Diary of a Smart Chick

Various writings from a curious mind

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    About Me or This Blog,  Mental Health

    How Writing, Crafting, and Depression Came Together in a Book

    September 19, 2019

    This is a post about the intersection of writing, crafting, and depression in my life. It originally appeared on the Sibel Hodge blog as a guest post. It was intended to promote my then-new book, Crochet Saved My Life. Since it’s no longer available on the original site, I thought I’d re-publish it again here. Crafting Together a Life One Stitch at a Time  For many years I led parallel lives where the different passions and experiences that I had didn’t seem to intersect much. As I’ve gotten older and grown into myself more, things have begun to converge. I’ve become more fully the person I am meant to be.…

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    Launching Crochet Saved My Life: Early on My Book Publishing Journey

    August 25, 2019
    drowning feeling in depression

    Dr(Owning) and S(Wallowing) in Depression

    May 23, 2019
    blog typewriter

    Hello world! (Again)

    September 2, 2018
  • About Me or This Blog,  Mental Health

    Launching Crochet Saved My Life: Early on My Book Publishing Journey

    August 25, 2019

    This was originally a guest post on the website Whip Up. I wrote it to promote my then-new book, Crochet Saved My Life. That was back in 2012. Since that post is no longer up on the original site, I thought I’d re-publish it again here. It was an early step on my self-publishing journey and my explorations into Crafting to Heal. There I am … a doubled-over heap of empty sobs balled up onto the bathroom floor, rocking back and forth trying to calm away the palpitating pain. My mind keeps racing around and around, exploring the tempting (but frightening) options for suicide. I could take some pills, I…

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    drowning feeling in depression

    Dr(Owning) and S(Wallowing) in Depression

    May 23, 2019
    literacy volunteer

    Literacy Volunteer: Appreciating the Ease of Reading and Writing

    August 19, 2019
    writing crafting moods

    How Writing, Crafting, and Depression Came Together in a Book

    September 19, 2019
  • literacy volunteer
    About Me or This Blog

    Literacy Volunteer: Appreciating the Ease of Reading and Writing

    August 19, 2019

    This post originally appeared in 2007 on my old blog: Real Words for a Real Writer. It’s about my brief but memorable experience as a literacy volunteer. When I was about eighteen, I signed up as a Literacy Volunteer of Tucson. My work with the group didn’t last long (what can I say, I was eighteen and not exactly committed to anything for very long periods of time). However, it left a lasting impression on my life. Although I obviously knew that there were illiterate adults living around me, I hadn’t really understood until working with one what that meant on a daily basis. And I hadn’t understood until that…

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    Related Posts

    writing crafting moods

    How Writing, Crafting, and Depression Came Together in a Book

    September 19, 2019

    Launching Crochet Saved My Life: Early on My Book Publishing Journey

    August 25, 2019
    drowning feeling in depression

    Dr(Owning) and S(Wallowing) in Depression

    May 23, 2019
  • drowning feeling in depression
    About Me or This Blog,  Mental Health

    Dr(Owning) and S(Wallowing) in Depression

    May 23, 2019

    I originally wrote this post for Rebelle Society years ago. It remains relevant to my depression story today, so I wanted to share it again. It expresses how despite living with chronic relapses of depression over the past 25 years, I don’t always know in the beginning of each one what is going on. I think it’s something else, usually something that’s my fault, until I finally realize it’s depression again. Depression came back. It walked right in through the front door while I was busy guarding all of the windows and cracks. It ignored the sign warning that “danger, there’s a dog here to protect me”. It sidled up…

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    Related Posts

    literacy volunteer

    Literacy Volunteer: Appreciating the Ease of Reading and Writing

    August 19, 2019

    Launching Crochet Saved My Life: Early on My Book Publishing Journey

    August 25, 2019
    writing crafting moods

    How Writing, Crafting, and Depression Came Together in a Book

    September 19, 2019
  • blog typewriter
    About Me or This Blog

    Hello world! (Again)

    September 2, 2018

    I first launched Diary of a Smart Chick in 2009 as a way to share links to a variety of things I was writing elsewhere on the web. Later it evolved into a personal blog, sometimes a photo dump spot, and more recently a place that I shared reviews, academic writing, and general thoughts. In Fall 2017, I sold my crochet blog Crochet Concupiscence. Unfortunately, there was a technical error when I handed over those files, and I accidentally gave over the old files from this blog as well. When I got them back, I made some mistakes; sadly I lost a lot of that original content. But, when one door closes,…

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    Related Posts

    Launching Crochet Saved My Life: Early on My Book Publishing Journey

    August 25, 2019
    drowning feeling in depression

    Dr(Owning) and S(Wallowing) in Depression

    May 23, 2019
    literacy volunteer

    Literacy Volunteer: Appreciating the Ease of Reading and Writing

    August 19, 2019

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I commit to using my skills / experience in writing, crafting and therapeutic creativity to assist others in understanding, exploring and achieving their creative dreams, honoring their artistic selves and healing their inner and outer worlds. This is done primarily through the channel of crochet but incorporates information from other areas of craft, art, creativity, and psychology. Subscribers receive my newsletter and additional rewards at various funding levels. As we reach collective milestones, I donate copies of my books to those in need.

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