A little more development

I reread through my post from last night, and that little graphic designer just jumped out at me, screaming to be written about! I was thinking about how I wanted to write about her, and I was reminded of Julie Anne Peters as she wrote Luna. She has explained that she wrote the story from the perspective of the sister, not the title character, in order to show details about Luna that can only be told from an outsider's perspective. Had Luna told the story from a first-person perspective, the reader would not be privvy to some of the mannerisms that make Luna unique. I attempted this with my "shitty first draft" of my characterization of the graphic designer. I thought writing it from the perspective of a peer who is very different would allow me to highlight some of the quirkiness that sets her apart. Even though I haven't tackled the physical description of my graphic designer, I think this look into her room and workspace speaks volumes about the type of person she is.

She led me down a flight of stairs into a finished basement. I looked to my left and saw an antique piano flanked by a pool table and an air hockey table. As we walked a little further I noticed a foosball game and what I thought was a tanning bed. Wow, I thought to myself, these people must get bored easily. Why else would they need all of this… this stuff.
We had reached our destination, and we both paused in front of an unassuming honey colored wooden door with a brass knob. She turned the knob, and I saw that the front of that door was the only unassuming thing I would be encountering for the next few minutes. It took me a moment to take in the whole scene. First, my eyes were struck by the wall color. Or, colors, I guess is the more appropriate description. The wall facing me looked like a study in color theory by Kandinsky with concentric circles of different sizes brushed across it. Odd color combinations, too. Mustard yellow with pale gray and bright pink next to a sphere of cobalt blue with a dot of lemon yellow surrounded with brown. The other walls in the room were painted a solid color, at least from what I could tell. They were papered with photographs, large reproductions of words typed in different fonts, and sometimes just lonely letters held up by thumbtacks. Her walls were like life-sized cork boards. Anything that caught her eye must have made it onto her wall.
She must have noticed me surveying the room because she semi-apologized and semi-explained, “Yeah… I like to put stuff that looks cool all over my walls. Sometimes I look at it the next day and wonder what I was thinking, but most of the time…” she trailed off. “Most of the time… I dunno. I just like to look at cool stuff like that. It makes me think about what I want to create.”
I didn’t know what to say. My room was the complete opposite of this. I like order. A place for everything, and everything in it’s place. My walls had been a pale pink for as long as I could remember, and my desk was pristine white, with all of my office supply accessories sitting unused, neatly organized into a matching white holder.
Her desk was a mess. A chaotic, cluttered mess. Magazine pages ripped from their home covered the top. A newspaper was spread out with a half finished painting or art project of some sort drying on top. I could see a half-full package of 72 colored pencils about to fall off the edge. I noticed the other half of the pencils were strewn about the floor under the desk. Was 72 colors really necessary? I didn’t even know the boxes went up that high, I thought to myself. The last box of colored pencils my mother bought held 16 or 18 I think. But that was way back in 3rd grade. I don’t even think I’ve used colored pencils since then.
Her closet doors were half open, exposing a multitude of colors and fabrics and more mess. To her credit, she had a shoe organizer hanging off of the back of one of the doors. Of course, it held only 3 pairs of shoes. The remaining pairs, all seemingly 875 of them, sat in a pile at the end of her bed. No wonder she couldn’t find a matching pair this morning! There was also a slender metal hanger that I recognized as a tie holder. My dad had a few hanging in his closet. But she didn’t have ties hanging from hers. Instead, necklaces made of all sorts of chunky beads, some plastic, some wooden, some shells hung from the small hooks. I noticed a few bracelets too, and even some large hoop earrings. I don’t think there was anything delicate about her choice of accessories.
She cleared off a pile of clothes from her bed and motioned for me to sit down. I delicately stepped over the laptop sitting on the floor, and stumbled a little as I tried to maneuver around the dirty clothes, fashion magazines, and paint tubes strewn about in front of her bed. I positioned myself next to her, on top of a white, down filled comforter with lots of paint stains. I wonder if they were done on purpose or put there during one of her artistic frenzies. She opened her binder and placed it next to her textbook.
“Ok, let’s get started on this,” she said energetically.

Who is in me?

I read a few chapters in Bird by Bird again tonight, and one of them dealt with characters. Anne Lamott said to look within onesself to find inspiration based on a facet of ones personality. She said, “You may find a con man, an orphan, a nurse, a king, a hooker, a preacher, a loser, a child, a crone. Go into each of these people and try to capture how each one feels, thinks, talks, survives.” I tried a little exercise where I wrote just a few sentences about the different "people" living within my personality. Some of the people were easy to write, but some were difficult. It only makes sense that the easy people were the parts about myself that I like, making the difficult people parts of my personality that I wish would remain hidden. So far, here is what I've come up with. I really like the idea of developing one or more of these snippets into characterizations. I think there are a lot more characters within my personality just waiting to get out, so maybe I'll post more snippets later. For now, here are my inner-persons:

A graphic designer who loves to find patterns and uniqueness in her surroundings. A person who loves type and finds beauty in written words. A girl who loves color in everything, clothing, jewelry, post-its, book covers. Someone who buys a 72 pack of colored pencils just for the fun of it because she likes looking at the range of different colors and experimenting with combinations. Someone who arranges her bookshelf by color, not by title or author, because it's more visually appealing.

A slacker who will do the bare minimum to get by. Someone who can spend all day on the internet and not accomplish one lick of work. A person who waits until the last possible minute to begin a task and then has to send emails of apology when she can't meet a deadline she's set for herself. A person who spends more time figuring out a short cut to a problem than it takes to actually solve the problem.

An absent minded flake who sets the TV remote down in the refrigerator as she's looking for a nighttime snack. Someone who asks whether instant mashed potatoes are white, like the real thing. A girl who leaves candles burning unattended and forgets to put the milk away after she's done covering her Special K. A person who forgets to return voicemails her friends have left days ago.

A sentimental genealogist who gets misty-eyed thumbing through black and white photographs of relatives she's never met. Someone who tries to think of what life must have been like for her ancestors and what they went through to give her the life she has today. A girl who cannot throw away any small piece of nostalgia. Someone who keeps movie stubs and concert tickets from dates even though she's sworn off ever talking to that guy again. A girl who has looked through every album and shoe box full of photos at her grandmas house and has memorized the stories behind the pictures so she can tell her cousins and children and grandchildren someday.

A mother hen who loves her family and would do anything for them. A girl, the oldest cousin in a family of criers, who gets nostalgic thinking about how well her smaller cousins are growing up. A devoted and loving family member who encourages her younger family members, takes them out to dinner, buys them gifts, and makes them feel special, because they are special to her.

A hopeless romantic who pictures the perfect family life of 3 kids and a black lab living in an impeccably designed home with the man of her dreams. A daydreamer who thinks of the perfect wedding, even though she's not even close to being engaged. Someone who enacts scenes in her head between herself and her boyfriend, thinking of all types of sweet and loving things for him to say to her.

An insecure teenager with an independent front who still wonders if people actually mean the compliments they give her. Someone who does not like to take handouts or ask for help for fear of seeming weak and needy. A girl who puts up a strong front but questions decisions she's made and looks for constant reassurance from her mother. A girl who uses her sense of humor to deflect hurtful remarks and pretends not to care when something does not pan out the way she had hoped.

So far the "sentimental genealogist" has really jumped out at me. I also like the graphic designer because I think she's more quirky than most people would realize. I hope to post later on this week or next week with a more developed character.

My new motto!

Let me just preface this post with one little fact: I don't mind writing. I actually think I could grow to like, maybe even love it if I spend more time actually sitting in front of my computer and typing away. However, I find it daunting, overwhelming, and frightening. That's why I am loving the book I'm currently reading, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. She has broken down the process of writing into manageable steps! Who knew! I'm still overwhelmed with the amount of things I can write about, but at least I know where to start. Throughout the next few weeks I'll be sharing thoughts on my readings and samples of my writing. Comments and criticisms (be nice) are always appreciated, so fire away!

One thing that jumped out at me as I read, was this quote in the chapter entitled Perfectionism: "Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground." This will be my new motto! Now, I'll admit that I like this quote out of context because I tend to be slightly on the messy side... Ok, I practically rule the messy side. But I like my life that way! And Lamott has made me feel proud of my messiness! Even if the clutter she references probably isn't the same type of clutter that clogs my nightstand, computer desk, closet, and bookshelf, I think both ideas are distant cousins. I know I'm a cluttered writer. Although I rarely save drafts of pieces I've written, I know that they tend to branch off in multiple directions, often losing focus and purpose until I go back through and weed through the bits and pieces that suffocate the really good parts.

Lamott also instructs writers to write small assignments. She encourages writers to get through the inevitable writer's block by just writing one paragraph, one paragraph of dialogue, or one setting description, for example. I'm going to try this daily. Knowing me, I'll probably end up with more than one paragraph on most days. Even if what I write will probably end up as a "shitty first draft" as Lamott calls it, I'm ok with that.

So from now on, I'm going to live by my new motto and embrace my clutter! I'm going to get all of my thoughts out and weed through them later. Chances are, somewhere within all of the junk, there will be a small gem waiting to be polished.

Ok, I said I was going to blog every day, so here goes!

Last week I had a lot of fun on my pseudo-spring break. I say "pseudo" because I still had to work, and I had a TON of homework to do! So, it really didn't feel like a break. But I did get away for a little bit... Thursday night I went to the BOB with Carrie, Jenna, Matt, and some of Matt's friends. We had a really nice dinner, mini bottles of champagne (YUM), and went to Dr. Grins for a night of laughing. I also tried a new drink, Nuts and Berries. I'm sure it was about a million calories, but it was delicious. It was hazelnut Bailey's, Chambord, and cream.

The comedians were hilarious! Dwayne Gill was the first guy, who had actually spent some time in lil ole Ionia! Of course, he had a lot of funny things to say about my hometown. The headliner, Matt Kirschen, was a riot! I was laughing so hard, at one point I had tears coming out of my eyes! Go see them if you can. You will not be disappointed!

Here's a pic of Carrie, Me, and Jenna from dinner:

I've got LOTS more to blog about, but I also have 5 papers and 3 exams in the next 9 days, so I'm swamped! I promise I'll blog a littttle more tomorrow : )

Daily Musing...

As I've mentioned before, I have attended/will be attending a total of 9 weddings in a 13 month period. So far, I've been to 3 and they were each amazing in their own way. With 6 more coming up (one in 10 days!!!!), I'm constantly perusing bridal blogs and coming up with new loves. As I was browsing the other day, I came across this oh-so-adorable suite from Studio on Fire. I'm a huge music lover so these jumped out at me. Plus, the combination of bright colors + letterpress = invitations that are so unique, people will be talking about them long after you say your I Do's! Maybe it's the graphic designer in me (or the remnants of that one year in college where I was a graphic design major), but I LOVE interesting type and fonts.

Big Loser

Well.... I did it! I'm the Biggest Loser out of the 11 people who started : ) It was tough, but SOOO rewarding. I ended up losing 23.2 pounds, and as a group we lost over 80! I thought we did a great job encouraging each other and trading yummy healthy recipes. We're going to start again in a week, so I've got to get ready to kick some butt! Today I purchased some new running shoes so I can start training myself to run. I really want to run a 5K, so I figured I need to get off my butt and start working on it. I'm going to use these podcasts to help me out. I also purchased some new running shoes... because, let's face it, new shoes are a good incentive for anything!

And- because Jessica of this amazing blog always says every blog deserves a pretty picture, here's my inspiration! I'm headed to North Carolina at the end of May and I want to run one morning on the beach!
I think I would feel guilty disturbing the perfect sand with my footprints!

Super Quick Catch-Up!

Ok, Ok, Ok... I know it's been FOREVER since I last blogged. I'm a horrible blogging slacker. But... I've been very busy (I know, a likely story). Rather than post a new entry for each and every thing I've done over the last month, I'm just going to post a few highlights with captions. Sorry - but you're really not missing much : )

I hereby vow to [try] and blog each and every day [or at least 5 out of 7] so add me to your reader and prepare to be amazed! Haha... not really : )

Here's a pic of me and Linds from the Oakwood in March. I got horrrrrribly sick after this night. No, it wasn't from drinking, it was the worst sinus/headcold crap I've had in a long time.

Me + Linds + Steph at the Oakwood... Happy B-day Stephers! [please pardon the black eyes... apparently my red-eye removal doesn't know what it's doing]

A pic of me + Erin + Jenna at Amanda's bachelorette dinner at the B.O.B in GR. As you can see, I'm still feeling slightly under the weather at this point. Don't you LOVE our coordinating brown and blue outfits! All the better to match the wedding, my dear : )
And a pic of the custom-made, ribbon-trimmed bachelorette veil that my sister and I made for Amanda! (Yes, we actually are that talented!)
Erin and I in Bay City for St. Pat's Day!! The ONLY place to celebrate (other than Ireland, of course). How much do you love our headbands!
...and my classy t-shirt for the day ; )

Quick pic with two of my favorite boys : ) We had a meeting in East Lansing so we decided to come down the night before and pretend we were still in college for a night at Harpers
Jenna and I! I love this girl!
Kase, Jen and I at Harpers for the MSU v. UConn game! GO GREEN!

Absolute pandemonium after the Spartan win! Victory for MSU!!