Writing and Michigan Basements

Okay, I lied. "Men in Trees" wasn’t on last night, but it is still scheduled for Wednesdays at 10 p.m. I don’t do reality shows, but a woman going to the Alaskan wilderness (for all its craziness) is a little more up my alley.

Played hooky from school today to stay home and write. Spent a lot of time on poems and not a lot of time with Taylor, a character I’ve been spending a lot of time with the past few months. Late nights with Taylor and her friends talking to me have been some of the most fulfilling of my life (and yeah, I know how delusional that sounds, I’m a writer and not the first one to say they hear characters talking). There is just something incredibly comforting about the hurries and flurries of the day being over, being in my jammies, a cup of green tea (or whisky, depending on the day), and just writing down the stories that float around in my head like moths all day long. Snatches of dialogue, looks and feelings. This story that is mine, but exists somewhere beside, somewhere apart from me. I suppose that is why our stories are like children, they begin as part of us, but eventually we do not know them at all, looking up one day and wondering how they got so tall and strong all on their own. When did that mole get there and where did that scar come from? It grows out and apart from you.

It rained a lot today, on another note. And is supposed to rain more tomorrow. We’re not sure where it is going to go with all the moisture all ready, but it always finds someplace. Dad is working tonight on getting the basement subpump to work so we can start pulling water out of the basement. Michigan basements, gotta love ‘em.

Starting a Freelance Writing Business

Today was another personal lesson in self-education. And just so y’all know, I had no intention of this self-education idea taking on a life of its own. It was meant to be an essay-style format, in three installments. Well, like so many things in life… That. Didn’t. Happen. Deal with it, I guess.

So anyway, today involved learning how to start a small business. I’m putting together a freelance writing business over the next few months and am trying this self-employment thing, since I’m not the type for corporate America, at least on the every day nine-to-five level. Some day I may change my mind, but for now I prefer to see what other options are available. So today I spent a large portion of the day in a crash course, learning the basics of starting and running a business. I’m currently putting together a business plan that outlines the services I will offer, namely copywriting, proofreading, resume writing, press releases and media packages. If anyone has any work in that vein, like, say, your business needs web content, please let me know. :-)

Other thoughts for the day concern the bleakness of a Dickens’ novel still before me (375 pages into Bleak House, only 500 pages to go!) and mulling over balance sheets and Lorca’s “Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias.” Oh, and Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes completely rocked! Everyone remember to catch “Men in Trees” tonight. And have a good one.

Agnosticism

This isn't exactly related to educating yourself, but it could be if I argued that I have an ongoing, low-level interest in mythology and religion. So here's a link to Bertrand Russell's article on agnosticism.

http://arts.cuhk.edu.hk/humftp/E-text/Russell/agnostic.htm

Enjoy!

Self-education and Taxes

My day emphasized the topic I’d already intended for the blog to this week: educating yourself. First of all, its tax season (and only accountants are going YIPPEE!). We farm so it gets a little hairy. And we don’t always have the best comprehension.

So why, you are asking yourself, is this chick talking about taxes when she said this was about education? Answer: in order to explain why educating yourself is so important.

But, in order to do that, I’m going to give a little background about myself.

From the fifth grade, I was homeschooled. Not for religious reasons or anything, but because I was a motivated, driven student who wasn’t challenged. (They should have taught us tax laws between naptime and lunch… grumble, grumble.)

Anyway, I learned about educating myself, not because I had to, because I wanted to. I spent hours pouring over encyclopedias, drinking in new information.

Flash forward and you find a blonde girl at college who is absolutely astounded that other students don’t crave knowledge like that. While I’m not a complete nerd, I do have my less-than-cool tendencies, like going on and on… and on… about this or that author who did xyz in whatever century. Not many people in my life care. But I do. The process of learning is good for me.

Getting back to income taxes, I’ve had to seek out a great deal of information, from people and places, in order to help this year. It may not be fun or pleasurable (and sometimes down right painful), but necessary. And this becomes another lesson: educating yourself is a lifelong commitment that shouldn’t end until you’re dead. Because, I think, when you quit learning, exploring, and being curious, life isn’t much fun, no matter how much is left.

Horseback riding and Jane Austen

Dad and I rode horses tonight, fixed fence, and drank beers, all at the same time. Hey, we needed a break from helping my grandmother with her income taxes. This time of year is yet another point where I really miss my grandfather. He had the head for numbers in this family and the attitude to get it done.

A beautiful Michigan weekend. I wish that I hadn't had to spend most of it inside with writing and work, but so it is. And so we get to Sunday night and I'm parked at my desk again, counting pages, and watching Masterpiece Theater, the Complete Jane Austen. I especially loved the episode of “Miss Austen Regrets,” for reasons that I will not go into, except to say the part with the servant telling Jane how her writing makes those very settled in life remember what love was like touched me deeply.

Started Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes today. A hundred pages in and I’m addicted. Can’t wait to see what happens next and can’t believe I haven’t found this author sooner.

Nothing much else to bore people with tonight. Just updating while I keep working on the entries I hope to post later in the week, probably in installments. So check in this week for more info!

And have a good evening.

Spring is here... yey? (I think)

It actually feels like spring today, complete with heat from the sun, how ‘bout that? I can’t decide if that makes me happy or sad because I’m crazy and actually like snow.

Except for this winter. This winter was just shit all winter long.

Spring also gets me down because all the repairs become loudly apparent. Buildings and fences need repaired, horses shed like… I don’t even know what, they just shed bad, limbs in the yard need picked up, dogs track mud absolutely everywhere… and all the cleaning and maintenance just kind of defeat my enthusiasm for warmer weather.

On another note, been doing a whole lot of reading the last few months. Most of the books have been in genres or by authors I’ve never read much of before. Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series has been the most fun. So have Diana Gabaldon’s books, Drums of Autumn, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, and Lord John and the Private Matter. I started Charles Dickens’ Bleak House the other day and have been reading Jim Harrison, both poetry and some fiction, for my apprenticeship project in my poetry class.

We studied Federico Garcia Lorca in poetry class yesterday and he has been one of the few poets I’ve encountered lately who I can honestly say blows my mind. He can do so much with words in such a short span that it’s just beautiful. An interesting thing about that is how familiar his poems seemed, despite being Spanish. I guess there is just that much Spanish influence in American cowboy culture.

The last few books I’ve tackled were Bill Bryen’s Shakespeare and Janet Evanovich’s One for the Money. See? I am expanding my horizons from classic literature, westerns, and fantasy. A little bit.

Happy days to all (and I even feel less gloomy than when I started this post).

April is poetry month

Today kicks off the first day of poetry month. So lets hear for the form that everybody can write and no body understands! Here's a poem to start the month on (not one of mine, thank goodness). And for those who would like to, post your own poems, your own or those of your favorite poet, hell, even the ones you don't get (maybe someone else will and can explain it...or can at least suggest some good Cliff Notes on it).

Yesterday
by W. S. Merwin
My friend says I was not a good son
you understand

I say yes I understand

he says I did not go
to see my parents very often you know
and I say yes I know

even when I was living in the same city he says
maybe I would go there once
a month or maybe even less
I say oh yes

he says the last time I went to see my father
I say the last time I saw my father

he says the last time I saw my father
he was asking me about my life
how I was making out and he
went into the next room
to get something to give me

oh I say
feeling again the cold
of my father's hand the last time
he says and my father turned
in the doorway and saw me
look at my wristwatch and he
said you know I would like you to stay
and talk with me

oh yes I say

but if you are busy he said
I don't want you to feel that you
have to
just because I'm here

I say nothing

he says my father
said maybe
you have important work you are doing
or maybe you should be seeing
somebody I don't want to keep you

I look out the window
my friend is older than I am
he says and I told my father it was so
and I got up and left him then
you know

though there was nowhere I had to go
and nothing I had to do

From Opening the Hand, by W. S. Merwin, published by Atheneum. Copyright © 1983 by W. S. Merwin.