Scott De Buitléir

Dear reader,

I don’t know about you, but every so often, I feel like I’m fighting a battle between which version of myself is meant to be the ‘main’ me. Scott, the writer and poet. Scott, the marketing professional. Scottie, that Dubliner who lives with his partner in Cork. Scott, the (wannabe) blogger, or just that random guy you might not even notice on a bus… like I am right now.

Of course, we can be – and are – multiple people all at once, without any need for a diagnosis of schizoprenia. We all have different sides to ourselves – from the dry-humoured doctor who’s a drag queen on the weekend, to the thick-skinned mechanic who becomes a doting mother once she goes home – but sometimes we feel like they all compete for dominance.

For me, my different sides take turns with one another. The writer in me will go into hibernation for a couple of months, while I focus on my day job or other practical things like finding a new home, or simply enjoying downtime with my other half. Sometimes, all I want to do is slip away into the background and become (or remain) anonymous, yet at other times, I want to produce new content and start new projects. Each side of my personality has its own value and merit, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to simply let each phase run its own course until I feel ready to switch modes again.

Enjoying Life

While the writer in me took a nap over the last couple of months, normal life took precious centre-stage. Since my last blog post (in Irish) my day-job has taken me to Berlin, San Diego, and San Francisco for work. Right now, my partner and I are in the (hopefully) final leg of buying a house in Cork, and after five years of being together, I took him to Barcelona for our anniversary, where I finally popped the big question. Thankfully, he said yes, although we knew that the new house would be a more important financial project, so the wedding may not happen for another couple of years. So, hold off on buying a big hat just yet!

Overall, life has treated me very well in Cork, especially over the last six months. I’ve found a job that I love with people I get on with so well, and it allows for a lifestyle that I always dreamed of having. I genuinely could not be happier with life right now, and I do not take a moment of it for granted.

New Writing Projects

The somewhat regular break from writing and blogging means that I’ve allowed my creative focus and energy to recharge while doing ‘everyday life’ things, and thankfully, I’ve finally found the time to announce the three projects I’ll be working on for the rest of this year. Thanks to being an independent writer, not tied to either a publisher’s contract or financial dependence, I can take all three projects in my own time, although I do intend for them all to be either complete or fully developed by the end of this year.

New Poetry Collection

My début poetry collection, Fás | Growth, covered a decade of my writing in both English and Irish, however I have continued to write poetry in both languages since then. The next collection will be titled Elysium, based on a poem I wrote in San Francisco late last year. The collection will be fully bilingual, and the primary theme will be about settling into one’s own skin, as well as acknowledging influences along such a journey. Family, relationships, and history will also play a part in the book, and I sincerely hope that readers will be able to relate with the poems, regardless of the language they choose to read them in.

Elysium will be released in ebook and paperback formats in late autumn / early winter 2019… depending on when we get wifi into the new house.

“Scottie the Serial Dater” Returns

Some readers might know me long enough to remember that in 2012 until late 2013, I had a regular dating column in the British LGBTQ magazine, Polari. While the columns never had an official title, they could be regarded as the ‘Scottie’ series, based on the nickname given to me by the magazine’s cartoonist, Stephen Charlick.

There were quite a lot of articles written during that period, all of them describing my dating days in comedic detail. While Polari came to an end some years ago, I decided to combine the pieces into a single collection, recognising the amount that I wrote about a significant part of my life. The title for this collection is Yesterdates, and it will be also released in ebook and paperback formats later this year.

Getting Stylish… in Irish

One thing I love about social media is looking at photos of stylish Scandinavian interiors, sharp-looking menswear, and inspiration for our next trip abroad. I never thought, however, that I’d like to be a “lifestyle blogger”. In comparison to the days of Dialann Scott many moons ago, blogging has developed into a beast of influencer marketing, sponsored posts, and overproduced YouTube videos. I’ll admit that I do like some lifestyle blogs (mostly of Norwegian and Danish interior designer moms, if I’m honest), but I didn’t think that I’d enter that pressured world.

That being said, I recently got a jolt of inspiration to create a lifestyle blog of my own, but with a twist that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone: I wanted to create a lifestyle blog in Irish.

I haven’t regularly blogged in Irish for years, so returning to my blagadóireacht days felt like a natural option when I decided to create Stíl Uasal, a blog in Irish about my favourite interior styles and brands, my business and personal trips, and anything else that catches my eye. To be completely honest, I’m only going to post to the blog whenever I like, with no pressure to write regularly for the sake of followers or other statistics. I’ll blog when I like, simply because I’ll like to blog. That’s the way I used to do it, and that’s what I want to return to. Wish me luck!

Cutting my Losses

Later this year, I’ll also be saying goodbye to some writing platforms that haven’t reaped the benefits I expected. Two of those will be my profiles on Medium and Wattpad, where my poetry and prose writing have a certain limited presence.

The reason behind the decision is simple: I asked followers on Twitter a while ago about whether a gradual release of a new story, chapter by chapter, was worthwhile, or if it was better to keep things wrapped up until the story is complete. The answer was overwhelmingly in favour of the latter, and I took that to mean that those I wanted to read my stories were willing to wait until they could get the whole thing.

Wattpad is designed to release story chapters in stages, while Medium is designed more for standalone stories or articles, and I don’t really need either. Once the content currently posted on those platforms has been saved elsewhere, I’ll remove my presence there.

Next Steps

This summer will see us buying and renovating a house, while I’ll be travelling to California again for my job. In between all that, I’ll be trying to collect and edit my various pieces of writing for both books, while updating the new Stíl Uasal and its related Instagram with content that comes to mind. I’ll also try to keep this a little more active, but I won’t keep any promises!

As always, say hello if you like, I love to hear from readers and fellow writers/poets/bloggers/multitaskers!

Scott x