Wednesday's Weekly Haiku

So, here we are - the first Haiku of the blog!! Get excited :-). Let me apologize that the first poem is so serious--but that's just my current mood. They won't always be like this, I promise :-)

House of Pain

Cold and empty, bare:

Oppression, not fellowship

Tumble to the ground

Once Upon A Time . . .

Hello readers!! I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! Like any Christmas in the "real world" of work (as opposed to school), mine was far too short, and it's back to work today. Not a very inspiring thought :-).

So, as you can tell, this blog is no longer under construction, but is now beautifully completed by my friend Rachel and ready to go! I've been writing a lot lately--seems as though just creating this blog has inspired creativity in me . . . either that or fear, since now I'm publicly putting myself out there!

The plan is to get started "for real" next week, when the New Year begins. I'm afraid my brain is still a little sluggish from all the festivities (translation: complete and utter overindulgence!). That said, I will get started with the weekly Haiku this week in order to kick things off and ease into it a bit. I'm so excited to start this "experiment" of sorts--I can already tell it's going to be fun (and challenging!).

And before I begin in earnest, I'd like to offer a word of caution. Writer Joan Didion said that "writers are always selling somebody out." While I will of course do my best to limit the truth of this statement, there certainly is a lot of truth in those words! The best inspiration you have as a writer comes from the people you've known, the places you've been, and the experiences you've had. Like any writer, I'll be drawing on my experiences, but characters and events are nearly always a combination of various people and circumstances. To me, that's the beauty of writing--people can be whomever you will them to be, and events can happen however you will them to happen. You're not bound by reality in any form or fashion, and the control freak in me loves this fact.

So, I beseech you--if you think you've shown up in one of these stories, please know that it's not personal, and always remember that this is fiction. I'm not writing my memoir! Indeed, perhaps it's a compliment that you inspired me to the point of putting pen to paper.

Even so--caveat lector :-).

Under Construction

I'm starting a new blog! Not to replace my current blog - but simply to act as a place to house my literary musings. I'm taking a page from the "Julie/Julia" project, as well as my own brother's amazing blog, 100 Paintings By Adam.

Definitely more to come very soon!

About This Blog

I have to give the majority of my inspiration for this blog to my brother, an amazing artist and painter. Last year, he started his own blog, “100 Paintings by Adam.” He proceeded to complete 100 original works of art, selling a lot of them and learning so much in the process. The thought (finally) occurred to me that perhaps I could do the same thing for my writing. The blog’s title comes from Gertrude Stein’s famous quote (one that Ernest Hemingway caustically parodied in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls – yikes! If you don’t know it, Google it). There’s always been a part of me that loved the idea of the ex-pat life of the great 1920s authors. I believe these author’s personal lives leave much to be desired, but there’s plenty to be learned from their raw talent.

My goal in having this blog is to inspire those creative juices to start flowing—writing begets writing, and I know that the longer I do nothing, the more “out of shape” I’ll be when it comes to my creative side. I would love to promise you 100 pithy, deep or polished works of literature, but I’m purposefully not going to put concrete constraints on myself. Maybe I’m taking it a little too easy on myself, but we’ll just see how it goes. My loosely-held goal is, however, to produce at least 1 piece of tangible work to display each week, be it a poem, a short story, a reeeeally short story, etc.

I’ve got a couple serious writing ideas on which I’d like to focus this year, so I’m trying out the blog as a way to spur myself on towards the materialization of these ideas.  Yet again I stress—I’m making no promises!

One thing you can expect is “Wednesday’s Weekly Haiku.” I remember well when we tackled the Haiku in school. It’s such a fun and simple way to sit down and put your thoughts to paper. Seems like I vaguely remember a general rule that Haikus should cover the topic of nature, but I choose to spurn that rule. My weekly Haikus will be about anything and everything (and nothing!).

So thanks for reading and taking this journey with me!

About Me

From as early as I can remember, writing has been a passion of mine. Ever since I was able to hold a chunky pencil in my hand, I’ve been creating stories, poems, and the like. My parents have stack after stack of homemade “books” I wrote in my earliest years—mostly regarding princesses in need of a good saving (mais oui!).

I have a great love for stories, but unfortunately like so many things, that love has taken a beating over the last several years of life. Telling stories has been replaced by actually living them, and character development replaced by my own character development as I’ve transitioned from starry-eyed teenager to “real” adult.

In a way, this blog is about rediscovering my impassioned, inspired youthful self—not to sound all Oprah-y, but I believe there are lessons to be learned from your younger self . . . the person you were before life and all its trials came along and stomped out your honest, fragile side. I suppose the key is to keep that youthful sense of wonder while growing up at the same time. A tricky proposition, but worth pursuing, in my humble opinion!

So, that’s just a little about me. You should probably know that I’m terrified to death of needles, clowns, car bombs and just about anything that creeps or crawls or goes bump in the night. I love humor, the closeness of friends and family, chocolate, and—like any girl worth her salt—shoes, shoes and more shoes!

Thanks for stopping by . . . I hope you enjoy!