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Blog: E is for Erik (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Blog: Life, Words, & Rock 'n' Roll (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Afternoon from my bus stop |
Puget Sound from Lincoln Park |
A gray but beautiful day at the beach |
Blog: Diana Levin Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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I meant to have a new blog post in January, but after doing Knott’s and going to see family, I was a bit worn out to be honest. But that is neither here nor there, I have a few shows coming up soon, plus working on new art along with commissions. Without further ado, let us begin with some shows.
Long Beach Comic Expo is coming up on February 28 and March 1st at the Long Beach Convention Center. I love doing show and hope to see everyone there.
Then it is off to do the 3rd Annual Spook Show on March 7th at the Halloween Club in La Mirada. I did this show last year and had a blast; great music, horror, and food.Finally I will be ending March with two big shows. First up is Monsterpalooza on March 27th-29th at the Marriott Burbank Hotel and Convention Center. Well I won’t be there, but Shawn will be there representing me. So please stop by and say hello to him.And the reason I won’t be there is because I shall be going to Emerald City Comicon on March 27th-29th for my second year at the Washington State Convention Center. I had an amazing time last year and can’t wait to go back, maybe this time I will get a chance to look around. Now for a quick look at a new piece I have of a dark fairy with wings and horns. She playfully sits on a stone block in front of a doorway. Is she here to stop you from entering or to entice you to your doom? Available as a print at my store.That is it for now, I am off to pack up for the shows. Take care and keep creating.
–Diana
The post Short blog to let you know I am alive… appeared first on Diana Levin Art.
Add a CommentBlog: Michelle Can Draw (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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From the Toy Box, Ltd Gallery
I’m so excited to announce that I’ll be participating in Ltd Art Gallery Seattle’s show “From the Toy Box”. It’s my first piece in a gallery and I was lucky enough for Ltd to choose my illustration for the poster representing some really, really, REALLY awesome talent! I’m so honoured to be in this show amongst these fantastic artists. You can see the event here:http://www.facebook.com/events/769836919741028 and if you’re in Seattle and happen to go, I’d love to hear about it!
Add a CommentBlog: Beth Kephart Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Blog: Michelle Can Draw (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Finishing up some #sketches from our trip! #seattle #artstagram #illustration #watercolor #ink #journal
Add a CommentBlog: Life, Words, & Rock 'n' Roll (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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A year ago today at around 3:30 in the afternoon, we drove through this tunnel and arrived in our new hometown.
Me and Scott at the Columbia River in Washington |
Washington Arboretum |
Washington Arboretum |
The garden behind my office building where I eat lunch |
December Fog |
Seattle Skyline from Alki Beach on sunny spring day |
Golden Gardens |
Downtown as seen from the I-90 trail |
Mount Rainier and Lake Washington as seen from the I-90 trail |
Viretta Park on April 5, 2014 |
Fremont Solstice Parade |
Saltwater State Park |
Canoeing in Mercer Nature Slough |
Alki Beach |
By waterfalls:
Snoqualmie Falls |
Wallace Falls State Park |
The view from the top of Little Si |
The view from the top of Rattle Snake Ledge |
Mercer Nature Slough |
San Juan Islands Anniversary Trip |
We saw a fox |
and alpaca |
and Mount Baker on the ferry ride back to Anacortes |
Olympia in fall |
Tacoma, Defiance Point Park, New Year's Day |
Valentine's Day trip to the magnificently rain WA coast |
And the spectacular Hoh Rain Forest where we saw our first eagle! |
Easter Weekend |
Above all, I'm so grateful for the ways that this move has made me physically and mentally healthier and closer to my husband than ever.
Fully vegan Thanksgiving for two |
Crossing the finish line of my first 5K |
That’s a large chunk of my year in pictures, but if you want to see more (and all of the adventures to come), check out my tumblr.
Blog: Creative Zen (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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I realized that I have not posted in a while. With all the shows I have been traveling to, I barely had time to keep up with my blog. Since I have posted, I was writing about the Wild West Fest at the Calico Ghost Town in Yermo, California. All around it was a fun show; we stayed with my in-laws at a nice hotel in Barstow for the weekend of the show. It was also my birthday so we all went out to eat the legendary Peggy Sue’s Diner on Sunday night.
Then it was off to Seattle again for Emerald City Comicon. It was an amazing show, with wonderful people. I have to give a big thank you to Sarah for the help at my booth (allowing me a few moments of rest to stretch my legs). The atmosphere was electric and everyone has my gratitude for making me feel so welcome up there. One of these days I will get Shawn up there so that I can leave him at the booth and go explore the city hehehe.
But that will only happen if the infamous Monsterpalooza does not fall on the same weekend as ECCC, like it did this year. Here is Shawn to tell you more. Shawn here and I have three words: It… was… awesome! I had a great time, though I wished Diana was there so that I could have walked around to check out more things. Oh well, there is always next year. All the fans were amazing and thank you to everyone for supporting Diana. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Thank you Shawn, so following those two shows was Wondercon. Oh how I love this show and it is one of my favorites. Not only did I get to see all my regular fans from SoCal, but Shawn being there allowed me to leave my booth from time to time to browse the artist alley. I got to catch up with some friends and meet some amazing artist for the first time. This was also the debut of my latest in the Terrible Trio series… the Gotham Bunnies, so cute, yet so evil.
Then I had a rare weekend off, and then it was time to get ready for Texas Frightmare Weekend. I was excited as I had never been to Dallas-Fort Worth, so this was a great opportunity to reach a new fan base. After a less than sterling start of the day (looking at you American Airlines) I made it to the show with only a half hour to set up. But after that it was one of the best weekends I have ever had at a show. It was intense, amazing, overwhelming at times and I can’t wait to go back next year. I may even bring Shawn along for this trip, I think he would enjoy the show very much.
Back to Southern California the following week for the Bat’s Day in the Park Black Market. This is always a fun show to do where I tend to pick up some great little pieces. It is only a one day show, so a bit more laid back and relaxing compared to the multi-day shows. Though being so close to Disney makes me want to go buy a ticket and go on some rides.
Finally last but not least was another trip up to Seattle (seriously, maybe I need to rent a room out there) for Crypticon. This was a great little horror convention with some pretty cool guests. I am starting to recognize a few people that have seen me at some of the area shows and meet some new fans. Thanks once again to Tamara of The Mystical Apothecary for being my traveling buddy once again.
Whoa, I was a bit more behind on this blog than I realized. Mid year resolution, I shall be better about updating my blog in a more timely manner. I have four more shows to do before I take some time off to do some more art and work on some upcoming projects, one of which is a book.
Keep on creating and have fun–
Diana
The post Catching Up with Blogging appeared first on Diana Levin Art.
Add a CommentBlog: Sugar Frosted Goodness (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: seattle, setting, washington, Novel Revision, sensory details, puget sound, Add a tag
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Enter to winI am researching the setting and background for a new novel, which I hope to set near Seattle, WA. I’m going there next month for a week and am trying to sort out what I need to know by the end of the week.
What I Need to Know
Sensory Details. I’ve written about the importance of vivid sensory details here, and here, and again, here. As a young writer, I heard over and over, “Show, Don’t Tell.” When I finally made that more specific–use vivid sensory details–my writing took off. I can’t over-emphasize the importance of great sensory details. I consider it the basic writing exercise for fiction.
That means, I need to walk around the proposed setting and be a fully-present human. I need to soak in the smells, tastes, sounds, sights and what it feels like to move around in this place. I remember a couple years ago, I was at a conference on Puget Sound and a salmon was swimming up a tiny stream. Thrashing, 3-foot long salmon, powerful tale, the smell of salt water and the bacon I was eating at a restaurant, the stream only 2 inches deep, the salmon like a Gulliver in Lilliputia.
When I write details, I don’t care about whole sentences. I’m just creating a word bank so that later, I can draw from the memory what I need. I also need to be able to extrapolate. If it’s like this on Bainbridge Island, would it also be like this in the San Juan Islands far north of there? I need specific enough, yet general enough details so that the story comes alive, but isn’t bogged down by details so specific that I can’t move around the area.
Facts. Oh, dear. There are so many facts that I need to know about the Seattle area. Volcanoes, Puget Sound, school system, boats and on and on. I can absorb lots of that just by visiting the area, but fortunately, I do have long-time residents who can vet the story for me after the first draft. I need to know enough to get the STORY right, and then details can be tweaked.
Logistics. Of course, this is another category of facts, but slightly different than what I meant earlier. For this, I need to know transportation details. How long does it take to go–walk, bike, drive a car, swim, take a ferry–from point A to point B. This is crucial to developing a reasonable time line. Part of this is understanding maps, of course, but mostly it’s about physically moving a person around the landscape.
Culture. Now, here’s a fuzzy one. What cultural elements will impact the story I am planning. Attitudes, beliefs, institutions, dialect/slang unique to the area, how people here DO something–so many subtle and not-so-subtle things need to be taken in (and again, vetted by long-time residents after the first draft).
Whether you create your setting from historical details, contemporary details or create a a fantasy world, this is a crucial step in creating a believable story.
Add a CommentBlog: Life, Words, & Rock 'n' Roll (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Seattle, goals, ghosts, Nirvana, cross-country move, Add a tag
Tomorrow marks twenty years since Kurt Cobain's death, but this is less about him and more about me because with that anniversary comes another one that is harder for me to explain, a personal turning point that is just as significant—no, maybe more significant.
I've tried on many occasions to put what Kurt Cobain and Nirvana's music meant to me into words. I think my story is similar to a lot of Nirvana's fans no matter when they discovered the music—in the thick of when it was all happening, like me, or a decade or so after Kurt's death. I was lost, broken, and angry. I'd been bullied, and even though I had a few good friends, I was so depressed that I still felt like an outsider, an alien. Above all, I felt voiceless. And then along came this man, this band, who understood all of that, who knew what it was like to be trapped in school with no recess, to "miss the comfort of being sad," who channeled it into noisy, distorted guitars and gave those difficult feelings a voice. That, in turn, gave me the courage to use my voice because if Nirvana could do it and change the entire world, surely I could do it to empower myself.
Then April 8, 1994 happened. The day we learned that Kurt's depression and addiction had won out over his voice, silenced it with a shotgun blast. I heard about his suicide from the girl who'd been my best friend since third grade and she delivered the news is a nah-nah-nuh-nah-nah sort of sing-song. She didn't like Nirvana, saw them as one of the new differences that had been cropping up between us. And I would learn later, she was pissed at Kurt, thought him a selfish coward for taking himself away from his family on purpose when just a year earlier, cancer had taken away her grandmother, her family without giving anyone a choice. I was pissed, too. I called him selfish in my journal, asked him how he could do it to his wife and his baby. I didn't write, but I remember thinking, "And how could you do it to me?"
Me in my bedroom at 14, November 1993 |
In my early twenties, I started to come out of that.... Well, I started trying at least. I was still drinking too much sometimes, still in a fucked-up codependent relationship, still feeling married to my past. I'd taken a bit of a break from Nirvana in my late teens; sadly, they reminded me too much of that asshole boy. But when I was ready to crawl out of that bloody, angry, booze-drenched hole I'd dug myself into After Him, I turned to those songs again. Kurt's howl reminded me that I could howl and I needed that more than anything. I became obsessed. I spent hours on message boards, talking to other fans, trading bootlegs and memorabilia, trolling eBay for the limited edition vinyl and mint copies of the magazines I'd cut up and collaged my bedroom with as a teenager:
A piece of the Nirvana collage between my windows that I started in eighth grade |
In retrospect, I think I was trying to go back and fix it. I still didn't have the strength to get out of my alcoholic codependent relationship, so instead I avoided it by locking myself in my office and trying to time-travel back to 1994. Maybe with enough bootlegs, enough vinyl, enough magazines I could do it. Maybe in alternate 1994, Kurt wouldn't die, or even if he did, I would do a better job of living through it, of surviving high school, of being punk and artsy and weird without being destructive. I would just have a bunch of really cool friends, which is what I did find on the message boards. More specifically, I found them on the Hole message board because that's where the girls were and I didn't really want to talk to boys about Nirvana. I'd spent real 1994 listening to boys talk about Nirvana. It was old. It was boring. And half the time, thanks to my 1995 boyfriend, I didn't trust male Nirvana fans. I wanted to talk about them with girls. Girls like me who heard something in the music, heard the respect they'd never gotten from male artists before and turned it into self-respect, heard a voice that made them feel understood, that made them feel invited to create and did create something—something far more interesting than all the boys who picked up guitars to emulate Nirvana. ("I like the comfort in knowing that women are the only future in rock and roll."- Kurt Cobain)
Even though so much of my obsession seems silly now, like some weird version of therapy that I feel uncomfortable talking about most of the time (the fact that I'm blogging about it now might seem to indicate otherwise but I'm basically pretending this is my journal), I don't care because those months—no, those years, really—locked in my office trying to time travel back to 1994 brought me my girls, Jenny and Eryn, two of my very best friends in the entire world:
Jenny, Eryn, and me at Viretta Park, Seattle, April 5, 2004 |
After exchanging emails, letters, and packages, Eryn and I started talking on the phone. She's a couple of years younger than me, but her heart broke like mine had when she heard about Kurt's suicide, and like me, she'd watched the news coverage of the vigil in Seattle and wished she was old enough to go. She'd promised herself that she would one day. I had too at some point, but I'd forgotten about it and while talking to her, I wondered if maybe that forgotten promise had fucked things up for me. Maybe if I made the pilgrimage, I could let go of my teenage baggage. So Eryn and I started planning our trip and recruiting people to accompany us to Seattle in April of 2004 to pay homage to Kurt on the tenth anniversary of his death. This was the beginning of a real transition for me—from trying to time travel to trying to find closure.
I was home sick a couple of weeks before we were to meet in Seattle, me coming from Chicago, Jenny and another friend of hers from St. Louis, Eryn from Denver with another friend of ours from the message board who'd come all the way from Australia. While zoning out on the couch to the bootleg Nirvana videos that were my greatest comfort then I realized how significant the trip was. Ten years. A part of me had needed to do this for ten fucking years. So if I was going to do it, I should DO IT all the way. I pulled all of the Nirvana biographies I owned off the shelf. Heavier than Heaven by Charles Cross was the most detailed, giving exact addresses or solid descriptions of locations. I tore up tiny pieces of paper and marked each important mention: childhood homes, recording studios, concert venues, shady motels where Kurt escaped to shoot heroin, the morgue where he was cremated. I wanted to see it all. I NEEDED to see it all. I took the book upstairs, shut myself in the office and painstakingly Mapquested everything. Yeah, Mapquest. These were the days before Google maps with street view and integrated public transportation schedules, before GPS and smart phones. Or at least before I could afford them. I was still in college and had saved for a year to go on our week-long trip. We were renting a car for a day, but reliant on public transit for the rest, so I went back and forth between Mapquest and the King County Metro transit website trying to locate everything and fit it all in to our schedule. Eventually I came up with a full itinerary. Eryn was as excited as I was. The others might have been a bit freaked out by the depth of my obsession, but they didn't show it. Jenny, who'd volunteered to drive the rental car, exhausted herself so we could do it all: the bridge and the childhood homes in Aberdeen, Hoquiam, and Montesano, the site of Nirvana's first show at a house party in Raymond, the Pear Street apartment in Olympia, and even McLane Creek where Charles Cross described Courtney, Wendy Cobain, and Frances spreading some of Kurt's ashes.
Me under the Young Street Bridge, Aberdeen, Washington |
Jenny, me, and Eryn at McLane Creek, Olympia, Washington |
Last week, Eryn sent me a link to a New York Times article by a dude who had gone to all of these places and wrote an ultimate guide. Not gonna lie, I was a little bitter. We did that ten years ago back when Aberdeen was not into celebrating Kurt Cobain at all—when there was no park by the bridge and people at gas stations misdirected you because they didn't like Kurt or his fans. I pitched the story of our journey to every major publication I could think of, but had no takers. Maybe ten years wasn't long enough. Maybe the interest in Nirvana is extra high now because of their impending induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Maybe I didn't have enough writer cred yet. (Okay, I definitely didn't; I was still four years away from publishing my first book and seven from writing for Rookie.) Maybe writing about Nirvana has long been dude territory and no one wanted to hear a woman's point of view on Kurt Cobain and how he transformed her life twice—once as a junior high misfit and again when she went to Seattle at 24 to retrace his footsteps and light up his name.
Our tribute to Kurt at Viretta Park on our last night in Seattle, April 10, 2004 |
But that's okay because I wrote it anyway and for an essay site created by a woman named Hillary Carlip, who'd inspired me as much as Kurt did when I was teen. Hillary helped me shape it into the thing I wanted it to be: less of a Nirvana travel guide, more of the story of a personal journey. Go ahead and read it if you want because I don't really want to rehash it. It was a huge moment for me, the moment I finally started to let go of my past, but it happened ten years ago. That's why after a little bit of bitterness and venting that someone else got to write the piece I'd researched, lived, and wanted to write ten years ago, I quickly realized that I didn't care. Now any Nirvana fans, old and young, who still need to go on that journey have a guide and that’s a good thing. Hopefully it will lead them where it led me: to blaze their own path.
This brings us to that other anniversary, the one I am far more focused on than the twentieth anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death. Ten years ago around this time I found the place where I belonged and something clicked inside of me—maybe that self-destructive switch turning off?—and I started to set myself free. It was definitely a process. Even though I had the giant “It was” revelation on April 10, 2004 that I documented in my “Ten Years Gone” essay, disentangling from ten years of damage wasn’t that simple. I didn’t go straight home, break up with my alcoholic boyfriend and move to the city I’d fallen in love with on my ten-day trip. In fact, I stupidly bought a house in the city I knew I didn’t want to live in anymore with the guy I knew I shouldn’t be with. But I was changing on the inside. I was thinking non-stop about Seattle—not about Kurt, but about my experience there. That was and still is the hardest part to explain, the way I fell in love with Seattle and drew strength from it sort of in the same way I did from Nirvana’s music. Sort of but different. I did my best to explain it here and also here and now I explain mostly in pictures on my Tumblr. I have to admit that I feel self-conscious sometimes about its connection to Nirvana. It’s not just because the depths of my obsession in my early twenties was strange and personal, but because that makes it less mine somehow.... Or worse, it keeps me tied to my past, and my love for Seattle, my moving here, is not about my past—quite the opposite. When I fell in love with Seattle, I started fighting to live in the present and to give myself a future.
I stopped hanging out on message boards and collecting. I’d found my girls, and once I’d started ridding myself of the damage and baggage from my past, I didn’t need it anymore. Actually, I didn’t have room for it anymore. I was too focused on my own art and building my first healthy romance with a guy I would eventually marry. I did still buy the music—the reissues of Bleach, Nevermind, and In Utero as they came out, and I had to have them on vinyl. The music will always be my everything and to paraphrase Britney, one of our diarists at Rookie, when your favorite band is no longer, has been no longer for more than a decade, and will never create anything new because the frontman is dead, you take what you can get. You listen closely to remastered songs to hear something new, you relish lives tracks and the scraps of partially written songs. (I’m sure that Britney actually said this much better. She writes insanely insightful diaries for Rookie. You should read them.) But aside from the music and a recent impulse buy of a special edition commemorative Nirvana Rolling Stone, I’ve stopped collecting.
Blog: Life, Words, & Rock 'n' Roll (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Last Thursday, September 5 marked two important anniversaries: it was the two-year anniversary of Rookie Magazine, which I've had the honor of writing for since the beginning (in case you want to revisit it, here's my excited post about Rookie's launch) and the two-month anniversary of my arrival in Seattle.
Actually scratch that. It marked three important anniversaries. It was also the two-day anniversary of me feeling that happiest I've been since 2009.
I haven't been wholly and completely miserable since 2009. Some really wonderful things have happened. Like this:
And even this:
But that last thing was kind of where the trouble began. About three weeks before Ballads was to be released, during a horrible week when I'm guessing but can't be bothered to check that Mercury was in retrograde because we were having the kind of killer heat wave that made me hate Chicago, my air conditioner was broken, and I was having so many problems with my home internet that I'm surprised I didn't bomb Comcast, my then-agent called to tell me to STOP EVERYTHING and promote Ballads because the publisher wasn't really doing anything for it and the print run and sell-through numbers were half of what they'd been for I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.
Since they are sorta like children, I don't think you are supposed to love one book more than another, but I did love Ballads more. It was the book I felt like I was born to write--or that I'd survived my teenage years to write. I'd poured so much of myself into it that the ulcer problems that I'd had at sixteen resurfaced and were worse than they'd ever been.
And with the way my agent was talking it sounded like that book had failed before it even hit stores because my publisher had already written it off. I don't know how much of that is true and how much of that was my emotional response. What I do know is that I did everything I could. I was actually already doing everything I could. I mean, if high school had majors, mine would have been "Punk Rock D.I.Y." I'd taken everything I knew to support both of my books. With Ballads, I'd even hired a publicist.
But, to this day, it's sold only a third of what I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone sold. I don't know why. It's the better book. Up until I finished The Grief Book in May, I was pretty sure it was always going to be the best thing I'd ever written. I think that it is always harder for second books, even when the publisher is giving them a big a push, and when the publisher isn't, well... But I don't want to play any sort of blame game. I still have nothing but love for my editor and the people I worked with at MTV Books. I honestly don't really know what happened. All I do know is this:
It was out of my control.
But it has taken me four long years to come to grips with that.
I'm a perfectionist. An overachiever. Even when I was a stoner fuck-up, I was a straight-A student (aside from gym which doesn't count toward your G.P.A., so um, it doesn't count). I couldn't shake the idea that I had failed somehow. I had this big dream of "making it" as a writer, but instead I was (barely) supporting myself on bartending income, which was not at all where I envisioned myself with my fancy MFA degree at the age of 30. I beat myself up for months, for years thinking I wasn't good enough, my writing wasn't good enough.
My writing suffered as a result. There was the whole saga of The Bartender Book. I spent two years on that book, going through paralyzing periods of writer's block, ignoring so many people's gentle advice to just let it go--advice that maybe I should have taken because it hasn't sold--because I felt like I needed to prove that I could finish a book. I thought things would get easier after that, but then there was The Modern Myth YA that I couldn't finished and my biggest crisis of faith about my writing, which came in the middle of writing The Grief Book.
Other Hard Things were happening too. I had friends who were going through Terrible Awful Things. I was still reeling from the death of my friend Marcel in 2008. My house kept flooding because the weather in Chicago was pretty much constantly wretched. My beloved cat, Sid, who'd been my best friend and companion since my awful junior year of high school got really sick and then last November, he passed away.
Out of his death came the decision to move, though. I felt like he was setting me free. Like he knew I wouldn't go anywhere with him sick because it was too risky to be away from our trusted caregivers. But when we were saying goodbye, I felt like he was telling me to make myself happy.
My therapist definitely was. I went back to therapy in July of last year because I knew my depression was the worst it had been in fifteen years. I was thinking about cutting. I was even sometimes thinking about suicide. I felt very much like I had at sixteen, but I knew more. I knew I didn't want to hurt the people I loved and that I didn't want to keep hurting. I knew that I could help myself. So I did.
In therapy I quickly had a bunch of revelations, especially about control--what I could control, what I couldn't and why I was so obsessed with it (the still-lingering effects of the controlling/abusive relationship I was in as a teenager).
There are many things about my writing career that I can't control, namely who buys my books, meaning both publishers and then how many people buy them after they come out. I can only write the very best book I can, promote it in the ways I know how, and hope for the best. I can't base my happiness on this. So I needed to be proactive and do the things I knew would make me happy. That thing was moving to Seattle and starting fresh in a city that I love.
It was absolutely petrifying because it meant relinquishing a lot of control, which I wrote about in part two of my series on making the move for Ms. Fit Magazine here. I came out here without a job aside from the work I do for Rookie and Ms. Fit and an online teaching gig, which all together would pay maybe a month's worth of bills. I had savings and a credit card with a high limit. I have a very supportive mother. I had to trust that this would be enough and that finding my own happiness would be worth the gamble.
My friend Marcel wrote his Instructions for Life on a paper towel and after his death, another friend had them printed on paper towels for a bunch of us. I keep mine in a shadow box above my desk. This is his first instruction:
But I was also freaked because I still hadn't found a job and/or sold a book, which I thought would click right into place if this whole moving thing was meant to be.
Deep breaths.
Great Risk.
It'll be worth it.
You can do it.
Job hunting is a slow process, especially in this economy. But much like when my husband and I found the right apartment, when I found the right job, everything sped up and it happened fast. I started last Tuesday as the administrative assistant in the English Department of a local university, one that is only a 15 minute bus ride or a a half an hour walk from my house. It's a gorgeous campus in one of my favorite parts of the city. Yes, it's office work. Yes it's full-time. Yes, this is a huge change from the past four years or so of my life. But it is an English Department and the people I've met so far are inspiring and amazing. For the first time in a long time, I feel stable, secure, hopeful, happy.
I know there will still be challenges, the biggest being how to fit writing into my life. I know for sure that I will keep writing for Rookie because that is writing that has brought me nothing but joy for the past two years. I've always written fiction, but I've been writing essays and rants and zines since high school and I take just as much pleasure from that. Also, the Rookie staff has become my best support network. Even though it is an online publication and we work from all over the world, we take good care of each other. It really is one of the best parts of my life.
Of the two projects I mentioned in my last blog, I'll probably focus on the essay collection/zine thing because Rookie has given me the most joy as of late and because it will be the easiest to piece together while I'm learning to juggle writing and a full-time job. However, The Grief Book is the best thing I've written. It's better than Ballads. It's what I survived my teens and twenties and early thirties to write. I believe in it with all of my heart and soul. I'm finally ready to set free all of the old guilt and pain and stress I've felt about my writing career for the past four years and I hope that will unlock the universe somehow and the right editor will read it and want it and you all will get to read it soon. That would definitely take my happiness to the next level, but right now I'm just happy being here, in my heart city with the love of my life, the support of incredible friends all over the place, and knowing that I've done some damn fine work for the coolest magazine on the planet and I've written books both published and unpublished that I'm very proud of.
Blog: John Nez (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Seattle, 'Little Free Library', Local Author Illustrator, Add a tag
I was intrigued and delighted to discover a local neighborhood 'Little Free Library' had appeared on my street... just steps from my studio! The premise of these little free libraries is that books are free to be borrowed and returned. What a charming idea! There are half a dozen of them around Seattle.
Anyhow I immediately signed off a couple of my own very local books and added them to the 37th Ave. N.E. 'Little Free Library' with great pride. They were both written and illustrated just a half block away... so it's hard to get more local than that! lol!
I have a hard time giving away my books to neighbors for some reason. I find the idea a bit embarrassing... not sure why. But to give away books to the neighborhood is easy and fun.
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: News, Seattle, Starbucks, Sally Rippin, Kane Miller Books, Add a tag
Saturday morning talk – lovely crisp winter day, with Mt Rainier rising above the city, the beautiful harbour, and ready to go Starbucks coffee cartoons
- LOVED TALKING TO THE FABULOUS AUDIENCE
- sharing my books and life experience and the importance of opening discussion for young people on what matters to them.
Just love the Kane Miller Books’ representatives – they are passionate about their books reaching kids.
I hear Sally Rippin is coming later this year to tour – she’ll love it too.
Saturday afternoon was off – free time to explore Seattle and I hit Pike Market -
choas with a myriad of alleyways, arts, fish markets, chewing gum alley …. and a rest stop looking out over the harbour with Seattle’s favourite food stop – soup in a roll! Delicious.
Ending with Starbucks – Seattle is the home of Starbucks- warm coffee as it was getting cold at night.
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Blog: The Winged Elephant (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Seattle, american library association, YA novels, ALA2013, awards, Add a tag
Pike Place welcomes the librarians The last weekend in January offered a few cold and rainy days in Seattle—doesn’t it always?—but we Overlookers didn’t mind as we fled New York City’s plummeting temps and sidewalk snow for balmier weather in order to attend the American Library Association’s annual midwinter conference. We were thrilled to represent our hottest titles of the season and
Blog: Art & Drawings by Dain Fagerholm (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Blog: Art & Drawings by Dain Fagerholm (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Blog: Laura's Review Bookshelf (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: seattle, mature young adult, thoughtless, mature young adult and new adult, kellen kyle, denny, kiera allen, sc stephens, Add a tag
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Kiera and Denny, are moving 2500 miles away from Ohio because Denny (who is Australian) has just graduated college and has a job at a very respectable ad agency in Seattle. Kiera is leaving her family for her boyfriend of two years. She's madly in love with him and will be transferring to the University of Washington with a pretty decent scholarship in tow. Luckily, Denny did a year exchange from Australia in high school, so he's staying with his friend Kellen Kyle. He, who happens to be a local rock star.
Although Kiera is not a virgin, Denny has been her first and only. Living with him is glorious. When Kiera first meets Kellen, she thinks he's extremely good looking, his band is fantastic, but he seem to overdo the whole sexuality when he's performing. He flirts with every woman in the audience and the women consider him their rock god. Denny, Kiera and Kellen have a really good relationship. Everything works out well. Kiera even gets a job at the bar that Kellen's band has a standing weekend gig. Plus, the it's the band's home away from home, so she sees the D-Bags a lot. (The band's name is The Douchebags, but if they want to go mainstream that will need to change.) Denny's job as an intern is going so well the company asks him to help start up an office in Tuscon, AZ. Kiera is crushed. He'll be gone for two months (they moved to Seattle in June). She tries to keep a brave face, but she's despondent. Kellen does try to get her out of her funk, by including her in band activities or watching a movie with her. Having dinner with her. Their friendship becomes stronger. His glances last a bit longer as does hers.
While attending and arts & music festival, Kellen stays close to Kiera, wrapping his arms around her waist. She rests her head on his chest. He holds her hand during crowds. Wins her a stuffed puppy, which he gives to a crying child whose ice cream has fallen. Kiera notices something changing. With Denny calling less and less, Kiera relies on Kellen to help her through her funk.
When Denny finally does call, Kiera is unhappy, missing him, not sure what is going on between her and Kellen. However, Denny drops a bombshell. The agency has offered him a permanent position in Tuscon and he's accepted. Kiera is livid. One because he took the job days ago, two, he didn't consult her, and three she couldn't just leave school, Seattle, etc. Denny tells her that he'll wait for her to finish school and then she can come to Tuscon. Pissed off she ends the relationship.
And then comes the drinking. And the tears, and more drinking and more sobs. Kellen arrives home and seeing Kiera in a state, questions her. She refuses to tell him, but then he manages to get it out of her. The only thing to help a broken heart? Tequila, and more tequila. Then there is touching and licking, oh, and don't forget the kissing. Kiera wakes up the next day, naked, hung over and not in her bedroom.
Trying to remember the night before it comes back to her in painful flashes. But the one thing she remembers is that it was amazing. Kellen is a bit of a man whore when it comes to women. When we learn how many women he's been with (in the biblical sense it's mind blowing). Kiera manages to get to work and being unable to do anything leaves work early. To wallow over her break up with Denny and her night with Kellen. While sound asleep, her bedroom door opens and Kiera is petrified that Kellen will be kicking her out. But it turns out to be Denny who has given up his dream in Tuscon to be with Kiera.
Kiera is devastated that Denny gave everything up for her, that she cheated on him with his best friend. (and her best friend as well.)
Although there are ups and downs in the strained relationship with Kellen and Kiera; Denny remains oblivious. Kellen has given Kiera the cold shoulder; turns out Kellen came home the night Denny did and heard the two of them making love. As much as Kellen has been an ass to Kiera, he finally comes to the realization that he has to change things. So he invites his two roommates out to listen to another local band at another local pub. Denny has accepted another job that he hates so he's been moody and listless, Kiera is miserable. During the night out, Denny gets a call from his boss (who has him on constant speed dial), and goes off to take it. Kellen turns to Kiera and tells her he's leaving. Sensing what he means, she follows after him begging him not to go, that she needs him. Needs his friendship. It all comes to head in the parking lot when they crash together, lips, arms, legs. They fuck right there in the open espresso stand. It's rough, it's passionate, it's crazy and nuts. It takes them to great highs that it all comes crashing down as soon as they finish.
Kiera more confused then ever finds herself drawn more and more to Kellen. She's not that gorgeous beauty that he's used to, but she's pretty enough. Kiera and Kellen sneak kisses, and hugs and holding hands. Brushing against each other.
Kellen's man whore comes out and he starts bringing women home after Kiera explains that she can't stop making love to her boyfriend. During one heated exchange, while Denny is asleep in the next room, Kellen and Kiera make love. Yet, she slips back to Denny feeling horrible and unsure.
It all comes to a head, when Kellen finally tells Kiera that he's fallen in love with her and she has to make a decision. Kiera wants steady and safe, but she wants the thrill that is Kellen. The passion that she feels for Kellen she doesn't feel for Denny. Kellen give Kiera a simple necklace of a guitar with a diamond in it. Knowing that Kellen is leaving again she begs him not to. And again they give in to the basest of desires, but this time, they get caught. Denny has witnessed the whole exchange.
Denny was never the bad guy. Kellen was never the bad guy and Kiera was never the bad guy. Sometimes, things happen for a reason and we just can't argue with the way things pan out. Kiera felt guilty that Denny gave up everything for her, but she did the same. Kellen didn't mean to fall in love with Kiera but she brought out feelings in him that he'd been searching for many years. The one thing that Denny noticed was the love between the two. When Denny originally left for Tuscon, he warned Kellen to keep his hands off of her. She was his. But how was he supposed to know that it would go both ways?
After everything is said and done and Kellen gets a pretty good beating from Denny, just as Denny is about to kick Kellen while he was down, Kiera jumps in front of Kellen, getting a very heavy toe-steeled boot in the head.
Denny is devastated that he injured her, Kellen is all broken up (literally, broken ribs and arm), he refused to fight back. Unfortunately for Kiera who has been out for days, both guys break up with her. Thankfully her sister has come back (Kiera thinks her sister and Kellen slept together) and finds an apartment, and ironically gets a job at Hooters.
Kiera had an affair, she loved two guys but one perhaps a bit more. Although the sex is a bit more explicit in this story, I still don't see why it couldn't be for mature ya. There's a passing mention of pot, but none of the characters really do drugs. They drink and have sex. Lots of sex.
Sex is portrayed in this story as a way to get close to the other person, to express their love for each other. Kellen, Kiera and Denny are great characters and each have flaws.
There is also a sequel to this Effortless and I just found out the other day that a third book will be coming out in March of 2013 called Reckless.
Blog: Kid Lit Reviews (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: 5stars, Library Donated Books, travel guides for kids, vacation planing, Children's Books, NonFiction, non-fiction, Seattle, Middle Grade, New York, Alaska, Add a tag
5 Stars All ALASKA: Cooper visits Alaska with the help of his new friend and guide, Kodi the Moose. Follow the two on their Ultimate Alaska Adventure as they explore Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. From the Mount Roberts Tramway and the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, to Skagway’s White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad, and finally [...]
Add a CommentBlog: From the land of Empyrean (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: relationships, cancer, seattle, time magazine, inspirational, prayer, Christian, trestle press, amish forever, crystal linn, henry luce, Add a tag
Blog: DRAWN! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Seattle, event, Ryan Heshka, Roq La Rue, GO TO THIS!, Add a tag
Don’t pass up a chance to see brand new work by Ryan Heshka at his new solo show “Instinction” at Seattle’s Roq La Rue gallery. It’s in two days!
Blog: Kris Bordessa (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Travel, Seattle, farmers market, Washington, Pike Place Market, Beyond the Islands, Add a tag
At Pike Place Market, the oldest farmers market in America, it's as if someone tipped the city and diverted all of the color here.
Blog: What are we doing today Mom? (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Seattle, ferry, Field Trip, Add a tag
Summer is full of lots of field trips - so it seems that's what most of my posts are lately :)
This is the ferry from Fauntleroy (West Seattle) to SouthWorth (across the Pudget Sound), it sometimes has a stop on Vashon Island. Something about taking a ferry is magical (maybe because I don't commute on one). Sunset sort of amps up the magic. Here are some shots from our trip.
Blog: inspiration from vintage kids books and timeless modern graphic design (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Illustration, contemporary, Found design, Seattle, USA, Add a tag
Numbers sure are powerful, and it’s evident in this print by Seattle based illustrator Matthew Hollister. This print, created for the Chicago Art Department’s Power in Numbers show, stacks magic, bad luck, and high times in a fresh and direct style. Matthew’s portfolio is chock full of editorial illustrations employing an array of grainy textures and straightforward imagery, reminiscent of vintage Czech matchbook labels and folk art.
To see more of his work, visit his website and also take a peep at his shop. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter too!
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Blog: What are we doing today Mom? (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: trip blip, summer, Seattle, Add a tag
Contact: Picnic Reservations: 425-452-6914
Hours: Dawn to dusk
Beach Lifeguard Schedule
Amenities: Swimming, lifeguard on duty late June through Labor Day. Rediscover Clyde Beach Park- this expanded beach park features an enchanting boathouse that will evoke memories from the past. Restrooms, picnic and a play area. 2.23 acres.
Directions: From I-405, take the NE 8th Street exit going west. Turn left onto 92nd Avenue NE. Park is at the end of the street.(The only downside is parking spots are limited)
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Wonderful and honest and true. Great post.
Teri
<3
Always such an inspiration!!
<3
Stephanie,
I love your blog...well writing in general because it is so honest and raw. You are so inspiring to me personally, because you have helped me understand myself and to be myself regardless of what other people may think. Especially because I am an older fan, almost 30. I know you have been an inspiration to so many other people and I hope you realize that. I was watching Tavi's speech on youtube she did in Australia about being a fangirl and it's safe to say you have fangirls/boys out there too. I look forward to reading anything you write so never stop! xoxo
Thank you all so much <3 And Megan, Tavi's speech is amazing, and thank you so much, you totally made my day by saying what you did :)
Thank you! I can't say it enough. I started out my writing journey with a partner. In the end three books in, I discovered they wouldn't be published. The partnership was a bad apple from the beginning and dissolving that tie, created problems. I now have three books to rewrite, recreate that are all me.
The last was my most promising.
Then I lost my working dog for the deaf to Luekemia...3 days after she was diagnosed. A year later I'm still struggling, she was my muse. Kind of the reason I started writing before the rotten partnership. (There is more to this story.)
It helps to know I'm not the only one life threw a punch at, the one who forgot to duck. (Hugs)Indigo