Blue January
sky, crisp air nips with whipping
wind. My face is cold
Seconds slip past and I feel
this new year sliding away.
Liked this poem? Try Backyard or Rain Pours.
Tag: new year
January 2020 Update: Workshop, Writing, and Music
Today is my first day in a Free Poetry Workshop! Last September I bought Windows and Doors: A Poet Read Literary Theory by Natasha Sajé. I read a few chapters and then looked up Natasha Sajé, I found out she is a professor at Westminster right here in Salt Lake City. Then I found out she was doing a free Poetry Workshop this Spring. To sum it up, I applied to the workshop and got in. Today is the start of this four-month workshop and I am so excited. I am hoping to get a lot out of this workshop and make progress with my poetry.
Besides my poetry, I have been doing my daily writing routine, a mere 1,000 words a day required. I feel like I’ve been hitting a wall lately when it comes to my writing. On the backburner is My First Novel which I talked about regularly in my posts last year. At this point, I have only one tiny chapter to write and the book is done. After that I need to have it fully edited/proofed and then I want to start submitting it to Literary Agents for representation. I have very little left to do, maybe a couple rewrites here and there and some more polishing but I have put my book on the back burner since November and haven’t had the guts to break it open again.
(More about My First Novel)
Instead, I’ve been working on my music. I’ve been researching and learning Ableton (DAW), I’ve been practicing guitar, recording, and learning the ins and outs of my midi keyboard. I’ve also lately become interested in Modular Synthesizers, so I’ve been taking a course on the basics through lynda.com and messing around with a Cherry Audio Virtual Mod Synth I got with the purchase of Computer Music magazine (what a cool find!). It’s been a fun and time-consuming venture. Currently, I have about five songs in the works. A few of these songs will finish the playlist I started on my SoundCloud, taking inspiration from Dante’s circles of hell.
That’s it for this update! I want to say THANK YOU to all my followers and those that read my poems regularly, I deeply appreciate your interest and readership.
-Alina
Liked this post? Check out these:
NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!(Opens in a new browser tab)
Why I Write: Poetry #1(Opens in a new browser tab)
Currently Reading: Postmodernism, 1920s, and Fiction(Opens in a new browser tab)
What’s going on? Jan. 9th, 2019 (The Holidays, Patti Smith and Self-Editing)
(Originally published on Patreon on Jan. 9th, 2019)
The holiday season is officially over and I finally feel like my daily life is back on track. Since the second week of December I was working 10-12 hour shifts at least two to three times a week plus a couple normal shifts, my family came into town, and then there was the need to shop for Christmas presents which I put off until only a few days before Christmas…as usual.
On the Christmas week, me and my partner had the same four days off. Christmas Eve and Christmas day we took turns going to each other’s families for dinner then spent the 26th together and finally had Thursday to ourselves, a day for both of us to get back on track. Getting back on track definitely did not happen for me. I ended up going to Park City to spend the night at a relatives house and didn’t get home until Friday afternoon. And the start of my workweek was that same day only a few hours later.
In summary, I don’t feel like I really had a day off on Christmas week, and then I worked all weekend. Worked a morning shift on New Year’s Eve, then worked 11 hours on New Year’s Day. Just one thing after another, got a flat tire my first day off since Christmas, then my family came back into town to say hi for New Years. Started my work week again, then on Monday my battery was dead and I had to take a lyft to work.
Finally, here I am, Wednesday, January 9th, my first real day to myself, my first real day off.
I have a million groceries to buy. I’m down to a roll of toilet paper, a cheap razor found in the bathroom closet and eating chili out of a can unless I want to eat Captain Crunch. I’m not necessarily looking forward to all the shopping I have to do but I am relieved, it feels like forever since I could wake up and know I have an entire day to get my daily life squared away.
Today’s to-do list:
Grocery Shopping
-bread
-soup
-almond milk
-razors
-toilet paper
-snacks
-tea
Laundry – might need to go to a laundromat today, washer isn’t working and dryer is questionable
Go to craft store buy yarn (I’ve been crocheting a blanket the last few months, its huge)
buy detail (fine) paintbrushes, I’m working on a plaque (acrylic paint)
Write (1-3,000 words today)
Work on Blog (set up posts for the next week, talk about where I’ve been)
Post on Patreon (this is it)
Between my shifts, coming home late at night and relaxing before I go to bed, I’ve been reading reading reading. For Christmas I got some pretty amazing books, all the books I suggested or asked for and it’s always great to get what I really wanted.
One of the books I got for Christmas is M Train by Patti Smith. Right now I only have about 50 pages left, it is approximately 300 pages long. It was a slow start and for a moment I was unsure about this Smith book but I am a huge Smith fan, I love her writing, her music, her work, everything, she is one of my biggest role models, so I stuck with M Train and finally got into the groove about 100 pages in.
Now I’m almost done with it and I am already feeling a little sad it’ll be over soon. What I am noticing in M Train, is that Smith is weaving together many different aspects of her life such as dealing with the loss of Fred (her deceased husband), her dreams (her descriptions of her dreams are poetry, absolutely beautiful), and her travels where ever they lead her (tracing the lives of artists and writers or work).
It is an exploratory journey, reading Smith and there are so many subjects that she talks about that resonate with my ideas and my own experiences. So reading her work is both comforting as well as inspiring for me as a writer to push myself, my writing, and at the same time really be aware, live life and be present with each experience as an individual and as an artist.
This book is amazing, I am already half-way finished with it and it is the perfect companion in helping me with my first completed rough draft of my book. The advice is amazing and it also includes useful tips, questions, and exercises to help writer’s practice what they’re learning.
Self-Editing talks about dialogue, beats, narration, show and tell, point of view, interior monologue and much much more. It’s written in a very comfortable and clear voice that makes it incredibly easy to read and I’d have to say it is the best book I’ve read thus far on editing/writing fiction.
I am reading other books right now, about 12 to be honest, but these two are the ones I’ve been focusing on the most recently. I feel like there is a lot that I can gain from giving so much of my time and attention to picking apart M Train while at the same time absorbing everything Self-Editing has to say.
These two books, I know will be pivotal to this month and my writing. For the month of January I plan on finishing my second draft of my book and chiseling out a rough outline of chapters, parts and plots so that I can get started on my third draft which should be (I hope) close to a place where I can start giving sample chapters to people to read (an idea I am playing with, it could be a bad idea).
I look forward to the rest of January and I know that this year will be amazing. I have a load of fantastic books to finish reading, tons of plans for my writing, and a good amount of content that I can start working on to submit to literary magazines in hopes of publication.
Thank you for reading, please feel free to comment or message me.
-Alina
A Wild Year: My Top Songs on Spotify, Currently Reading List and Reflecting on 2018
This year has gone by too fast and I feel like I am still trying to catch up. I have gotten a lot done this year from my graduation at the University of Utah with my BA (finally) to a PAID poetry reading at the Utah Arts Festival in June, to finishing the first rough draft of my book Ghost in the Woods for NaNoWriMo.
Since it’s the end of the year, I thought I would give a quick update on what I’m listening to and reading.
Spotify “Alina’s Top Songs of 2018”
Goodreads “Currently Reading” List
There are A LOT of books on my “Currently Reading” list and I am trying to widdle it down a bit before the New Year but I guess I’ll see how successful I am with that. One book that isn’t on this list that I’ve been reading every day now is Collected Sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay, my copy is really old and falling apart. I had to spend a good hour last week taping pages back together into the seam of the book. I’m about halfway through it and I love it, Millay is amazing with Sonnets and she makes it look so easy.
Highlight of my 2018:
Going to “An Evening with Neil Gaiman” last month was amazing. Gaiman had some great advice to give and thankfully many questions from the audience were geared towards writing and publishing. It was also so much fun to hear Gaiman read a little from some of his books.
Last Adventures: Discovering “Found Poetry”
Last week I sort of stumbled on “Found” poetry. It’s a form that I am sure I’ve come across before but up until now haven’t given a second thought too. Found Poetry is a form where people can find poetry in everyday life, like text, billboards, magazines etc. For instance, I was inspired to mess around and try “finding” some poetry in a local newspaper at work this week.
FOUND POETRY on my Instagram story highlights
I was pretty surprised at what I found and now I am hooked. My hands are stained from newspaper ink, markers, pens, and I have already begun putting my found poems together in one notebook making a sort of hand-made chapbook. (I will make an official post about my Found Poetry soon)
Conclusion:
I am stoked for the New Year and I am working hard to set up my work and myself for an even more successful year. What am I working on right now? Submitting my best-polished work to literary journals and magazines, putting together a small chapbook of my poems to self-publish (maybe) on Kindle, and finishing my book Ghost in the Woods so that I can start submitting it to literary agents/publishers.
What do I want to accomplish in 2019?
Honing this blog into a more coherent and substantial literary blog, maybe even monetizing it, providing more content to my followers/readers that can actually help them.
Sidenote:
A couple months ago I finally set up a Patreon Creator Page. My Patreon is different from this blog in that it provides “behind-the-scenes” access to my creative process, work (including rough drafts), and special updates. This is a more personal online venue where my followers can show their appreciation for my work by becoming Patrons and giving a little bit of $ to contribute to my writing.
Right now I am offering Help/Tutoring to those that donate $20/month to my Patreon.
Be a PATRON! Subscribe to my Patreon for one month ($20) and receive one on one help with your writing for an entire month!
It’s been a great year and I can’t wait for 2019!
I want to say Thank you to all of my Followers, subscribers, and to any readers that stumble on this post. Thank you for reading!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
-Alina
Coming Soon: My Personal Response on ‘Surviving 2017 in the Trump Era’ and ‘Combating the quote-unquote brainwashed College Student Theory’
I have been thinking about two topics recently in light of personal experiences and conversations I have had with numerous people such as family, friends, and fellow students.
These two topics I plan on writing MY OWN PERSONAL RESPONSES to:
“Surviving 2017 in the Trump Era”….did anyone really survive? and how do I feel now that 2017 is coming to an end. This will be my own little synopsis of how my year has gone including my reflections on the insanely horrifying events that have happened this year…so far… in American.
“Combating the quote-unquote Brainwashed College Student Theory” this has been a reoccurring conversation that has been happening between me and my family. I found this theory (as I am going to call it) to be more laughable than a serious issue to address. But after talking to other students in my Major (English, the Humanities) and doing a bit of research on my own, it appears that this little theory is a persistent issue that conservative parents and families have been “dealing with” for a very long time in America.
My responses will be posted by the end of this year so keep a lookout. I would also love to hear about any experiences that college students have had dealing with this “brainwashed liberal” thing. I find it an interesting little concept that now aides in dividing families and the nation even more than it has been this year.
This is also me lighting a candle in my own little lighthouse in this continuous storm, is there anybody out there with similar thoughts?
I want to thank my faithful and regular readers and followers that take time out of their day to read my work on my blog. Thank you so much for the support you give to me and my writing! I hope you will (and others) return in the future!
-Alina