This is the age of The Square Peg

Through all of it, I turned to stories. Not just my own, but yours: My fellow Square Pegs. It was your paintings, your music, your photographs, your words, your art...

Grandad brought a blue Remington typewriter into my room. “You’re a writer, Keeley. You should write!” he told me.

I was about 10, I think. And at the time I thought: “No, Grandad. I’m going to be a movie star.”

I mean, obviously.

But I loved writing short stories and poems and Grandad got me lessons so I could touch-type at high speed.

I entered and won poetry and short story competitions and was the go-to for writing confronting letters to friends or family. (Still am, just now they’re usually texts or emails. As I type this, I’m just realising my ghostwriter days started way back then. Interesting.)

Grandad had told me to write, so I did. I wrote all the time. 

When dreams blew up in my face. I wrote. When my world crumbled like a tower of duplo attacked by a toddler, I wrote. 

Through all of it, I turned to stories.

Not just my own, but yours: My fellow Square Pegs. It was your paintings, your music, your photographs, your words, your art. They showed me new stories and pulled me forward. Your words, your art, your paintings, your sculpture, your songs have been my joy my whole life. I held them tightly, not going anywhere without my stories.

But I longed to be a part of telling them too…

…I knew, even then, the media was a powerful vehicle and I ached to be a part of it. I'd watch the girls on the TV and think 'I wish I could be up there like them, I wish I could tell the stories.' Not because I wanted to be famous, but because I had this fire within, even as a child, to connect with others and tell them stories of good. Stories of hope. Of joy. Of wonder. Of light in dark places. I dreamed of being an actor and spent over a decade learning the craft and pursuing a place in the industry—evidently a difficult thing to do if you'd like to do so with your clothes still on—but, I digress.

On location for the first short film I made.

While the artists and storytellers brought so much hope, beauty and joy into my life. The truth is, bringing that work from hovering vision into reality, wasn’t easy.

They were Square Pegs, just like me. Squishing in creative endeavours late at night, early mornings, on lunch breaks, or scribbling ideas down while the shop was quiet or our boss was on the phone. We pursued the big, impossible dreams while working 2 jobs and studying if we had to.

Because we knew it was the only way to make it work. We didn’t fit into the places we were told we were supposed to. Still, we tried to squish ourselves into round places even though it hurt our square sides. All the while hoping, dreaming, one day for breakthrough.

The world always said to us: “You can’t go to the ball.”And so we watched from the outside, our faces pressed up to the glass.

Our creative pursuits weren’t (still aren’t to some people) considered a “real” profession. They were a childhood dream gone rogue. 

We were Square Pegs in an absurdly round world. Crazy, flighty dreamers.

OH, just a *few* of my diaries.

I hung up my acting hat a few years back, although I still do voice-work now and again. Perhaps the occasional commercial. (Speaking of which, I apparently still have TV ads on free-to-air, from years ago. I should have added rollover into my contract.)

Anyway, the point is, all these years on and Hollywood hasn't found me yet—(their loss, whatevs)—but still the spark within to connect and tell a good story burns brighter than it did back then.

Acting, film, TV, books, blogs, poems, they’re all just vehicles. What matters is sharing the messages on our heart, regardless of the package. It took me a long time and lots of heartache to learn that.

Screen shot from a short film.

I was reminded today of a quote, thanks to a post by

Banana on Cat

. In the comments we were talking about career changes and how if we’d known what we knew before, we could have “skipped ahead”, sure, but we wouldn’t be able to bring as much richness to the table now. It made us “much, muchier.” (A spin on a quote from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.)

Stitch Strategy

said: “I love that people have the guts to make a complete career shift in a new direction. But that doesn't mean that all of their other skills go in the bin. They just get used in different ways and make you much more muchier.”

While I didn’t always think like this, I would have taken the jump ahead probably not too long ago. But honestly? They’re right.

I am so much more ‘muchier’ because of this journey.

And now, here we are. In the age of the Square Peg.

The internet, wifi, and the ability to work from our own spaces has made the world a whole lot more square. It’s given us a global stage and the opportunity to design and create and share our work.

So many gatekeepers have been removed. The ballroom doors are no longer shut for us. In fact, we get to make our own damn ball and invite them to it. The world has never been more suited to us. It’s never had so much opportunity, platform or space for the square peg to thrive. (And get paid for it. Story for another day?)

So. *throws confetti* Welcome to the age of the Square Peg.

*sounds of square pegs everywhere clinking together*