It’s Not Hate, It’s Creative Writing!

Don’t worry. I didn’t send those breakup letters (see earlier posts: The Breakup Letters). I just published them on the world wide web! As my mom observed, I’m in the ‘anger’ stage of the grieving process.

Grrrrrrr.

Ultimately, they’re just little creative writing pieces (mini missives!) that are channeling my wrath. I’m a creative writer! See? Hooray for me (and my awesomeness).

I believe the Breakup Letters were also inspired in part by Geoff Herbach‘s new book, The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg, which is a collection of suicide letters written with a bit of a sardonic wit. My Breakup Letters are the lovechild of that novel concept and the miniStories competition (image above)! (Geoff Herbach is the creator of the miniStories competition.)

I just realized that I could personally thank the man who selected my story for the miniStories competition  – a Mr. David Oppegaard.  So I did (via myspace)!  And I’ll do it again! Thanks, David!

The Barnard mini series needs updating, I know. I did write more of Barnard’s story during NaNoWriMo this past year. Some new facts that were revealed about Barnard: He’s got a sister named Leida who drinks, a mother who drinks, and neither of them know quite what to think about Barnard (who doesn’t drink). Barnard has a love interest named Mirabelle about whom he’s very anxious (as you might guess). Barnard dreams about toast.

Fascinating!

Well, I believe this post has served its purpose, which was to let everyone know (especially strangers and prospective employers) that I’m not being nasty and sending hate mail to my ex-boyfriend (it’s just creative expression! Er. Right?), and to promote my miniStories win.

Thank you, good night!

 

The Breakup Letters, 2008, Entry 03

Hey Crapface,

I was going to apologize for that first letter, but forget it. I had a dream last night that you missed a performance of mine, then turned off your phone so I couldn’t get a hold of you. When we finally did talk, you asked if I could bring you home a Reuben, selfish pr!ck.

So, by the way, “stay out of my f$&#ing life” covers the dreamworld, too, pissant.

Cram it.

~C

 

The Breakup Letters, 2008; Entry 02

Jerkwad,

This morning isn’t so bad, no thanks to you. I spilled some coffee on the sink, then grabbed one of the kitchen towels, the green one, probably the one that wasn’t absorbent enough for you, creep, and then I just suddenly felt such a fondness for my kitchen towel, for kitchen towels in general, really. I said to myself, “I love kitchen towels.”

And it was a good feeling to love something again.

Loser.

~Colleen

 

The Breakup Letters, 2008; Entry 01

Dear Jackass,

Are you staying the f*@# out of my life? Because I distinctly remember telling you to “get” the f$#@ out of my life and “stay” the f#@( out of my life.

Wherever you are in relation to my f*$#ing life right now, take a huge f&@#ing step backward, assh@le.

Sincerely,

Colleen

 

miniStories: Call for Minnesota Fiction Writers

TinyLit is alive and well in Minnesota!

http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=180466

mnartists.org is launching miniStories, a quarterly short-short fiction competition coordinated by Electric Arc Radio’s Geoff Herbach (author of The Miracle Letters of T. Rimburg, forthcoming from Three Rivers Press). Any previously unpublished short fiction, from 5-500 words in length, may be submitted for consideration.

Just in time for my new commitment to my writing! Coincidence? Thanks, Lunar Eclipse!

(I had a dream about the lunar eclipse! I took a space taxi out to see it (three times) and zoomed under the rings of Saturn!)

Possible line for upcoming short-short fiction piece: “Peggy Lee was a raving bitch.”

 

On Writing: Mental Note

Starting with The Title when writing is just plain silly. Stupid, even. I can’t believe I do that.

I have so much to learn.

< SIGH >

 

The Royal We Awesomeness

One of my friends recently wrote me complaining about how she never hears from me, and she said, “You need a blog!” And this is funny because: I have had a blog for nearly four years now (not this one, the now defunct Elaborate Hour).

Ah well. Perhaps I was not doing enough push marketing.

Status updates for your favorite San Francisco transplant:

• Fishnets have been replaced with wool tights and legwarmers (look for the return of fishnets late spring)
• Primary social networking site is now Facebook as opposed to MySpace
• I eat hotdishes
• I eat tater tots
• I eat cheese curds
• I eat a LOT

I’m also working on two arts-related projects – my own, Art Head, and a local arts festival called Art-a-Whirl. One of my primary goals when I relocated to Minneapolis was to transition my career from general nonprofit administration to arts administration. I couldn’t have picked a better city in which to make that transition, and while I haven’t found full-time employment in the arts, there are endless opportunities to get involved and network within the arts community here. And the community feels more accessible to me than the community in San Francisco. But that may be due to the fact that I’m here with fresh eyes and no preconceptions – I’d been in San Francisco for seven years and didn’t really seek a place in the arts community, not as a contributor anyway, and the longer I was an outsider, the higher the obstacles to involvement seemed to be.

But I am really straddling the two communities right now – working with a local Bay Area nonprofit, Independent Arts & Media, to launch the Art Head project, while simultaneously exploring my future in the arts in the Twin Cities (as well as hoping to launch Art Head and an Indy Arts office here)! And now that I have articulated that fact, I realize that I need to actually include in my life strategy a plan for how that straddling can happen most effectively. Effective Straddling. Not to be confused with Effective Saddling, for which you will want to take a clinic.

And as for my personal art, well I have decided to devote resources to developing my writing. I’ve realized that writing is my primary mode of creative expression, and while that may seem like a “duh” moment to ya’ll, that realization had never crystallized for me until just recently. And the way I thought about it was this: I thought about the drive that an artist has, or really, anyone has, to translate or interpret something in the world, of the world, and how they turn to their medium to craft their expression, their interpretation of what they see, hear, think, feel. And I thought about the times when I have wanted to capture a moment, turn it into something more and share it with the world, or even just with myself, and I realized that what I naturally turn to, my creative language, is…language.  And now that I Know That, I don’t have to have any ambiguity about pursuing it with a passion!

It’s all about focus, people. And My Awesomeness. Or Your Awesomeness. Or The Royal We Awesomeness.

Ahhh, I finally found the title for my post.