Getting Creative, Even if it Kills Me

So, once again I find myself railing against the mundane, normalcy of my life. I get up, I go to work, I herd cattle (I mean kids), and I clean my never-clean home. I miss the beauty of life, the joy in the creative. So i must find it again.

I’ve been shooting pictures for a long time, and every now and then I manage to capture a gem. You know, one of those photos that you return to again and again because it is just so moving– to the one who took it, at least.

So I’m trying to get pseudo-serious this time. I’m going to try. So that I could keep my better shots organized, i created my own Photography site– Karen Fowler Photography. If you have a sec, check it out!

Meanwhile, here’s a taste!

    This one is “Little Boy Bass”, a.k.a my son holding his very impressive first catch of the season.

Poetic Serendipity

A while back, I had one of those out-of-mind creative moments where I created a mostly complete poem in a matter of seconds, as if the Great Literati in the Sky had placed the words inside my mediocre cerebellum. Smart as I am, I quickly jotted it down and then let it fester for, oh, two or three years.

Then I saw that the online literary journal put out by BellaOnline was taking submissions for its publication Mused. Most of my fiction is not Pollyanna enough for the general public, but some of my poems are, so I sent in the aformentioned Manna-from-Heaven and what do you know? It was accepted. I guess the lesson her is to never look a Gift Poem in the mouth

Check it out!

When I Grow Up

Tired of landing in one random career after another (Animal ER Nurse, SPCA Manager, Animal Control, and Accountant thus far) I’ve taken a long hard look at the college credits I’ve managed to stock-pile and am trying to figure out just exactly I WANT to do when I grow up. Laughter aside, I’m am totally serious. I may be thirty-one now but that doesn’t mean that I am any closer to being a grown up. Let me put it this way, I may be a grown-up with parental and financial obligations, but mentally, I’m still going by the seat of my pants and living without any direction.

I am tired of jobs. I want a career. Getting there is another things though.

Taking into consideration the college credits that I already have, I could easily finish my BS degree in Psychology or Biology. Or I can use those as minors and finish with an English degree or a degree in Criminal Justice. Sometimes I think that I should travel the path of least resistance– get the quickest degree that I can, and go from there. It’s pretty obvious when cruising the Job Bank that almost any degree will do, so long as you have one. But then I would still be left with trying to figure out how to use the degree. If I can figure it out now, the journey would be so much easier. There, in lies my problem.

I love to read, write, and learn new things. I want to speak multiple languages. I want to be able to apply logic and analysis in my career. I want to make some sort of difference. I want to be challenged on a daily basis. I would like my career to open me up to the world, to new cultures and experiences. It’s all of these things that is leading me in the direction of working for the Government. The coolest job to me would working for the FBI, DEA or some similar arena. Carrying a gun would be a pleasant bonus. (I’m 5′3″, petite and blonde– not your average Special Agent. lol)

The classes I’m taking this semester have helped point me in the direction of broad knowledge. For instance, I’m taking World Religions strictly because I wanted to, and I’m glad that I did. I find it fascinating. Especially the Prehistoric religions, because most of it is just theory and that lets my brain open up and get into analysis mode. I probably should mention that I’ve been watching a ton of TV shows on Netflix lately since the cold weather has been keeping us inside more– NCIS, NUMBERS and all the CSI’s.

There’s a saying that writers oftern refer to: Write what you know. It means that the best most detailed writing comes from a place the writer is familiar with. I think the same can be said for choosing a career path: DO what you know. While this to me isn’t literal, I take it as this– If is Do what I like to Do then I will be happiest in the long run. I like using my brain, flexing my cerebral muscle so to speak, I like reading people and situations, and I LOVe to watch TV crime drama’s– especially those based on the science of forensics, or investigative focus.

So maybe I should be a cop? That would be cool, but I don’t think it encompasses all that I like to do. I need to learn and grow in a scholarly way too, remember? Perhaps something in Intelligence or Public Affairs, or governmental liason?

Anybody have any suggestions? I’d love to hear them…

Collecting College Credits

Collecting credits. That’s how I have come to refer to what I seem to be doing in regards to getting that danged elusive college degree. You see, I’ve “started taking college classes” roughly a million times since graduating high school over a decade ago.

I know. I know. I’m a loser.
No I’m not.
Yes you are!

Sorry for the momentary lapse. My inner critic/ idiot took over there for a moment.

My point is, life happens. Kids are born. Cars run into each other. People start new jobs, split-up, contract Lyme disease, change what they want to be “when they grow up”, and a host of other things that keeps people (namely me) from starting what they finish. And as guilty as I used to feel over my failure at college, I have since come to terms with my tortoise approach. It won’t be failure unless I never finish. Even then, maybe not. Through the past 68 credits worth of classes, I have gained invaluable amounts of knowledge. (Maybe that’s why my friends come to me when seeking answers of the arcane or inane variety…)

I’m sure you’ve probably heard the saying, “Life is in the journey, not the final destination because we all end up there eventually.” I think the same could be said for earning a college degree, or even learning in general.

Sure, prospective employers say, “Bachelors degree in …., or related fields” but have you even noticed how those related fields tend to number in the plenty. The reason for that? I tend to think they just want to be sure that you have stick-tuitiveness, the ability to deprive yourself of a life for a number of years chasing a piece of paper. Oh, and it shows you can either learn fairly well, or you can sufficently BS your way past a plethora of academia. Either way, you’re hired!

I’d like to lobby for the Un-Degree. Learning for the sake of learning. Not trying to cram as many useless classes into four years so you can frame a dead tree and finally be proud (and hired.) You should be proud that you are learning at whatever pace. Relish in the journey. Study the things that interest you, with little regard as to what degree you should have to get that job you think you want right now. Chase your bliss instead, and your bliss will find you.

I’ve got a number of classes and all taught me more than I knew beforehand, and most enriched my life for the better (though a few, like Microbiology, left me a little phobic). If you don’t care exactly what my degree is in, then why do I have to have one? Isn’t it just the same to show you my transcripts with 120 credits full of things that made me into a well rounded person– quick-witted, competent, and smart enough to study everything that interested me?

Hence the popularity of the Inter-discipline degrees that have cropped up lately. The universities recognize a need for custom, broad-based knowledge, but they still want to charge for it. And I guess I’m going to keep paying for it. And paying for it. And paying for it.

Reading for Profit

Like an artist who is able to sell their work, profiting from books that you would have read anyway is like icing on the cake. Now, profiting can mean many things, but for the purpose of this blog, when I say profiting, I mean that you get something from the time you spend reading a book (other than the pleasure), whether it’s a paycheck, a byline or a global audience.

Have you figured it out yet?

I’m talking about writing book reviews.

If you have dreams of a career in writing, becoming a book reviewer can allow you to sharpen your skills with the printed word, give you a collection of “clips” that can later help you snag more writing or reviewing gigs. Plus, even if the book review site pays little or nothing for your review, they almost always supply you with the free books!

And I can think of nothing I’d rather receive in the mail than free books!

In addition to a little jingle in your pocket and free books, writing book reviews is a way to connect with fellow readers world-wide over shared interests and ideas. And if you are like me, being able to contribute your thoughts about a book is just the coolest, and in some small way, you are helping another writer get god press (assuming you did like the book).

There are numerous book reviewing web-sites out there in cyber-land, and all you usually have to do is run a search for “book reviewing” to get a few good candidates. I have over a dozen reviews under my belt for Curled Up with a Good Book, ranging from non-fiction to literary novels. (See a link to my page at the bottom)

A few other good online book review sites include:
- Bookreporter.com
-FaithfulReader.com (Geared toward Christian Readers)
-Teenreads.com
-Kidsreads.com
-Bookreview.com
-Bibliobuffet.com

Carefully read the site’s guidelines and follow their directions. You may be asked to write a sample review on a book you’ve read recently. Before you write it, browse through some of the other reviews of similar books on the site, making sure you look at the work of several different reviewers to get a feel for the proper format and the tone of the review site as well. Then submit!

Offline, magazines and newspapers usually run book reviews. Try approaching your local paper with an idea for a book column. If the newspaper is small, approach your local bookstore to discuss a cooperative venture for placement in the newspaper. Say that if they provide the book and pay to buy a space in the newspaper (and maybe a little remuneration, if you’re feeling lucky), you will read the book and review it for them. This is a win/win situation for all—the newspaper gets ad money and content without paying for it, the bookstore gets unique advertising, and you get a free book, a byline, and maybe a little dough for your time!

***Note that BookReported.com, Faithfulreader.com, teenreads.com, and kidsreads.com are all part of a larger company, and the guidelines for all can be found at: http://www.tbrnetwork.com/becoming.asp

Organize Your Books for 2009

If someone asked you how many books you have ferreted away around your house, would you draw a complete blank? Have you every purchased the same book twice because you forgot that you already had it? Have you ever tried to recommend a book to a friend only to find that you can’t remember the name?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions than it is crystal clear—you need to catalog your book collection. If you answered “yes” to all of them, well then you may need to carry yourself into the nearest Biblio-addicts meeting (have no fear, I’ll put the coffee pot on for you all!)

There are several comprehensive web-sites out in cyber-land dedicated to helping you gain order and accomplishment over your literary tomes, ranging from free services to ones that charge nominal fees.

The website Library Thing lets you catalog up to 200 books for free, or you can pay just $10 for unlimited cataloging for one year, or shell out $25 for lifetime rights to catalogue as many books as want. This site is pretty cool, and it has many bells and whistles.

You add books to your library by searching for them by Name, Author, or IBSN, though you can also browse if you know part of the title. It is so easy to add a book to your library, and once you do, you can organize the list in the way that you prefer. Oh, and after you’ve read a book, you can rate it and even include a mini-review.

You can search for books through the available-at-Amazon database. You can “tag” your book with phrases that help you organize into sub-groups (like chick-lit, mystery, horror), and you can chat with other members who have the same book. One neat feature is that you can see what other books were tagged similar to yours, or what other people recommend to read if you liked a certain other book.

If you have a web-site, you can make a little widget that will run down the side of your page showing what you’ve added recently, what your favorite books are, or whatever criteria you choose to set. You can see my little ditty down the right-hand side of my blog under the heading Recent Books from My Library at: in Literal Limbo.

I’ll have to admit, adding books to this site is addictive, and I’m up to 140-something now, which means I’ll have to pay-to-play sometime in the near future.

Eco Friendly Reading

I’m a self-proclaimed bibliophile. Of course, I don’t have to proclaim it, one just need to see my house– baskets, bookshelves and cardboard boxes full of box nestled in various corners of my humble abode speak volumes on my Literal addiction all on their own. And like any addiction, loving to read does have it’s down falls.

I’ve at least got a forests-worth of trees laying dead about my house, and that doesn’t count the hundreds of books I’ve donated to a library over my lifetime. While I love the smell of a book, and the whisper it makes upon opening, all those dead trees sure do collect a lot of dust. And lets not forget the costs associated with a heft book habit. Driving to browse the bookstore is a chore, as the nearest Barnes and Noble is an hour away = gas money and time. Impatient as I am, I often feel guilty about paying the price of a new hardback, but I also don’t want to have to wait for the paperback edition to be released. So I often spend the money, only to read the book in one night, and have the Twenty-dollar dead tree hanging around my life looking like a very expensive dust collector. Or worse yet, I buy the book and don’t like it enough to even finish it.

And then I had an “Ah-hah” moment. Angels sang, dim became bright and I started thinking GREENER. and that led me to something I truly love, and is also good for the environment. I’m talking an e-reader device. Now before you roll your eyes, let me qualify that this one is good. So good that I have complete strangers stopping to ask what it is that I’m reading.

“It’s the Amazon Kindle,” I say.
“Is there a book on there? they say

And then I tell them why I got the device:

1. No more dead trees on my behalf.
2. No more expensive dust collectors taking up space in my house.
3. No more driving to the store wasting time and gas.
4. No more expensive book purchases.

And then I tell them why I love it:

1. The Kindle device has its own wireless connection– free and provided by Amazons Whispernet. I can browse Amazon from virtually anywhere, anytime, for subjects, titles, authors– you name it.
2. I can get a preview of a book delivered straight to my Kindle with virtually no wait– letting me read a full chapter or two to see if I want to buy the book for and average cost of $9.99 (less than half the price of a hardback book these days!) This is cool if you have a braod interest in subject matter because you can read good chunks of books without having to buy something. i could see how this might be useful for students researching for school.
3. I can organize my books, and keep a HUGE amount of media on my Kindle. I have yet to reach capacity. Even then, if I feel like cleaning it out, I can use the content manager to remove it from my Kindle, and it will be stored on my Amazon Kindle account for as long as I want it there.
4. I can get blog feed, e-newsletters and major periodicals delivered right to my Kindle for very low subscription fees.
5. I can type and edit my own documents sending them back and forth to my kindle account on Amazon.
6. I don’t have to plan a trip to the bookstore, or wait for a book to arrive by mail. If I get in the mood to read, I browse, choose and within a few minutes I’m nose-deep in my favorite form of escapism.

Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised in the least when Oprah recently was quoted as saying how much she loved the Kindle device. But I had to smile, because I loved it first

Giving. Its the New Getting.

(eCo)nscious Market is a self-proclaimed “For-Benefit” online commerce site based in Boulder, Colorado. They tout that their products are the finest ecologically and socially responsible products available, and the company donates a minimum of 10% of every purchase to a non-profit organizations. The even go so far as to let the buyer “hand-pick” the program that receives the donation funded by their purchase.

A sampling of organizations that are listed on the eConscious Market include:

-Urban Sprouts: uses school gardens to help youth engage in school, eat better, and connect with the environment and each other.

-The Jane Goodall Institutes works to protect chimpanzees and their habitats, supports community-centered development projects in ecologically-significant areas, and engages youth in making a positive difference.

-The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.

-Global Culture of Women Project, Celebrating the global voice of women ~ a beautiful revolution.

-Bead for Life, eradicates extreme poverty by creating bridges – Ugandan women make jewelry out of recycled paper and Americans open their homes and hearts to buy and sell the beads.

And that’s just a tidbit of the charities benefiting every time someone shops. And the best part of it all? You won’t feel bad for shopping, and the merchandise on this site is amazing.

I fell in love with sooo many things here, that if it weren’t for the money of mine making its way to charity right now, I just might be feeling the lightness in my wallet

Like:

This Large Stingray cuff, made of 100% recycled materials.

Or this Vy & Elle Portfolio crafted from Recycled billboards.

Or their cool line of 100% recycled notebooks. I AM a sucker for office supplies, I know.

So if you have a few minutes and are feeling charitable– buy yourself a gift that gives to others too!
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Living Vicariously vs. Living

Okay, so I’m guilty of the above. Living vicariously, that is. I found this blog a few days ago and I can’t get the whole notion out of my head. You see, this woman, this mother of a young child, this brave, crazy, loving wife, is sorting through all of her possessions for the sole purpose of keeping only what she can carry. That thought alone just sends me in to a consumeristic shock. 

But hold on to your shorts, there is a method to her madness. You see, she is removing herself from all that ails her and is relocating her family to the jungle, where meals will be months in the planning, and living in and of itself will become a an act of purposeful determination. 

I have to say, my curious nature will keep me checking the blog for updates and in between, I’m sure, will see me daydreaming my way to Belize as well. 

I was doomed from the beginning, with the blog’s opening quote, “Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who’ve ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. Our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”

Yes, this mad woman has found a kindred soul in me. And I wish her well!

Renaissance Woman

I was reminded of the movie, Renaissance Man, and that led me to ponder (which I’m randomly inclined to do anyway) the origination of the phrase.  This from smattering of explanations from Dictionary.com-

Thriving despite adversity

Renaissance man

n. A cultured man of the Renaissance who was knowledgeable, educated, or proficent in a wide range of fields, or a present day man who has aquired profound knowledge or proficency in more than one field.

n.   A man who has broad intellectual interests and is accomplished in areas of both the arts and the sciences.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

n. a modern scholar who is in a position to acquire more than superficial knowledge about many different interests; a scholar during the Renaissance who (because knowledge was limited) could know almost everything about many topics

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

n. An outstandingly versatile, well-rounded person. The expression alludes to such Renaissance figures as Leonardo da Vinci, who performed brilliantly in many different fields.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third EditionCopyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

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This loosely defines how I feel about myself as a person, which in turn shapes the way I perceive my shortcomings and failures. Let me explain.

As a student, I had so many interests, that I couldn’t even begin to pare things down into an actual career field. I wasn’t one of those children who said “I’m going to be a Doctor when I grow up” and actually stuck to it.

I love the arts (both the doing and the studying of), I love science and took many classes that could have easily led to a degree in Biology or medicine. I spent years as an Animal ER nurse, and people still call me to ask advice on a sick or injured pet. I am interested in aspects of design. I am hopelessly addicted to CSI and anything that combines using science and logic to figure things out. I cycle through stints of writing, and the longer ones have led to enough success that a sane person would have kept at it– and had the book advance to celebrate with.

All of my career choices weren’t actual choices. They have been things that I fell into, at points in my life when I was cosmically open to change. I feel like a dabbler of sorts, and on bad days, this seems the root of my unrest. I haven’t dedicated myself to any one thing. I sometimes feel as though I have no purpose.

On good days, however, I see that I am not a dabbler, rather, I am a modern day Renaissance Woman, eager to soak up the wide open world around me. Why settle for a narrow view of the word, when you can have kalideoscopic vision chock-full of interesting people, places and things?

There seems to be a balance between the Renaissance woman or man, and just being a jack-of-all-trades (…and a master of none). I don’t want to be Jack, that fun as he may be, most often doesn’t know jack-shit. I want to be well rounded, well versed and general, well, just well. And I hope that my kids will follow suit.