Hi!
Maybe it’s time to be clear about my plans for 2023. Of course (of course), all of my goals depend on the war. It might easily ruin everything. In a second of the missile, drone, or other cruel stupidness.
I committed this year to writing. I need to try. Why? I love it. I love words. I love how they lie down on the screens & papers. I love their scent (oh, the words have a scent). My words might smell like roses.
So 2023, if I stay alive, sane & determined
Nobook (the book that shouldn’t have been written)
I started to write it maybe in early December. Perhaps you remember my tweet about the man in a heavy coat & red scarf. He inspired me to start writing. I don’t know him. He doesn’t know me. I’ve just seen him, come home & started nobook. I want to finish it this year. After that?
I don’t know. Publish? Translate? (I’m writing it in Ukrainian, it’s easier for my words). Maybe a good publisher will find it worth trying.
War book-diary
It’s not Twitter. It’s something dated from Feb 24 too. There are already 297 pages in it. I share my personal experience from this war. Some events. Some feelings. Some fears. Some pictures. Everything. I share everything (ok, almost) in it. I will consider what to do with it after our victory. Victory day will be the last page of this diary. By the way, the diary is in Ukrainian too.
Warcoffee blog (you're reading it now)
I love it. When I started it, I planned stories about all things Ukrainian. But now… now it’s something more. In the blog, you can find An apple & thought series – stories from different cafes; warcoffee talks about something – posts about my everyday everything; warcoffee cups – new posts featuring coffee/tea cups from all over the world. New ideas will come (I’m full of them constantly). The blog is in English and free to read. I want everyone can read it and learn about our war & how ordinary people live through it.
This blog is also a tool for supporting my dream to be a writer. To write nobook, war book-diary & maybe other-other things. So every time you buy me warcoffee, please, know that you’ve just supported the big dream.
I will keep tweeting as long as Twitter is here and people read me. It’s our worldwide warcoffee community. It’s already part of me, my life, my days, my thoughts. I love it because of people like you there.
As I write the blog & Twitter in English, I decided to improve it. I bought some books, listen & read more in English. I want it to be as perfect & light as my Ukrainian (it will not be easy, but I’ll try). I want to do wonders with words. I want you to feel them, to inhale & smell the scent of the rose.
So many writing plans I have. And maybe you have one question: What if? What if my writing fails?
So in 2024 (if we survive this war, but we will, we should), I’ll quit writing, find a job & will live a humble nodreams life. But I have a chance to try. This war has taught me not to miss chances & life. I might not have tomorrow, but I still have today. And today I’m writing.
Thank you for being here, listening, buying me a warcoffee, replying, asking, worrying, and hugging.
Yours,
Yara (or Yaroslava)