Beginnings

I'm not a habitual resolver in honour of the New Year, but I made pact with myself this year on January 1st. I am writer, and in 2009, I will spend at least half an hour each day writing, at least five days per week.

Enter wrist injury.

I'm not sure what I did to it, but several days into the new year, I started experiencing moderate pain in my left wrist. Writing took a back seat for a few days, and I was angry that I was already breaking my resolution.

Enter ACE wrist wrap.

It's not flashy and it was fairly cheap, but it's allowed me to get back to a normal typing schedule. Adam has admonished me (twice) typing with flat wrists, so I'm trying to remember to keep my wrists elevated, at least some of the time. It's difficult with a laptop, though.

Speaking of Adam, he's actually partially responsible for the creation of this blog, with his "all writers should have a blog" mantra. He's a friend of mine in the MFA program.

This is where, if my blog was a movie bursting with clichés, the camera would pan back abruptly and me, as narrator would say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm getting ahead of myself. I should start at the beginning." Then the shot would fade into a shot of quiet, snowy street, and I'd talk about my childhood.

Now that you're picturing that, I'll just jump on it, but I won't cover childhood. Maybe another time.

I'm a native Chicago suburbanite who has recently returned to the City of Big Shoulders after a 2-1/2-year stint in Central Michigan. While in Michigan, I earned a B.A. in English from the tiny but picturesque Olivet College, and I thought daily about all the reasons why I love Chicago. I moved back to the area in summer 2008, and in fall 2008, I moved downtown and began working on an M.F.A. in creative writing at Roosevelt University. I'm primarily a nonfiction writer, so keeping up with this blog should come naturally for me.

I'm also a musician, though somewhat lapsed. I began my undergraduate studies as a french horn player and music education major, but decided that a life behind the baton ultimately was not for me. I love music, though, especially taking advantage of the great music in a city whose orchestra boasts the best brass section in the world. In my opinion, of course.

Photography has probably eclipsed music on my list of loved art forms, although I am still learning. I shoot figure skating, mainly, and while I readily admit the shortcomings in the rest of my photography, I am very proud of how my skating photography has progressed since August 2007! If you're interested in reading my photoblog, it's here, although I recently forgot to update it for a few months in the midst of computer troubles. I'm getting back on track with it, though.

Since I am a perpetual student, I think of my life in terms of semesters, so I have high hopes for this semester. I plan to take two workshops, so I will spend a lot of time writing and one of the courses will be my first exclusively nonfiction workshop. I'm also looking for a new job--I'm currently slaving away in retail, but I'm hoping to find a position as some type of editor or editorial assistant in Chicago. Feel free to let me know if you have a lead!