You are everything you’ve ever loved

At the start of his memoir, And Then? And Then? What Else?, writer Daniel Handler talks about the “literary canon” — works that are universally seen as important, influential, and foundational within a particular culture. There’s no definitive list of canonical works, but think Romeo and Juliet, Mona Lisa, Pachelbel's Canon.

Handler goes on to describe the idea of a personal canon, one made up of works that are personally, if not universally, influential. He mentions novels, poems, films, and songs that inspire and influence his own creative endeavors — even specific lines, paragraphs, scenes, images, and lyrics within those works that speak to him. 

“The most important literary canon is one’s own,” he says. “Not just a list of favorite books or what have you, but the individual moments, the twists of plot or turns of phrase, the tiny secret reasons you love what you love.”

Daniel Handler is most famous for A Series of Unfortunate Events, written as his alter ego, Lemony Snicket. When I read his thoughts on personal canon, something clicked within me — a click made all the more satisfying because A Series of Unfortunate Events is definitely part of my personal canon. 

I was already an avid reader when I discovered A Series of Unfortunate Events as a youngster, but it made me want to be a writer. It was unlike anything I had read before — weird, quirky, witty, dark, clever. (If you’ve read them, you know. If you haven’t, you should.)

The “where my lore started” trend going around social media recently totally aligns with this idea of a personal canon, and as a lover of both curation and introspection, I can’t not participate.

So, here are some more works in my personal canon/lore:

101 Dalmatians: I was obsessed with puppies as a child, but Disney’s 101 Dalmatians is responsible for so much more of my lore — my love for mid-century art and design and my obsession with romantic meet cutes, for two.

Star Wars: With two nerdy older brothers and a nerdy dad, I was doomed from the start. Star Wars sparked my love of sci-fi and storytelling.

Neopets: Neopets was my first online community. It’s where I made my first internet friends. It’s why I taught myself graphic design and HTML. 

Pride and Prejudice (2005): I’m not exaggerating when I say watching this movie for the first time at age 12 altered my brain chemistry. Pride and Prejudice made me fall in love with love (and period dramas and England and cinematography).

The Book Thief: This novel by Markus Zusak remains an all-time favorite that I have revisited many times since first reading it at age 16. The prose in this book is nothing short of exquisite. This is another book that made me want to be a writer. I even have a Book Thief tattoo.

Mad Men: One of my high school English teachers was obsessed with Mad Men and would constantly talk about Don Draper in class. I got the Season 1 DVD box set from the library, and it literally changed my life. 

Before Mad Men, I basically thought the only way to have a career as a writer was to become an author — a novelist. In Mad Men, one of the main characters is an advertising copywriter. That seemed pretty cool, so I decided to study Advertising in college. 

(I later learned that my dad studied aerospace engineering because he wanted to be like Scotty from Star Trek: The Original Series. Apparently, taking career inspo from television runs in the family. 😂)

My personal canon contains hundreds of works, and it’s always growing. So is yours.

As long as we’re reading, watching, looking, and listening.

As long as we’re willing to take these works into ourselves and be forever changed.

See you next week,

Kara

Kara Detwiller is a writer based in small-town Saskatchewan. She specializes in long-form content writing for enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, and manufacturing clients. She is also working on her first novel, among other creative pursuits. To connect, reply to this email or find Kara on LinkedIn or Bluesky. To support her work on Wishful Working, share this email with someone or buy her a “coffee.”

Why Wishful Working? I write this newsletter because I want to see more people enjoy a life not centered around work. For some, the path to freedom and flexibility is through self-employment, but we also need to challenge cultural norms and champion healthier working conditions and work/life balance for all types of workers.