Today we’d like to introduce you to Stell Simonton.
Hi Stell, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a retired journalist. I’ve lived in Atlanta almost 40 years, nearly half of them spent working at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper. But it was only when I left the newspaper to become a freelance writer that I was really thrown onto my own resources and was able to branch into a variety of pursuits. The first thing that happened was that I took a “Painting for Fun” class from a retired graphic artist who was a neighbor. I had long ago decided I had no talent in the visual arts. For example, when I was 7, my crayon portrait of the teacher turned so much worse than everybody else’s that I was pretty convinced to quit coloring and drawing.
But it turns out that painting and drawing can be taught and that we need to give space to our ideas, images, and intimations. In fact, there are all kinds of undeveloped little chunks in the psyche that are calling out to us.
For example, my friend Lesly Fredman pressured me to take an improv class that she taught. It seemed frightening. Why would I want to stand up in her class and try to act with no script? But it was also a little… intriguing. I gave in. Now, her weekly class is a fun place to go and play.
The ideas, images, and desires we all have can be made material in various ways. I have painted a landscape in south Alabama that seemed magical, a plain old dining room table and a coleus plant that seemed to have its own personality.
I also became interested in how flat pieces of cloth can be cut and put together to create not just clothing but that strange thing we call style. So, I have played with pattern drafting using books and YouTube videos. My efforts are not always successful. But I wear the ones that are.
I became a freelance journalist because I was ready for a change and wanted the freedom to write. The terrifying part was constantly having to sell myself and my ideas to editors and get them to hire me. But the fascinating part was to give rein to curiosity, follow the threads of ideas, string words together, and create a “portrait” through a piece of writing.
Creation is about bringing little glimmers to life. And why not?
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Of course, it has not been a smooth road. The road is always rocky. Generally, there is terror connected with the very things you want to do.
Each time I sit down to paint, there is a blank canvas or piece of paper in front of me. How can I possibly translate the vision in my head to this blank space in front of me? My efforts will be laughable.
It’s even worse with writing. The initial idea is wonderful, but getting started is the hard part. Then, doing the middle is the hard part. Somewhere along the way, ideas start to flow together and produce something that feels real and remarkable. But the end is the hard part.
And I haven’t figured out how to do the kind of writing I want to do. I may never figure it out. The blank page is so formless and incomprehensible.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I worked as a copy editor and then digital editor/producer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Then I freelanced, and my writing appeared in publications including the Christian Science Monitor, Al-Jazeera, the Washington Post, and Youth Today. I wrote a great deal about youth development and innovative work that nonprofit organizations are doing with children and teenagers. In addition, my husband and I raised our daughters. The work of home and family is important work.
Now, I spend time painting, gardening, going to improv class, writing, patternmaking, and trying to be a decent human being.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc.?
Books of recent inspiration: “The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World,” by Iain McGilchrist
“The Identity Trap,” by Yascha Mounk
“How to Make Your Own Sewing Patterns,” by Donald H. McCunn
Podcasts:
This Jungian Life
Choose FI
The Joe Gardener Show
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stellsimonton.weebly.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stell-simonton-21430725/
- Twitter: @Stellajc
- Other: https://muckrack.com/stell-simonton
