Sarah Grace McCandless

Teller of Stories. Yours. Mine. Ours.

Author. Screenwriter.
Creator of Hopeless Semantic.

Dog mom to Gilda Radner.

Your New Best Friend.

Filtering by Tag: #WhidbeyIsland

Me, My Selfie, and I

This is not necessarily breaking news, but "Selfie" was named Oxford Dictionary's Word of 2013. I shudder just typing that. The official definition is as follows: "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website."

This is my attempt at reinventing the definition, or at least trying to evolve it. It starts with a true selfie, captured while sitting in my car, crossing via ferry over to Whidbey Island. I've added a photo of my main view for the weekend, and a snapshot of my writing tools and the treasures I've acquired here, courtesy of the local thrift shop. And for the record? The "Emergency Childbirth" booklet might as well be a Stephen King book as far as I'm concerned.

The intent with this combination was to potentially represent a different type of a "selfie" - visual representations of a true examination of one's self, an attempt to find the courage to dive deeper, and the trust that I'll know what do once I get there, and find what's underneath.

Even when I look at my traditional selfie, the first thing I really see is my mother's distinctive nose. And that is the doorway to a million stories.

It means a lot more to me that the level of my ability to angle my smartphone and add filters to try and make things look just right. 

Just right is boring. Just right is predictable. Just right is a lie.

The Original Tumbler

When a three and a half hour drive, north and alone, turns into five, it's the perfect time to examine all the heavy rocks in your head - the anxious ones, the insulted ones, the angry ones, the fearful ones. Tumble them back and forth. Back and forth. A few more times. And once again. And by the time you hit the ferry to Whidbey Island, your car will be first in line to enter. Your view will be this. And in just 12 minutes or so, you will have reached the other side of the water, and you will realize that your rocks have indeed transformed, and turned into #Project15 gems.

WhidbeyFerry.jpg

Progress, #Project15 Style

Healthy homemade breakfast. Consumed while sitting and eating slowly. At an actual table. 5K training run under a glorious morning sunrise before the rain set in. First time ever taking BurlyQ class - well, any class really - at Vega Dance Lab. Confirmed weekend plans for unexpected writing retreat on Whidbey Island.

Winning. Winning. Winning.