I played around with different synonyms for 'fluid'. Maybe 'wavering ground' might work well too...
I imagine you'll get a 'felt sense' for the one title, which captures your incredible story in one fractaline snapshot, like a synopsis of a synopsis...
“unfixed” that simple word is what drew me to you initially. The tagline also works, but the other titles lose the power of the question, “what does unfixed mean?”That drew this tentative browser into one of the most amazing reading experiences of my life. I had no clue the journey I was in for. At first sight, I knew I could relate to that word personally, but I wanted to know more about how and why you relate to it.
In my opinion, and pardon my bluntness, but the other titles are a little sappy. You have a powerful story and the title needs to reflect it. Those don’t draw me in at all, I could easily pass them by. “unfixed”is raw visceral, fresh, I hope you stick with it.
I also love how the letter is flopped, adding graphic power to the word. Plus you also follow the “un” to the end with the words unselfing, unfolding, unholding, that ties it all together neatly.
I thought it was all brilliant start to finish, and brilliant is a totally inadequate word for how I experience your writing. At some point, I hope to write more specifically of the powerful effect it has on me.
I feel so blessed to have found you in the way I did when I did. Thank you for welcoming me, encouraging me, and I have a draft for my first post as a result. You will be tagged with gratitude. 🧡🫂
Oh Grace, I'm so delighted to hear this... I quoted you yesterday to my husband actually. I love that somehow inherently you knew what "unfixed" meant to you, but that it drew you in to wanting to understand my own relationship to it. Learning about how others relate to this word has become a lifelong, joyful, endeavor. Everyone has such a unique way of navigating uncertainty and I appreciate all the creative, ingenious ways we learn to walk in the dark. Looking forward to reading your first post!
A toast to you too!! I’ve had the time of my life reading your memoir and meeting you here. As a fellow introvert, Substack has brought so much new connection to my life and I’ve felt like I’ve found my people. 🥹❤️🔥
I’ll keep thinking on the title but I really love “Water’s Way” !
I am always awfully quiet when it comes to opinions. I’ve often felt I really don’t have many, or at least see and feel all sides too easily to assert anything with conviction.:)
That said, what a wonder you are! I have an opinion about your heart and I claim its magnificence. “Finding Peace Above Blue Waters” or an even simpler mirror “Resting Above Blue Waters” is such a beautiful, all-encompassing subtitle that weaves together Charlie, water, and my own discovery. I’m loving this! ❤️❤️❤️
You are amazing! You write with your heart on the page and that doesn’t need fixing—so I think unfixed is brilliant—thank you for including me in this, all that you said—the feeling is mutual! Bless you❤️
I love how you describe your Substack experience, and I very much relate to it (even though I’m a newbie). It is such a refreshing, supportive community, and I’m happy to be here, and equally happy to have recently discovered Unfixed (I also love that title, for what it’s worth). Here’s to your continued success and community building here on the platform!
Symbiocene is the perfect word for these overlapping communities on Substack that I can't imagine being without. I'm so happy to be part of yours! (For a title, Unfixed caught my attention from the first glimmer of what you meant by it.)
I actually learned the word from Veronika Bond... if you haven't been reading her over here, I highly recommend. She's quite a deep, provocative and expansive thinker. Like you!
Kimberly! I'm over the moon to be a part of this symbiocene. I've been thinking a lot lately of the beauty of the immediacy between writers and creators and readers here. Our words and thoughts shape each others imaginings. Our visions twirl in the kaleidoscope of each other's days. Or, to put it in your brilliant words, "our party’s last call is the apocalypse and we’ll be deejayed out by birdsong"! Wouldn't have it any other way. 🥰🔥
I love all the suggestions for titles people have made. And I adore unfixed. Is it a bigger "brand" for lack of a better word--an umbrella for all your offerings and more to come? And if so, does that inform whether or not you'd want it as the title to the memoir? Questions are my only contribution here. ;)
Isn't it fun over here! The playground we've all been searching for since childhood!
Yes, unfixed is definitely a "brand" (quite literally is my LLC for the media company) and since this work endlessly excites me with new perspectives, avenues to explore, and projects to pursue, I have a hunch it will continue until my last breath. As my brand designer husband says, leverage the brand!
This symbiocene web woven by your words and sentiments, calling in all of us little sprouts in your forest, brought tears. Thank you for including me, a fellow introvert, called into these beautiful woods by writing as heartfelt and sincere as yours. Not only has your writing touched me these months but your presence to the rest of us here for which words are few but "thank you."
You had me at "Unfixed" and the more I get to know unfixed through your eyes and words and story, the more I hope the message travels far and wide.
All the best on next steps with this memoir, and all my love,
Tears flowing back to you Renée. I feel your kindred spirit and hold her with the delicate joy each day brings...and now touch literally every time I invite your beautiful CureLive mother to join me.
And I yours. Truly. I think about this often. So much love and support here in Substack land. It's ahhhmazing. A year ago, most of us had no idea any one of us existed.
Now, when you put into this shared spirit goodness and joy the literal touch on the skin of something we've each made, that is exponential ahhhhmazing, and I'm soon to reach out for more Fluf. . . .
Oh, Kimberly, I feel exactly the same way! I feel like we're old soul friends who've known each other forever. In your interview with Bertus, you used the phrase "Listen and respond" as a way of being with and participating in life. We don't have to plan, strive, or control anything. Just listen and respond. That had a profound impact on me and I mention it now because I see your wisdom weaving itself into some of my new writings which is such a reflection of the symbiocene here. As far as a title goes, I've sat with it and just can't think of anything I like better than Unfixed. ❤️
You just gave me goosebumps Jenna. To know that our stories are feeding other future stories, this feels like pure magic. Your work is always zooming out into the macrocosm and then zooming back into the nuances of the inner being, find the veins of continuity and nourishment between both, and so I imagine you touch this magic daily in your reflecting, musing, thinking. So lovely to have met you here soul friend. And it's only just the beginning!
Your story will always be 'Unfixed' for me. Brevity can be alluring... And it links to what you emphasize in your 'book jacket blurb' and preface - when things fall apart... Not everyone gets a fixer upper. I'd say even the fixer uppers aren't fixed! It's a powerful, powerful statement in a perfectionist culture. You have been courageous enough to voice it, to voice what many experience. Your story helps to heal shame. So I vote 'Unfixed' 😉 also, Charlie's story was a water story... And while yours is too, metaphorically, it's also got a different feeling to me. It's YOUR voice, and it's beautifully rich with so much imagery. Your poetry and prose reflect the interface of body, mind, emotion, environment, belonging and how all of those things become fixed and unfixed... Thank you for the mention, and I love how you weave us all into a symbiocene 🌳 it's a wonderful thing to read a book as it becomes a book, and be part of a community as it becomes a community ❤️✨
Wow. You summarized my experience so beautifully Micah. "The interface of body, mind, emotion, environment, belonging and how all of those things become fixed and unfixed." That's one profound statement and I hadn't really pulled all those together under the same "unfixed umbrella" until you pointed it out. It has been such a joy to feel you placing your own building blocks in this community building, book building, experience. Thank you!!!!
I do love simply 'Unfixed' for a title.
And from the text somewhere in these last chapters three words seem to have rooted in me:
'The Exhale Replies'
I would pick up a book with that title....
Ahhhh, such a good reply. ;) Wondering now if all the world's problems could be answered with an exhale.
Then that would be an expiracy... might work....
...or an exhocalypse...:)
Bowing straight back to you! I am honoured.
Unfixed: Finding my Feet on Fluid Ground
Ohhhhhhhh!!!!!! I knew you'd have a doozy. Thank you Veronika. x
I played around with different synonyms for 'fluid'. Maybe 'wavering ground' might work well too...
I imagine you'll get a 'felt sense' for the one title, which captures your incredible story in one fractaline snapshot, like a synopsis of a synopsis...
What a great way to think about a title!
^ I love this one!
Me too!!!!
“unfixed” that simple word is what drew me to you initially. The tagline also works, but the other titles lose the power of the question, “what does unfixed mean?”That drew this tentative browser into one of the most amazing reading experiences of my life. I had no clue the journey I was in for. At first sight, I knew I could relate to that word personally, but I wanted to know more about how and why you relate to it.
In my opinion, and pardon my bluntness, but the other titles are a little sappy. You have a powerful story and the title needs to reflect it. Those don’t draw me in at all, I could easily pass them by. “unfixed”is raw visceral, fresh, I hope you stick with it.
I also love how the letter is flopped, adding graphic power to the word. Plus you also follow the “un” to the end with the words unselfing, unfolding, unholding, that ties it all together neatly.
I thought it was all brilliant start to finish, and brilliant is a totally inadequate word for how I experience your writing. At some point, I hope to write more specifically of the powerful effect it has on me.
I feel so blessed to have found you in the way I did when I did. Thank you for welcoming me, encouraging me, and I have a draft for my first post as a result. You will be tagged with gratitude. 🧡🫂
Oh Grace, I'm so delighted to hear this... I quoted you yesterday to my husband actually. I love that somehow inherently you knew what "unfixed" meant to you, but that it drew you in to wanting to understand my own relationship to it. Learning about how others relate to this word has become a lifelong, joyful, endeavor. Everyone has such a unique way of navigating uncertainty and I appreciate all the creative, ingenious ways we learn to walk in the dark. Looking forward to reading your first post!
I love this response and your response to the
Response 🥰
Thank you so much, Kimberly. I think my first post is coming Sunday.
A toast to you too!! I’ve had the time of my life reading your memoir and meeting you here. As a fellow introvert, Substack has brought so much new connection to my life and I’ve felt like I’ve found my people. 🥹❤️🔥
I’ll keep thinking on the title but I really love “Water’s Way” !
"Finding our people" - - makes me feel like a school girl all over again. Let's go make dandelion crowns and eat cake!
That sounds like my kind of party! 🪅💥😍
Unfixed; Amazing title! Does all the work you need. Thank you so for the mention in this amazing list.
Thank you beautiful human. I always value your two cents.
Personally I love love love “Unfixed”—but a descriptive subtitle never hurts
The Princeton business graduate has spoken! xoxo
😂🤣 nah, just her heart doing the talking.
I am always awfully quiet when it comes to opinions. I’ve often felt I really don’t have many, or at least see and feel all sides too easily to assert anything with conviction.:)
That said, what a wonder you are! I have an opinion about your heart and I claim its magnificence. “Finding Peace Above Blue Waters” or an even simpler mirror “Resting Above Blue Waters” is such a beautiful, all-encompassing subtitle that weaves together Charlie, water, and my own discovery. I’m loving this! ❤️❤️❤️
You are amazing! You write with your heart on the page and that doesn’t need fixing—so I think unfixed is brilliant—thank you for including me in this, all that you said—the feeling is mutual! Bless you❤️
Right back at you. Bleeding hearts, beating hearts, healing hearts - all that and more from your gutted, transcendent offerings.
I love how you describe your Substack experience, and I very much relate to it (even though I’m a newbie). It is such a refreshing, supportive community, and I’m happy to be here, and equally happy to have recently discovered Unfixed (I also love that title, for what it’s worth). Here’s to your continued success and community building here on the platform!
Thank you Jacob and welcome to this fertile, life-restoring community of readers and writers!
Symbiocene is the perfect word for these overlapping communities on Substack that I can't imagine being without. I'm so happy to be part of yours! (For a title, Unfixed caught my attention from the first glimmer of what you meant by it.)
I actually learned the word from Veronika Bond... if you haven't been reading her over here, I highly recommend. She's quite a deep, provocative and expansive thinker. Like you!
Aw, thanks! I like her word-making.
You know my choice, but I will also add a vote under Bertus for “ The Exhale Replies “.
Stay tuned, I might wake in the middle of the night to another that surfaced during sleep…
I echo Lor and Bertus for the title ; thank you so much for the accolade and for this cosy nest of introverts and wordsmiths.
Thank you Mya. Never a bad idea to echo Lor and Bertus. I think I might try to echo them for the rest of my days. ;)
Kimberly! I'm over the moon to be a part of this symbiocene. I've been thinking a lot lately of the beauty of the immediacy between writers and creators and readers here. Our words and thoughts shape each others imaginings. Our visions twirl in the kaleidoscope of each other's days. Or, to put it in your brilliant words, "our party’s last call is the apocalypse and we’ll be deejayed out by birdsong"! Wouldn't have it any other way. 🥰🔥
I love all the suggestions for titles people have made. And I adore unfixed. Is it a bigger "brand" for lack of a better word--an umbrella for all your offerings and more to come? And if so, does that inform whether or not you'd want it as the title to the memoir? Questions are my only contribution here. ;)
Isn't it fun over here! The playground we've all been searching for since childhood!
Yes, unfixed is definitely a "brand" (quite literally is my LLC for the media company) and since this work endlessly excites me with new perspectives, avenues to explore, and projects to pursue, I have a hunch it will continue until my last breath. As my brand designer husband says, leverage the brand!
Kimberly,
This symbiocene web woven by your words and sentiments, calling in all of us little sprouts in your forest, brought tears. Thank you for including me, a fellow introvert, called into these beautiful woods by writing as heartfelt and sincere as yours. Not only has your writing touched me these months but your presence to the rest of us here for which words are few but "thank you."
You had me at "Unfixed" and the more I get to know unfixed through your eyes and words and story, the more I hope the message travels far and wide.
All the best on next steps with this memoir, and all my love,
Renée
Tears flowing back to you Renée. I feel your kindred spirit and hold her with the delicate joy each day brings...and now touch literally every time I invite your beautiful CureLive mother to join me.
And I yours. Truly. I think about this often. So much love and support here in Substack land. It's ahhhmazing. A year ago, most of us had no idea any one of us existed.
Now, when you put into this shared spirit goodness and joy the literal touch on the skin of something we've each made, that is exponential ahhhhmazing, and I'm soon to reach out for more Fluf. . . .
Oh, Kimberly, I feel exactly the same way! I feel like we're old soul friends who've known each other forever. In your interview with Bertus, you used the phrase "Listen and respond" as a way of being with and participating in life. We don't have to plan, strive, or control anything. Just listen and respond. That had a profound impact on me and I mention it now because I see your wisdom weaving itself into some of my new writings which is such a reflection of the symbiocene here. As far as a title goes, I've sat with it and just can't think of anything I like better than Unfixed. ❤️
You just gave me goosebumps Jenna. To know that our stories are feeding other future stories, this feels like pure magic. Your work is always zooming out into the macrocosm and then zooming back into the nuances of the inner being, find the veins of continuity and nourishment between both, and so I imagine you touch this magic daily in your reflecting, musing, thinking. So lovely to have met you here soul friend. And it's only just the beginning!
Your story will always be 'Unfixed' for me. Brevity can be alluring... And it links to what you emphasize in your 'book jacket blurb' and preface - when things fall apart... Not everyone gets a fixer upper. I'd say even the fixer uppers aren't fixed! It's a powerful, powerful statement in a perfectionist culture. You have been courageous enough to voice it, to voice what many experience. Your story helps to heal shame. So I vote 'Unfixed' 😉 also, Charlie's story was a water story... And while yours is too, metaphorically, it's also got a different feeling to me. It's YOUR voice, and it's beautifully rich with so much imagery. Your poetry and prose reflect the interface of body, mind, emotion, environment, belonging and how all of those things become fixed and unfixed... Thank you for the mention, and I love how you weave us all into a symbiocene 🌳 it's a wonderful thing to read a book as it becomes a book, and be part of a community as it becomes a community ❤️✨
Wow. You summarized my experience so beautifully Micah. "The interface of body, mind, emotion, environment, belonging and how all of those things become fixed and unfixed." That's one profound statement and I hadn't really pulled all those together under the same "unfixed umbrella" until you pointed it out. It has been such a joy to feel you placing your own building blocks in this community building, book building, experience. Thank you!!!!
Kimberly, how lovely 💙
My upcoming response to Eleanor's 8 Questions addresses this building of community as well.
Even when we can't read everyone's work, it feels like there is support for the truth, beauty, and experiments.
I look forward to reading your response Kathleen!
PS I like Unfixed as it is!