Tag Archives: Writers

Stay True.

Posted in Just for Fun, Something A Little Personal by
Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker

The most difficult thing about blogging (writing) is staying true to the voice of your blog. It’s difficult to stay true to the brand you created when there are so many other blogs and brands to be intimidated by. I created this blog as a space for my personal thoughts, as a space to practice and improve my writing, as a place to learn more about myself, as a place to share great books. Admittedly I’ve lost sight of my voice a couple of times. Sometimes I didn’t even recognize the woman holding the pen, I didn’t hear my own nasally soften-spoken voice when I read my posts over again. The important thing is that I noticed and I put myself back on track.

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Another difficult part of blogging (writing) is privacy — what do you share? What do you keep to yourself? I’ve had people tell me that they follow my blog in a tone that makes me feel like they know more about me than I think they do. I’ve had people tell me that I should be careful. That my generation doesn’t know the importance of privacy. Well, that’s what social media is, letting people into your life, into your home. It’s scary how BIG social media has become in my life, I’m even applying for jobs with SOCIAL MEDIA in their description.

Sometimes I sit back and think oh my gosh, I’m sharing my thoughts with who knows how many people. On top of that it’s on the INTERNET, FOREVER. After the initial nausea from that thought subsides, I allow myself to think other thoughts. My Pen, My Voice is a brand. It is a brand that I created. It’s ME, it’s who I am and what I represent BUT I get to choose what I share. Along with this blog I have two other notebooks with me at all times. One is a diary and one is the rough beginnings of my novel — neither of which I share on my blog.

I think people forget that there’s a person behind a blog, a twitter account, an Instagram account etc and what they share is only fraction of their lives. They let you see what they want you to see.

I am my truest self when I write.

 I write with honesty, intention, passion, and determination, but please don’t forget –

My Pen, My Voice is just one side of me.

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Love Always

Vanessa Xo

Who Named the Knife – and other thoughts

Posted in Something A Little Personal by
“When you feel envy and wish you were someone else, remember you that you have to take the whole life.”
- Who Named the Knife by Linda Spalding

It’s terrifyingly easy to become envious of someone else’s life. It’s easy to get so caught up in what others are doing (especially with all of this social media, sharing, and documenting) that you lose sight of your own dreams and wishes. I’ve written about this before and I’ll probably write about it again because it’s something that scares me a lot. When you can’t see the finish line or you feel like many people are sprinting faster than you (even though you’re working just as hard), self-doubt will sweep you up on its dark cloud and suffocate you. You can’t let that happen. Keep sprinting even when your lungs give out. No matter how many people pass you, keep sprinting.

If you look far enough into the distance you’ll realize that they aren’t gunning for the same finish line as you.

At some point the track branches off and we all have our own path to follow.

Your finish line is yours and yours alone.

Cross it.

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Love Always

Vanessa Xo

An Author’s Life for me, yo ho, yo ho!

Posted in Book Reviews, Just for Fun, Something A Little Personal by

I’ve had a book in my hand since before I can remember. I’ve read many books and all of them have had some small impact on my life, on the person I’ve become. Funnily enough I haven’t acknowledged the person behind the words, behind the book. I always thought my gratitude could be found in the flip of the last page of their novel. I always thought that was enough. I never made a point to obsess over an author and I learned very early on in my English degree that you should never associate an author with a character or belief in their book (or even as the narrator for that matter). So in order to save myself from putting the author’s face to any character I forgot about them altogether — I rarely looked at an author photo or read their biography. It’s funny to me because as an aspiring novelist/author I know that I would want my readers to know who I am, or at very least acknowledge that there is someone (actually many people) behind the book they’re holding in their hands.

Interning at Random House of Canada has changed all of that. I now realize how many people are involved in getting a book out there. I now know how important publicity, online marketing, and media are in getting a novel onto a bestseller list. I understand the importance in having an editor who believes in you and who can guide your writing into the right direction. I’ve seen how many interviews one author can do in a day, I’ve been there when they are shuffled from store-to-store to sign stock, I’ve been to their launches and felt extremely honoured to be there. Now that I’ve spoken to a few authors of books I’ve actually read, I see how important it is to know these faces, to see these people, to support these people, to watch their interviews, to follow them on twitter — their book, their words, have made a difference in my life.

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Their masterpiece is my inspiration.

Their work is my play, my pleasure, and my escape.

And for that I say thank you to every author of every single book I’ve ever read.

Thank you.

—

Love Always

Vanessa Xo

Living for the Weekend…

Posted in Just for Fun, Restaurant Reviews, Something A Little Personal by

Although I love my busy weekdays, nothing compares to a weekend filled with great food, great company, an interesting book, and a sun that won’t stop shining. During the week I don’t see much of my family, sometimes it’s two or three days before I actually see my brother, so I love spending weekends in their company. On Friday my sister and bf came over and we had a movie date with my dad — Django Unchained is the best movie ever!

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My niece is getting big (or so I would assume by the way my sister’s stomach is expanding) and she has the softest, sweetest kicks/punches. You really have to press down on my sister’s belly to feel Izzy’s punches or her heartbeat but it is the most beautiful tap I’ve ever felt. Next time Jess comes over I’m going to read Izzy a story, my favourite in fact (The Balloon Tree) so she can get used to hearing my voice.

Yesterday the bf and I went for a little drive and ended up at Katz’s Deli near Yorkdale Mall. My mouth is watering just thinking about the warm corned beef sandwich on rye bread, topped with mustard, that we demolished in about 30 seconds. It’s a great place with deliciously fresh food and fantastic coffee. It’s been around since 1970 and is the perfect Saturday meal. They have an eat-in and take-out option and their cashier is a wonderful old man, using an old-school cash register, cracking jokes at your expense. I will be back more often than I should now that I know how close it is to the subway.

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I hope you all enjoyed this beautiful sunny weekend.

I hope you spent it with the people you love, with wonderful food, and with the comfort that comes from having a great book waiting for you whenever you get home.

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Love Always 

Vanessa Xo 

Birthday Recap

Posted in Family Time, Just for Fun, Something A Little Personal, Uncategorized by

Below you will find today’s post. You’ll notice that the formatting is a little different, that’s because I typed it up on this bad boy:

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My aunt and uncle scoured the streets, flea markets, and various stores to find me the perfect, working typewriter. Although, it may be more of a novelty than anything, I couldn’t wait to give it a try this morning. It’s heavy and it smells old but this 1964 Royal Safari typewriter is what I’ve been dreaming of for quite a while. It clinks, it clanks, and it even dings when it’s time to move to a new line. It’s perfect and needless to say, I’m in love.

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Obviously I need more practice on my typewriter :P . What I love most is how it slows down your thinking, rather, how it makes you more conscious of what you’re thinking. You need to be aware of what you’re going to write next, you need to plan out your next sentence so that you don’t make a huge mistake and have to start all over. With time, I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it, perhaps I’ll start writing on it often.

Anyways, I hope you’re having a wonderful Sunday!

—

Love Always

Vanessa Xo

I don’t have a vision…

Posted in Just for Fun, Something A Little Personal, Travel by

After reading a post by Valerie on I’m Charming You , my bestie and I decided to give the whole VISION BOARD a try. Basically a vision board is a crafty little activity resembling a scrapbook made entirely of dreams, things you wish for, and future goals. The point is to see your dreams and hopefully be inspired to take the necessary steps to achieve them.

I thought this whole activity was going to be easy and painless but after 3 hours of cutting, talking, and pasting, my board is still pretty empty. Most emphasis is on marriage and having a home, which I honestly didn’t think was a big deal to me (I don’t want a wedding, just a happy marriage). The next one is travel. My choice of destination is London, England, although I want to find more pictures of the places I want to go. The top is where things get tricky, the only thing I know for sure is that Grace Coddington and Marilyn Monroe inspire me, that I want to be UNSTOPPABLE, and that I want to be a WRITER OF GREAT BOOKS. That’s all I got.

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Layla was thoroughly unimpressed with my 'vision'.

Layla was thoroughly unimpressed with my ‘vision’.

My vision is empty and at first it depressed me: where is my drive? my determination? my passion? THIS BOARD SHOWS NOTHING!!!

Maybe I need more magazines or maybe it’s just that I have a lot more living to do before I figure things out. Maybe I’ll piece together the rest of my vision board a little bit at a time. I have my big dream (INTERNATIONAL BEST-SELLING WRITER) and maybe as I work towards it, I’ll find little dreams worth striving for too. Maybe my vision is a little blurry right now — I’m querying (and being successfully rejected by) agents, I’m nearly finished my Publishing Certificate, I’m debating how I can turn being a full-time scholar into a profession, I’m looking for more writing projects, and I’m applying for jobs that I may or may not be qualified for — maybe once I figure out exactly where I’m going my vision will become clearer, my board a little more full.

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Love Always

Vanessa Xo

Christmas Gift-Guide

Posted in Just for Fun, Products and Brands by

I’ve seen a lot gift-giving blog pots recently but none for people like myself. So here is my first ever gift-giving guide/suggestions for the BOOK NERD BLOGGERS in your life <;3

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1. The best books I read in 2012:

2. Volant Large Ruled Notebook by Moleskin from Papyrus (my favourite notebooks to date – seriously I spend a lot of time with them) $12.95

3. Writers are made of 10% water and 90% coffee, so a witty coffee mug will delight them. This “Always Blog on A Full Tank” mug can be found here $10.00

4. Bookish shirts are amazingly awesome. The “GO TO HELL I’M READING” shirt can be found here $28.99

5. Every writer wants a typewriter to display nicely in their lavish office or Beauty and the Beast library. I’m swooning over this vintage typewriter, found it on Etsy $303.39

What are you buying for the book-loving, coffee-drinking, blogging, old-fashion-pen-and-paper-Writer-friends in your life?

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Love Always
Vanessa Xo

Can I just get your stamp of approval? Please?!

Posted in Something A Little Personal by

I am an approval seeker.
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No matter what decision I make I need to have someone in my corner, whether it be my parents, siblings, best friends, or the bf – I have to run whatever I’m thinking about by someone. I rarely make a decision based on my own rationale, I need another person’s opinion and I need their stamp of approval.

tumblr_lqs0lrkm4F1r21cyxo2_500_largeIt’s kind of sad isn’t it? Why do I need it? Is it so that I’ll have a scapegoat if things go wrong? Is it because I’m afraid of the responsibility of making my own life choices? I have no idea. All I know is that my way of doing things is very limiting – it makes you feel kind of claustrophobic.

Attention must be paid and changes must be made.

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Love Always
Vanessa Xo

‘Time Enough to Last’ – Shout out to all of my book-lovers!

Posted in Just for Fun, Products and Brands, Something A Little Personal by

Ever wish you had all the time in the world to read (or do whatever it is that you love to do) My dad brought to my attention an episode of The Twilight Zone which “follows Henry Bemis through the post apocalyptic world, touching on such social issues as anti-intellectualism, the dangers of reliance upon technology, and the difference between aloneness (solitude) and loneliness”. Completely alone in the world, Henry finds comfort in finding the public library. He takes hours and hours to set up the books he is going to read and in which order he will read them and then this happens…

My heart absolutely broke for this man. Imagine, finally getting everything thing you’ve ever wanted, all the time in the world to read every single book that you love and your glasses break. It made me think about how lucky I am to be able to read, to write, to see (with a sweet pair of prescription glasses or contact lenses), and to spend my free time doing the things that I love to do.

I know it’s silly but books are a huge part of my life, the written word is the essence of my being. I plan on spending my life creating books, writing them, and reading them – which is  why I’m searching for internships and jobs in publishing. I love discussing books with people, I love being able to lend books to people, and I love writing things that people like to read.

I love books and you should too! 

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Love Always
Vanessa Xo

Books and Cleverness!

Posted in Just for Fun, Something A Little Personal by

Let’s not play games here – I am  a BOOK-LOVER. I love getting lost in a book, in a story. I love getting obsessed with characters. I love to learn. Last night at work, my boss (who is an avid reader) and I talked about how very rare it is to find a kid who likes to read today. It’s rare to find a child who likes to learn. It’s also rare to find a teacher who loves to teach, who loves to inspire their students. Kids today are pushed through a system and it’s a little really disheartening.

I had some fantastic teachers both in elementary school, high school, and university.  Teachers who were passionate about the subjects they taught, teachers who made me want to learn MORE even if I didn’t particularly like the subject they taught. Do teachers like that exist today? My english teachers in particular had a profound effect on me, I can thank them for making me a writer, a reader, a learner.

I’ve never dreamt of becoming a teacher but I’ve always known that I want to make a difference. I want to inspire someone. I want to turn someone (the world) on to reading. I want to show children and teens how lucky they are to be able to go to school and get an education. I want to tell them that it’s cool to be passionate about a subject and that there is a point in learning about history or reading books in English class.

I want to make a difference.

I want to inspire someone. 

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Love Always
Vanessa Xo