Voice and words

            School hasn’t started yet, which gives me time to write another 2012 post!  In trying to find and define my writer’s voice I believe my inner Regency era heroine is wrestling for dominance with my inner Steampunk  Princess Wannabe. Of course, they are both often bested by my Baby Boomer reality and at any given moment I am not sure who has control of the keyboard.

            I am looking forward to the start of a freelance writing class this term and an internship editing written materials about medieval art objects in the Portland State Library special collections. There are one or two other opportunities I am hoping I can provide links for in the next two weeks or so. A writer/friend said the other day Portland is a great place to be for an aspiring writer right now and she was so right!

            Same said wonderfully intelligent writer/friend gave me Merriam-Webster’s 365 New Words a Year desk calendar to provide daily fodder for my writer’s brain. What is my favorite word of the first six days of 2012? Poppinjay: a strutting supercilious person!  Coming in a close second is omnium-gatherum: a miscellaneous collection, as of things or persons! 

Resolution

        It is almost impossible to believe it is January 1, 2012. My posts have been so random I feel almost ashamed to post any resolutions. I will pay more attention to you this year, dear Blog! You will not be ignored any longer. I will post, link, and gadget through the New Year! My other heartfelt commitments for the New Year follow and I wish all a peaceful, successful and prosperous 2012 in whatever personal form it may take. 

In 2012 I resolve:

To write every day even if it is only a snippet of dialogue or a suggestion of a definition!

To read more than what is simply required so I am not run over by the train of academic brain atrophy!

To learn about my craft as a writer by practice, training and observation!

To risk by entering contests, submitting articles, writing more book reviews, exposing To Signify to more readers, to do whatever it takes to be able to say truthfully yes, I am a WRITER!

To challenge myself to introduce Patience and her sister Prudence and the dark and otherworldly William St. Gray to anyone in the reading public willing to meet them!

To grow no matter what the defeat or obstacle!

To love it all; the pain, the joy, the sorrow, the humor of every single part of every day as it adds to the experience of who I am and the power it brings to the writer I want to be!

I owe so much to a very special, very small group of people I love for their support and belief in my ability to do this; I thank you for 2011 and cannot wait to share what’s ahead in 2012!

Direction(less)

Reluctant to unwrap my hands from the steaming cuppa they were clenching; gray, misty, cold in Portland this afternoon which is not unusual except the cold feels as if it has changed from a brisk Fall crispness to the hint of a bone chilling Winter waiting just around the next sunrise. I have been struggling with both direction and directionless intent in my writing this week. Its presenting itself in writing papers academically as well as everything of a fiction nature. The direction is there, somewhere, hiding in the recesses of my increasing befuddled mind but its so difficult to put it into words on a paper or screen. Even worse, when the words finally present themselves they go either no where or everywhere. Isn't there a road map somewhere? The short story class I am taking has been reading Raymond Carver. His dialogue is effortless and organic; as a reader you are a silent participant in the conversations taking place. From the biographical reading, it is clear he worked very hard to achieve this easy, natural voice. But, its also clear he had a natural gift which he coaxed and nurtured. His stories are not complicated and the characters he creates are people we have all known. I wonder if he ever felt he had words he could not direct to the end he wanted to achieve?Well, at least I have words that want to go somewhere, I guess as opposed to having no words looking for a road map. Direction and directionless; a curse and gift all at the same.

Beginning

Starting, awakening, commencing, initiating! This is my inaugural post of my blog To Signify. Why? Why am I blogging? I am in transition right now and this blog is a part of my transformation process. I am a struggling author. I have ideas which erupt and spew forth in abbreviated barely coherent form at inception and remain in this neglected state as I have no time to revisit them. Why? I am a full time student (can anyone say mid-life crisis) and by the end of Spring 2012 will graduate with a BA in English and a minor in Writing. My current term is overwhelming with exhaustive reading on theory, criticism and aesthetics. (My head hurts) I am also in an American Short Story class, which I am loving because I hope to write (and publish of course) short stories, in addition to other forms of fiction.

What will be addressed here? Everything, I hope. Updates on writing or classes; cultural , social or political commentary; random thoughts on what transpires as the World moves from point A to point B! This blog is a leap of faith into the abyss of what I hope to become as well as a reflection of what in my life has brought me to the place I am now.

This all leads me to explain the name of the blog: To Signify. This name was chosen for two reasons. First,it is a term popular in Regency era fiction, which I love to read and hope to write.

Second, and equally as important To Signify means to be significant, make a difference , warrant consideration, matter, count: and that's the best one can hope for in life!