About Me — Shannon CB

Writer. Worrier. Wanderer

Icebreakers have always set my nerves on fire, but it’s nice to be able to introduce myself to people I can’t see, from the comfort of my own home.

Hi, my name is Shannon and I’m new here.

Where are you from?

Aotearoa, New Zealand. I was born and raised off-grid, on an isolated farm in the far north of the country. I’m an indigenous Māori with a few different shades of European — Scottish, French, Croatian, and even a little Danish.

What do you do for a living?

I’ve been a full-time freelance content and copywriter for over 2 years now. My job is a constant blessing and an occasional struggle but at this point in my life, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else! That’s why I’m on Medium — to get more writing done, outside of the short stories I also write in my spare time.

A Little Bit About Me

Growing up I was a voracious reader. My school principal dubbed me “the girl with eyes in her knees,” because I was known among the faculty for my ability to navigate acres of the school grounds, eyes glued to a book, without bumping into a single soul.

When I was 12 a popular boy gave me the similar and hilariously uncreative nickname “girl who reads books” because that’s all anyone knew about me. Out of more than 600 children, my obsession with reading was renowned.

And naturally, my appetite for reading went hand-in-hand with writing. As an awkward and under-socialized kid, I struggled to express myself verbally, so the written word was the next best thing. Writing has been a constant throughout my life, from the vivid chapters I’d scrawl in front of the fireplace as an 8-year-old to my current day job.

Otherwise, the past 10 years of my life as an “adult” have been a real mixed bag of experiences, but here goes:

• 2014–2016: left my hometown to go to university (one of only 3 people to do so on either side of my family), where I studied English literature and screen production, while also attending the school of life — life being a lot of parties and drinking and experimenting, which is pretty much the definition of living when you’re 20, right?
• 2014–2016: worked odd jobs as a bartender, theatre attendant, and merchandiser at various concerts.
• 2017: spent a year post-graduation as a tour guide at a museum and historical building, reading primary texts about NZ history and having long, elaborate conversations about said history with 100s of strangers every week.
• 2018–2020: moved to Vietnam to work as an English teacher (you can read about some of the mistakes I made while in that incredible country here) and traveled throughout Southeast Asia. While in Vietnam I dabbled in freelance content writing, with the vague hope that I might be able to travel anywhere in the world, supporting myself with only my mind, my hands, and my laptop.

And I did just that… minus the traveling. In early 2020 I was living in Hanoi, the closest international city to Wuhan, China. As the ominous “coronavirus” began spreading outward from China, teaching centers in Vietnam shut down in response. After a few months of living off my meager savings with no stable income, I flew back to New Zealand.

Two-ish years later I now live in a beautiful and isolated station with my long-term partner. We live in a small semi-off grid cabin by the sea (don’t we all return to our childhood eventually, in some way or another?) where we tend our vegetable garden and regularly fish and dive for seafood in the ocean nearby.

In my spare time, I also read, knit, crochet, overanalyze films and television, and forage for mushrooms and edible greens along the coast and hillsides around our home. If you want to see more of my foraging exploits you can check out my Tiktok page: @cabinforaging.

What are your Medium goals?

“Goals” might be a stretch! I’ve never done much in terms of personal blogging but I thought it was time to give it a try.

I want to use my Medium blog to explore a new way of writing and expressing the things that interest me — whether they be the writing process, personal philosophies, popular culture, travel, and whatever else catches my imagination. I also want to read as much as I can from fellow bloggers and get a feel for the writing communities that make this website so popular.

If you want to follow my exploits you’re welcome to! I’m still not quite sure of exactly what I’m going to post, but I know I’ll be writing something.