30 Days of Gratitude: Day Sixteen

Today I am grateful for talents.

Each of us were born with certain gifts and talents.  Typically we discover our talents as we experiment and try new things.  The things we seems to have a natural appreciation for or a natural "knack" for -- those are the gifts we must work and grow into talents.  I am grateful that many of my family and friends and YOU have shared your talents with me throughout the years.  There are many things I am not good at and yet I can enjoy them through other people.

One of my talents I've been working on is writing.  It's been a goal of mine to get published.  I am currently taking a novel writing class (among others) and it's really been beneficial in expanding the way I write.  Our school does a literary publication twice a year, in which they publish winning entries from each semester.  I submitted a completed chapter from my manuscript and was recently notified that it was accepted and it's due to be published in Folio in just a few weeks.  They also invited me to do a 5-minute reading at the launch party.

I know it's just a simple community college competition, and it's a small publication by comparison.  But to me, it's exciting.  It's something I can now add to my resume and it's something that is going to be out there - with MY name on it.  I feel blessed that God has blessed me with the ability and the drive to develop this talent.

I am so grateful for talents.

I've Decided...

...I am going to be famous.

Not like international rock-star fame, or anything like that.  But, I've decided that I am going to become known, because I am a writer and I am going to get published.

I don't care how many rejections I get or how long it takes, I NEED to get published -- and not, like, SELF-Published.  Like for REAL published. And I will make money from writing and from getting published and people will want to buy my book.

When I was a kid, I was used to getting what I wanted.  And I don't mean things like a new bike, name-brand jeans, a pony or more candy.  I wasn't spoiled like that.  I mean, if I wanted something bad enough, I didn't let things stand in my way.

When we moved too far to go to our piano teacher, I continued by teaching myself.  By the time I got to high school I competed in piano, and even won the talent award in the Junior Miss pageant with a piece I arranged.

When I was a freshman in high school, I decided I didn't want to stay in Indiana the rest of my life; I wanted to see the world.  As soon as my dad had told me that there was a church school in Hawaii, I applied.  The first response I received was that I applied too early for early acceptance, but to keep my GPA up and reapply the following year.  As a sophomore, I reapplied.  I received early acceptance by the time I finished my sophomore year, conditional upon my maintaining a 3.65 GPA, which I did the rest of high school.  BYU-Hawaii was the only school I applied for and that is where I went.  It never occurred to me I might not get in.

There were other things too.  I auditioned for show-choir in high school and then the Indiana All-State choir,  and in college I auditioned for concert choir and I made the cut each time. The year I auditioned for a major role in the school musical, I got it.

In any job I've ever had I have always been promoted; even as a teenager at the drug store. It was my responsibility to walk the floor, make sure everyone had their breaks and then close the store at night, secure the safe and set the alarm.  I was 16 years old - and I loved it.

Drive and Passion.  That is what I used to have, and that is what I am determined to have again.

Mark my words...  I will be famous one day.  I have to, because -- I've already decided.

The Memoir

I have always loved writing, as far back as I can remember. I enjoyed writing poems in grade school, but I liked writing stories even more.

I didn't ever think of writing something with the potential of others every reading it, though. I just wrote for my own enjoyment. It wasn't until I was in a high school creative writing class did my teacher really encourage me. She continued to say time and time again that I had a "gift". Although I felt I struggled with writing at times, I think I am finally beginning to understand what she meant. Let me explain.

Fast forward to January, 2011. I sat down in an "Intro to Fiction Writing" class in college. On the first day the instructor asked us to go around the room and introduce ourselves by 1) Saying our name and 2) the genre we enjoy writing in.

Genre? Hmm. I had never really given any thought up until that moment about genre. Here I was writing a few short stories here and there and I never really thought about genre at all. I had about 2 minutes before it was my turn and I quickly thought about the things I had written up to that point as well as the type of fiction I had enjoyed reading. I decided that my "genre" was realism. Sometimes my pieces had a little hint of romance, sometimes a hint of mystery. I always like to have an element of humor or quirkiness, but yes, overall my "genre" would be Realism. So, that's what I said.

I should tell you that once I "discovered" my genre, it was actually easier to write. I didn't feel limited to only write realistic things. But I guess it helped me write with a particular audience in mind. That class was great as the instructor pushed us to write in genres we typically didn't. I feel I grew a lot as a writer in that class. It wasn't my first college writing class, but she was just a very eccentric instructor that helped me see things differently, and who took joy from edging me out of my comfort zone, or so it seemed.

Then over the summer, I took another creative writing class. In that class we discussed everything from poetry, to prose, to fabulist fiction, and even non-fiction. Non-Fiction? In Creative Writing? Well, that is what I thought the first time he mentioned it. In my mind, I kept picturing writing instruction manuals "Creatively", or writing a biography filled with hyperbole. I just couldn't wrap my head around the idea of creative non-fiction. Then I read David Sedaris. Then I LISTENED to David Sedaris read some of his own works. Hmmm... I thought. This is like blogging.

Then we had an assignment to WRITE a piece of creative non-fiction, otherwise known as Narrative Non-Fiction. I panicked. I wasn't sure what I should write about. I had a lot going on that week, and I felt fresh out of ideas. Then it hit me. I have been writing narrative non-fiction as long as I have had this blog! I skimmed through my blog and copied and pasted one of my favorite entries, tweaking a few things here and there. Honestly, I didn't think it was my best piece. But like I said, I was out of ideas.

However, when the instructor returned it to me, I had received 100%. His commentary was better than expected and he gave me great suggestions for improving it. At the end of the semester, he did a "conference" with each of us one-on-one. This, by far, was the best thing ever. Because he went through my portfolio and we discussed each of the assignment pieces I had written. He went back to the narrative nonfiction piece, a memoir and really encouraged me to choose that one for my final project. He then told me that I had a way of sharing my experiences that made others want to read them. He said I had some funny insights, and a clever way of putting things, but that the important part was that I wasn't afraid to lay it all out on the line. I am a REVEALOR, he said. I laughed and said, "you mean I share too much?" (Because I've heard that before!) He laughed and said, "The fact that you are so open about your experiences and your thoughts on those experiences is what makes it great. Most people don't share the things you are willing to share. That's why they like reading them."

So, the memoir it was. I worked and worked on it and then presented it to the class for my final piece. I got some good feedback, ways to make it better, etc. I was also met with some criticism as well. A few class members did not like how I worded a few things. They felt it was too personal. The instructor came to my defense and said "This is what sells. If she's smart, she will take it and turn it into a full-length manuscript and try to get it sold."

I should explain that during these review sessions, the class critiques your work and the writer is not allowed to speak. So, there I sat taking it all in. I couldn't explain or defend myself at all. And when he said that, I also had to refrain from jumping up and down. This was the biggest compliment of all.

This past week, I started the fall semester and I have a novel writing class. My instructor's new novel has just come out {more about that here} so he definitely has credibility. He told us in our first class that his goal for us is to get us well on our way with a solid novel. The first day he asked us to introduce ourselves and tell the class what we were working on. I could honestly say that I am working on a narrative nonfiction.

The more I work on this piece, the more excited I become. I don't know why I never realized that I prefer "narrative nonfiction" over "realism fiction". I mean, haven't I been doing that this whole time I've been blogging? Also, when I look back through my high school creative writing assignments (yes, I kept those), it was the creative NONfiction pieces that my teacher always seemed to love best. I even pulled out stuff from my freshman year of college (Circa 1992) and noticed that my best pieces were also non-fiction. (I wrote about my first kiss!)

So, that's what I am currently working on at the moment, the memoir. Hopefully, my family will not kill me over anything I "divulge". Then again, if it ever ends up selling, I'll just buy them off! haha!

Oh, and that "gift" my high school teacher once told me I had? Yeah -- well, I have finally come to understand that my "gift" is my willingness to "over share", haha.

The Assignment

I have an assignment due in just a little over 2 weeks. It's to write a journalistic essay. Specifically, I am to go someplace or do something I've never gone or done before and then write a journalistic essay on it. Lots of ideas are spewing around up in the ol' noggin. I am sure when I find "it" -- the right project -- I'll know.

I started off in the "invention" phase of my piece, brainstorming about possible topics. In doing so, I asked myself, what is something I've never done before? There were lots of things. The first few that came to mind were...

Work on a farm/ranch for a day

Rock Climbing

Ghost Hunting

Fly Fishing

Attend a Renaissance Fair or Sci-Fi Convention

Someone in class brought up visiting a nudist colony. I know that is something I could never do -- not even for the sake of an 'A' - HaHa!

Then something else came to mind. I've never attended a midnight showing of some trendy new film, such as...... a TWILIGHT movie!

I started getting all excited. Now THIS is something I would probably never do. I have never even read any of the Twilight books, nor seen any of the movies. It's not that I "hate" them... how can I hate something I know nothing about? It's just that they are not the genre of stuff I typically enjoy. Even my besties who swear on their mother's aunt's dead sister's grave that Twilight is phenomonal and that I'd just love it if I gave it a chance are hard-pressed to change my mind. And the thought of spending $9 to stand in line in the middle of the night with a bunch of Twihards just does not appeal to me. Not to mention I'd probably have to buy a big tub of popcorn and some Milk Duds just to stay awake. So, that's like, what? Another $20? I can stay at home and fall asleep to a show I don't enjoy for free!

So I says to myself, "Self," I says, "Surely there is a Twilight movie coming out soon. I mean, it's all I've been hearing about for the past week." So I pulled up the local theater and guess what I see?

There is a link right there on the home page with flashing lights and sirens which reads, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1". I start to get excited, thinking a night with Twihards dressed in their Edward T-Shirts, drinking Diet Cokes from their Breaking Dawn Souvenir Movie cups would be just the sort of thing I could really enjoy writing about. But then, I notice the "ticker"... It's a countdown to the release date. 156 Days 02 Hrs 30 Mins 49 Secs for the release of this li'l gem. Um, really? There is a countdown for a movie that isn't even coming out until the middle of November?!?!?! Wow. I guess the Twihards are more diehard than I even imagined.

So, it's back to the drawing board for me... unless you have any better ideas?

Blog Stalking

Blog Stalking: To read and/or follow someone's blog without leaving a comment or making it known you're following.

If you're here, chances are, you've done it. You've stalked a blog or two in your day. No worries, I've stalked a few blogs myself. Ain't no shame. And lemme be the first to say, that if you've ever stalked my blog, why thanks. I simply love attention knowing that perhaps something I have written has been beneficial or at the very least, mildly entertaining for someone.

I know a lot of people blog to keep family members informed of the "goings on" in their lives. Not me. I mean, it's great that my family can read this and know what's happening in my world. However, this blog is not the "Emma's Family Blog" nor a digital scrapbook of sorts. It's just whatever I feel like writing.

I originally started blogging after I was divorced. Blogging gave me an avenue by which to channel my anxiety, even if I didn't necessarily blog about the divorce. I was entering a new chapter of my life and while realizing that I am writing my story now, it was only natural for me to blog. Additionally, I am an insomniac. I would sleep a few hours at a time each night and anything more than 4 hours total was "good". So -- I had lots of time to blog.

That being said, I had tons of time to read blogs too. And read them I did. I would read blogs for inspiration, for entertainment and for validation -- to know that I wasn't the only one kinda like me out there. I met some of whom I now consider my closest friends via blogging. A few I would even go as far to say we're "kindreds". For realsies.

I probably followed close to 150 blogs on a daily basis. And I quickly gained a following of approximately that many in return. But then - something happened. Yep, the F word happened. Facebook.

With the rise of Facebook, many bloggers abandoned their posts on the blogosphere and as a result they also stopped following. And not only did they stop blogging and stop following, but they stopped following ME! I know, right? Who would ever want to forsake this li'l gem I've created here?

Then I started back at school and as my schedule changed, my family needs changed and so did my world of blogging. I have not been able to post as often as I'd like, nor have I been able to follow as many blogs as I'd like.

I've finally went through my blogroll and deleted the blogs that haven't posted in over a year (unless they are super-duper friends) as well as the blogs that no longer serve a purpose for me anymore. So, if I have stopped following, please do not take it personally or think that I have not enjoyed reading your blog. It's just that my needs have changed and my reasons for blogging are a bit different now. And of course, by slimming down the blogs I follow, I will have more time to leave bloggy comment love on the ones I do read.

I am not naive enough to believe that everyone who started off following me still does and I realize I may lose followers over this. I mean, this isn't my first rodeo. I know how it works: You gotta give love to get love. I have a bloggy friend I met a few years ago and we both started blogging about the same time. She has over 1,100 daily followers and she probably spends every hour of every waking day reading and commenting on blogs, for the pure purpose that those bloggers will read and comment on her blog in return. What a comment whore! haha. Just kidding! But she did tell me recently, "If you had been following more blogs, then you'd have more followers by now." I was all, "No. En. No." I don't have time to read even HALF that many! Sheesh!

That being said, thank you to those who are still reading and following. I totally heart attention the friendships I've made! Even though I am also a Facebook addict user, I will always blog so long as their is a forum by which to do so. I am a writer. It's what I do.

Nuff said.

Writer's Block

Many of you know that I write a little fiction from time to time. Often times people will ask me, "How do you come up with the ideas for your stories?" I suppose all writers have their own unique ways of coming up with something. Some might think of a character first, others a place or time or an event. No matter how you start, or even how many ideas one may have, Writer's Block can happen to anyone.

I learned a valuable technique in my Intro to Writing Fiction class this semester. It seemed like such a no-brainer after the Professor said it that I wondered why I hadn't thought of it before. Actually it is 2 techniques, sort of combined.

First, she suggested quickly writing out a list of sentences, or even asking others to give you a random sentence. Just 5 or 6 random sentences which are unrelated to each other, but something that may be written in the first paragraph of a story. As a demonstration, I will quickly write the first 5 that come to my mind:

1) It didn't seem fair what she was asked to do, and yet everyone was counting on her.

2) Gazing at the city lights below, a stagnant smell filled the air.

3) The water was frigid in the still of night.

4) The light in the corner flickered as the band played on.

5) There was no turning back and yet going forward seemed impossible.

Ok, got those. Now, here is the part that seemed like a no-brainer. My writing prof said to use the 6 W's of Journalism to create the basic outline for the story. Typically, just answer what comes to your mind, and once you start writing of course you can change things as you desire. I've used the 6 W's plenty of times in Non-Fiction writing. It's how Journalists know they have covered all of their basis in trying to get the full story. It makes sense to use it in Fiction writing too!

To demonstrate, I will start with statement #2. "Gazing at the city lights below, a stagnant smell filled the air."

Now, to answer the 6 W's in relationship to that statement.

1) Who? A woman. Mid to late 30's. Her name is Maura. She is single.

2) What? She was standing on a cliff in the mountains above the city, gazing down.

3) Where? Somewhere in the West; with mountains. Possibly Nevada. A city down in the valley.

4) When? Modern Day... Sometime within the last decade.

5) Why? She was escaping the city at night, and stopped her car when she got to the point of the mountain and heard the explosion.

6) How? She had escaped only because a voice had come to her in a dream, telling her to get up immediately and depart the city.

Okay, so those were my first instincts to the 6 W's. Now I have the beginnings of a story. True, I don't know what happens yet, but this is enough to get me going.

And THAT, dear readers is how I overcome writer's block at times. Try it out and see what comes to your mind!

If you are interested in reading what I have come up with so far, check it out {{HERE}}.

An Apology, Excuse, and Explanation

First off I want to apologize for not being very visible around the blogosphere as of late. But -- I can explain. Really, I can.

First off, I made it through finals back in December. I thought I would have a lot of time to blog and relax during the holiday break. Wrong. Because then I had to get my tree up and get my house ready for family to come and finish all of the last minute shopping and so on and so forth. I kept thinking that after Christmas I would have a little time before school started back up again. But, dear readers I got sick. I had a bad sinus infection and just felt like crap pretty much that entire week.

Then it was back to school. I am now officially done with all of my generals and 100% of my courses are devoted to my majors: Music and English. And don't be one of those people -- the ones that roll their eyes when I say "music". I don't know why people think music is easy. It's not. But that's an entirely a different post, of which I will indulge you at some point in the near future.

Anyway -- this semester I am taking four classes. I have "Intro to Writing Fiction", "Music Theory II", "Musicianship/Sight Singing & Ear-training", and "Private Piano Instruction". Mon-Thurs I leave straight from work around 5pm and head to campus for classes that start at 5:30pm. I am done by 8pm each night. And then I head home for about 2-3 hours of homework a night. On Fridays I take a long lunch hour for one class I have and then at some point throughout the weekend I try to catch up or tackle any homework or major writing assignments that I haven't gotten to.

On top of that, I have family stuff and church obligations as well. Man, no wonder I am tired! So, dear readers, don't take it personally if I haven't stopped by lately. I promise, I will be back to catch up.

First, I have to figure out when to take down the Christmas tree. Yes...it's still up. Yes, I know... don't say it.

Recently I happened to mention to someone that I needed to work on some blog posts. Her reply was a simple "Why don't you just stop blogging? Wouldn't that be easier?" ~GASP!~ Surely, she jests, right?

Some people blog to keep family members across the miles informed of their goings on. Others blog for self-therapy. Some use it as a journal, while others view it as purely entertaining. I agree. I do find the benefits of all of the aforementioned reasons. But mainly, I blog because I am a writer.

I read an article about a year ago that talked about the labels we give ourselves. Do we call ourselves a musician or someone who plays an instrument? Do we consider ourselves a crafter or do we say we just like crafts? The article went on to say that the way we label ourselves often times has a direct correlation to how successful we are in that particular area. I decided right then and there I was going to stop saying "someday I hope to be a writer" and instead say, "I am a writer."

It doesn't matter that I haven't actually been paid for anything yet. It doesn't matter that I haven't been selected by a publishing house (I want to avoid self-publishing if possible). What matters is that I write. Just like any skill that requires hours of practice to become good, the same is true with writing. If you ask a virtuoso how many hours a day she spends practicing her violin, she will say somewhere between 4 and 10 hours a day.

So, you see, this isn't "just blogging". It's how I "practice". It's how I hone my skill. And reading blogs helps me to gain perspective, learn techniques and pick up on some other creative ideas.

While I may have had to cut back on the amount of posts I have ready to publish or the amount of blogs I can visit on any given day, I can't see myself forsaking the writing any time in the near future.

That being said - I am off to my writing class! My one true hope is that when I walk in, my instructor will have chosen to wear a bra. I am sort of getting tired of seeing her girls grazing the top of her belt. Not a pretty look.

Till next time my faithful readers.

XOXO
Emma