Warning: Bliss-following is contagious!

It's been far too long since I've shared my progress in producing The Miracle in July, my online genre-busting manuscript experiment which has me poking holes in my comfort zones and oozing all kinds of spectacular experiences. Since July 6th I've faithfully, weekly, published one prologue and 10 segments for a total of 35,005 words. It's been unbelievably scary to publish drafts of my very personal, very erotic story so that I may someday see my words bound in a cover, kicking it on the shelf at Powell's Books.

It's been a very scary experience, and also fucking amazing. Here's why: Inspiration. I have inspired people. Yes! Me!

It's so hard to express in words (How is this possible that I cannot express things in words??) how fantastic it feels to be told by your peers, your readers, your loved ones, that blatantly baring your darkness and aiming for what you desire inspires them to do the same. Some of you are painting again. Some are trying your own hand at multimedia storytelling. Some are trying again to follow your bliss, a journey that was abandoned when life got in the way. You have been calling, writing, whispering you inspired me.

What a precious phrase to hear!

I heard a lot of these happy noises of the inspiration that MIJ brings last Saturday at the party I threw at Leisure Public House in St. Johns. About 40 of my closest fanatics gathered with me to celebrate the beginning of Act Two of The Miracle in July. We drank gin and lemonade, ate gorgeous red velvet cupcakes with fondant starlings on them (thanks again @megheroonie!) and I gave away buttons and CDs of music and gift certificates. The much-anticipated and utterly gorgeous MIJ locket line made its debut, and I even sold quite a few copies of my signed, limited-run, newly revised drafts of Act One. (I have like four left...send me a message if you want one!) We all had a damned fine time, as you can see:



We're a beautiful bunch, aren't we? There are a couple of photos that didn't make the cut for public viewing, however, like the one where I am sitting on the couch like a lady and my cotton black and tan animal print panties are clearly visible. Something about the camera angle and the fact that I have acres of legs makes it possible to see my crotch. OMG! I've been Lohan-Speared! My freak-out about this isn't so much the exposure they are clean panties (after all, I've already decided to pose for Playboy if they call) as it is that the MIJ fan base is growing so fast that now I fear I must always wear underwear in public. And shave down there. In case of paparazzi. (Or Aaron Hockley.) Damned pseudo-celebrity status!

Speaking of fans, the word about The Miracle in July is spreading fast! The Facebook fan page adds new members every day, and people have been tweeting, bookmarking, and emailing the hell out of it. I so love the randomness of how new readers find it. "I saw a retweet." "I was looking up the lyrics of a song you embedded in your story." "You linked to me, and I read a little and got hooked." Awesome!

Even awesome-r is that the quality of the feedback has been phenomenal. Advice and suggestions from all of you have influenced my writing and the configuration of the MIJ site. I re-wrote the "about the author" and "about the story" pages and re-arranged the navigation. I added an Amazon store for music featured in my story. I added a "draft" graphic to all the segments, and made it easier for new readers to get to the Prologue so they could follow my bliss – follow the story – from the very beginning.

There are things I still need to work on, like better use of interactive maps in the story, and there are things that I've promised have not materialized, like a members-only section. But I've learned it's OK to not be perfect all the time, a lesson that is a big part of publishing drafts of my memoir. I do my best writing and then I put it out there in its imperfect form, just publish it, and then crank out another segment the next week. And I know the work won't be done even after I post the Epilogue after the end of Act Three! I'll still have lots of work to do on the story and lots more work to get the story out in book form. But as I begin Act Two I find I have so much more confidence then that fateful morning last July when I began publishing my bliss. And I have my readers to thank for that confidence.

I've learned so much already during the production of MIJ, and the most unexpected outcome, the most powerful magic, has been discovering that this story of mine more important than just me. There is something larger at work here. Knowing so many of you are experiencing my story along with me, getting to hear your encouragement, and being told that I've inspired others to try their own hand at following their bliss – all of that tells me that I'm doing something right. I just might be onto something here with this "follow your bliss" thing. It makes the painful extraction of my words to describe my own journey so very worth it.

Thank you all for sharing this with me, and for embarking on your own journey to answer this question: Do you have what it takes to follow your bliss?

There's only one way to find out. <3

Let's go steady!

My story so far: first musings in following my bliss

Early tomorrow morning with be the ninth time in as many weeks that I've faithfully published a new segment on The Miracle in July, my guerrilla publishing experiment. I'm busting my emotional chops every seven days in the name of achieving my bliss, but that's not all I've been doing. Oh, no. I've gotten lots more done.

Let's start with the big news, shall we?


I'm very excited to announce that boutique literary agency Baker's Mark has agreed to represent me in publishing The Miracle in July! Bernadette and Gretchen, the ladies of Baker's Mark, are eager fans of the MIJ who like the story, the format, and the boundaries I'm pushing. When I started publishing my story I had no specific plans to find an agent, and instead I concentrated on producing good content and readers to read it. I also didn't actually find Baker's Mark, in fact didn't know anything about them, until I met Bernadette at Beer and Blog, the weekly bloggers networking event I write for and help promote.

Not only am I very surprised to have agency representation even before I've finished Act One of MIJ, I am also sighing with relief! Knowing who will represent me in big stuff like publishing rights is one less thing I need to fret about. I sincerely believe Baker's Mark is a perfect match for my project. My assistant @MeaganKate and I sat down with Bernadette and Gretchen not long ago and while we all agreed that the MIJ, my interactive manifestation of destiny, is a hugely ambitious project, we also all agree that we're up for the challenge.

Editorial Note: I promoted @MeaganKate from Intern to Personal Assistant the day I said yes to Baker's Mark, of course -- that girl is my good luck charm!

I'm also very pleased to say Apture, the multimedia tool I that makes my story so interactive, featured MIJ as Site of the Week. They also said this very nice thing about me: "There is no denying she has talent." Sweet! I've also been interviewed about my project on OurPdx and The Abundant Artist and received manymanymany private messages and tweets from esteemed friends and virtual strangers asking questions, giving suggestions, and offering to spread the word about my story.

In other news, I recently spent some time with talented local photographer @richburroughs who shot some promotional photos of me on gorgeous film at my home. (You can see a couple of digital shots on Flickr, here.) And in a few days @MeaganKate and I will be on Strange Love Live, a technology-focused podcast hosted by the lovely @CamiKaos, to talk about MIJ.

@MeaganKate and I have also made several major additions to The Miracle in July web site:

• Donations to support me as I write the story can now be made on the site
• A press page was added and embedded with a social media press release (complete with TwitPitch, links to the MIJ Flickr page and Friendfeed page, and preferred keywords)
• A fan page was added and contains links to MIJ badges and desktop images
  
• The images page is now an RSS feed from the MIJ Flickr page
  
• The About the Story and About the Author pages were re-written
• The Table of Contents was moved to the far right, out of the posting area
• "Like this story? Please consider [donating]" was added to the bottom of posts

Whew! As you can see, a lot has happened in the two months I've been writing The Miracle in July. And thanks to this self-imposed, admittedly brutal schedule crafting weekly installments of a very important experience in my past, I have learned a lot, too, about myself and the life of being a writer. I am beginning to understand how to coax my muse into reaching each piece of the story's puzzle inside of me. I can see that I take care in choosing the words that stay in, and that I worry about the words I should leave out. I watch the struggle of picking out the perfect media elements to help my readers be there with me, be in that moment. I listen to hours of music for that inspirational hook a song's title brings to my words. And I dig into the digital records of my past, scour the pages for storytelling clues. And while I do all of this creating, I must also make lists of ways to introduce MIJ to new readers.

So, yes. I've been a very busy girl since I last wrote here, and boy am I looking forward to the end of Act One. When that happens I'm taking a short hiatus from posting and instead will be focusing a bit on re-writing Act One, into turning it into a beautiful eBook for downloading and into a manuscript for my new agents to show off.

I also have many other exciting things in the works -- things I can't talk about just yet, but will just as soon as I can. In the meantime, I'm going to keep up with the type-ity type type. I'm going to keep following my bliss. It seems to be working in my favor so far. =)

Let's go steady!

The Miracle in July: I'm just getting started

Tomorrow will be the third week since I unleashed The Miracle in July into the wild, and the overwhelmingly positive response continues to thrill me. Tweets, emails and personal conversations with readers about my project have brought fantastic feedback about things to try in the future and what isn't working just yet. The "brutally honest, compelling" writing is a hit, the embedded media elements are dead-on, and my lofty, ambitious balls are basking in accolades. The launch of my storytelling project was good, really good, and I've only just begun.

There are also a lot of questions about what the hell it is. What IS The Miracle in July?

At the moment I'm calling it a semi-autobiographical venture in destiny manifestation. I hesitate to call it a fictionalized memoir because that phrase pricks the eyeballs of many in the publishing industry, and also because it's mostly true. I have many thoughts about a blanket refusal to accept all genre-bending works as equal and acceptable. I mean, if Publisher's Weekly is touting Jane Austin Monster Mashup novels (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters) then who the fuck dare tell me there is no such thing as a true life story set in the future? #seriously

The Miracle in July is my experiment in reverse-engineered publishing. The online publication is only the first step in seeing my story on the shelf at Powell's Books one day. I'm using blogging software to tell this story and as much online user-generated content and social media tools as possible. Not having to spend copious amounts of money on advertising or development is what makes publishing the story online first so attractive. Add to that the instant feedback from readers and the chance to build a frenzied fan club, and I've got myself a win-win situation.

I also found myself an Intern, one who really understands the vision of my ambitious project. @MeaganKate is gorgeous and sassy and super smart, and loves me and the story. She's also a really great writer. We've begin scheming, and this tweet pretty much sums up our plan. Meagan will be helping me get the word out about The Miracle in July. By this I mean she'll help me "pimp it real good" using both traditional and new media methods, and figure out new ways to share what I'm up to. I need readers to read it and authors who want to try my experiment in reverse-engineered publishing, too. We're also looking for a forward-thinking publisher who wants to help redefine how books are promoted and created. Meagan is damned qualified to do this and I'm lucky to have her.

If you'd like to help me get the word out, I invite you to go to The Miracle in July and click on the following image (they're at the bottom of eacg page and segment) and share or save it to your favorite bookmarking and social networks. There is also a hashtag to use on Twitter, if you want: #themiracle. For those of you who have done that for me already, I can't tell you how much it means to me. Wait! Yes I can! THIS MEANS SO MUCH TO ME! THANK YOU!

The Miracle in July has a solid, juicy structure thanks to my wonderful plot editor @jcrotham, a guy I've known since we were kids. JC is overly educated in old dead guy literature and angsty screenplay writing exploring existentialism. He's been writing stories and agonizing over details and plot arcs for as long as I've known him. Perfect! He keeps me on track and my feathers smoothed. Let me tell you: that's not easy. This story is already kicking my ass, and with 30-40 more segments (and weeks) to go, really his job is to keep my ass looking good.

In addition to cranking out one new segment a week, on Monday mornings, I'll soon have a Members Section for tasty Easter egg linkies and other goodies, a social media press page for "copy this code" badges, blog widgets and links to published articles about The Miracle in July. And yes, soon you'll be able to pre-order the gorgeously designed eBook version of Act One. It'll be missing it's interactive media, of course, but the writing is designed to stand alone and you won't be too sad that it's not there. (My Wish to the Universe: hurry up and make an affordable eReader with clickable hyperlinks. There's a huge market for it!)

Want to know more about The Miracle in July? Contact me. Please. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading my life story and watching me follow my bliss.

Meow!

Let's go steady!

How to get rid of boys FAST!

In honor of Ms. Erin Patton's 11th year on this planet, I am re-posting this from another place I used to blog (somewhere that rhymes with ByPlace) because said Ms. Erin modeled for me in the feature photo. She gave it that visual somethin-somethin every how-to article needs.

Happy birthday, girl!

Ladies…have you ever innocently walked down the street, only to be harassed by foul-mouthed boys wanting your love? Are you constantly fending off males who just can't grasp the concept that you're not interested? Sick of horrendously bad pick up lines, such as "If you were a laser, you'd be set on "stunning"? Dead tired of downplaying your beauty and awesome personality so the boys won't follow you home at night? Me too…but NO MORE!

Designed to repel even the most determined males instantly, my Wormlips Technique is portable, user friendly, utterly disgusting, and highly effective. In fact it's so effective that I have used it successfully for many years, keeping the undesirables at bay easily and quickly! My innovative Technique has been tested thoroughly and under the strictest standards and auditing procedures, and now that I am convinced that the Wormlips Technique will CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER!

And now…for a LIMITED TIME only…I'm sharing this valuable Technique with you in the hopes that women everywhere can experience relief from constant unwanted attention.

Wormlips Technique: Explained
As seen in the photo, the Wormlips Technique causes the lower face to appear as if there are a couple of large, fat worms surrounding the mouth. (Modeling my Wormlips Technique is my protégé genius Ms. Erin, aged 8. Her form is perfect, no?) Contorting the face like this makes the stomach of all XY chromosome-based human life forms to churn. Next, an involuntary grimace of disgust appears, followed by the avoidance of eye contact and quick abandonment of the goal to get you into bed. Hurray!

Wormlips Technique: Three Easy Steps!

1. Fold your lower lip down, exposing the worm-flesh colored skin and covering up your lower lip. If you can't keep your lip folded over, you will need to practice this. Keep at it! However, if you're one of the unfortunates with a mouth that "just isn't built that way" then you are destined to be harassed by depraved men who blatantly undress you with their eyes. Sorry. Everyone else, on to Step 2!
2. Stick your flattened tongue out halfway, folding it up to cover up your upper lip. Viola! The Wormlips Technique in its full glory!
3. Engage in the Technique and reclaim your right to be a beautiful, self-fulfilled woman without risk of attracting that loser who just won't take "no" for an answer.

See how easy it is? Don't let another minute go by… reclaim your life and ACT NOW!

Monetary donations are accepted.

Let's go steady!

Perception is personal (and consequently, not negotiable)

Image via Wikipedia

The last few days are pockmarked with examples proving without a doubt that perception is personal. Some of them affecting me personally, some not. All jarring, nonetheless.

Time and again a perception disconnect has played out. Involving situations of multiple points of views of such stark contrast, delivered with such absolute conviction, it tugs at my belief the Universe wants to make damned sure I've learned this lesson: individual opinion is personal, based on the whole of a life time of experiences and current thinking processes.

I am greatly influenced by and quite aware of this disconnect. This is that place in conversations and relationships where differing strongly-held opinions are so utterly contrasting that both parties are left scratching their heads in wonder. Questions like How could anyone possibly look at the evidence and see it any other way? and Who in their right minds, after all that has been said and done, could believe otherwise? populate thoughts.

I find exploring the answer to these questions powerful writing fodder. But that's prose, what I make up. In real life, I find disconnected perceptions a terrible burden. They make my heart race and my hackles raise. Realizing I'm not on the same page as another person, sometimes not even the same book written in a language I comprehend, is a nightmare.

I would prefer it if petty conflict was passe and bitter smallness was a curable disease, but it's not. I imagine I would be much more open to letting naturally insensitive creatures into my life if I could assure at least the resemblance of decorum, but I cannot.

What I can do, however, is limit the amount of petty conflict, bitter smallness and insensitive creatures in my life. And yes, I can write about it. I can work through the shifting intricacies of disconnected personal perceptions in my stories. I can refuse to take part in "going there" when pressed repeatedly to explain the reasoning behind my convictions, maybe in the hopes that I'll change my mind. And I can remind myself that an opposing view has just as much a right to exist as mine, even if I am undoubtedly sure mine is the "right" view.

In the construction of the storyline running through my current project, I find I am always thinking of this conflict. It almost feels I've manifested these recent real-life examples of personal perception disconnects to help me write the pieces that go in it, to help give me insight into the complexities of the relationships between people, to help me be a better writer and person. But it sucks, really sucks, when these complexities and disconnects threaten my world despite my best efforts.

So to the Universe I say this: it is my contention that this disconnect, this illusion of what is truth and what is fiction, is already a central theme in my life. I am quite aware of it, I study it, I live it. Therefore, I recommend the Universe drop the shovel, and step away from the hole. I'd like to move on to other life lessons, please. Perhaps in the way of learning to feel peaceful for long periods of time. I could use some of that.

Let's go steady!

How to write better and faster (and why the library makes me sexy)

Image by margolove via Flickr

I like to go to the free writing classes the Multnomah County Library offers to the general public. They have a huge number of interesting programs and events to go to: classes and workshops on a wide range of topics, special interest clubs, exhibits, storytelling times -- and all of it is conveniently listed online on the library's Event Finder page.

I'm a big library fan (duh) and therefore-hereto-consequently am freaking excited to report that @melissalion and I will be teaching our Social Media in Real Life class on May 8th. This is really great news for the mediaChick brand. Teaching at the library is super sexy, and I'm all about promoting the idea that smart = sexy.

So, I've attended a few writing classes at the library, and although most of the classes are geared toward the beginning writer I find they're invaluable for gaining perspective on the art of getting my damned words out in some sort of sensible, cohesive form. It takes work to make words look this good. In fact, I find it can be really, really hard. (Which of course means it's worth doing.)

Recently I attended a class called Speed Depth in Fiction Writing, taught by local author Laura Whitcomb. Laura talked through some techniques she uses to write third draft stuff the first time around in her "how to" book Novel Shortcuts.

So at yesterday's class I listened to what Laura had to say about her experiences as a full-time writer and the things that help her write faster, better. Although I didn't learn anything new, I did get a cheat-sheet of sorts on how to quickly crank out a story's blueprint. I think I'll find that most helpful because I'm a hardcore list-maker and need structure for my muse to be happy.

Here is an overview of the most goodest advice, with my "buck-fifty" comments thrown in. (I think we all know that I have comments to throw in.):

Create a soundtrack for your story
Search for songs that emulate your story, its climax moments, its characters. Play them when you write, starting with the one tune that really nails the overall feeling of your story. Your story's title track. End your soundtrack with the scene that best conveys your ending scene. Everything in between is up to you, but should include music from the time period of your story, music culturally relevant, etc.

Movie soundtracks are the best place to look for music that has an emotional charge, but without lyrics. Music without lyrics is optimal for writing for most people. Then you have people like me: fiercely attracted to music that first sucker punches me with a delicious melody and then finishes me off with lyrics that blow my mind. Consequently, my story soundtracks often contain all songs with lyrics -- distractions be damned.

Let the Masters guide you
When your best efforts to write a scene in your story the way you want it isn't happening, when you're struggling to make a decision about solving a tricky plot problem, try to remember how another, more experienced writer has pulled it off. For Pete's sake, don't rip off the Masters, only emulate the Masters. They know more than you and you'd be a better writer if you paid attention to how they go about solving the problems of their characters in their stories.

Random thoughts are not random
Laura calls this sensation your "sensory ghosts" and I call them "Ah-ha! moments" but they both boil down to the same thing: your subconscious is connecting the dots for you. The next time you're working away on something and suddenly you're reminded of a totally random phrase in a book, or a poem, or a person from your past, ask yourself "why." You'll find your brain has been working hard, along side you, and has found something new to consider in your writing. Perhaps the beat of the poem will make that clumsy intro paragraph finally work, or a quote from somebody else's character will inspire you to write a better plot line. When this happens to you, this "out of the blue" idea, you should probably shut up and listen to it.

If it stinks, cut it down at the knees
This is something I have found to be most useful in my quest to eradicate my tendency to be too wordy when I just can't get a scene to come together the way I want it to. Here's how you do it: Starting from the bottom of your page, read backwards through your disappointing sentences until you find one that you think is actually pretty effing good. Hack everything that follows it. All of the stinky, not awesome sentences. Ah...feels good, doesn't it?

Perfect your story's Big Moment
In every great story there must be critical passages that the reader's mind will drift to when thinking about it. That's what makes it a great story. There should be, however, one defining passage -- one moment that encapsulates the very essence of your story's awesomeness. That trait, what Laura calls a "cross hairs" moment, is in every single great story in the history of great stories. Make sure your story has one, and that it rocks.

Take the shortcut to the scene
This is a great way for writers who want to cut through the hemming and hawing prevalent in the early stage of creation, all that namby-pamby emotional back story crap that bogs me down because I'm INFJ and only sharing my writing with the public due to my fear of mortality. I require structure to create, and deadlines, because the creative process isn't a natural process. It doesn't just ooze out of me and I can't turn on and off the floodgates. The writer, the artist, the sculptor, the turn-table king -- we're all creative people who need to induce the muse to come out and play.

Here's one way for writers to quickly plot out a story's scenes (one page per scene):

1. Start with a short description of what should happen in the scene. Use regular type font.
2. Write a few lines of dialogue that supports what's happening in the scene. Use bold font.
3. Write for ten minutes, as fast as you can. Faster than your speeding, nay-saying inner critic. Use italic font. Next, go back through and bold 10 or so phrases you really like. You probably recognize this writing method (which you probably learned in high school) as free writing or stream-of-consciousness writing. Laura calls it a "heartstorm" which is cute, but I don't always write from my heart. I shall call it free writing, with the unspoken understanding that the sub-types are "heart," "brain" and "sex organs."
   
4. Print out your one-page outline, the bones of your scene, and keep it within eyesight while you write your third draft of it the first time out, the flesh of your scene.
   

Positive thought: not just for New Agers
Visualize whirled peas aside, the power of positive thinking cannot be denied. A good attitude and hopeful optimism is critical to your success and the health of your writer's ego. Since that statement is coming from a natural pessimist, I encourage you to give some weight to the idea that it can help your writing career and your writing. Here are some tips and tricks to get yourself in the right frame of mind for your undoubtedly pending fame and fortune:

• Write the copy for the jacket of your future book, your bio for the online column you want to pen, or the accolades from your wordsmith heroes tooting the talent horn.
• Go get your author photo taken and introduce yourself as a writer (even if you feel you aren't one. Yet.)
  
• Visualize breaking through barriers or walls. Literally. Write words on the walls or hang things on it that represent your barriers (people, places, things) and then use your hands, a sledgehammer, a cannon, whatever your little heart desires, to bust it down.
  
• Fantasize about your impending fame and fortune. I recommend you do this right before falling asleep or within 5 minutes of waking, because those are the times of day your sub-conscious mind is still more in charge than the conscious mind. As the conscious mind likes to remind you that, no, you are not a wildly successful and sought-after writer on permanent working vacation in the tropical isles, you'll want to focus your fantasy life to when your mind is more receptive.

Well, there you are. I hope you found this informative, and not a re-hashing of things you already knew about the craft of getting your words right. Or, if it is, that I was at least entertaining enough for you. I'll be trying out Laura's "shortcuts to the scene" tips, a good story plotter for my list-loving brain, and continuing with the other things mentioned here I'm already doing.

To my writer readers: any other tips to share on writing better, faster? Any of these ideas new to you, or something you might try? Drop me a comment or contact. I'd love to know! Meow!

Let's go steady!

I'm complicated (that's why I blog)

I have other blogs besides this one. Did you know?

This complex, mysterious, multi-faceted woman cannot be contained in just ONE PLACE on the Internet. Oh no. I have to spread my interesting-ness around, lest the Internet get top heavy (bottom heavy? help me out here...) and break during the replaying of @Kamarama's infamous wardrobe malfunction during last Friday's live podcast of Strange Love Live.

Confession: I admit I was assigned nipple patrol that night, which means to be on the hunt for wayward nips, but was helplessly distracted by naughty talk in the podcast chat room. I am the worst Chat room Mistress-slash-Nipple Police EVAR.

If you're a regular visitor (Greetings, Australia!) you know that on this blog I practice the art of revealing everything and nothing AT THE SAME TIME. There's also some techie talk, some sexy talk, and some baking talk. (Note to self: this paragraph describes all Portland girls. Maybe you should re-think any ideas of perceived originality? But not tonight. Too tired.)

I write about Portland stuff on Our PDX. On I Heart Media on Vox you'll see my favorite music, books, movies and lyrics, special messages that mean a lot to me. I write on Beer and Blog (to help bloggers over beer) as Portland Chapter Provost, which has been an incredibly cool experience.

And soon, very soon I'll be writing regularly on the Long Lunch PDX blog, about social media and how it works (and doesn't work) in real life.

You could say I've been busy. There's also the I'dtellyoubutthenI'dhavetokillyou projects that burn in my head (and heart, and, ahem, other places) that I work on obsessively, under the cover of night and during weekend free time.

However, here are some recent works that I'm willing to admit exist:

• Drupal Magic Animal Farm
• Welcome to Beer and Blog, 2009 Edition
• The Weepies "Hideaway"
• Fever Ray "If I Had A Heart"
• Nostalgia is the punchline
• Make a difference this summer: leave home

Hope you enjoyed this overview of some facets of my personality. I'll write something purposely vague here on this blog again, real soon. (Or maybe it's time to gush about Portland on Our PDX...or the latest indie rock band on I Heart Media on Vox...)

Let's go steady!

Putting myself out there (literally)

Sweet, tasty news!

Firstly, I've taken on the responsibilities of Portland Chapter Provost for the wildly successful Beer and Blog. This position is akin to the one Julie had on the Love Boat, only with no boat or Capt'n Stubing, but plus beer and Justin Kistner. Okay, yes it's much more than that. I write on the blog, generate ideas, support the team. You know what? I've just decided that I need a clipboard. Yep. And also just decided that someone should buy me a beer at the next Beer and Blog. It's just curteous, for the Love of Pete. And also, that we should make it a tradition. Whee, this job is FUN!

Next, I need to confirm a rumor I've heard is a-flying: It's true, I will be the month of July in the Naked for a Cause 2010 charity calendar, which is now available for pre-order on their Web site. The calendars are expected in the flesh late next month. (Oh, yes. I went there.) My image was taken by film whisperer Aaron Hockley. So, go get one and help P:EAR, the PCC Multimedia Club and Free Geek, this year's funding recipients. (By the way, my fragile ego wouldn't mind at all if you asked for an autograph. Just putting that out there.)

Finally, and this is a big one for me folks, next month I'll be co-teaching a class with Melissa Lion. She'll handle the part on writing narrative for blogs, and I'll be yammering on about social media tools and blog promotion and the like, until I'm told my time is up and can I please shut the hell up now? I'm a bit nervous about this. Will I be able to shut up? (Note to self: practice shutting up.)

I hope to see more faces at the Beer and Blog, a great surge in sales of the nudie, er, tasteful simulated nudity calendar, and butts in the seats of my class next month.

Come on! I'm putting myself out there, after all.

Let's go steady!

The Great Portland Interview Experiment: Crystal Beasley

Weeks ago I excitedly signed on to participate in the Great Portland Interview Experiment, a meme from Portland, Oregon Web designer and all around geek Chris O'Rourke. The idea is to "discover untapped nuggets" about another person by asking them some questions. In return, you answer some questions.

And boy-oh-boy was I please to discover I would be crafting my questions for the Skinny White Girl herself: Ms. Crystal Beasley.

I've known Crystal for a few months, and it didn't take her long to get on the short-list of people who get my signature "kindred spirits" hug. (If you've gotten one...you'll know it.) She's good people, period.

I hope you enjoy reading her answers to the questions I so enjoyed asking!

The Great Portland Interview Experiment: Crystal Beasley

As a very tall girl, I know something about the challenges of being different than the "average" size. How has being a very small girl shaped your life?

I think it may be more socially acceptable to be extra short than extra tall as a girl, though no one ever wanted me to walk a runway or be on the basketball team. Aside from being able to stand up under the bulkheads in a plane, I always need pants tailored. I can live with that. I was expressing my desire to date men between 5'10" and 6'3" to my tall girlfriend and she asked, "how tall are you?!?" I can't see what that has to do with anything.

I noticed in the fucking unbelievably cute Dear Santa letter you wrote as a little girl (http://twitpic.com/s74g) you have a post script. Does it say "P.S. I hope you don't mind me keeping rats"? Details, please!

It says, "I hope you don't mind me saying 'rats'." I guess I've always had a potty mouth.

You have a kitty named Ruckus. What is up with his love of eating earwax? Under what circumstances (I confess I can't wait to hear this story) did this fact become discovered?

Firstly, Ruckus is a girl, a.k.a. "The RuckStar." She is a strange one. Not sure what accounts for her love of earwax, but I discovered her licking my earbuds on more than one occasion. I have to keep them hidden from her. ICK!

What are three tech gadgets you can't live without?

iphone, iphone, iphone - I demoed it to my Granny over Christmas and her comment was, "That phone can do everything but spit tobacco."

I know you're fond of southern-inspired meals, the stuff you grew up on. What's your favorite dish? Why?

My favorite meal is my Granny's chicken and dumplings, creamed corn, baked sweet potatoes, and banana cream pie for dessert. I can't remember *not* knowing how to cook. There's a picture of me with the first cake I baked where I colored half of the frosting pink and the other half purple and made a giant swirl on top. I was five.

Like me, you have a thing for shoes. Shoes, shoes, shoes! How many do you have, what's your current favorite, and *gasp!* do you ever get rid of them?

I haven't ever counted how many pairs I have. To give you a sense, though, I have six pairs of brown boots alone (camel knee high, brown mid-calf with strappy buckles, chocolate knee high, suede booties, hiking, and ridiculous pointy toe, snake skin, mid-calf). Asking me for my favorite is like asking which child is your favorite, but... I do have a soft spot in my heart for some absinthe-green satin peep-toe pumps with a bow on the toe. I went salsa dancing in them and thought I would die of pain, but it was worth it.

Tell us a bit about your relationship with your beloved Granny.

My Granny raised me, so I owe so very much to her. As I mentioned about about cooking, she taught me the fundamentals and gave me a love of good food. I believe there's something so basically human about feeding someone. A good meal, cooked with love, can cure both body and soul. She certainly prepared thousands of meals from scratch for me as a child and gave me a wonderful, stable home to grow up in.

You work at StepChange Group as Creative Marketing Manager. What kinds of projects have you been working on?

It's been a whirlwind since I started in October. We've had some brand new, big clients come in December like Toys-R-Us, Intercontinental Hotels, and Frito Lay. I also took on some existing clients like Gold's Gym. I've been wearing a lot of hats, as one does in a small company. I'm doing wireframing and design of widgets, blog posts, community management for SCG, and a bit of web production coding. I actually use Terminal and have Ruby running on my machine. Scary stuff!

I also started my first *first* first personal blog about (of course) cooking. It's called SkinnyCook and is available at skinnywhitegirl.com/skinnycook The world already has 17.7 million cooking blogs, but mine is focused on weeknight, super fast meals with a Portland spin. Most will take between 10 and 20 minutes.

I subscribe to Organics to You's box of lovely veggies, so if you're here in Portland and also subscribe, we'll have the same stuff in our fridges to work with. I give tips about where in town you can get any weird ingredients I might mention. Most recipes will have a minimum number of ingredients minimize fuss.

You're at the Beer and Blog. What's your drink-of-choice?

I'm a gin and tonic girl, Aviation please. Sometimes I'm reckless and venture out to Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray.

Which social media tool do you use that has had the most impact on your professional life?

Far and away, Twitter is it. I'm such an addict. It's how if find out about all the best events, meet new folks, and keep up with tweeps I've already met. I start to wax philosophical whenever I try to explain it to someone who isn't familiar with it or who "doesn't get it." The brilliance of it is something that dawns on you little by little.

Let's go steady!

Write Right? All Right!

This is a public confession: I am one of those "tortured writer" types.

You see, I tend to fall madly and idyllically in love with my Big Idea. When it first sparks to life the Big Idea's message churns in the background for a long time, grinding and polishing. What is it I'm trying to say? Then with glistening fragility, my Big Idea begins to crawl, then walk. I lay awake at night worrying about its future, what it will be when it grows up. Then, suddenly, it's asking to borrow the car and sneaking into the liquor cabinet. I endure hand-wringing nights by focusing on the things that made me fall in love in the first place. I have faith. Then, in the end, if I'm lucky, my Big Idea and I will ride off into the sunset of my artistic expression.

That's not easy, you know. But thanks to my beautiful and talented friend and mentor Melissa Lion, it can be easier. Or at least less angsty.

Melissa is a two-time Random House novelist, book reviewer, and popular blogger who lives in my beloved St. Johns neighborhood. In addition to co-running Back Fence PDX (which has a show tomorrow night at the Mission Theater) she just started Long Lunch PDX, a series of writing classes about creating words specifically for the Internet.

On Saturday Melissa will teach Write Right All Right, the first in a series of narrative crafting classes aimed at the Internet writer: the bloggers, the online journalists, the multimedia artists. In this three-hour class (in which lunch is included courtesy of Silicon Florist) Melissa will talk about technical aspects of writing for the Web, such as social media tools, and writing in general, such as grammatical errors and conceptualizing the Big Idea from start to finish. The emotional aspects of writing will also be discussed, such as confidence building and maintaining creativity flow.

Another public confession: I need help with all of that.

Think about it: three hours of a professional novelist's insight into prose for the Web, plus lunch, for 45 bucks. That's a bargain, folks. I've already got my ticket. Who wants to sit next to me in class? Get your tickets now!

Let's go steady!

Just Can't Get Enough

Back Fence PDX has graciously published another story of mine. Gawd I love having my words there. This one took weeks to write. (I am not kidding. WEEKS.) It's a short bloody tale about rude awakenings and loss of innocence. Can you handle it, like a woman?

Please go read Just Can't Get Enough/On Being Stuffed and let me know what you think about the 598 words that I spent days and days and days agonizing over. :)

Let's go steady!

The Secret to Winning Devoted Fans for Life

Last night I wrote my second post on the great local blog Our PDX, the baby of Ms. Betsy Ritcher (@betsywhim). Betsy is a fabulous writer who has been in the blogging game a long time. I like to believe she INVENTED the blogging, although I'm prone to the dramatics. Suffice to say, this lady has stories and wisdom and likes me. As a PERSON. She's someone I really respect.

Ms. Betsy respects me, too. I know this because she makes the effort to let me know that I, and the other authors on Our PDX, are appreciated for our time. She provides support, both technical and informational. (I know where to find things! Hurrah!) Guilt about post frequency is outlawed. Betsy has a "real" job and a family, like the rest of us, and still has time to toot the "You're Awesome!" horn to celebrate our willingness to contribute and be a part of this project. And I've only written two posts:

I'm Native, I'm Proud
Top 5 Ways to Stay Out of Jail this Fall

I have a very good feeling about this blog, and it has everything to do with Ms. Betsy Ritcher. I'm really excited to be a part of it, and to meet my fellow writers on September 17 at The Chesterfield. We'd love to have readers drop by and say hello! Here's the link with all the details. Hope to see you there. =)

Let's go steady!

I'm a Writer, Thank You for Noticing

About a year ago I was dating someone I thought I'd be with for the rest of my life. It was a very hard yet worthwhile relationship. I was sure we could make our partnership work, and that together we would create the kind of life that inspires heart wrenching Academy Award-winning films and articles in The New Yorker. Instead we crashed and burned in spectacular fashion. "Disappointed" or "devastated" does not even begin to describe the months that followed our parting.

Prior to my meeting him, for years and years, my focus was only to survive and to figure out how to provide for my little family. Dating just wasn't on the agenda, which is just as well. I would've been no good to any man of quality. I was working as a freelance videography when video cameras became affordable to the average consumer, which dried up the market for my expertise. I lost my house and my car and my young son and I moved in with my Pops. We slept on the floor, with most of my son's toys and my dishes and such in someone's garage for safe-keeping. You can imagine what these kind of things might do to a sensitive girl's self-esteem, especially one who is supposed to be head of household.

Eventually I got a part-time job that I managed to make full-time. I saved all my money and kept my mouth shut when my dear friends told me I was a good person. I found a cheap duplex to rent and by sheer luck my name was called in the Section 8 low-income housing lottery the month after I signed my month-to-month lease. This made rent cheap enough that I could go back to school and still eat and pay for electricity and childcare. In the beginning I studied marketing but switched to multimedia production when I took an elective credit in video, for old time's sake. I finished Portland Community College's intensive 60-hour Multimedia program on the Dean's List. This was not easy, with each class 3-4 credit hours and only 6-8 weeks long. Each semester I generally took 21-28 credit hours of classes, not including hours of required lab time, while working full-time and raising my son by myself. I wore my Academic Honors sash during graduation with a dreamy disbelief.

It's been years since this dark period in my life, but I still carry it with me. It has shaped my perspective who I am. My new credentials led me to a job that has allowed me to buy a house and a car and buy my son things that he wants, not just things he needs. I continue to hold fast the realization that things could go all to hell at any time. I am still shell shocked and wary. I lost my way, with eyes pried opened to face reality. I will never forget that life throws shit around indiscriminately.

This man that I thought I'd be with forever is an artist and a teacher. In the time we were together, I allowed myself to think of myself as creative for the first time in many, many years. It amazed me how words and pictures and ideas flowed from him. Good ones that made me admire him and want to see him succeed. With him I saw that I hadn't been writing things down anymore, my stories. I hadn't read for pleasure in a long time. Any inspiration I did have felt a waste of time. I was stuck in the time when all my energy was spent on doing something productive, for survival, instead. All the videos I'd done, or programing I'd produced, any writing I'd done, all of it really belonged to someone else. They weren't mine.

I made this man a promise that I would write again, become a writer like I've always wanted to be. I promised that I would write a book, and that's what I aim to do ... despite him, or because of him. It doesn't really matter as long as I am doing it. The things that have happened to me, that have led me to the place I am now, all the signs point to now being the time to do it. I've met some wonderful writers whose opinions I greatly respect, who genuinely want to see me succeed. This writing thing is not easy. It's from the heart, gut churning, soul baring and extremely personal stuff that scares me silly to share. But I need to. I need to tell my stories.

It's difficult to disengage the survival mode of my brain, to let go of the idea that I need to be on "high alert" in case something terrible happens again and I have to start all over, but I am learning.And, in the meantime, I am writing my little heart out and looking for job opportunities that won't make me feel like I'm lying when I say "I'm a writer." I could certainly fail, but I think I might not. But if I do I know I can crawl myself out of that hole again, with a big "fuck you" to those who say I can't.

Let's go steady!

If it hurts, it's good for you

I wrote a story for my friend Melissa Lion. She and her partner are the masterminds behind Back Fence PDX, a Web site that focuses on the art of storytelling. Believe me when I say there are some damned fine stories there. Amazing, handcrafted tales. When she said I could write there, too, I was very happy. And then I freaked out.

Writing this piece was hard. It hurt. I stretched and fidgeted and hemmed and hawed and then, before I knew it, it was done. And it hurt less. I slept like girl unencumbered by troubles that night.

I have a lot of stories. I think it's time I let some of them out.

Read my story on Back Fence PDX