grand adventures

Apologies for the extended radio silence. Between graduation two weeks ago and our trip to Idaho last week to visit my brother and his new baby I've been a little short on internet time. To make it up to you, I have pictures! My mother always complains that my pictures don't have people in them which is largely true so most of the ones I took are of our trip to Yellowstone but I think they're pretty cool.

 Oh look, a graduate!

 I spent the majority of my time in the library in the last four years
[seen behind me, including the skylights]
But for work. I never studied in there if I could at all help it :P

 On our way up to Idaho there was a fantastic sunset.
Unfortunately, I don't have a cool enough camera to really capture it
but I'm pretty satisfied with this one :)

 My brother took us out to some lava tube caves
which necessitated a very long drive
off road which later necessitated a car wash for our new Impala.

 It was pretty hot out that day so I was blown away to feel the frigid air coming out of the cave even just on the walk down the slope. It felt like winter in there and I immediately wished I'd brought more than my poor excuse for a sweatshirt but it was really fun to stumble around in those nature-made caves and I'm completely serious about that!

 After our adventure. A picturesque bunch, haha.
Carrigan and Spencer

 Spencer again and Tim

And Jake, an ever obliging model.

 On our way out to Yellowstone we could see the Tetons!
We were about 2 hours away from them so they are massive.

So many hot pots in Yellowstone! This one was putting off so much steam that
walking around it was like being in a sauna!

 The colors around these geysers and  hot pots from bacteria
and minerals are amazing in their vibrancy.

 So many opportunities for big scenic shots :)

 And you can't go to Yellowstone without seeing Ol' Faithful!
I took a video of it going off so this picture was taken as it was starting to trail off.
The geyser was at least three times higher at it's peak.
It wasn't as epic as I was expecting considering it doesn't really make much
noise at all but it was still fun to see.

 This is the Yellowstone Grand Canyon.
Most of it is comprised of rock the color of that section toward
the bottom which explains why Yellowstone is called Yellowstone.

 There are a ton of other colors in the canyon too.
Each indicates an area where a hot spring was at some point.

 How many hats does it take to shade the youngest
in the family while she takes pictures?
Three, apparently.

We made the 600ft decent to the top of the falls pictured above.
The hike was demanding but the view and the
cool spray from the falls were worth it :)
Tim and my dad. See, sometimes I get people in my pictures.

So tomorrow is my official last day working at the library on campus. I find this distressing for several reasons.

       1. Come Monday, I will no longer have a job. I hate job hunting.

       2. I will no longer have access to the over 10 million books in our collection. [to be honest, getting a library card at the public library may be higher on my priority list than finding a job...]

I have been on the job search for about three weeks now and I can't say that I'm enjoying myself. For one, I have a very limited range of experience having never worked in sales or retail or anything which are the majority of the open positions here. Seriously, telemarketing companies are everywhere. So I'm not sure what I want to do but not much that I've come across sounds appealing. Alas, that we must work for our bread. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a decent part-time job because I don't need to work full time and that would give me more time to sort out our apartment and to write.

GUYS. I downloaded Ommwriter to our desktop and so far I am loving it. I felt kind of silly explaining to Tim why I wanted to use this program instead of Word or Onenote but I'm glad I found it. The absence of distraction is awesome and as close to writing long hand as I've ever gotten on a computer which is great since that's my preferred mode of writing but I can type faster. As a note, Ommwriter doesn't have spell check like other word processors so if you use it, make sure you eventually transfer your work to another program to make edits when you're ready. My only complaint is that the keyboard and mouse are at wonky angles but that's because the computer is currently in the living room so I'm holding both on my lap but hopefully we'll get it moved to the desk in the course of organizing the apartment.

I've been writing pretty consistently this week so far and I want to push myself to really dive into this project. Ideally, I'll be posting little snippets of the WIP here as I go - I'm shooting for one a month. Hopefully I'll have the first bit ready to go next week! I'm excited and nervous to share this with you guys so I hope you like it. As always, I welcome any feedback and questions as I firmly believe that addressing both will help me make this better than it would be otherwise.

breaking schedule

I was originally planning on just posting this as a facebook status but it was too long and it actually sparked a writing idea for me that couldn't wait until Thursday. So hey, writing prompt?

I just saw a commercial advertising Nutella where a mom is prepping breakfast for her kids and husband. As she talks and preps, she keeps answering questions and supplying items her family needs but can't find themselves like backpacks and phones. It's a typical kind of commercial but a really depressing idea just occurred to me. What if this house-wife is depressed because she doesn't feel like her family values/pays attention to her SO she hides those items her family needs so they will be forced to come to her and interact with her?

As awful as I felt for making up this depressing scenario in my head for no reason, I find this character idea intriguing. It might just be worth following up on. I'll let you know  : P

searching and silver linings

Guys, I’m graduating in a week. What? There might be some mild freaking out going on around here.

I've been applying to jobs this week which, considering I've had the same job for the last four years, is weird for me. The worst part by far is the cover letters. I've never been good at “selling” myself and I struggle with wording truths so that they sound like other truths that aren't necessarily true in order to fit the job description. Curse my overactive sense of accurate representation. Thankfully, we aren't going to starve to death if I don’t get a job lined up for right after I graduate which takes some of the pressure off but doesn't make the process any less frustrating. Apparently the nation’s unemployment rate is at an all-time low which is fantastic but makes me wonder why it’s so hard to get a job anywhere. Also, what’s with employers listing an entry level position and asking that you have 2-3 years of experience? Has the meaning of “entry level” changed? Because, if so, I definitely didn't get that memo.

On a different note: I hold with the opinion that to write convincing characters you have to know a lot about people, their traits and heart-aches, etc. I think it’s easy to tell when writers are writing past their understanding on a certain struggle or behavior so this knowledge, whether it’s personal experience, things you know from friends/family, or research you've done online, is super important. Right now, though, I’m wishing that I had less information about certain hardships and failings because while writing characters that encounter those can be interesting and fun, it’s heart-breaking to get that understanding from people you know and love who are going through those trials.

Maybe that's something that writing offers us, though, a means to take the tragedy and hurt that happen in our lives and turn it into something that has the ability to empower and touch others. It seems like a small comfort sometimes, but, unfortunately, bad things will happen whether we choose to take the opportunity to make something beautiful with them or not. Sometimes we cope through means that help just ourselves, and other times we can cope in ways that may help others as well.

quiet

So I saw this today which really made me smile because lately I've realized just how much more of a home-body I am compared to a lot of people I know. We finished moving last week [woo-hoo!] which has left us with an apartment full of boxes that now need to be unpacked [less woo-hoo] and the whole thing has worn me out. I've been super tired this week and that's just increased my predisposition to hunker down at home with a movie or book. Tim, on the other hand, has been going a little stir-crazy. I totally understand wanting to go out and do things, I get in that mood on occasion where I just have to do something, but I don't feel the same need to be active that way.

I'm not depressed or sick or anything, I'm just content to sit. Some people see that as a bad thing and I wonder why. I get that humans are social creatures and, believe me, I have times where I crave human contact so bad that I think it might make me sick, but just because a person likes to be quiet or chill doesn't mean there's something wrong or even that they're incredibly shy or introverted. Sometimes the world is unnecessarily loud and crowded.

Do you prefer home over crowds? Does your character? Why? Or why not? There is always more than one explanation for a behavior or preference. Just a thought.

A big roadblock I've had ever since I thought up my WIP is needing a list of attributes/skills to pull from for different characters. Having a specific list is a necessity because I need to know the possibilities, even if I never mention enough characters to cover each of them. I've kind of been putting off making this list because I wasn't even sure how to go about finding a place to start aside from the dictionary and that would take the next two months to sift through. Yesterday, though, I buckled down and employed my internet searching skillz to find myself some resources and I'm happy to report that I did! In case anyone is interested, whether for individual character building or some other exercise, the sites I'm using to make my list are:

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/Communities.aspx

http://www.gurusoftware.com/GuruNet/Personal/Factors.htm

https://diy.org/skills

Having this list is going to be a massive help and finally allow me to pin down some crucial details that have been hindering my characters' development as well as decisions about where plot should go.