Creator Chat: Dawn Salois

Our Creator Chat for today is about Dawn Salois. Dawn has written on Vocal for six months. At the time of our interview she has 22 posts on the platform and is an active and valued participant in the Facebook groups for Vocal Creators.

I'm particularly excited to talk with Dawn since I admire her Who I Am post. I'm using it as an inspiration to write my own Who I Am, and I admire the way she shared a look into her life, since that is something I am struggling to do! I like it so much I'm using her photo as the cover for this Creator Chat!

Me: "Dawn, thank you for taking the time for this interview!"

Dawn: "I'm excited to do it. I think the interviews allow us to get to know each other better."

M: "I take it you enjoy getting to know other Vocal Creators?"

D: "There have been so many creators who have had positive impacts on me that I couldn’t possibly name them all. I will mention, though, that joining The Vocal Creators Support Group really turned my Vocal experience around. I learned about swapping reads with other creators and I started to get more reads than I ever had before. I probably read a lot more than I post, but I don’t even mind because I genuinely enjoy reading the work of my fellow creators. I also got to know other creators and eventually branched out into more Facebook communities. I now have a large number of creators that I would consider to be friends and I value my relationship with all of them."

M: " One of your Vocal posts is a poem inspired by a Creator, isn't it? I found it very comforting."

D: "Yes, the poem is Ascension, and I came to me after learning of the passing of Tom Bradbury."

M: "You've written about breaking out of your comfort zone, as you did when you wrote your two poems, which are the first poems you've ever written!. You've written for several other Communities, including 'Special Meal', which is part of the 'Vocal Cooks Collaborate.'"

M: "Are there any Communities for which you'd find it difficult to write?"

D: "I am highly unlikely to ever write anything for Swamp because I feel like politics are really divisive and I don’t believe that fire needs any more fuel. I also don’t know that I am brave enough to write anything in Filthy. "

M:" Those are two difficult ones for me, too. I look forward to you writing in Wander, though! You've seen many places, including Greece and Israel! If you could visit any country at all, where would you go?

D: " There are so many countries I would love to visit! I guess if I had to pick one country it would be Italy. I would also love to see Greece again. I have a lot of appreciation for ancient history and I could probably get excited about going anywhere if I did some research about the area. "

M:" I wondered if you were going to say Egypt, since your childhood hero was the Mighty Isis! I remember watching that TV show! Tell me, Dawn; what superpower would you like to have, and why?"

D:" That’s a really good question. I would love to have all sorts of powers, but if I had to choose one it would probably be teleportation. The ability to be anywhere I wanted to go instantly has a lot of appeal for me. I would use it to travel to all the places I’ve ever wanted to see. If I was able to bring people with me when I teleported I think there would be some opportunities to use it to help people too."

M:" That sounds like a great superpower, and it would really help with the traveling, too! (Dawn chuckles and nods), Are you an adventurous person?"

D: " I don't know if I would call it that, I did travel and work in different places, but I had always fallen back on my kitchen experience and I was afraid that I would have trouble doing a different type of work. I actually really enjoy what I do now, though, and I’m glad I opened myself up to trying new things."

M:" Is there some advice that you would give your 13-year old self, if you could?"

D:" Yes! The most important thing I think I could tell 13-year-old me would be to take more chances. I spent so much of my life doing what was comfortable, safe, and expected that I have missed out on a lot of experiences that would have helped me grow as a person. "

M:" That's great advice. So, that was looking backwards, let's look forwards: If you looked into a crystal ball and saw yourself five years from now, what would you see and where would you be in your writing journey?"

D:" I hope that I will have more time to write five years from now. I think it would be great to find a way to make a living as a writer, but I wouldn’t want that to come at the cost of my freedom to write about what I want to write about. I also wouldn’t want anything to take the enjoyment out of writing. I just hope I will be in some sort of stable career and that I am able to see my son regularly. "

M:" I'm sure you will retain the bond with your son! You wrote very eloquently about parenting in The Most Important Job I've Ever Had.

M:" In The Most Important Job I've Ever Had you wrote that you will forever treasure being able to spend time with your son during the quarantine. It was almost a gift, even though you were between jobs due to the pandemic!

And since this is the time of year that we talk about gifts, my last question for you is: What one gift would you like to either give or receive?"

D: "A gift that I would like to both give and receive is the ability to accept oneself. Obviously it’s not something that can be given to anyone, but I think the ability to accept and love yourself is absolutely priceless and would solve many of the other problems people have in their lives. "

M: "Thank you, Dawn! I agree, and I hope we all receive that gift. Thank you for joining us here at Creator Chat!

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You can read more of my writing on Vocal here.

You can find me here on Medium.

You can join my Facebook group The Vocal Creators Support Group here.