Crossworlds - Blog

It's Ellie and Savannah's birthday.

6/21/2022

So, I was trying to write a recap for The Mansion's Twins. Like, trying really hard. And it was just impossibly difficult until... Well, I might have written a rap recap. So... Only because today is a special day for my twins, I'm gonna share this ridiculous thing. I mean, if you really want to read it. Ready to get weird?

Seriously, clicking ahead is entering into a contract to deal with me. Are you willing to accept those terms?

Gift Focus of the Month: Transformation

6/10/2022

We’re taking a close look at the twelve gifts, starting with the twins’ gifts, and then making our way through the poem:

The Lady Illusion gave us a set of twelve
Twelve children, twelve months, and twelve gifts as well
Inner and outer vision, levitation
Fire, water, transformation
Glowing, healing, communication
Singers, dancers, model maker

The gift of the month for June is… Transformation. Let’s see what Rose wrote about this gift.

One of the rarer gifts. It includes both transformation of objects and creating disguises.

The high level of this gift is self-transformation that actually lasts, which is widely thought to be a myth. Even temporary self-transformation is difficult, as it requires you to constantly maintain the magic in order to keep the disguise.

People with the transformation gift are often very smart and crafty. People think those with the gift join June’s army because they make good spies, but trying to do that is actually very dangerous and rarely succeeds because it’s so difficult to maintain the magic. People with the gift join June’s army because they have sharp minds, and can help make plans. They can also improve and duplicate weapons.

Like inner-vision, there are some negative stereotypes about people with this gift. Many people don’t think the gifted are trustworthy, not only because of exaggerated ideas about the gift's high-level potential, but just because of the gifted can be perceived as flakey. I mean, if you were gifted, wouldn’t you change up your room every day? Change your hair? Your clothes? The experimental nature of the gifted, and their inconsistencies, can put people off. However, their far more likely to just be fun, outgoing, and adventurous than deceptive. But those who do abuse the gift can cause a lot of damage, so the negative stereotypes persist.

I usually like to feature a character with my "gift of the month" with a picture of them, but yikes, I just don't have a single good picture of Jerome. Like, he's impossible to draw. I can't even draw women all that well, and men are way more difficult. SO, because clay is sometimes used to symbolize transformation, I thought I'd share this lovely picture of my faceless clay figures. Jerome and family. THIS is why those with transformation get a bad reputation.

The high level of this gift is self-transformation that lasts, which is widely thought to be a myth. Sure, you can change your hair, but those types of alterations hardly ever last more than a day. Transforming yourself into a completely different person typically wouldn’t last more than a few minutes, at best. In order to truly trick someone, the gifted would need to be exceptional.

As for a flipside, this is an odd one. It’s fixing things. Not “fix” as in repair, but as in make permanent. This could be used for things like finishing the work of inexperienced model makers—a strong model maker could make their work “stick” by themselves, but the finishing touch of someone with transformation could always make the end product stronger.

Transformation is most closely connected to outer-vision and healing, and it’s often symbolized by a butterfly.

Fun fact about the twelve gifts

A wedding in the magical world is called a “Gifts of Gifts” ceremony. The couple will ask twelve of their friends and family to represent each gift. Each of the gifted (or stand-ins for the gifted) present the couple with a symbol of each gift, and recite a blessing to match. For example, “For dancing, I present these slippers. May these currents keep you moving.” And, “For transformation, I present this clay. May these currents help you grow with each other.” There are traditional presents for each gift, but many families choose to personalize. Marriage in the magical world isn’t very common—perhaps because a full Gifts of Gifts ceremony is a bit complicated to put together. It’s considered bad luck to do a Gifts of Gifts ceremony without all twelve gifts represented. They say it leads to unbalanced magic in your relationship, and we all know how dangerous that is.

Gift Focus of the Month: Water

5/29/2022

We’re taking a close look at the twelve gifts, starting with the twins’ gifts, and then making our way through the poem:

The Lady Illusion gave us a set of twelve
Twelve children, twelve months, and twelve gifts as well
Inner and outer vision, levitation
Fire, water, transformation
Glowing, healing, communication
Singers, dancers, model makers

This month's gift focus is water! Here's a page from Rose's journal on the gift:

People with the water gift can conjure and control water, though simply controlling it is much easier. It’s helpful for June’s army because the Ambrosi’s fight with fire too, not to mention her own people who can control fire can get a bit reckless at times. It’s also helpful when they’re traveling, and need to cross a river (or find an underwater Palace). They can freeze water, or stay under it for long periods of time. There aren’t as many with the water gift in June’s army as there are with the fire gift, because people who control water tend to be much calmer, and much less likely to want to fight. They’re easygoing people, but they often don’t stand up for themselves as much as they should, and can be very shy.

Both fire and water are unique because they are the only two gifts that are each other’s flipside. The high level of both gifts is controlling the weather.

Okay, Claire is multitalented, so this isn't the best example of the gift itself--just it's high level. But I have ZERO good pictures of Nikki! She's very difficult to draw, and this picture is actually kinda okay for me. Again, I'm an author, NOT an artist!

Water is closely connected to healing and levitation. It is often symbolized by a bottle, glass, or drop.

Fun Fact About the Twelve Gifts

Children will usually discover their gifts before age ten. That’s when the word “ungifted” will start to be used, usually by parents and teachers trying to preach acceptance, or their peers, often with less wholesome intentions. However, late discovery is still possible, and kids aren’t “officially” ungifted until puberty.

Click the covers to check out the series!

Gift Focus of the Month: Fire

4/18/2022

We’re taking a close look at the twelve gifts, starting with the twins’ gifts, and then making our way through the poem:

The Lady Illusion gave us a set of twelve
Twelve children, twelve months, and twelve gifts as well
Inner and outer vision, levitation
Fire, water, transformation
Glowing, healing, communication
Singers, dancers, model makers

This month’s gift focus is… FIRE! Let’s see what Rose wrote in her notebook about this gift.

People who can conjure and control fire tend to be loud and wild. They would make good leaders if they weren’t also reckless and stubborn. They can make good warriors, and many of June’s army have the fire gift. They’re bold—some would say brave, and others would say crazy. I say both. Like Shane. He’s pretty much exactly what the fire gift is.

Both fire and water are unique because they are the only two gifts that are each other’s flipside. The high level of both gifts is controlling the weather.

Fire is most closely connected to both glowing and dancing. It is often symbolized by a flame or a candle.

Fun Fact About the Twelve Gifts

The moment of gift discovery is an explosion of exceptionally strong magic. In that moment, young children can do things naturally that grown adults would struggle with. Once the newly discovered gift stabilizes, it won’t be quite so powerful. It will always be more natural than other types of magic, but will still require practice to master.

Click the covers to check out the series!

Coming soon!

Gift Focus of the Month: Inner-Vision

3/5/2022

We’re taking a close look at the twelve gifts, starting with the twins’ gifts, and then making our way through the poem:

The Lady Illusion gave us a set of twelve
Twelve children, twelve months, and twelve gifts as well
Inner and outer vision, levitation
Fire, water, transformation
Glowing, healing, communication
Singers, dancers, model makers

Well, it’s a new month, so onward we go to inner-vision. Here’s an intro to the gift from Rose’s notebook:

When people say “the vision-gift,” this is usually what they mean. If they have outer vision, they’ll specify that, even though outer vision is more common. Inner vision is about looking into people, and seeing their thoughts and feelings. In order to read people, they need to look them in the eyes. While the gifted make useful spies, in polite company, you always ask before looking at someone with you gift.

An old drawing of Helen, my lovely villain with vision.

Inner-vision is pretty rare, and has some other unique features. Not only can the gifted discover people’s secrets, they can also see through disguises, and beyond curses, and other magic-induced physical changes. June was once in love with a man with vision, who saw her as the woman she would be if she had never been cursed.

Personality wise, the gifted are quite insightful, and often very kind and empathetic. But the negative stereotypes are still very prevalent, because people don’t like their privacy invaded. I do feature a villain with inner-vision across the series, and all those negative stereotypes certainly apply to her...

The “flipside” of this gift is magical guards. For both levitation and outer-vision, the other side of the gift feels somewhat unnatural, but accessible without a great deal of study. This is pretty common across the board for flipsides. Those with inner-vision are used to seeing more of people than those without the gift, so naturally, they themselves become more open and honest with others. Learning to use magical guards, and keep their own thoughts private, can feel unnatural at first, but most adults with vision grow accustomed to it.

As for the high level, this is where things get a bit weird. My past self was vehemently opposed to anyone having any sort of “future vision” because she thought it was, to put it simply, the dumbest thing ever. Using future vision in fiction is often difficult for writers to get right, and frustrating for readers. Like, okay, he could tell the future HERE, but not before? What exactly are the conditions? Is it a possible and ever changing future, or is the future fixed? And if it’s REALLY fixed, why are you trying to change it? I didn’t want to go there, I just really, really did not.

Anyway... The high level of inner-vision is future vision. I should remind you, most people can’t access their gift’s high level. Like, to the point where some people think “high levels” are a myth. With inner-vision, the gifted are still tapping into the same gift, just on a deeper level. So, they’re essentially using their collective knowledge of the people involved in a situation to predict the decisions they’ll make, thereby telling the “future.” It’s not like they get premonitions or crap like that.

For example… Helen. Helen is my favorite villain of Crossworlds and she’s gifted with inner-vision. Um, minor spoilers ahead for The Mansion’s Family…

Helen didn’t “know” Dece was pregnant by seeing a “vision” of the future. By looking into Dece’s eyes, she could read her previous intentions—her desire for a child, her relationship, etc. She simply put the pieces together.

Julian did something like this too. When Aidan came to the Mansion, June wanted Hannah to take care of him, “inspiring” her to start using her gift. Julian was rather opposed to this whole idea. He knows June’s done some less-than-ethical things in the past. He also knows Hannah doesn’t see herself as a gifted healer, and simply taking care of a cured Northern man isn’t going to change that. Julian is suspicious of June because he thinks this is just the beginning of her plan. Enlisting Hannah’s help is innocent enough—she already enjoys being a caretaker (caregiver? Anyone else think it’s weird that those words mean the same thing?). But Julian knows that’s just the first step down this path, and it gets darker further on. He might not know exactly where it’s going, but he knows it doesn't feel right.

Some think that’s all there is to the “high level” of this gift, it’s just using that deep insightfulness to predict what will happen next. Others believe the high level is more magical, like, you actually do get a flash of the future once you’ve obtained enough knowledge, and that’s how you know you’ve accessed it.

Phew… That was a lot. Let’s wrap this up.

Inner-vision is closely connected to outer-vision and model making. It is often symbolized by a mirror or an eye.

Fun Fact About the Twelve Gifts:

Being away from magic (for example, living in the non-magical world) can delay gift discovery. Living in the non-magical world will suppress all magical abilities, and it takes about ten years for them to develop again.

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(coming soon!)

A New and Growing World: Part Two

2/19/2022

How the realm of Crossworlds REALLY formed, in REALITY.
by Rose Channing

Ever seen one of these in real life? Me either, at least, not yet.

Okay, so I guess the last time there was a post here about how Crossworlds formed, it was by some pretentious lunatic who thinks she owns my world? Like, okay, cool, you had imaginary conversations with Ellie and Savannah through the mirror. We all did. But have you ever ACTUALLY met them?

Let me tell you how Crossworlds really formed.

Dang, Ellie and Savannah would laugh at me if they saw this early attempt to draw them.

The magical world was built on dreams. Maybe these dreams came from multiple dimensions and worlds, including this one. Maybe some of them were yours. And some of them were mine. These dreams floating out in space began to swirl together, slowly forming their own little planet. I don’t want to dive too deep into the stories of the early days, I wrote a whole book on it. Banged my head against the wall the whole time, so read it and and appreciate my effort, please.

Anyway. Some people can travel dimensions. I don’t know how, or I’d do it too. But these were “new explorers,” were enlightened to the ways of finding new realms. So, I came up with a stupid name for them, the “Realm Enlightened New Explorers,” or, less stupid but still cliché, the Rene (I didn’t say it, my friend René did. Love you babe!)

So, the Rene began bringing these dreams to life, and forming the world based on a union of reality and dreams. Which is basically my entire life as well.

I formed Crossworlds by basically by doing what the early people did, basking in dreams for long hours until they told me how to shape them. And I did my best to listen and write from there. All the while balancing my own life with my friends, who are far better writers than I’ll ever be. I don’t understand this holier-than-thou attitude of “my writing MEANT something because it wasn’t just the shiny idea of the day!” I mean, I knew Crossworlds was a long-term relationship for me, but it’s not like Lucy and Nick’s writing is just a series of meaningless flings. I actually think they have a higher purpose, because their long-term relationship is with writing itself. I’ve always admired their versatility, their ability to pull ideas out of the air, and their courage to actually share what’s going on in their heads. I was always too terrified. And I’m not sure where that comes from. Maybe because part of me knew I was doing something real? Ugh, now I’m starting to sound obnoxious too.

I guess it comes from finding that perfect “click” moment—having one person who vibes just right with you so there’s no fear, and sharing doesn’t feel like work, or an invitation to criticism. It was just fun. It was perfect. And I think I took it for granted. Then it got taken away from me.

Since then, I don’t really share. And sure, I’ve got a wonderful and supportive group of friends around me, but it’s just weird to talk to them about this stuff because for me “it’s my dream” and for them it’s their reality.

And there they all are. Most of these people I'd consider my friends. Not sure what some of the others think of me.

Okay, enough of that. Back to this world-forming biz…

Magic in the developing world was chaotic, but several things helped it calm down. First was the Labyrinth built around the Northern border, keeping the most potent magic limited to a realm where people could handle it. Next was the “Stream” that connected all the realms, as a way of balancing the world’s magic. After that, it was less common to see people born with the godlike power of Claire and Dimitri. The various gifts became more common, like the world was trying to break up and evenly distribute its magic. And that’s kinda where we’re at now…

This doodle is a little better, but I'm still not sure I'd show it to them.

It is a young world, still rapidly developing. It’s been around longer than I have, but our world was here first… I did plot out the timeline once, but I don’t feel like digging up those old notes, they’re probably still buried in boxes from the last time we moved. But yeah, it’s still kind of a baby world, and it’s still rapidly growing and changing. The stream can, and has been altered in the past. I’m sure it will be altered again, probably a few more times. I mean, I’m not 1000% sure, like, I haven’t planned beyond The Mansion’s Family. But there probably will be a few more natural alterations.

This is a pretty quick overview, and if you want more detail, it’s all there in Stories of the Early Days. But if you’re totally new to this world (welcome!), start with The Mansion’s Twins. Come meet my friends!

I wish you light and magic.

Click the covers to check out my books!

Wait, what are these? This is getting weird... You can click these covers too, if you like. I'm just gonna pretend I didn't see them.

Gift Focus of the Month: Outer-Vision

2/12/2022

We’re taking a close look at the twelve gifts, starting with the twins’ gifts, and then making our way through the poem:

The Lady Illusion gave us a set of twelve
Twelve children, twelve months, and twelve gifts as well
Inner and outer vision, levitation
Fire, water, transformation
Glowing, healing, communication
Singers, dancers, model makers

This month’s focus is Savannah’s gift: Outer-vision. Let’s look in Rose’s notebook for an introduction:

Outer vision is the ability to see through pretty much anything physical, unless it’s been guarded against the gift. Most people just say “seeing through walls.” It’s considered one of the magical basics, and it’s one of the two “vision” gifts, closely related to the rarer inner vision.

Savannah, opening windows just 'cause she can.

The gifted can guard their magic so no one else sees the windows they open. And others can guard against outer vision. Hm. Sounds like this could start a guard-war.

The high level of this gift is considered attainable. On top of opening windows, the gifted can “open doors,” and walk through walls. The flipside of this gift is closing things, which, like levitations flipside, is not used very often. In situations where dangerous magic needs to be cleansed, outer vision’s flipside can be helpful to close off the area.

Those with outer vision are usually good problem-solvers. They are insightful, quiet, and thoughtful, and often notice things others don’t. They aren’t quite on the same level as those with inner-vision—they’re a little less intense in both magic and personality. Their attitude tends to be more light-hearted and optimistic, but in a calmer, subtler way than other bolder gifts. Outer-vision is most closely connected to inner-vision and transformation. It is commonly symbolized by an eye, a mirror, or a pair of glasses.

Fun Fact About the Twelve Gifts:

In the study of the gifts, some believe each of the twelve gifts are linked, in a circle that looks something like this:

I suppose those arrows should be pointing in both directions, but this was a very quick scribble. It's a very basic representation of how each type of magic is related. Studying the types of magic connected to your gift will help strengthen and round out your gift. There is some debate amount gift theorists about which gifts are actually related, and if those relations can be summed up in a neat little circle. But this is a common way to begin studying "gift theory."

Click to covers to check out the series!

A New and Growing World: Part One

1/28/2022

How the realm of Crossworlds formed, both in fiction and in the real world.

Hey, it's my birthday, and I'm...

I'm aware I posted this for my 30th birthday as well, because my past self was impatient and we both love Jenna. Sorry for the confusion. I am now actually 32.

So, as I’m another year older, and so is Crossworlds, let’s take a look back on how it formed as I did.

I began building Crossworlds when I was fourteen, though at the time it didn’t have a name—the world, or the book series. I wasn’t trying to write a series, or even one book, for a long time. I was just playing around. Eventually, play developed into storylines, and those storylines became linked. Those links became one book with a vague idea for a sequel, and an even more distant idea for a prequel. I was sure that was the end.

Until one day I was reading “The Subtle Knife,” and the simple thought, “I wanna meet these people,” went through my head. That thought set off a 20+ minute daydream that opened up the second half of the series. There were a few times along the way when I thought, “And that’ll be the last book, and that’s the end!” But now I know Crossworlds will never be over as long as I’m alive. It is my personal crisis to be able to balance the life of my book series with my actual lifetime.

Just before Crossworlds, I lived in another world, one I shared with my friends in middle school. It was called “Strangeness,” and it was, as it sounds, all about being weird. My friends and I made up stories, we drew maps (I only remember towns like Sugarville and Lemon Land), and enjoyed our weird world together. It was a shared world—everyone could contribute, and put cities on the map.

The odd thing about Strangeness was I knew it was a phase, and wouldn’t live beyond middle school. But in the distance, across a bridge from Strangeness, I saw a new world starting to form. This world was both 100% private, and 100% permanent.

I didn’t share. The few times I tried, it didn’t go well. Usually I’d just get talked over, by other, more confident friends who fully considered themselves writers. These were people who could pull ideas out of thin air, and discussed them like… Well, like they didn’t mean anything. I don’t like how pretentious that makes me sound. But for me, every time I brought up my world it felt like there were insanely high stakes. It wasn’t just some potential project I’d play with for a week and then drop for the next shiny idea—it was my entire life and identity.

The worst moment of attempted sharing was when I told my friends the name of my world. Yeah, it used to have a name. Basically, I was daydreaming on a car ride, thinking about what the world should be called. I thought about the “important” elements, which, at the time, weren’t very developed. I knew mirrors were commonly used, and that summer was the most celebrated season. So, I just mashed those words together into “Mirsuma.” And for a while, that was what I (privately) called the world beyond the Shadow Cave.

So, one day I was talking to a couple friends, and decided, for whatever crazy reason, to open up about this world. I said the name of it for the first time. And these two friends… Well, one of them said it sounded like the name of a disease. Not in a “hey, you shouldn’t call it that because it sounds like a disease” way, or in a deliberately mean way. No, she had just recently learned about a disease with a similar name, and she was excited to share what she knew about it. And then they both just… started talking about this awful disease and left me in the dust. I just sat there helplessly, trying to process the fact that my entire world had just shattered into pieces.

Dramatic, maybe, but I was a dramatic teenager. I remember crying about it to another friend later that day. I didn’t tell her why I was upset, I just remember repeatedly saying “it’s stupid,” while sobbing uncontrollably. And she’s like, “well, it’s clearly important to you, so it’s not stupid.” That was a sweet moment. And yeah, it was extremely important to me, but it was also pretty stupid, and I knew all of that. Still, it took months to look back at my writing, and address the question of the world’s name. Finally, I read “Faerie Wars” and decided my world didn’t need a name at all (the world in that series doesn’t have a name either). My world is just the magical world, and that’s enough. So, seriously, let’s never call it anything else.

So, from then on, Crossworlds developed privately. And there was a certain power in that. I had my little conversations with Ellie and Savannah through the mirror, and learned what they were all about. I spent hours on the top bunk of my bed with my orange cat Susa, staring into space, and filling notebooks with random story notes and dreams. It was something that was 100% mine, a wonderful refuge from the real world where I held all the power. There were times I wished I could share it, but I also knew that once it was out in the world, it could never be completely mine again. I decided to wait until I was ready to take that leap, and I'm glad I did.

I didn't try to share again until college, and not without a whole lot of peer pressure. But finally, I had some positive experiences. One of the groups I ran with liked to stay up late drinking, and the other group liked to have tea parties where I read my book out loud. I’m all about a balanced world.

Eventually I asked my boyfriend if he liked the name “Crossworlds” for the series. I wasn’t sure about it, because it sounded too similar to “crossword,” which I will never be able to say like a normal person again. But he loved it, and I soon grew to love it too. And he's been helping me grow my world ever since.

That's me and my love a few years ago. There was also the time he made me a Crossworlds cake. Yummy. You should also have some cake, 'cause it's my birthday. Let's have a virtual party. Hell yeah.

Well. I know I'm allowed to be a little self-indulgent on my birthday, but that felt like a lot, so I'll wrap it up. But to any other writers who get talked over, or fear sharing, I hope you got something out of this. You will find your support system, and until then, you can grow your world yourself, because it's YOURS.

Click the covers to check out my books! It's my birthday! DO IT!

Gift Focus of the Month: Levitation

1/16/2022

We’re taking a close look at the twelve gifts, starting with the twins’ gifts, and then making our way through the poem:

The Lady Illusion gave us a set of twelve
Twelve children, twelve months, and twelve gifts as well
Inner and outer vision, levitation
Fire, water, transformation
Glowing, healing, communication
Singers, dancers, model makers

Ellie, levitating stuff in her room

Travis and Cassandra (also a levitator) with their tiny twin babies.

This month, it’s Ellie’s gift—levitation. Rose made a similar gift-focused series, so first off, let’s take a peek in her notebook:

The gifted tend to be optimistic and high-spirited, and their attitude is contagious to those around them. However, they can also be reckless, and don’t always think things through before making important decisions.

Yeah, that sounds like Ellie. She was a little disappointed to learn that her gift is considered on of the magical “basics,” along with outer-vision and the glow. It is a common gift, but a practical one, and Ellie’s perspective of it shifts when she learns it was also her mother’s gift. Both Ellie and her mother aspired to flight, which is considered the high level of this gift. No levitator in history has achieved this level of magic, but, optimistic as they are, levitators don’t take the word “impossible” too seriously.

They say there are two sides to magic, so what does that mean for levitation?

If I can open walls, I can close them. If Ellie can lift things up, she can bring them down.

That line might sound silly or devastating, depending on how much of The Mansion’s Family you’ve read. But, however it may sound, levitations flipside is just bringing things down. This can be used as part of the process of cleansing spaces of old magic, but most levitators don’t need to explore this part of their gift.

Levitators have a great deal of choice in life, as their gift doesn’t demand dedication the way some others do. Some choose to use it in their careers, while others just view it as a convenient way to get snacks without leaving the couch. Levitation is theoretically “linked” to water and glowing. It is often symbolized by a bird, a balloon, or wings.

Fun Fact About the Twelve Gifts:

What does it mean to be gifted? Your gift is considered to be the magic you’re naturally best at. Some people are born gifted, but for most people, gift discover occurs in childhood, usually between the ages of five and eight.

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Writing is my Breath

6/26/2021

If life is meditation, writing is my breath.
The focal point, the clarity, the reason I’m alive.
Distractions come like a head full of racing thoughts.
As the world tells me it’s not enough to just breathe.
What should I be doing with my life?
I ponder other career paths I could have pursued.
It’s not too late to go another direction.
Because I should be bigger, better, and reach higher…
But why? I take a deep breath. I remember what’s real to me.
Even as I write this, I wonder, is that sad?
But who is telling me it should be?
I think the word “should” is sad.
It looks like a pouting toddler: “SHOULD!”
And this world will sometimes shout it in a resounding chorus.
“What do you want?” the world asks. “Just figure that out, and pursue it.”
I answer. The world says no, and asks again.
But in my own world, I have peace.
When I focus on my breath, everything is okay.
Everything else is a distraction, but that’s okay too.
I don’t have to fight against it so hard.
I can notice a thought, feel an emotion, let it come, and let it go.
And I can be distracted by pleasant thoughts as well.
There will always be distractions, confusion, and “shoulds.”
But if life is meditation, writing is my breath.

Some thoughts on the poem...

Okay, I’ve had this idea in my brain for a while, though originally it was “if life is meditation, Crossworlds is my breath.” I changed it to be less confusing and more relatable, but it’s still true to my experience. But holy crap, this was hard to write. The original draft of this is two solid pages of my brain spiraling in all directions, because when you’re writing about your anxieties and the world’s expectations, how do you not get swept away in those feelings? I suppose I wasn’t 100% honest, and this is why “Crossworlds,” and not “writing” is my breath. Still, this was in my brain, and needed to exist.
Anyway, if you are also a “writer,” I hope you can relate. If not, please tell me what your version of this is. If life is meditation, what if your breath?