Coffee Date Catch Up

Hey everyone! I know I've been noticeably absent for some time, I promise to do an update on why I've been MIA soon but the long and the short of it is this: I've been writing.

That is what writers do isn't it? We write and if you're passionate about something, if you promise that it's what you want to spend your life doing you simply must make time to not just be good at it but to be phenomenal. This is my belief and this is what I've been doing.

If we were on a coffee date I'd tell you that the thing about being a writer is that you don't always get to see our labour or our pregnancy with the work. Usually it just seems like BOOM book! poem! article! There is so much more that goes into it, research, editing, consultations, funding, sweat, tears, proofing....All of these things happen outside of the public eye.

If we were on a coffee date I'd tell you that after finishing my degree there are a few goals the writer in me has jumped head first into accomplishing and that sometimes means stepping back from the things that were so much a part of my life before. Recently I read somewhere that if you say no to nothing  your yes means nothing. I am inclined to agree as I tighten my belt a little bit in 2017.

If we were on a coffee date together I'd tell you I love being a writer but that is not enough, the only thing that will do is to write and to grow as a writer and I cannot do that if I can never find the time to do it. If you cannot find the time to do the thing you love the most you simply must create the time I think...You simply must carve a few seconds, minutes and hours out from the sides of other things or remove those things all together.

If we were on a coffee date together I'd tell you that you simply must feed the thing that grows you and this is something I believe without question. So this year that is what I am doing. I am feeding my writing and allowing myself to grow in it bigly in a big ways. I have some giant plans on my plate this year as a writer and most of them have already been set in motion.

If we were sitting across from each other on a coffee date I'd share that the beginning of the year saw the release of my Literary Review of the local Play Shattered Expectations published digitally and in print. The second saw my unexpected but honoured hosting of a final exhibition of one of the people I have always looked up to so very very much. Right now sees the launch of my first paper product line, starting with the release of my hand drawn and self authored poem on two bookmark designs. The Sweet heart' and The Subtle Heart' design both now available for purchase via my instagram and facebook page!

If we were on a coffee date together I'd tell you that the success of this line will set the tone of more of my product releases later this year.

If we were on a coffee date together I'd tell you I have also bunkered down and assigned the first three months of this year to book editing. Though my book is compiled I do need to get that final edit done. Things have changed since it was first compiled and I have a duty to my readers to make sure that I present a product that is authentic.

There is a long list of activities set out before me for the rest of the year, producer on a few short films, some more videography...all geared towards me becoming a better writer and me sharing more and more of my work with you. If we were on a coffee date that is what I would tell you, that writing is work, that writing is my work and that I am working and I am working hard.

So, here we go, with faith in one hand and fear in the other on this journey. One a passenger one the director.

Let's do this.

Everything Everything :: Book Review

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon is a 21st century heartbeat wrapped up in the packaging of a charming love story.  In this short and sweet connection between a biracial girl and a child of abuse the reader is a subtle passenger on their journey towards discovering a colossal love.

When we are introduced to our female main character she is obsessed with the notion of living in the world and not just being of it. Our main male character becomes her representation of the outside, of a life lived on purpose, instead of by chance and circumstance and that is with which she  first falls deeply and madly in love.

This is a story that is a nod to a heart that allows you to love not without fear but beyond it. These characters are as the book itself puts it,'Two universes crashing up against each other but never touching', until of course they do. Yes, this is a love story but not just a romantic one. In this novel the main characters don't just meet and falls in love with each other but with a world outside of the boundaries of fear. Their vulnerabilities bring them together and become the catalyst of change that turns the stagnation and insecurity of the unknown to the brilliance and wonder of the possible.

For me that is what makes this book most interesting. This is a story of a girl as she falls in love with the world and with being alive in it. This is a story of a boy who learns to see this privilege by holding her hand.. Together they learn that 'Every thing's a risk, not doing anything is a risk, it's up to you." Together they discover "The difference between dreaming of flying and flight" in a flurry of quickness and colour and chance and change.

Together they discover Everything...just....everything from black and white to colour.

This book now has a film adoption and you may have seen the trailer taking the internet by storm. In the book one of the things I loved is that the plot continued outside of the romance.  Of course at first I was annoyed because I wanted to get back to the meat of things but as time went on, I loved that the author was daring enough to show us this isn't about holding hands, this is about letting go of fear and living anyway, this is about everything else too. Some people fault it for a certain level of predictability coming to the end but I can't because what I love is the character's response to that situation, her boldness in saying with every action that she wants to live fully anyway. In the face of that change old question 'What if I fall oh but what if you fly' or main characters answer let's find out.


I'm so excited for the film and I cant wait to see what they do with it!

 Peace. Love. Jump

Review of Shattered Expectations by Urias Peters Published in PRINT in the Greandian Voice Newspaper!

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to quickly mention the publishing of my Review of Shattered Expectation IN PRINT within the February 3rd issue of the Grenadian Voice News paper!

As a recent graduate I understand the importance of having citable sources. I wanted to ensure that works about my country could be cited by future student someday. The only way to do that is to ensure that the material is there to be cited in the first place.

So not only did I go see the show, support local literature, I wrote a review and had it published by a local news source.

Peace. Love. Be the change.