i want to get qualified

to be a copy writer and/or editor-proofreader.  What is THE quickest, cheapest way to do that?

mission: portfolio

At the behest of @HarlemWriter, I am putting together a writer's portfolio.  I have made a number of big mistakes in my thinking about my path as a writer, but they are all predicated on not taking it seriously enough in practice; i.e., it's still a path and not yet a career.  I've haven't yet found an agent, for example; I never think I have enough material, in good enough order or edited well enough yet, to present to an agent.  And I've never put together a portfolio, because...Okay full disclosure: as a non-journalist, I never thought of such a thing.

But I want to go to New York, and I want to be writing for my living. When I told this to @HarlemWriter, he said, "Let's see about finding you a benefactor to get you to NYC...".  My eyeballs popped outta my head. You mean, someone who doesn't even know me?  See, A) I'm not big on asking for practical help. Just moral support, really. I like to make my own way. B) I don't know anyone with lots of money, period - let alone someone I'd ask to help me financially. And C) I'd only have ever thought of asking for help as a person, not as a writer (see 'number one [mistake]', above). But @HarlemWriter, in mentioning benefactors & asking whether I had a portfolio, made me realize that perhaps I could ask someone I don't know - if only I had a easy-to-peruse folder of samples.  A patron who would be willing and happy to help a promising artist in her efforts to pave a path into a career. So: A portfolio, then.

I do have completed works. I have two short stories, a couple good articles, a shitload of essays, even some random pieces of poetry.  So, I've been looking through my old blog for the essays/articles (how I discern which is which I'll maybe get in to some other time), and while reading some of these, I went: "Holy crap! I'm pretty good at this!"  Out loud.  As if I perhaps expected my coffee mug to reply, "Why yes, Catherine, yes you are - although you could use some serious help with editing and snappiness."

soundgarden on conan

That Conan is back makes me happy. That he had Soundgarden on last night makes me even happier. That the interwebs can give us a look at these shows and segments we miss because we do not get TBS makes me happiest.

This is Black Rain (if you don't see the play button, just refresh the page):



Here is the official video - ain't it cool that there's nothing in my sidebar? :)



Soundgarden is one of my all-time favorite bands and I never get tired of their haunting, hard-hitting, deep, dark sound. The faster paced stuff [such as Jesus Christ Pose (vid quality is crap, couldn't find a good one)] is my very favorite, but I love it all.

new york state of mind

A few years ago, a dusty old sketch of a dream I'd had since age 14 crept up and popped a balloon behind my head and said breathily: IT IS TIME. Move to New York.

This cover honored the election of President Obama. I started reading the New Yorker at age 14, and will for the rest of my life.

I then experienced a painful bout of Dreamus Interruptus.

Love of Manhattan, New York & the Eastern Seaboard has been brewing in me forever, and my dream was to live there, preferably in a brownstone (not realizing they cost just north of eleventy zillion dollars), for a good solid chunk of my adult life. But I had such a sense of wanting to do it right, to not become one of those people New York reputedly 'eats alive' or otherwise defeats, that I hung back. I know what I'm like: Impetuous. Imprudent. Impulsive & undisciplined in a number of ways. All these terrible flaws. And they've become chronic in the wake of many seriously frustrating, obstacle-strewn attempts to fix them. So I've always said, 'Not yet. Go someplace else, try [there] or [there] in the meantime'.

But roughly three years ago, I said, right, enough of that bullshit. Go be where you want to be, now. Can't do it 'right' & 'smart'? Then do it wrong & stupid. But DO IT. You jump in and figure things out like everything else. You've attached some precious or sacred status to this particular dream - shake it off, lest it stay ensconced in your imagination for eternity. GO.

I was still in L.A. at this time, being a tour guide. I managed to save $2875 toward this dream, a month away from $3000, when the trembling economy took its nosedive. Tourist action slowed to a trickle and their tips were slim to none. I had to start using that savings. It didn't take long for it to *poof* to nothing. Heartbroken & sullen, I hung my failed head and went home to Seattle to lick my wounds. It's now been 18 months and change since I stepped off that airplane, and I've struggled hard just to get back on my feet. In fact, I'm still wobbling. But last week, in the fourth or fifth day of a numb, dense emotional fog, a flare shot up: New York. Remember?

I took the sketch of this dream off the shelf and started filling it out a second time. I got excited. I felt relieved with a sense of something meaningful to look forward to. A sense of greater purpose re-infused my moments, no more simply struggling for a slow gain of inches here at home. I caught new fresh breath. So now I'm brainstorming plans. I'm writing stuff down. I'm looking at the New York Craigslist and hunting hungrily (rather than trudging half-assed) for more hours right here right now at home so I can save money again. I'm deciding on departure dates, wanting it not to be too far off, yet giving myself enough time to stuff my pockets fairly well. I have no clue what I'm doing. Whatever, no matter. The wheels are in motion and my new war cry is:

I <3 NY

LET'S DO THIS THING.

Thanks as always for reading :D

testing pls ignore

srry if you're subscribing and keep getting these :P I'm now testing to see if I've correctly undone the stupid install from earlier and reset native Blogger comments back to normal.

part the 2nd

I already had my first blogging mishap yesterday, forgetting that Part II of Hello World was on the clipboard, and over-copying it into oblivion. Consider Sporadic Nomad Christened.

So, Part II, Take 2:

'Sporadic Nomad'?:

• I ran away from the house I grew up in (not my family's) never to return at 17. This cemented a preexisting cliff-jumping tendency into full fledged habit. I've been a do-over/fresh start junkie since (shortly after) emergence from the womb. While I appreciate and understand senses of permanence and home, like what you feel looking at a large, hand crafted piece of late eighteenth century furniture, or watching a friend dust off a loved item from childhood, I've never actually developed one. I think for most of the time, I've never consciously wanted one. There are certain upsides of several kinds to a life without one (some would probably have you questioning my definition of 'upside' :P).
• I've since left my hometown (Seattle) and come back to Seattle so many times, without establishing any sense of home in the new places, that I've come to counting them as 'travels'. While I'm sure there's some sort of cycle/pattern to these off-takings, they are not superficially regular enough to be seen as anything other than 'sporadic'.
• I suck at order, organization & management, have often been completely imprudent, owing, to put it very briefly, to some hardwiring problems.

So/And 'sporadically' is probably how I will be posting to this blog. Daily schmaily.

But as always, my mind is growing, and the senses & sensibilities I do have, along what I wish for myself, are shifting around. Things are being added/fading out, etc. That said, the crazy shifter has historically been a dominating characteristic of my life. Since I'm (once again) beginning a full-swing online life and (once again) planning to take off from Seattle, I might as well embrace that. For better and for worse, Sporadic Nomad describes me well thus far. Who knows what new times and experiences may bring, but I'm glad I'm who I am right here right now, and I don't see me ever falling out of love with fresh experiences and changing things up. If not in a typical way, then some other.


So, all that to introduce myself, and give a brush-up to you guys who've read me rambling on before. This is a standard, run-of-the-mill personal blog, so I see it as being pretty much a Twitter feed writ large; you might see me share & talk about stuff I find on the web, or hold forth on some topic, introspect here & there, write about stuff I love in a star-spangled essay, etc., whatever comes up. Welcome, and/or welcome back. I've missed doing a blog and I'm looking forward to more.

Thanks for reading <3

i love when people do stuff like this

And now, a word from our sponsor heroin favorite interweb:























You people are geniuses. Anyway, the Part II mentioned in the previous post will be next. Unless I find some other awesome bauble before then.

hello world

Howdy, I like to write. Actually, I hate it. And then I need it, getting painfully reminded that not writing is like holding my breath or ceasing to move. Then I'm weary, seeing a project as daunting as the end of the world. Then I do it and feel lovely and accomplished and gratified and enriched. Then I don't do it and I'm all empty, disappointed and pissed off. Ah, the wonders of the creative mind.

I have had one short story published, called Bike. I'm writing a novel that takes place in 1930's Manhattan. It is a tribute to an author whose work I treasure. It is taking me waaaaaaaaaaay, way too long. I'm writing a play, my first stab at comedy, and it's ultimately a wobbly love letter to my favorite human. I'm writing a memoir type thing. I'm focusing on the play right now.



I'm also scrapping the old and starting fresh with the whole blog thing. I have a laptop now, and I'm feelin' it, so here we go. Part II of the pilot episode coming up.