The World is Quiet Here

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

365

Day 228:

Trouble playing Trouble with me

Day 229:
So good.

Day 230:
Genny-girl

Day 231:
We loooove coffee

Day 232:
Book shopping!

Day 233:
She made me

Day 234:
We LOVE Kimballs' frappes!

Day 235:
Heart

Day 236:
Novel

Day 237:
Love

Day 238:
Oh yay.

Day 239:
Perfect mix

Day 240:
Happy B-day Mia!

Day 241:
Truth

Day 242:
We have the same glasses

Day 243:
She can touch her nose with her tongue

Day 244:
Girls night: pumpkin spice latte and You've Got Mail.

Day 245:
We like Frank

Day 246:
Good good movie

Day 247:
First day of school

Day 248:
Reading out loud to the girls

Day 249:
Someone's gettin married :)

Day 250:
Split lighting with a laptop and iphone

Day 251:
I WANT.

Day 252:
Oh, Bob.

Day 253:
Who would be so CRUEL??

Day 254:
Tea

Day 255:
"There's a storm brewin, Harry."

Day 256:
Its called multi-taskin, peeps

Day 257:
We crazy

Day 258:
Me, every time.

Day 259:
Lego Club

Day 260:
Photography class

Day 261:
Juji got a new haircut, tried on my glasses and they look like twins!

Day 262:
Letter from Africa: made my day!

Day 263:
There's the cat!

Day 264:
Me & mah girl

Day 265:
Our "It's tooo coooold to drink frappes!"

Day 266:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower quote

Day 267:
My new bestie. I got him Geoff. Short for Geoffrey.

Day 268:
Pretty cool clouds.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

New England is famous for its autumns. Clear, blue skies...the brilliant foliage...cinnamon, pies, pumpkin spice lattes, and...apple picking. In spite of school and the stress of homework, I treasure autumn and it ranks high up there as one of my favorite seasons.

Summer is beautiful and wonderful in all of its goldenness, but there's something equally magical about fall. I look around me and see the difference in color of the sunshine, the way the dark comes earlier, the last vibrancy of colors clinging on before winter comes, and I smell the difference in the air.

I was driving toward my sister's place yesterday, Mat Kearney's "On and On" playing as I rolled down my windows. The breeze was cool, the sun still on green leaves, looking like summer, but the taste of fall in the air.

It's hard to imagine goodness, happiness, love...it's hard to know that I am not alone...when I'm at my blackest. It's hard to realize that there are patches of sunshine shining through the dark woods, until you're standing in them. It's hard to smile through fears.

Mat Kearney crooned,

On and on and on we pray, we can break into a brighter day. Nothing worth anything ever goes down easy.
On and on and on we go. I don't understand this windy road. Nothing worth anything ever goes down easy.

And he's right. Nothing worthy anything ever goes down easy. Winning the fight makes the prize that much more valuable.

Facing the fears make the confidence in the end worthwhile.

The smiles and laughter when you've grown through the tears suddenly feel so much more special.

As a photographer, when you look through the lens, you don't just look for the beauty. Your eye scans through the eyepiece, searching for the ugliness, in order to diminish it and exposing the true beauty.

You compose, you expose...you shoot to make beauty your focus. You work to make the perfect picture in the end. You don't just snap the button and have magic. You get magic it by working for it.
You use the ugliness to your advantage.

As I walked through an apple farm with my family today, falling in love with autumn all over again, noting the way the color of the light made everything feel...captivating...I noted that somehow it was worth it all. It is worth the working all week long, the constant studying, the stress, the tears, the fears of the work week to enjoy special, happy moments.

The hard work makes the moments of relaxing that much more restful. Wearing comfy clothes, laughing with little siblings, drinking apple soda...I soaked it all in. Memorizing details, capturing images in my mind as well as on my phone. Nothing worth anything goes down easy, yet we struggle on and on. Because these moments are worth it all, in spite of the hardships.

Happy Autumn!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Writer's Block

There are times when writing drives me completely insane! I mean, the times when it just won't flow out and I'm stuck with these scenes in my head and yet no way to get them out, pen to paper! It's so completely aggravating. Which is why I am so excited to say that brilliance has struck in a completely different form...and that brilliance came from...*drumroll*...Pinterest, where else? :P

Pinterest is good for many different things...I'll admit, I'm addicted. ;) Who isn't, these days?
Anywho, I found an image on Pinterest of a journal...a journal overflowing with pictures and words and ticket stubs and postcards...little pieces of beauty. And it struck me as I saw that image: that is exactly what my novel is about! Finding beauty, even in little things...even in times when it's hardest to find anything of beauty. And as I discussed these ideas with my favorite writing friend: Scarlett!...I found myself getting more and more excited. I decided to try something new...something more 3-D when it came to capturing the thoughts and feelings and emotions of my characters.

I've recently started to edit my novel, transcribing it from 3rd person POV to 1st person. It's been very strange, to say the least, especially since it's been years and years since I attempted to write a novel in first person. Needless to say, the first time I attempted it years ago was not successful. I found it to be much too difficult. Yet, ever since I started this novel, something kept nagging me at the back of my mind that this novel was *meant* to be written in first person. I ignored it but eventually had to give in. And happily, it's made writing the novel that much easier!

All that to say, I've begun to place myself in the shoes of my protagonist...to try to *be* her. What have I done? I've taken novel planning to the next level. ;)

I took all my scrapbooking supplies, a blank journal, all my magazines and spare pictures/postcards, etc. and plopped them down on my bedroom floor. With a corkboard and a fun playlist playing on my boombox...oh, yes, and don't forget a cup of tea!...I began to write, to piece together, to tape, to cut, to glue, to transcribe, to scribble...I lost myself in the world of Julian & Simon.

It's not necessarily the journal of Julian, my protagonist, so much as a journal of my discovering new people. I write out scenes for my novel, I jot down notes, I paste in photographs and magazine clippings that illustrate what I'm trying to say. I put down photos of places and people that Julian sees.

What I'm doing is viewing the world through a character's eyes.

It seems completely insane, doesn't it? To get one's self so wrapped up into a novel and to go to so much trouble to do so. It is insane! I'll admit it, readily! But it's also fun! And here's hoping it causes the juices to flow!

How far do you go to overcome writer's block? ;)