I missed some days, so I’ll lump them all together. You can expect Mondays to be like this as I don’t check email over the weekends (and that’s where the prompts are sent).

Jan 8: What do you like most about your writing?

I don’t think about the things I write down as “my writing,” to begin with. It’s not a body of work to be considered as an entity.

That said, when I am writing things down, I appreciate a turn of phrase. It’s a little bit of a game to make a particularly onomatopoeic phrase, or run some consonance through a paragraph to bind it together, or make a callback to something previously mentioned, or bury a joke. So I guess when I do one of those things, and it makes me happy to have done it (even if it’s not done particularly skillfully), that’s what I like.

Jan 9: What do people incorrectly assume about you?

Sometimes people think I will have an English accent. I once had someone tell me that I must LOVE the Cure (because I was born in England). I obviously have vague concerns sometimes that people think I’m more or less competent than I really am, but I’m not sure that’s a valid response here. Someone once told me that she and her office mate thought I was a huge bitch when they first met me (I work with neither of them, and never have). I am a midsized bitch at best.

Jan 10: What are 5 things you’re grateful for today?

FIVE things? In this economy? Jesus. Well, let’s see what I can drum up here. Foregoing the obvious “my family” one (though if I run out, I will be using it):

• Increased representation in high profile places (movies, tv, government, etc), as it is important for so many folks, and it’s vastly more interesting. It will only make us stronger.
• My phenomenal job, which is rewarding on many levels and gives me opportunities I could have never dreamed up on my own.
• To have been born when I was and into such privilege. I could wish for less pandemic and fewer unprecedented events in my lifetime however. Although, watching the end of capitalism is certainly… eventful.
• To be (temporarily) able-bodied. I read once that we should consider being able-bodied a temporary state, as everyone experiences disability at some point in their lives. I am currently in a state of ability, and I really am grateful for it.
• Tea and toast. I’m not being trite. I genuinely look forward to my cup of tea every morning and my warm sourdough toast with salty butter around lunch time. In those moments, I need nothing, I want nothing but what I have, and I am relaxed.
• My family — I did not run out, this is number 6. But I am grateful for my knuckleheads, they’re my favorite.