manchego to me, really solid and salty. But if you avoid milk, what do you do for cheese?
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March 20, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Thank you Anne. It is SO ridiculous, how preoccupied I can become over online presentation. Chances are it’s only a handful of people read the stuff anyway. I must have fallen pray to all the hype about how much it matters. None of the people in my real world are likely to look anyway!
And yes, never seen in black (apart from a pair of shoes) – it is difficult. Most shops are full of it and it’s an ‘easy’ choice for certain events of course, but it doesn’t suit me as much as a splash of the right colour. (Of course, being a perfectionist I have had my colour ‘done’)
I don’t know what the cheese is in the photo. I found it on a free stock site (see the list on my About page). There are few vegan cheese worth a try so I tend to slap anchovies or sundried tomatoes on top of things that need an oily, tasty extra! 😊
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March 18, 2016 at 2:00 am
And I am blown away! What a beautiful whiff of cheese! Your bio is terrific (and linked). I love cheese, thus the cheese analogy and have never been so thrilled to be called Madam Gorgonzola! Ah, but your I am statements moved me most. Especially this one: “I am the friend who turns up late most of the time because I was ‘just fitting something else in’ before I left. BUT I will always show up, I hope even when others wouldn’t. I am the friend who can sit with your pain.” Honesty, acceptance, humanity, and yes, some cheesy swagger! ❤
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March 20, 2016 at 6:23 pm
Thank you Charli! Glad and relieved the bio is okay. I hope I get to ferment a bit and come back with some mould at least! 😘
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