I can’t believe it’s been three months of blogging and freelancing. It seems like just yesterday I was driving up to Woodland Hills and wishing I was writing for a living. Well, there’s definitely been ups and downs, moments of frustration, and great successes. It’s important to look back sometimes. And it’s important to say thanks.
So once again, thanks for reading my blog and supporting my writing journey. This month has been my best month by far for the blog. I went over 3,000 hits this weekend, and I’m very happy with the growth. So to say thanks, here is a great song I’m loving right now and a funny video.
So I love to listen to music and write. It’s something that just makes sense for me. It makes the process work. I’ll be writing a piece later this week about music to listen to while you study, but here’s just some songs that I’ve been enjoying the last couple days.
When I was at FIU completing my MFA, I was taking a poetry class, and we were studying “The Masters” of modern poetry. Our professor hand selected each one of the masters, which included Theodore Roethke, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, Frank O’Hara, and a couple of contemporaries influenced by these poets. Well, I learned a lot from this class, but what I got most out of the class was our exercises on imitation. I saw the process the same as repainting a famous image. Also, in the class, I found out that Bishop and O’Hara are both from Worcester County — my hometown.
So one of the poems I chose to imitate was Elizabeth Bishop’s, “In the Waiting Room.” Well, the first line goes, “In Worcester, Massachusetts.” When I read that, I nearly lost my mind. I grew up in Worcester County. And the poem was beautiful. It was about a moment of awareness, of understanding the complexities of normalcy and horror, and I knew I wanted to try to imitate Bishop. So I wrote, “In World History Class” — my tribute to Elizabeth Bishop. That’s the poem above. Hope you’ll like it. I’ve been working on it for a couple years, and now I’m looking to try and publish it.
One more thing: I saw this hilarious video from the Florida/Georgia game this weekend. It’s of Coach Muschamp freaking out on his tight end. He’s such a spaz. Dan Le Batard called him “The World’s Angriest Ventriloquist.” Check it out.
Well, it’s the beginning of a new week, and I’m excited about getting back to work. Tomorrow I’m going to send out a bunch of pitches for some larger pieces, and I’ll work on the freelancing blogging/ghost writing work. I’m excited to find out what’s going to happen next. I have a feeling something is about to change for the better.
This weekend was cool. On Friday, I went to Club Nokia to review a Flying Lotus concert. It was pretty incredible, but overall, I think I like his albums best. Plus, I heard this band with Adrian Younge. They were incredible — a jazz fusion amalgamation that is infused with Otis-Redding soul. I feel like I’m really coming into contact with some amazing music. Also, on Saturday, zombies took over Long Beach, and I heard some interesting punk bands, including The Undead Kennedys.
Check out my new pieces in the morning on the Zombie take-over in the LBC and my review of FlyLo. In the meantime, enjoy this video.
Well, it’s been another day as a freelancer, and tomorrow will mark the end of my busiest week to date. I wrote several pieces, all of various length, this week — some that required an enormous amount of research and interviewing. I’m really proud of the work I did this week.
It’s almost been three months since I’ve started this freelancing journey, and I’m really amazed with the progress I’ve made. I know I couldn’t have done this without the help of Heron; she’s the one who suggest this blog. In fact, I have a new chair for my desk now. The chair I have been using for the last three months didn’t even have a back to it. I really, before, just didn’t think it was a necessary expense.
