Reunited and it feels so good.

My last serious blog was nearly two years ago when I ended my yearlong life as an au pair. To recap: I spent three months slaving away in Geneva, Switzerland, six weeks traipsing the United Kingdom, one month absorbing culture in Albania, two weeks carousing in Greece and three oddly therapeutic months in Brugg, Switzerland. That was an incredibly transforming year for me as a person and a writer. The unexpected adventures kept my pen scribbling constantly. 

Grand Teton National Park

Upon return, my kaleidoscope moved me to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, impelled by a job offer for the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. I’ve been here nearly two years now, and accidently established a professional adult life. Really though, I actually have health insurance and a dental plan. I have become proficient in graphic/web design, event planning, volunteer coordination, marketing and social networking strategies. However, my passion and dream to be a travel journalist remains, and it seems to be the one trade I am not practicing, professionally or personally.

This morning, StumbleUpon brought me to Timothy Sweeney’s Internet Tendencies: “The Ultimate Guide to Write Better Than You Normally Do.” After reading it  I realized, how can I write better when I am not even writing at all? Feeling inspired to reconnect with my writing core, I transformed to a night owl with purpose and made a new logo, website and blog. I finally plan to stop talking about writing and start doing it, forever.

Below I have identified Sweeney’s essential tips with my immediate reactions and/or areas of weakness.

1. Write every day
   Do the undeniably entertaining and witty emails that I send on a daily basis not count? Drats. 
2. Don’t procrastinate
   Define procrastinate in one word…Netflix.
3. Fight through writer’s block
   One cure to writer’s block? StumbleUpon. 
4. Learn from the masters
   I take it you don’t mean Zeus…Okay, Hunter S. Thompson? 
5. Find your muse
   Found it, but the challenge is writing without it.
6. Hone your craft
   This blog is starting that.
7. Ask for feedback
   I suppose criticism is one thing I'm good at receiving. I just need to ask for it. 
8. Read, Read, Read
   Does 50 Shades of Grey count? Kidding, that book was terrible. I'm currently ingesting Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompsan...the true Gonzo Journalist. 
9.  Study the rules, then break them
   Emmeline Pankhurst, pioneer for women’s rights in the UK, said it best, “We are here not because we are lawbreakers; we are here in our efforts to become lawmakers.” So, to be a literary pioneer, I must rebel and rewrite  the written protocol. Done. Easy. 
10. Keep it together 
    Like a piñata at a birthday party versus a piñata at a birthday party in a mental hospital. Got it. 

And so it begins... 


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