All Wordy And Junk

Writing for the real reward

2009-09-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

The first time that something I wrote got put in a book I didn't get paid for it. To the surprise of some people, I am totally okay with that. I have been writing on and off (mostly off) since I was sixteen years old. It seems like no matter how hard I struggle, the ladies have decided, I am going to be a writer. For as long as I can remember I have always had the idea in my head that I just want people to enjoy what I write. If someone reads one of my stories, and it puts them in the good place I go when I read, that is worth more than anything a publisher could pay me. When I do finally finish my first book, I will self publish. My reward for a published book will hopefully be the feedback I get from readers. Now come on, I won't lie, it will be nice to see a little green from it, but that is not why I do this.

A few years back some of my now good friends in the Harry Potter fan community decided they wanted to put together an anthology of stories. Written by members of the fandom. The goal was to give the proceeds of the book sales to the New Orleans Public Library to help them rebuild from Katrina. The call for submissions was put out. Librarians from New Orleans provided us with some writing prompts. I wrote a five hundred word story about a girl being cursed by a Djinn because she brought up a line from the movie Aladdin. It got put in the book. My story was among the chosen. My friends and family were thrilled! I was published. In a real physical book. When I explained this to some people, one of the things I was asked was. "So are you getting paid for this?" When I answered no, I got strange looks. Some people could not understand why I would donate my time and creative process. People do this all the time. They work in soup kitchens, or take meals to the elderly. I don't see the difference. Everyone helps in the way they are most capable. My way is writing.

The girls are doing it again. It's time for another book and another cause. I will be happily sending in my submission. Keep your fingers crossed.

Handmade Holiday

2009-09-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

Every year with my still shaky crochet skills I try to make gifts for people for the holidays. I have thus far made a shawl for my mom, a scarf and lap blanket for my dad. Various scarves for cold weather friends. A Christmas tree for mom and various people got cotton potholders. This year my plan includes a large scrap blanket for a friend in Salt Lake City, another bevy of scarves (including the Fibonacci scarf up top) and a few new tricks up my sleeve.

I enjoy making gifts for people, but I am always unsure if they really want to get them. It isn't like ages ago, when handmade gifts were the norm, usually due to lack of money or the industrial revolution. The happy news is handmade seems to be making a comeback. It only took the tanking of our economy to push it back to the limelight.

There is also a certain stigma attached to handmade gifts. Some people hear handmade and think of crooked, poorly glued objects or hideously crocheted toilet paper covers. There have been many rotten apples. But truth be told there is an amazing group of people out there that make beautiful things by hand.(check out etsy.com for proof) And I swear I will never made a crochet toilet paper cover with a plastic doll face.

Oh Lord Please Don't Let Me Be Miss Understood

2009-08-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

Let me drop some science right at the start. I am not a programmer. I do not have a college degree in any kind of computer science area. I don’t work for a start up, or write some famous tech blog. I am a document clerk at a mortgage company, an improviser and a writer. I spend a good chunk of my life interacting with people via this crazy thing called the internet. I am a social media junkie.

Because of all the above statements, do not assume that I am not smart. Do not assume that I am not interested in technology and the future of the world. Do not assume that certain things might be above my comprenhension. And definately don’t assume these things based on what I allow you to see of me and my personality online.

(I will admit some fault to this before continuing. I should be more conscious of how I portray myself online. It can be argued that people will only see what you show them. It can also be argued that people are bad at judging a book by it’s cover. I am working on the how I put myself out there, it’s a work in progress.)

I have always had the problem that I worry about what people think about me. It is one of my biggest demons, and I can beat it back but never really destroy it. Sometimes he is bigger than me, and I can’t ignore him. Other times he is just a nagging in my left ear. I had just reached a nice comfort level with the demon. We were respecting each other’s space, he was showing me that I need to be cautious because they are still looking. And I have learned how to tune him out. The cohabitation was working out nicely, until this weekend.

I expressed an interest in going to Gnomedex next year, there were some presentations I would have loved to have sat in on this year. Not to mention the idea of getting to meet some of the people I spend 90% of my online time with isn’t a bad shake. My “place” at such an event was questioned by a few people. With thoughts along the lines of ‘what would someone like you want with Gnomedex’. I might have gotten more upset than I needed to, but it really rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe I don’t really express my interest in technology as much as I should, I guess I could outwardly focus more on that interest than the others in my life. Then again, I don’t think I should change the way I function just to make sure people perceive me a certain way. This is a crazy yo-yo to be stuck on. Anyone have a pair of scissors?

Music Memories & My First Apartment

2009-08-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Listening to Happy Rhodes tonight, I am instantly thinking about moving to Buffalo to live with the man who would become my ex-husband. I moved out of my parents to move in with him. I was 22. I was born and raised in a small rural town outside of Buffalo, and was excited about the idea of living in the city. We found a one room apartment in a rather nice neighborhood. It was a garage converted into living space. One wall was covered with mirrors from ceiling to floor. The bathroom was tiny and there was an out of tune piano in the “hall” area near the door. We didn’t have a tv, we got “online” by checking mail with Pine, and using his college account to get on IRC. I have a lot of little memories, rather than stories, about the place.

I remember our weekly trips to the library downtown, taking the subway down and coming back with piles of books. I remember buying canvases and paint, putting on Susanne Vega, Dead Can Dance and Happy Rhodes and painting late into the night. I remember being broke, really broke. Living on cheetos and coffee broke. I think of all the times I walked to the convenience store near by to get Little Debbie snack cakes, and cheap soda as a treat when we had money. There was the winters, when we would walk to the zoo and pay $1 to walk around because it was so cold. The time that my car got buried in the snow because they didn’t plow our side streets. We lived on rice and ramen, and lots of tea.

We wrote, painted, made paper mache sculptures, celebrated the solstices and lived. We lived hard, we struggled to live hard, but that made it even sweeter.

It's like 1999 all over again

2009-08-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

~~Hi my name is Aden and I'm...~~

~~I was born a poor black child...~~

Hi. I'm Aden. Internet junkie, writer, and improviser.

In some form or another I have been doing the blog thing since about 1999. My fickle nature never left me in one place for more than a few years. There have been a handful of domain names, and platforms. I fall in and out of the idea that it would be a good thing to be putting my thoughts online. I am back on the "hey great idea!" side of things. I am really glad I am not going to be doing it alone.

Look what we've started

2009-08-13T08:43:00.001-07:00

Seems we've started something today, and I doubt any of us really expected to be starting a blog with so little planning - and it's ideas just like these that I love about the internet; it all starts with a simple question, then a suggestion, and within an hour there's the beginnings of a blog.

If you are curious as to how this blog idea came to be, check out the post from this morning by Aden.

And where are we headed with this blog? I don't know, but I am certainly curious to see where it leads.