Crazy Just Might Work: I AM A WRITER

Happy May!

I love May. May is one of the most cheerful months for me. Nature is going wild - flowers, trees are in bloom, air is getting warmer and days are getting longer. End of school year. Long Summer ahead. At times, it feels like Summer already! I was born in May too. I believe it somehow makes my personality - cheerful, optimistic, enthusiastic dreamer who just loves life and many different aspects of it. May can be stormy though. It brings not just showers, but thunderstorms. Not only in Mother Nature, but in people's nature. If there is one weather comparison to my personality, it probably is a thunderstorm. Can be big and loud, but does not stay for too long - it passes, and then it's bright sun, birds chirping and flowers blooming again. Crazy!

I mentioned that I went for teal and yellow recently, but was not completely satisfied with that particular outfit - so I have redone it here. Now I'm pretty happy. Completed with bed head! Bed head is a genius invention, I believe. It's when your hair is nice and clean, but you slept funny, and in the morning there is just a mess on your head. You take this mess, work in a little of what my hairdresser calls "product", and ta-da-a, you've got yourself a sharp and fashionable bed head! (For "product" I used Loma Organics Forming Paste - my tub actually has the word organics, - but there are plenty of options out there.) Now no need to worry about your hair all day long. What can be better than that?

Skirt - Lane Bryant (I showed it previously in this post early April)

Top - thrifted at Goodwill

Cardigan - Lane Bryant (old-ushka, that is actually how we speak English in our family - by adding Russian suffixes to pretty much anything)

Shoes - Josef Seibel (love them! $30 on clearance at Nordstrom Rack)

Jute/raffia purse by SunNSand, bought about 10 years ago at Outdoor World - check their collection of yummy sun hats!

Earrings - pearls, gift

And now...

I AM A WRITER: A New Link-Up

I don't always wear fancy outfits. Most of my time, I wear something really simple and comfortable - the simpler, the better! Something like this - though, it is one of the nicest of my "home outfits". That's what I like to wear when knocking around my home or my neighborhood - walking to the beach, go swimming in a local pool, taking my daughter to her evening classes (which is, I'm astonished to say, 5 times a week starting next week... and we started with one or two only!).

This is "Now I know my ABC" dress, or as I also like to call it, my writer's dress. 

Speaking of which, being a writer I mean, I finally bring up my courage to offer you the idea I've been playing with for a long time. I decided to start working on this idea now, this May.

I would like to promote the idea of writing (and publishing!) short fiction.

I invite everyone who is interested - those who already consider themselves writers, and those who enjoy writing and want a challenge.

I know I need a challenge. My challenge is to write a piece of fiction in the English language. I dipped my toes into it, but now I want to go for a swim. 

I know it sounds crazy. But I finally, as I approach my 42nd birthday, am ready to embrace my craziness. Being raised in a pretty conservative culture, I used to think that I needed permission to be what I want to be... some authoritative person or institution would come to me and approve of me being a writer. I no longer think that. I want to be a writer. I have written in Russian for as long as I can remember. I started writing in English about a year and a half ago, thanks to Justin who encouraged me to do it. I thought it was crazy. I thought no one would ever read me. But now, a year and a half later, I can tell that crazy just might work. And I'm ready for a new step. 

I offer you one theme a month to sort of meditate on. Not even a theme, but a phrase. You can change it a little, to make it yours. And then write a story, beginning with this phrase. You can write a romantic story, comedy, humor, fantasy, fairy tale, sci-fi, children's story, mystery or anything you are inspired to do - let's just generally stick to a short fictional piece (say, up to 1000 words or so). Then, at the end of the month (last week of the month), I will open a link-up here, on In The Writer's Closet, where you can share your story and read other stories. That's how I see this idea now. At the end of 2015, if we find it stimulating and fun enough to stick to this format, each participant will have 8 complete stories - not too bad for a writer's portfolio, eh? But don't think of it too much. Just have fun with it. It does not have to be perfect. We don't have to become the next Shakespeare or Hemingway. Better yet, let's become the best writers we can be - genuine us. 

Are you interested? Then let us just go for it. Relax. Play! Remember: crazy just might work.

So, the phrase I offer you for May is

"I opened my eyes. It was pitch dark around me."

Happy writing!

"Writer's" dress - ASOS Curve

Cardi is too old to remember where I got it

Flats - Born

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