Sunday, May 30, 2010

That Was Fun

With a capital "F"!

I really enjoy reading my poetry to an audience. I knew this last year, when I did the reading (my first) at the PGR pub party. This year I was hardly nervous, just excited. I wanted to read more! Everyone only read the piece that was published this time - last time folks read more. I managed to squeeze in one more, "Yes", simply because I was dying to read it to an audience and this was my only chance.

Carpe diem!

So now I must channel my leftover adrenaline into something writerly and productive - submissions? More blog posts? More poems?

Perhaps all of the above.

Write on,
J

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Reading Outloud in Front of a Crowd

Yes it is true! Tonight I will be reading my poetry outloud in front of a room full of strangers - with a few friends and family members thrown in for good measure. Gulp.

Actually, I am not nervous...yet. I loved reading last year and am very much looking forward to reading again this year. I have not yet determined what three poems I will be reading, but am pretty close. I definately wan to read "Yes" since it is better read outloud and it should be fun to do. "Self-potrait as a hummingbird" has been requested - twice - so I am going to include that one for sure. The third one is the one I am not sure about. It's a toss up between "New York, circa 1997" and the one that actually appears in the publication. The thing is I read that one last year. I could probably read all four in the three minutes I have, since my work is so concise. ;-)

alright, now that I'm about three hours away from kickoff and am writing and thinking about it the butterflies are waking...Wish me luck!

Read on!
Jess

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Happy Things: Workspaces



Sadly, Dear Reader, this is NOT my new workspace...but I wish it was! Everytime I see this ramshakle wooden building at the UCSC Life Lab I think how much I would like to live there...or at least have a writer's studio!

Dream On, Write On,
Jess

Happy Things: Success! Birdhouse Photo Uploaded!


Yahoo, Dear Reader, Yahoo!

I am sooo proud of myself - finally able to upload photos to the blog.

This is a photo of a birdhouse I saw at the UCSC Life Lab garden last week. Like I said, I am not sure why birdhouses make me happy, they just do and for now, that is enough. (However, Ode to the Birdhouse might be a good poetic exercise.)

Off to upload some more photos!

Write On,
Jess

Monday, May 17, 2010

Happy Things: Birdhouses and Workspaces

Hello Dear Reader,

Welcome to a new column/post topic: Happy Things.

Since I have completed the Artist's Way and am transitioning the blog to be more about the successes and struggles of the writing life I am planning to feature some recurring topics. Some I came up with all by my clever lil' self and others are unabashedly cribbed from some of the other blogs I frequent and/or enjoy. (I will give proper credit where due, BTW.)

In any event, and since the oven timer is going off downstairs, Happy Things is making it's debut tonight. The things that make me happy today are birdhouses and workspaces. I got a new workspace!!! It's mine! All mine! I will take photos and post them later. I have some fun birdhouse pictures too.

But now I must run, lest I let dinner burn!

Eat, I mean WRITE on!
Jess

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Things That Make Me Think I Am Not Really a Writer

Dear Reader,

Momma said there would be days like this. In fact, my mom said all the days would be like this. She was a harsh realist.

Sometimes I like to read about other writers to get inspired. I especially like to hear about folks who began writing or were first published later in life. This is so I feel like I still have time.

A Facebook Friend posted this quote from George Eliot - "It is never to late to be who you might have been." (or words to that effect.) It has been recieved with great adoration. This must mean we all wish we were someone else, doing something else, to a certain extent.

Is this a horrible lie we prepetuate to future generations? That you will be something great and unique and you will find great personal and professional satisfaction if you work hard and have a few lucky breaks? Maybe my mom was right, it is better to tell your kids life is difficult more often than not and is a lot of hard work.

Well, I am digressing. The point of this post was to list the things that make me think, sometimes, that I am not a "real" writer. Things like the fact that I can go days without writing and hardly miss it. I always hear writers say "oh I simply MUST write, or I can hardly breathe..." or some such thing. But what about us who have a million other things we "simply MUST" do in our day - like take care of children, clean house, do laundry, grocery shop, cook, feed, clean up, wash, read to, tuck in, pay bills, let the dog out, rinse out the wetsuits, look for a job in case the pink slip isn't recinded this year, be a friend, be a sister, be a daughter, a wife, a mother, and oh yeah, if there is time left be an individual who is fit, relaxed, well-read, interesting and a WRITER too!

I am mad at whoever sold me this bill of goods, but I am madder still at myself for buying it. And not being able to unload it.

Write on if you must. And you simply must.
jess

Sunday, May 9, 2010

A Watched Pot Never Boils

Or, you can not stop a volcano from erupting. Opposite ideas, same general emotion. i.e. We really are not in any kind of control no matter what we like to think. So there, Dear Reader, that is a fair introduction to my headspace today.

This past week has been a continuation of the punchy week I wrote about last Sunday. I have not been on top of the blog posting - not at all. I want to whine that "The universe is just not cooperating with me!" in my most annoying small spoiled child voice. Shhh, if you listen closely I bet you can hear me.

It's been an up down and all around week. There was a death in the extended family. A wonderful woman, just 59. It was the ten year anniversary of the death of a dear friend which, in some ways, made me wonder where the time went. Mother's Day is rough - I went to see my mom and I can't help but wonder if she will still be here this time next year. She weighs less than 100 pounds. I don't think she recognizes me anymore.

Blech.

The only way out of this for me is to write - which i have been doing - and sleep, which is what I am going to go do now. No good is going to come from this mood I am in tonight.

Write on, people, while you can,
J

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Rolling with the Punches

Dear Reader,

It's been a while, I know. I have no excuses, no rationale, just a simple apology, I suppose. I have not been writing my daily pages, though I try. For some reason the past couple of weeks have just been rough.

This is not to say that I have not been writing, because I have. I workshopped a couple more poems last week and I spent quite a bit of time researching where to submit which poems next. Of course, this requires an Excel spreadsheet so I can keep track of what I sent where and when I should either hear back or ping the editors. Read: time suck.

I have also been germinating ideas for poems - scrips (new word, just debuted) and scraps here and there. I love the voice recorder on my phone. Very cool for when I have an idea and am driving and can't write it down. The Muse knows I better commit it to something other than my memory if I want to be able to go back to it. (Note to self: Get back to it.)

I need to do a few things like:
- wrap up the whole Artist's Way thing. Tell you all about my final exercises and my take aways from the experience.
- update my "plan" - you know, the thing I like to spend time creating and then promptly deviating from. Story of my life really. Nonesensical - that's how I roll!
- come up with a new tagline for the blog, since I am esentially finito with the Artist's Way and am on Jessica's Winding, Circular, This Way and That Way Path now.
- schedule a time to meet with my photographer friend so we can shoot a very writerly looking portrait of me for the blog. I am thinking black turtleneck and an espresso, with an intellectually pensive look upon mon visage. What do you think?

This is really only a partial list of shiz I need to do. Right now, in this space and time, however, it is all I can do to just roll with the punches. This seems to be what the universe is telling me to do, so I am going with it.

Finding inspiration and creation in the day to day (and writing on...),
Jessica