On Blogging

I'm taking two internet/technology classes this summer, one where I'm creating my own website and another more focused on using technology/apps as programming tools in a library. Both classes have me thinking about the future of this space. That I'll keep reviewing books and restaurants and movies and recapping my travels isn't the question, but I'm considering a platform switch, or a linked site that would house my blog along with my other internet-based creations.

Nine-ish years ago, when I first started writing here, Blogger was the easiest/quickest option for my needs. Since it's a Google product, I don't need a separate login, and I can import photos from my Drive super quickly (especially when I'm working from my Chromebook, which is sadly un-update-able and therefore not long for this world...but that discussion is for another post).

I might explore other blogging platforms or website options and decide this space is still the best (most convenient, simplest, does what I need it to do), but even then, I think it's due for some upgrades: cleaning up old links, refreshing the design, reorganizing a few of the pages. Stay tuned for new things in the future!

Migrations: A Storytelling Experience

As a part of my storytelling class, I attended a live storytelling performance on campus this past weekend. Stories are meant to be heard, which is why recordings and YouTube videos are important, but live is better than recorded when considering the emotional impact of a story.

This monthly event is part open mic and part storytelling performance, which meant I got to hear a variety of traditional tales, personal stories, and the featured teller's program. Hearing (and seeing) how others tell was a great way for me to think about the way I tell - do I remember to pause for drama (or comedy)? How do I stand? Do I have any verbal or physical tics?

Most powerfully, hearing the featured teller - Mama Edie Armstrong - along with several members of the Drum Divas showed me all the ways storytelling can reach an audience. She had us singing and dancing, laughing, sharing, and focused on her tales. Her program was called "Migrations: The Drums are Calling Us Home" and featured stories both personal and traditional, along with songs and educational interludes.

Mama Edie's style is suited for small gatherings (the audience was about 40-50 adults in a small lounge), but could easily translate to a larger performance. It was easy to see how she would work in a school setting or with younger audiences, as she asked for participation and used our reactions as teachable moments.

I was entertained, informed, and surprised at how quickly the time passed as Mama Edie told. The entire program was life-affirming and helped to show how storytelling is a connecting art form. I'm excited to continue my storytelling journey as I develop my librarian toolkit.

Day 50

Woooooaaaah we're halfway there, wooaaah....that's all I've got to share. :)

I've written a page a day for 50 straight days, mostly. Once I completely forgot (around day 41) and made up for it with two pages the next day. Once I didn't forget, but I willfully didn't write (around day 43 - last week was rough, guys) and again, made up for it with two pages the next day.

All around, I'd say a pretty successful challenge. If I can do 50 days, I can do 50 more - and now that I've added grad school to my life juggle and things have settled down from the first few weeks of class, writing is finding its space in my daily routine again (instead of me wondering how I'm going to fit it in between practicing cataloging standards and writing discussion posts about library marketing).

What will I do when I reach 100 days? Unsure. I won't force myself to write full pages, but I do find that if I let my mind wander for a few lines I get out all the random schtuff in my brain and I can get on to the real schtuff. And there's something to be said about having a consistent routine. Stay tuned.

A Different Kind of Poetry

I hope no one needed me to remind them about Poetry Month this year - I decided not to write/post a poem each day here in lieu of something a little bit different. Instead, I'm participating in The 100 Day Project. It's a project that's usually art-driven, and meant to be shared (via Instagram, using #the100dayproject plus whatever other personal hashtag creators come up with), but I'm keeping mine mostly private. It won't end when Poetry Month does (or Photography Month), so it's not strictly poetic (or photographic).

If I had to make an original hashtag for my 100 days, it would be #100days100pages...or #100pages100changes. I started with everyone else (on April 4) and will continue to write one page in my journal each day for 100 days, ending mid-July. Those are my only rules. So far I've filled pages with all words, some words and lots of doodles, decorated quotes from role models, and bits and pieces from whatever day I'm documenting. It's not as artsy as some projects, and it's less focused on a beautiful product than others, but I knew when I started that I didn't want a lot of guidelines and I did want a detailed account of April-July 2017, a period of time that promises to be filled with so many changes.

Cheers to today, Day 15, and to 85 more days of writing, changing, and creating.

An Abundance of Victories

If the beginning of this week was about searching for little victories to keep my spirits up, the end is about storing up multiple victories to recount later when I need a boost.

Waking up at 6:30 this morning so that I could be at school for homeroom this morning (knowing that I would be staying until about 6 tonight) wasn't awesome, but coffee from my Campus Director helped my mood a lot.

Hearing my students cheer and pump their fists after they got their Thursday Apprenticeship assignments basically made my morning, but having several students remember how to pronounce my name and ask thoughtful questions during class sealed the deal.

In the afternoon, I taught several kids how percentages work and had them teach back to me. Then I supported my own Thursday Apprenticeship, the Teen Dream Zine. Our kids are writing articles and stories and drawing pictures for a self-published zine that they'll share with their families and friends (and their school library) at the end of the semester.

Maybe it's the subject matter, or because I had five volunteer teachers co-leading the class, or maybe it's this certain group of kids, but I can say that today is officially the day I enjoyed teaching, felt comfortable doing it, and understood why people make this their full-time career.

It's amazing what a difference a few days can make.

Zen in the Art of Writing

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sum it up in a sentence (or two): Ray Bradbury shares his writing advice sprinkled in with a history of his writing/publishing endeavors.

First thoughts: Not the most enlightening writing book I've read by a respected author (that honor probably goes to Stephen King), but I got a few useful tidbits out of it. I wish Bradbury's intro lasted longer and he spent less time heralding the creation of his many stories. Maybe if I was strictly a Bradbury fan I would care, but I checked Zen out for the writing part, not the stories behind the stories part.

Differences: Lots of comparisons have been made between Zen and King's On Writing. My take: King is self-effacing. Bradbury is self-congratulatory.

Favorite quotes (there are actually quite a few, once you get past the schmaltz):
"and what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right." -pxii

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you." -pxiii

"The first thing a writer should be is - excited." -p4

"What are the best things and the worst things in your life, and when are you going to get around to whispering or shouting them?" -p5

"Do not...turn away from what you are - the material within you which makes you individual, and therefore indispensable to others." p42

"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.
The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out." -p120

Final thoughts: Again, I would've liked more of the preface and less of the self-involved essays. While a few behind-the-scenes anecdotes were interesting, I'm not sure if this book was the place for them.


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Steal Like an Artist

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sum it up in a sentence (or two): This is the advice that Austin Kleon would give to his younger self, that nothing is original and we are mash-ups of everything in our lives (so use that mash-up). This applies to artists, yes, but also to any person looking to tap into their more creative side.

First thoughts: What an uplifting little book! This was a breath of fresh yet familiar air - I found myself nodding in agreement at each page, smiling at the illustrations, and remembering basic truths about humanity.

Favorite quotes:

"Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things they really love." p13, my new cleaning mantra.

"Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul." -Jim Jarmusch, p14

"Don't worry about doing research. Just search." -p20

"Ask anybody doing truly creative work, and they'll tell you the truth: They don't know where the good stuff comes from. They just show up to do their thing. Every day." -p28, something that I've heard from pretty much all my creative role models. Show up. Do your thing. Done is better than good (there's no such thing as perfect).

"Whenever you're at a loss for what move to make next, just ask yourself, what would make a better story?" -p47

"Don't throw any of yourself away. Don't worry about a grand scheme or unified vision for your work. Don't worry about unity - what unifies your work is the fact that you made it. One day, you'll look back and it will all make sense." -p72

"In this age of information abundance and overload, those who get ahead will be the folks who figure out what to leave out, so they can concentrate on what's really important to them. Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities. The idea that you can do anything is absolutely terrifying." -p137

Recommended for: artists of all genres, creatives, thinkers, doers, humans, wonderers, people stuck in a rut, new graduates, and dreamers.

Final thoughts: Having been a fan and follower of Kleon's blog for a while now, I knew what to expect going in, and I was still pleasantly enlightened.


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Not That Kind of Girl

Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned" by Lena Dunham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sum it up in a sentence (or two): Lena Dunham's memoir detailing "What She's Learned."

First thoughts: I was hesitant to read this because I have a sort of love-hate relationship with Dunham. She, of course, doesn't know this. It stems from my frustrations with the nepotism and upper middle class white people problems of Girls, but I wanted to give Dunham, the writer, a chance, even if I'm not thrilled with Dunham, the TV show writer/producer/director/actress.

Favorite quotes:
"But that's also how I felt in high school, sure that my people were from elsewhere and going elsewhere and that they would recognize me when they saw me. They would like me enough that it wouldn't matter if I liked myself. They would see the good in me so that I could, too." p xiii

    "There is nothing gutsier to me that a person announcing that their story is one that deserves to be told, especially if that person is a woman. As hard as we have worked and as far as we have come, there are still so many forces conspiring to tell women that our concerns are petty, our opinions aren't needed, that we lack the gravitas necessary for our stories to matter. That personal writing by women is no more than an exercise in vanity and that we should appreciate this new world for women, sit down, and shut up.
    But I want to tell my stories and, more than that, I have to in order to stay sane." p xvi

Recommended for: me. As I read, I realized that a lot of Dunham's experiences resonated with my own. Even though I can hardly relate to her upbringing, childhood, life, or relationships, somehow we still share similar feelings about all of these things in general.

Further recommendations: women and the people who love them, writers, daughters, mothers.

Final thoughts: Not That Kind of Girl makes me want to write more and better. That's a good thing. I'm cautiously excited for whatever Dunham does next. I'm still not watching Girls.

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Friday Night Links 12

Because my writing goal for the year is to diversify it, here are a few articles, quotes, and lists that have been helpful motivation and affirmation. (PS, so far this goal is panning out well. I'm journaling a lot more than I ever did last year, my sentence-a-day notebook use is fairly regular, I'm keeping a schedule on here, and I've devoted time to personal projects that I have no plan for, but still want to play around with.)

This wouldn't be my personal list of writing inspiration if there wasn't something from Elizabeth Gilbert.

A whole year's worth of wisdom from some writing greats (including Gilbert, again). I keep this bookmarked and read through whenever I need a little pick me up.

"Write scraps and crots and pieces of broken structure. Throw them in a pile or a box or even away, but write, write, write. Until it’s not precious, or special, or perfect. It’s just what you do."

Writing is good for your health! And blogging gives you a runner's high.

My favorite part about this list is that a lot of it isn't about writing specifically, but about creating a life where writing can thrive.

A Journal Journey Pt 2

Another journal milestone: I finished this little guy (finally) after just over a year of scribbles. My journaling was slow this year, something I hope to remedy in 2015. I love blogging and writing on here, for an audience, but journaling is my true release and creative outlet/muse. It only took me until about now to realize that I have a hard time writing creatively before I write out all the junk first. So, less journaling means less creative writing, which means a less fulfilled human. Anyways, I know that now, so here's to fulfillment in 2015!

And here's my journal journey to date: everything personal and cringe-worthy from my life in 12 notebooks.

It's strange that I know most of their contents by their covers. The black one is my Rome journal, one of my favorites for obvious reasons. I taped/stapled nearly every receipt, ticket stub, train pass, brochure, and whatever other scraps of paper I came into contact with while abroad inside (that's why it won't close) and I'm so glad I did. That's something I forget to do now, but hope to make a habit again. Those scraps trigger memories and inspire stories. The one with the circles and the white one with the hair tie around it are from MercyWorks. There's a lot of growth in those (so much I needed hair ties to keep them secured). Large portions of all of these journals feature my favorite lines from songs and books, silly to-do lists, and self-pep talks. Sometimes I recalled a day's events, but more often than not I just recorded the moment's feelings, anxieties, prayers, goals, and hesitations.

Up next, filling this guy with whatever inspires me.

Sunday School

Here is what I learned today, compliments of writer/blogger Melissa Frederick (in a guest post on Brevity):

Like it or not, we writers have to accept that the only way to get good at writing is to write and share that writing with others. If the only space we have to hone our skills is a blog, so be it. 

Here's the article in entirety: "About Getting Good: The Many Paths to Literary Mastery".

A Journal Journey

Today marks the day I finish my 5-year, sentence-or-so/day journal. My interest in the project ebbed and flowed, and there were times I had to fill out a week retrospectively, but overall I've been religious about summing up my day in a few short lines since December 2009.

My favorite part was reading back each day to see what I had done the year(s) before. I noticed trends (fall's allergies, spring's restlessness) and marked traditions (holiday celebrations, anniversary rituals). Sometimes I found myself in completely different surroundings, while other years I could write the previous year's lines almost verbatim. A lot has changed (my location, my boyfriend, my job). A lot stayed the same (I know the girl who wrote those lines four, five years ago. She is still me.).

I've decided to continue the line/day journal because I do feel like I've gotten a lot from it (at the very least I can tell you what I did, in general, on any given day in the past five years...and that has to count for something). I'm going to pare it down, though, and really only give myself one line. Each page of my new journal will be dedicated to one calendar date and I'll write line by line until it's full.

This journey's not over yet.

On Bloggers Who Stop Blogging

When I think about this space, I don't think about how it will end. Mostly because I have no reason to stop, so I can't think about it ending. While I don't know how it will evolve, I know it will be out there in the world (or on the internet), existing as evidence of my life since 2009.

But some bloggers stop. Maybe just for a few months, maybe for a year or two, sometimes "until further notice." Why? What happens in their lives that makes them stop? To be clear, I'm not talking about temporary blogs (ie, study abroad blogs that are only meant to show a certain period of time...more on this a few paragraphs down) and I'm also not talking about starts and fits blogs (ie, blogs updated inconsistently where each time might be the last). I'm talking about established (also, many times profitable) blogs/bloggers who stop--and announce it.

I know of three who stopped this year: Young House Love (a couple who DIY's through their house(s)), Annapolis & Company (creative space turned photography business), and Pink Ronnie (a little bit of everything). Their final posts touch on reasons why they've stopped, and really it's not like they are disappearing from the online world altogether. They all have other projects, different business ventures, and new URLs to be found at. It's not the bloggers who are stopping, it's those specific blogs.

As The Romans Do, as a blog, should have stopped in May of 2009. That's when I got home from Rome. No one would have wondered where I went or why I stopped writing, and the Rome chapter of my life would have had a solid ending. Instead, I kept right on going (with a few short breaks here and there) and allowed this space to adapt to whatever was happening in my life at the moment. While I may not always want to post daily, something has kept me writing here for five years--moving to new cities, traveling, documenting my daily life, poetry challenges--and unless my furniture-rearranging/collage-making business takes off in the near future, I don't foresee a different project taking its place.

That means I'll see you back here tomorrow, and the next nine days, and then some more days after that. :)

Getting Stuck

Day 19: the first day of NaBloPoMo that I don't have a plan for. I wanted to leave a few days open for whatever came up, which is much like how I blogged when I first started here. (That method got me 2-4 posts a week, so I must have had a lot to say!)

I still have a lot to say, but not enough to warrant a post about each of the little things on my mind--things like Thanksgiving plans, next year's vacation ideas, thoughts on gift-giving, changing goals, and the meaning of life. You know, basic stuff.

Instead, let's just talk about getting stuck. What do you do when inspiration/creativity isn't on your side? The way I see it, we have two options: push through or switch gears. The hard part is knowing which way to take and when.

mid-process in a creative project

Push Through
If I'm struggling with writer's block, but I know I'm close to getting the words out, I tend to just push through. Especially during first drafts--in that scenario it's more important to get something out on paper/computer screen, even if I end up deleting the whole thing during later revisions. It's easier to edit words than blank space.

Pushing through also helps me see what my creative limits are--how far can I go with the current state my brain is in? What else can I accomplish in this moment? I'm reminded of late nights at school when I had to push through because a paper was due the next morning. Sometimes this process worked in my favor. Other times...not so much. That's when I needed to step away.

Switch Gears
As long as there's time during a creative project, switching gears can be the best course of action. When I'm stuck on what to post, or how to write a post, or when I can't figure out any sort of problem (coordinating my day at work, tackling a tough house project), I do something not related to my problem. I shower, clean, or go for a walk. I do something that I can do without really thinking, like grocery shop or laundry, and let the problem simmer for a bit. Most times, my brain will keep working on the problem while my body goes in a different direction. When I come back to the project, I'll have a new perspective (or at the very least, fresh eyes).

Basically all of my post ideas come from somewhere other than at the table with a New Post window open. Probably about 85% come while I'm riding my bike to work or driving around doing errands, which is kind of distracting because I want to write them down immediately before they go floating away. The rest come during meal-making, internet-browsing, reading, and in those hazy moments right before I fall asleep (those get forgotten 100% of the time before I wake up, which sucks because I'm pretty sure they're my best ideas).

Other ways of switching gears include listening to different music, getting a good stretch in, or taking a snack break. Mmmm...I'm always about snack breaks (I went and got a bowl of salsa before writing this conclusion). What do you guys do to stay fresh?

Mirrors & Lamps

Yesterday at work, I picked up a mirror and a lamp for an interior decorating project. (Since I just saw Oculus this weekend, I'm pretty sure the mirror is haunted, but that's another story.) Then, last night I started reading Girl in Need of a Tourniquet: Memoir of a Borderline Personality and came upon this line:  "I resisted change. My resistance limited the memoir to mirror rather than lamp."

Interesting. Sometimes I wonder if what I'm doing here (on my blog, in my journal, through the constant monologue in my head) is just a whole bunch of mirrors. I can reflect myself over and over and over (accurately or distorted--as if I were looking into a funhouse mirror). I can write the same story a million times. I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing, but I hope someday I can write a lamp instead. At least for variety's sake.

On Writing

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An interesting memoir combined with thoughts on writing that boil down to: Writers Write.

I'm an inexperienced Stephen King reader, but I'm glad I've at least read this. Besides endearing me to his no-nonsense style and explaining a lot about his preferred subject matter, On Writing has practical advice and takes a straightforward approach to "the craft" of writing.

I loved the imagery of taking two completely different things and combining them in a story. According to King, that's where the magic happens--at the intersection of formerly unrelated thoughts, ideas, or questions.

In the end, though, what King tells his readers is that to be a writer is to write. To write the story that begs to be written, to approach it boldly, to trust in its need to be in the world, and to take pride in the act of writing.

He also calls reading a writer's "creative center" ...and that's all a girl like me needs to hear as she continues devouring the pile of books next to her bed.


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The Lover's Twitter Account

Remember when I read The Lover's Dictionary last November? I just found out about the author's twitter account, which continues in the vein of the novel. These tweets aren't excerpts, but additions, so it's like getting to read even more of a story I truly enjoyed. Like the book, they're alphabetical and Levithan is only on "impeach" as of ten hours ago. Looks like I'll be taking the night to catch up.

I'm Waiting

I’m waiting for the

weekend to feel Infinite

instead of a

quick, over in a sudden

flash, a house guest

gone before she has

any effect. I’ve been

wrong before, but I assumed

longer days would lead to

longer weekends. Be

it one hour or two, but

enough to notice. How

much difference can

a few hours make? That

much: a stupendous

amount. I mean, come

on. It’s April, which

is cruel, but never

so barbaric we went

crazy wishing it away.

---

Golden Shovel, a la Terrance Hayes, goes like this:

-Find a poem.

-Use each word in the poem as the last word in each line of a poem you write yourself.

It was napowrimo's prompt for yesterday, and I decided to try it out today. It's not easy, but I'd be game to try it again someday.

You can read Emily Dickinson's "The Infinite a sudden Guest" by reading the last word of each line.

Poetry Month: Acting the Fool

It makes sense for April Fool's Day to kick off National Poetry Month. Poets are truth-seekers and truth-speakers, and as such, face criticism from a world content to ignore uncomfortable truths. Even simpler, one would have to be a fool to attempt writing a poem a day for 30 days.

Luckily, there is strength in numbers. I started following a number of poets on Twitter who will be taking part in the madness, plus there's the community at NaPoWriMo (a thing which I only discovered this year, even though I've technically been participating since 2011 and it's been around since 2003). I'm also following Harriet, the blog over at the Poetry Foundation (where I will also seek out poems by published poets).

The various writing challenges and prompts that I've done before will, for this month, be poetry prompts. My remaining simple living/Lent observances will become opportunity for reflection poems. Easter, Earth Day, Arbor Day, Tax Day: poem fodder. In the past I've let the poems come to me (which more often meant they didn't come to me, and I was left to throw something together at the end of the day). This year, I'm chasing the poems, grabbing them by their slippery tails, and throwing them onto the page. Or screen, as it were.

I'll be acting the fool for poetry for all of cruel, cruel April. Please, join me. Read some poetry, listen to some poetry, dare I say write some poetry? You'll be in good company.

Dave Eggers & Creativity

Here we are: just about done with the last Sunday of 2013. As I've done the past few weeks, I'm looking at creativity through the lens of a writerly role model. This time I want to know more about Dave Eggers and his creative processes. Eggers is another writer I feel a kinship to, if only because I read his memoir at the tender age of post-heartbreak/pre-college graduation. What he's done since is pretty awesome: not only writing seven more books, a screenplay, and making numerous appearances as an anthology editor, but also founding/co-founding an independent publishing house, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center, a human rights book series, a college scholarship program, and a nonprofit foundation that builds and funds educational resources for/in Sudan. (Hopefully I didn't miss anything!)

That's a lot of non-writing activity, but I still think we have something to learn from Eggers. All of this stuff that he's done, that he continues to do--it all propels humanity forward. He's gotten flak for being unapproachable and not doing interviews, but continually surprises interviewers with his humility and affability. He's been accused of selling out, yet I don't think people are complaining about the millions of dollars his "selling out" earns their nonprofits and foundations and scholarship programs (okay, these are all "his" things, but still--financial support is important in these arenas).

In his own words, "What matters is saying yes." We should do things, anything that we can, in the name of curiosity. In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Eggers talks about the "luxury of place and time" that his generation has. "It's almost historically unprecedented," he writes. "We must do extraordinary things. We have to. It would be absurd not to." Why would we waste our brilliant expanse of time doing anything other than a whole lot of awesome stuff?

In later interviews he echoes this same sentiment: 

"What matters is that you do good work. What matters is that you produce things that are true and will stand. What matters is that the Flaming Lips's new album is ravishing and I've listened to it a thousand times already, sometimes for days on end, and it enriches me and makes me want to save people. What matters is that it will stand forever, long after any narrow-hearted curmudgeons have forgotten their appearance on goddamn 90210. What matters is not the perception, nor the fashion, not who's up and who's down, but what someone has done and if they meant it. What matters is that you want to see and make and do, on as grand a scale as you want, regardless of what the tiny voices of tiny people say." 

What was that he said? What matters is doing and producing and meaning it. Have we learned our lesson yet? The crux of creativity - of creation - is getting down to business. Showing up. Doing our part. Putting our heart and soul into our work and letting it go into the world. I haven't planned any more posts for my Sunday creativity series, and after reading up on Dave Eggers I don't think I need any more. I can only guess that any other creative person I google and research will leave me with more of the same--sit down, shut up, and write my tush off.

---