Ms. Badu

For all the music lovers out there, I would highly recommend getting the new Erykah Badu cd. I think its some of her best stuff yet. Her lyrics are so poetic. The whole vibe on the cd is nice. I could play it from start to finish without skipping a song. A great cd to listen to when I'm writing, trying to get inspiration to write, or just want to hear something nice. I will definitely be adding this cd to my collection. I got it as a gift for mother's day...thank you Nay!

Final for Screenwriting...Done!!!

Yes, it's official. I am done with my final for my screenwriting class. This was a big undertaking for me. I got 62 pages done! We were required to do between 60-80 pages for our final. I am really proud of myself. With class being over, I need to stay focused and disciplined to have a completed script under my belt - which should be roughly about 120 pages. So look out world...you might see my movie on the big screen...one day.

First Place!!!

Congratulations to Nay, my daughter! She called me as I drove to class today and told me that she won first place in a writing contest at school. She won out of 27 students. The topic of the writing contest was about mothers (being that mothers day is right around the corner). I was so excited for her. She read her paper to me over the phone and I couldn't believe it. She wrote about our relationship and the things that we do together. I didn't realize how much she remembers and observes, even the little things. It made me smile. She's already picked up the talent of writing, among other things. Like mother, like daughter - she enjoys reading and writing and already finished her own short story. Yeah Nay!!!

Final Project: e-book cover

Check it out! This is what the cover of my e-book looks like. The title of my e-book is called "Unearthed: A Collection of Short Stories" by Odessa Windear.

I'm done!!!!...with my final project for at least 1 class. Only thing left to do is present it. It's an e-book. One change that I made late in the process of doing this project was that I decided not to publish it and make it available on the web just yet. I didn't realize all the considerations of first publishing rights. My final project is a small collection of short stories in a pdf document with a cover page and table of contents page. The table of contents are hyperlinked to take the reader directly to the corresponding page(s) of the short story that are selected. I love the cover. I put a lot of time into this project, mainly with revision. When I decide to make it available to be published, I will most likely add a few more short stories.

Now I've got one more final project to go and it's for my screenwriting class - which will require me to write 20+ pages to add to my script.

Well, it's winding down to the end of the semester and I don't know how I'm making it with very little sleep these days as I juggle school, a full time job, and family; but I think I can, I think I can... : )

My Final Project

For my final project in electronic publishing I've decided to do an e-book. Yes, I know I could've done something that's not so time consuming or complicated...at least I'm assuming it will be. I have a jump start because I plan to use some of my short stories and incorporate them into one book. I'll have a specific theme for the book rather than having random short stories thrown together to make a book. The hard work will probably be revising the work that I've already written. Once that's done, I can get it formatted and uploaded, then it's ready to be published. I'm actually looking forward to the finished product and seeing my own work available on e-book websites. Of course I'll download it to my own e-reader!

The next step would be to market my book by possibly creating a webpage for it on Facebook.

The work begins...

Written Passages

I have a new website that I created. Feel free to check it out at http://www.writtenpassages.wordpress.com

It has a great look to it - crisp clean look, bright colors, and easy to navigate.

I designed it with the writer in mind. Included are some helpful tips, recommended readings, and websites - all found on the Passages page. There's also some other interesting things on the website such as an Art page, Bulletin Board page, and more . It is of course going to be a work in progress as I plan to add more to it. I appreciate any feedback (both good and bad) and suggestions about the site. Comments can be posted on the bulletin board or can be emailed.

Check it out!

Not Enough Time in the Day!

There is not enough time in the day! I'm sitting in my electronic publishing class attempting to blog on my site while I stuff my mouth with a dry ass cinnamon poptart. I guess you could say that the poptart is either my really late lunch or my snack before dinner - I haven't eaten since this morning. At work today I worked in my office while trying not to pass out because of the heat...yep the AC wasn't working. So I toiled away with the everyday duties of my job until 4pm...sort of like waiting for the school bell to ring at the end of the day. I grabbed my things and was on my way...only to sit in traffic and stop and go, and stop and go. Then I get downtown and there's more traffic. So I make it to the parking garage and walk down four flights of stairs then up two and a half blocks to get to class. I'm now blogging and thinking about what I need to do for my final project in my electronic publishing and screenwriting classes, what's for dinner tonight, the staff meeting that I have tomorrow morning, the article for the newsletter I have to do for work (which is past due already), and how I'm going to fit in homework, down time, and taking my daughter to a pre-teen girls summit this weekend. I'm also wondering if I'm making too much noise with this plastic wrapper that the poptart came in. I'm trying to eat discreetly while everyone is being quiet working and typing. There is not enough time in the day, or the week, or ever. I haven't blogged in forever and have some major catching up to do for my blog posts, which are supposed to be 3 entries per week! I forgot to mention that I also need much needed sleep...but there just isn't enough time.

Excerpt from my short story, "Dear God?"

This is a coming of age story about a girl named Faye. It takes place in the seventies, its about losing innocence, a child's spirit, and gaining a voice strong enough to speak for herself and her younger sister Maribel...

Glass beads the size and color of lucid peas were strung together by thin hemp string, bound by an over sized knot at each end, hung as long as I stood tall. Columns loose like chains descended from the makeshift plywood frame that was painted a stark white to match the ceiling it was secured to, at the top of the stairs. The stairs, swathed in burnt orange Berber carpet reminded one of autumn and things of the sort like leaves and pumpkins, or Thanksgiving and its spices of nutmeg and cinnamon. It tickled my bare feet when I ran up and down the stairs or even walked slowly. My slender fingers caressed the hanging beads, playing with them. They made a clicking and clacking sound, the slight folds of air barely brushed past the edges of your face, each strand moving and shaking until they were perfectly still again and in place as if they had never been touched. There was paneling on the walls, a hue of dark brown. It was the seventies - the time of my youth. I use to pretend to be a runway model, passing through the hanging beads and sashay down the stairs, a towel draped on my head, swinging it left and right as if I had a head full of long flowing hair. I was the oldest, although only eleven or twelve around that time. My younger sister always followed suit, imitating my awkward movements and voice, her feet drowning in MaMa's big shoes.

In that house there was an unforgettable smell, a pungent odor of aged liquor and old women's perfume. It was always warm, which caused the air inside to be cutting. Because of the heat we often went baring our flat bellies beneath the tube tops and above the mid rise cut-off shorts that were once Jordache jeans. It was around that time that I hadn't quite grown into the bras MaMa bought for me from Woolworth's, but I stuffed them with toilet paper anyway. I had worn the plastic white peace earrings that I managed to afford for fifty cents at swap meet with MaMa before my first year of middle school. My legs were thin like ostriches, unassuming and plain, supporting the frame of a young girl nearing thirteen. A body that puberty was taking its time with to flower it with the changes a girl would live to see only once...

Check it out!

I had told my younger sister about my blog and as a result of her viewing mine, she was inspired to start her own! Her new blog page is www.giftedinbloom.blogspot.com Please check it out. She inspires me as much as she says I inspire her. Yes, I'm giving her a shout out on my blog...but show her some love. She's just getting started. Thanks for your support.

Back in the day

This is my kindergarten picture of when I lived in Hawaii. My blog below mentions a little about this picture - my teacher with the very long hair, the water, etc. Can you guess which one is me? Of course I'm the only black girl in the picture (smile) - middle row to the right, smiling big and bright!

My walks on the beach

This is a picture of me around 1981/82. I lived in Hawaii. My mother use to walk me to school when I was in kindergarten, along the beach. She did this everyday until one day she was late coming to get me, so being that I had memorized my way home with my mom from our walks in the past, I took the walk home that day without her. I made it home safe and sound and my mother was surprised and proud. It told her that I was a big girl and could walk home on my own. From that day on, I walked home from school without her, along the beach - sometimes with sand in between my toes. She had realized that I didn't need her to walk with me.

My school was called Nanaikapono Elementary School and it was located very close to the beach. In one of my school pictures, you can see the water in the background and my teacher had very long hair - down past her waist. In this picture the water was a beautiful shade of blue, frothing at its edges. While warm sand sat beneath my feet and seaweed and stranded weeds lay straggling on the shore, I smiled bright, my signature smile.

I think of how this picture relates to my life and as I am blogging this, I am realizing that the walks that I had with my mother mean more to me now as an adult. My mother died when I was nine years old. Although she was taken from this world at a young age - 35 years old, her walks with me at least showed me the way so that I would know how to get home. She was there long enough to show me a path and eventually I would figure it out on my own, because unfortunately she wasn't able to be there to walk me the rest of the way. I miss the walks on the beach as much as I miss her now. It's amazing what memories a picture holds and how meaningful it can be.

When I Reminisce...

Yesterday I checked my facebook account and I had a friend request from someone that I went to high school with. I didn't immediately recognize her name or her picture. She was from the class before me, class of '94. As hard as I tried, I couldn't remember her. But as I tried figuring if I really knew her well enough way back then, I accepted her friend request and checked out her pictures she had on her profile to see if there were old high school pics. None of the pics helped me to remember.

But there was one picture that brought back memories. The caption for the pic said Song Fest, Class of '94. That may sound foreign to many people, but you see I went to school in Hawaii - Nanakuli High and Intermediate School. It went from 7th thru 12th grade. Every year each grade participated in a big singing competition called Song Fest. We would practice for weeks, perfecting our sound and uniformity. It was something to be proud of. The girls wore white Polynesian inspired dresses (similar to muumuus), the boys wore black slacks, white long sleeved dress shirts with Ti Leaf leis or Maile leis. When it was our time, class of '95 stood up together on the rows of bleachers in the gymnasium, nervous and excited. We belted out the words in unisom that we had memorized and harmonized for weeks. It was such an exciting time. After every grade had performed their song, the judges deliberated and announced the winners. The noise in the gym was blaring when they said that the class of '95 won first place. We jumped up and down, shouted and screamed with such pride and happiness. In fact, if I remember correctly, class of '95 won two years in a row.

I still have my white dress that I wore. I have so many memories of growing up in Hawaii. I like the idea of blogging about those memories. I miss Hawaii - a lot. This may be the start of some of my future blogs - how it was for me growing up in Hawaii; the many different things that I went through and how it felt to be a black girl among other brown, tan, white, and yellow faces. Many people might actually think that being black would be easy around other people of differing colors but it wasn't always easy. I had a somewhat unique upbringing. But that's an entirely different blog entry, stay tuned...

Just a poem I wrote (try reading it backwards after you read it the first time)

A poem I wrote last semester (Fall 2009). I struggled at poetry - I'm a fiction writer but I happened to like how this one turned out after revising it. Try reading it backwards; I reversed it for a different effect.

At First Light

Lovely. Awakened sleep from over glazed
lovers of eyes, silence the shattered - birds.

Beds warm in close huddled lovers of sleep
the permeating morning of precipice, the doorstep of each

arriving. Trees broad among dancing branches
between threading leaves lean, golden of multitude

around willows weeping of roots beneath crept morning by
kissed ground. Solid cold above crept silence - lovely.

Snow at the water's edge

Wintery Wonderland...

A time to spend indoors either reading or creating the perfect novel or as I should tell myself - a time to continue working on the one I already started weeks ago. Solitude and an excuse to be off from work is a great excuse to find a spot to sit with a cup of coffee and spill the words from my heart and mind onto paper that have been still for some time now. I know what I want to write, I just need to do it while I can and while i know what I want to say.

Also a time to spend outside (but not for long) as I did taking pictures down by the water. Beautiful.

Other Interesting Blog Sites

I came across a blog site that I found interesting.
The site is http://monicajackson.com/2005
It's easy to navigate and I like the graphics at the top of the page, however the author's name is in white and makes it a little difficult to see. The author, Monica Jackson has some of the books that she's written flashing across on the top right hand side of the page. It helps newcomers become familiar with some of the work she's done. She has some links on her page geared for people interested in publishing as well as links for avid readers. I felt comfortable with much of the content which involved ethnic or racial issues - African-American. And although it was commentary, I thought there was humor and realism in what the posts were about. I wouldn't say its the best blog site I've seen, but then after much time searching on the internet, I wonder how many good ones are out there.

Here's one more blog site. It's http://literarysoapbox.blogspot.com/
I liked the concept behind it - the idea of offering reviews, sharing opinions, and dialogue in regards to the African-American book industry. I would guess that there aren't many blog sites dedicated to this topic. I found the site to be lacking content. I was excited when i found it but it didn't meet my expectations. I was disappointed. The last post was done on May 11, 2009. I guess I could say something positive such as I like the look of the page: black screen, simple and not too busy on the eyes, use of color, suggestions on the right side for recent releases in African-American fiction, and the title of the page. Other than that, there's not too much to say.

I would like to say that it's a time consuming process of searching for really good blog sites. I was getting frustrated after a while...my search continutes but just not anymore today.

I want to link to my blog, http://creativeepublishing/blogspot.com

I want to link to my blog.

Attention all MFA students!

At last I finally found a great blog site! I had been searching for awhile as part of my homework assignment. Many of the blog sites I visited didn't have many posts, didn't have interesting things to say, or appeared confusing. I typed in some key phrases such as 'women blogs', 'writer blogs', or 'african-american women blogs'. But somehow I ended up at a site that had a listing of hundreds of blog sites based on categories. I clicked on 'creative writing' and stumbled upon a very insightful and interesting blog page. Its called 'After the MFA', the link is www.afterthemfa.com
It's written by a guy named Gordon. His blog goes as far back as July 2006. Some of his blogs include a really good interview he did with author Edward P. Jones (author of 'The Known World'), writing tips, life after receiving his MFA, and comments. Currently I am in my second year in an MFA program. I think I'm on the right track however after reading some of the posts on 'afterthemfa.com', I thought about what exactly I want to do and if I am taking the necessary steps. There's a list called 'Seven Things I Learned in a Creative Writing MFA Program' - it's in the July 2006 archives. I think every MFA student should read it, if for nothing else to find it humorous and not to take workshops too seriously, to realize their voice in their writings, having thick skin against criticism, and the importance of revision. I also read something on the blog about a list of things that Gordon (the blogger) had completed or accomplished since receiving his MFA and a list of things he had not done. It puts it all in perspective, even though I haven't received my MFA degree yet. I have things I want to do and I can't wait until I have my degree, I need to act now and start seeking opportunities that allow me to grow and pursue my love of writing. Even though I have a full time job, I can't expect to finish my MFA program in the near future and then -- immediately out of the clear blue sky I'll have my dream job writing or teaching or both. I need to be proactive and somehow juggle my life which includes being a wife and mother, working full time, and going to school so that I can be ready when my day comes of accepting my MFA diploma. It's a scary thought...what am I going to do? What if nothing happens? While I ponder, I would definitely suggest that all MFA students check out the blog site www.afterthemfa.com

I am blogging and am not sure where to start or what to say. It's my second blog entry and this is a new experience for me - being so candid for the public to see. But here I go...Yesterday I began writing a novel that had been in my thoughts and in my heart for quite a while now. I started the way I used to when I was young, with a sharpened pencil and black and white composition book. It was so familiar and comfortable and although it took me numerous attempts at putting the first sentence on paper, I had started. I was so excited!!! My goal is to consistently work on my novel every day and not let it sit for weeks at a time with no progress. It would be nice to get at least a few pages done each day but it will be difficult with my busy schedule. I am a mother and a wife, work full time, and attend evening classes twice a week. But I am not complaining, believe me. There is a way to get things done and I just have not found it yet. Sometimes I feel like I am steadily trying to catch up and there is not enough time in the day. With the snow storm over this past weekend, it would have been nice to sleep in since my daughter had a two hour delay for school. But I couldn't sleep in, I had a meeting at work. So I woke up and did my usual routine - calling out several times to my daughter to get up, making sure lunch is packed, dog taken out and fed, breakfast on the go, and of course my cup of coffee that I look forward to each morning. Then I drive to drop my daughter off, hugging and kissing her goodbye and wishing her a good day. And off to work I go...I wouldn't mind another day or two of snow just so that I could rest and relax, breathe and take time to focus on family and "me" time. Being snowed in with movies and snacks, books, and a pencil, and my black and white compostion book isn't a bad way to spend my time; away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life where work is weary and filled with fake smiles, deadlines, bad attitudes, personalities that clash, mandates, and everything else that gets on a person's nerves. Thank God they're calling for snow tomorrow night : )

This is my first post.