Category Archives: writing

Jan 29 0 comments
article, writing

Good Writing Never Goes Out of Style

With the passing of author J.D. Salinger on Wednesday, I’ve spent some time reading lengthy obits and stories about him. I’ve probably read The Catcher in The Rye at least four times in my adolescence and I think it’s safe to say that it’s definitely made an impression on my life.

In April 1972, the New York Times Magazine published an article called “An 18-Year-Old Looks Back On Life,” by Joyce Maynard. That article got her a lot of fan mail, including mail from Salinger, which developed into a long correspondence and eventually, a romantic relationship. I think it takes a good writer to make an great writer go “wow” so I looked up the article and man, was I totally into it. First of all, you read the title and think “an 18-year-old looks back on life? How much experience can an 18-year-old really have?” But her article was just so well written and defines an era which I think makes it a really important piece. I was completely entertained, and with beautiful sentences such as “…we were torn — wanting to run for shelter but tempted, also, to sing in the rain,” who wouldn’t be? It’s quite lengthy and I hate reading articles and long posts online because I find it annoying that I can’t hold it, bring closer, make marks in the margins and be able to feel the pages between my fingertips, but this article kept me scrolling. I actually copied and pasted the article into a word document and considered printing it out until I realized it would use up a dozen sheets of my precious printer paper. I don’t think I could ever jump into the virtual book craze for these very reasons but then again I thought it was completely insane when TV shows were starting to be released on DVDs and that people would actually spend their hard-earned money on them. I mean c’mon! You can watch them on TV! But yeah, we’re now owners of more TV series on DVDs than I’d like to admit. My first purchase was the box set of My So-Called Life…and I justified that because you actually couldn’t watch it on TV anymore.

So without further adieu, if you have some spare time, I suggest reading Maynard’s article: http://www.nytimes.com/specials/magazine/seventies1.html If anything, I think it will prompt you to reflect on trends and important milestones and news events that happened while you were growing up…and that’s always fun.

Jan 27 8 comments
inspiration, photography, photos, rant, writing

Creative’s Block

As it turns out, I am my own worst enemy.

A new acquaintance of mine wrote that “admitting your insecurities isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength.” And though it makes much sense, it’s sometimes hard to be strong when you know you’re weak.

I’ve been struggling greatly with self-doubt lately, mostly in the business areas of my life. I think I really felt it at the writer’s conference when I was among all of these seriously accomplished writers which I probably should’ve seen as inspiration but instead let it make me feel insecure. I have a degree in journalism but a passion for photography. Though the two definitely go hand-in-hand, I’m terribly worried about becoming a Jane of two trades and master of neither.

I picked up a book many moons ago called The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. It was in the Self-Help section which I never thought I’d find myself perusing. Never really gave it a chance but definitely felt the need to pick it up recently. It’s nicely set up in that it’s almost like a devotional…most of the suggestions/realizations fit on a page so it doesn’t have to be read chapters at a time for you to get anything out of it. As the one line review that is quoted on the cover suggests, it really is “a vital gem…a kick in the ass.”–Esquire.

Despite my self-deprication and nervousness which left my palms sweaty all day, my class (the one that I co-taught) at the conference went really well. They even applauded us at the end (out of pity, perhaps) but I’m sure the students could tell that I was terribly nervous off the bat. I’ve always thought that I wanted to teach, and still think that I do, but maybe next time to a group of students who are younger than me…I think the bulk of my nervousness was from standing in front of a group that was older which made me feel less authoritative. Also, I’m short. And sometimes that translates into making me feel small in other ways too.

There were a few notes that I jotted down from the keynote speaker, radio essayist, Janis Jaquith, not as writing tips but more of things to help you stay positive and realize that it’s ok if the majority don’t get what is that you’re trying to put out there. She spoke about “brain zaps,” which unofficially refers to what happens when you “get” what someone is trying to say…from the mind of the author to your mind, you get it. It zaps. And you re-read it, underline it, copy it into your Moleskine so that you can refer to it again later. Often times I have been afraid to write because really, who cares what I think. But Janice reassured me by simply saying:

“We write to connect to another mind,” and how as a writer (or really, any kind of artist) you amazingly “have a shot at life after death because your audience may not have been born yet…sometimes you’re just waiting for the right reader to come around at the right moment.”

Ironically I’ve recently been seeing a surge in posts/links/articles about self-doubt, tips to get you going (in photography) and I’m hoping these will help me get over this rut. In all honesty, I miss Brooklyn and the experiences it presented, but I think that had a lot to do with my amazing group of friends. It’s hard living miles away from your loved ones who inspire and push you and I have to admit I haven’t found anyone here that has lived up to the great friends that I have in NYC (my husband doesn’t count–he totally inspires me but I need my girlfriends here to talk about stickers and jelly beans too). As I wrap up this post though, I have received an email out of the blue from one of my bestest friends from the city asking if she could come visit me. I think she knew that I needed her even though we hadn’t really corresponded for a few weeks. I love it when you put something out there and just say it to yourself or say out loud to the world…and then all of the sudden you get a response. That happens to me a lot. And Jeff keeps telling me to say that I wish we had a million dollars. If only it really worked like that…

Roanoke Regional Writer’s Conference III — JANUARY 2010

Jan 26 1 comments
art, inspiration, photography, video, writing

Push Your Ideas

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan and Simon Bruyn on Vimeo.

Jan 08 0 comments
photography, photos, writing

Your Best Shot: Nuptials

Jeff’s photo of us in our room at The Hotel Roanoke on our wedding night has been featured on flickr’s blog today in the category of Your Best Shot: Nuptials. How fun! And I just realized that one of the tags that he added to this photo was “I get a little misty-eyed when I look at this.” Aww :)

September 26, 2009

Jan 05 3 comments
photography, photos, writing

Writer’s Conference

My editor (I love saying that because it makes me sound so official) has asked me if I’d be willing to team up with him and teach a class on photography at the Roanoke Regional Writer’s Conference which will be held at Hollins University on January 22-23rd. My first thoughts were that of honor and excitement. But then that quickly turned into terrified giddiness with horror. I hate public speaking and scenarios where all eyes are on me which is why I tend to hide behind the camera and pen/computer. But I’ll be talking about doing what I love and will have someone else up there to be the comedy relief so hopefully that will help ease the nerves. If you live in Roanoke or the surrounding areas and are a writer, this conference is for you. NPR essayist, Janis Jaquith, is the featured keynote speaker and the conference offers 24 classes that will cover Writing and Social Media, Translating Your Work to Film/Stage, Self-Publishing, and other et ceteras.

So without further adieu, visit Dan’s blog (that’s my editor) to read a blurb on the class we’ll be conducting. And if you’re interested, check out the entire list of classes and presenters. While I was reading the bios of the presenters to see who I wanted to meet and take classes from I kind of jumped when I saw a photo of myself. This was a last minute addition to the schedule and I didn’t realize they’d have the chance to add me to the list. Or feel I was even important to mention. Surprise!

Dec 21 2 comments
photography, quotes, writing

A Photo Credit Doesn’t Pay The Rent

When I completed my internship with Monte Isom, the most amazing businessman I know and fantastic celebrity athlete photographer, we went to Crif Dogs to celebrate and have a nice communal dinner of hot dogs (a staple when working with that crew and when visiting New York). First of all, it may sound silly to celebrate with hot dogs but Crif Dogs serve their dogs wrapped in bacon with all kinds of crazy toppings. Delicious toppings. Avocado, fried egg with melted cheese, teriyaki, pineapple and green onions (don’t knock it til you try it), they even serve one with kim chee, but you can only order that if you’re on the other side of the wall in their speak easy (through a phone booth). Anyway. While we were there, Monte and KB, a very experienced digital tech in the industry, made me make a promise and repeat it out loud: I will never work for free again. At first I kind of laughed to myself and didn’t take it seriously because I didn’t believe in myself enough to be paid for my work, but then it really sank in as we sat there and discussed why.

I came across an article that put it into better perspective and these lines really stood out to me: “A photo credit doesn’t pay the rent,” and “Remember: If your photos are good enough to be published, they are good enough for you to be paid for them.” It’s important for photographers who are just starting out to understand this because photographers, if you’re willing to do something for free, or cheaper than what it’s worth, etc, you’re actually screwing other photographers out of making a fair living and being able to stay in the competitive market. I’ve heard one too many stories about photographers losing a bid on a job just because someone else said they could do that job for much cheaper or the same price but were willing to hand over all rights to the publication at no cost. That only lowers the bar for us and for you. The article mentions that people tend to glance at a photo then jump to the story skipping over the photo credit, and even if this isn’t the case, as much as the pub will tell you it’ll be great exposure and free advertising for you, it really isn’t…unless it’s going to be printed in a well-respected publication, and if that’s the case, they would be paying you.

It’s not to say that you shouldn’t ever work for free—if it’s for a good cause that you believe in, or something that will make a great addition to your portfolio, etc, then by all means. Just make sure that you get something out of it.  These were just a few tidbits that I picked up and thought I should pass along as things to keep in mind.

Along the same lines, here is a posting of email correspondance between a designer and a “technology entrepreneur and potential yacht owner.” Warning: the f-bomb is dropped a time or two. It’s pretty freaking hilarious but also puts the situation into perspective when this entrepreneur  tries to get a logo made for free and tries to justify it by saying that he knows it would only take the designer a few hours to make, yada yada yada, and the designer responds with a correction that the entrepreneur isn’t just asking for a logo that would only take a few hours, but that he’s asking for a logo that would take a few hours and fifteen years experience. Boo-yah! This one is via joshualongbrake.

Dec 17 0 comments
inspiration, quotes, writing

happy_quote

I don’t know where the origin of this quote is from but I’ve seen it posted on various sites without a source. Googled wasn’t any help either. Nonetheless, it put a smile on my face.

Dec 14 0 comments
quotes, writing

The Joy of Less

pico_quote

Even though this article was published months ago, it’s still a good read now. I’ve recently become a fan of the Opinionator Blog over at nytimes.com, and stumbled upon this lovely little piece while browsing the interwebs. Content and subject matter on the blog is all over the place since not only does everyone have an opinion, but everything gets an opinion, and rightfully so. Every now and then there are a few article gems that are just about life and lessons learned. Those are the ones that I like.

Click to read “The Joy of Less” by Pico Iyer: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/the-joy-of-less

Edit: it’s actually the Happy Days portion of the Opinionator Blog that I adore which for some reason hasn’t been updated since November. I knew there was an easier way to sift through all of the other opinions and just realized it as a separate section of the blog.

Dec 09 2 comments
inspiration, quotes, writing

Afterword

There was a not-so-fantastic movie that I somehow ended up owning called Alex and Emma about a writer who’s struggling to finish a novel in 30 days so that he can pay back some loan sharks (seriously). The Emma character, played by Kate Hudson, likes to read the ending of books to determine whether or not she’d actually like the book which of course drives Alex, played by Luke Wilson, completely nuts. I’m not necessarily going to share an ending per se, but it is the Afterword of a book. I haven’t read it yet, but found this excerpt to be comforting and can’t wait to pick it up.

From Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life, a book about getting a second chance at life the first time around:

I don’t wonder anymore what I’ll tell God when I go to heaven, when we sit in the chairs under the tree, outside the city.  I’ll tell him about Mike Barrow riding his bike into the Atlantic Ocean, and about Bob Goff and his family jumping off the dock, waving good-bye to world leaders as they left the lodge.  I’ll ask God if he remembers when I fell apart in the hotel room in Los Angeles, and he’ll look comfortingly at me and tell me he was there.  I’ll tell him about Jason and his family, about breaking ground on the orphanage in Mexico, and about my friends drilling wells in Africa.  I’ll tell him about The Mentoring Project, how quiet the kids are when they meet their mentors, and how we can’t get them to stop talking only a month later.  I’ll tell these things to God, and he’ll laugh, I think, and he’ll remind me of the parts I forgot, the parts that were his favorites.  We’ll sit and remember my story together and then he’ll stand and put his arms around me and say, “Well done,” and that he liked my story.  And my soul won’t be thirsty anymore.

Finally, he’ll turn, and we’ll walk toward the city, a city he will have spoken into existence, a city built in a place where once there’d been nothing.

Donald Miller

Dec 06 0 comments
quotes, writing

miller_quote