Category Archives: Writing

A short hiatus

Posted on by

Sorry for disappearing for the past couple weeks.  I’ve been figuring out life now that the crazy summer schedule is done.  It’s hard to get used to how little there work there is everyday.  I’ve found myself wishing I had more to do everyday.  Well…maybe I will do more writing.  I’m slowing finding things to work on, but in the meantime, I have plenty of story ideas and poems that have been piling up inside my mind.  I have been working on one piece of Flash Fiction the past couple days.  Here it is.  I hope you like it.

The Man & The Box

I want your opinion on Oral Histories

Posted on by

I am currently figuring out what kind of novel I should write while in the Peace Corps.  This will be my fifth one.  The thing is, I found a niche for myself with my previous novel–The Stagner Chronicle.   I am thinking about exploring this realm/genre of oral histories even further.  It worked well with a dystopian novel.  Now I’m starting to wonder–would it work with literary fiction?  How about science fiction?  Comedy?  I have a few ideas up my sleeve, but I want to hear from my readers.  Are you guys interested in reading Oral History-style books like World War Z and Rant?

I’m falling in love with genre.  It allows the story to be a character.  Since the players in the story are the narrators, it pulls you in.  It makes you decide what really happened.  There is no black and white when it comes to an Oral History.  That’s why I love it.  Now I want to do know if you guys feel the same.  If you haven’t read one, feel free to grab a free download of my last novel–The Stagner Chronicle–Here.

Getting in the Grove

Posted on by

The more time that passes living alone, the more I figure it out.  In the first week, I didn’t have a good place to read or write.  Yesterday, I made space.  I ended up reading quite a bit of a fantastic book–The Good Earth–and actually wrote for the first time in a while.  I’m slightly confused about what came out, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.  I always return to poetry when I have pent up emotions I need to ventilate.

The next forty days or so promise to be crazy.  I sat down and wrote out a schedule of events.  I don’t have much free time starting this Wednesday.  There are trainings, festivals, events, and much more.  I like being busy.  At the same time, I am starting to get somewhat of a schedule for work.  What more can I really ask for?  I needed a way to stay busy and I am starting to figure it out.  Now if I could just find a place to buy a desk…

Pacify

 

A Feeling I Cannot Shake

Posted on by

Something is off.  I’m doing well in my Final Site.  This is something else.  Not the strangeness of the place, the people, or the food.  This has to do with home.  I know most people would simply call it homesickness.  But that sounds to simple to me.  This is more.  To be honest…even if I Early Terminated right now and went back “home” to Colorado, I would have this feeling.  It’s an intense detachment.  I’m seeing all my connections fade.  I should have know this was inevitable…but was there even a way to accept it before?  I don’t believe so.

I don’t talk with friends back home very often.  When i do, I either feel a pang in my stomach or can’t find much to talk about.  The same, strange enough, is happening with my family.  Our conversations feel shorter.  Through no fault of anyone, all of the relationship’s I’ve built up for 23 years are fading.  I guess that is what happens when you are an ocean and and continent away.  It’s a pailful experience   I didn’t notice it until my kinda-relationship back home was put on hold.  This was also expected…but that doesn’t make it any easier.

I find myself relying on the support structure that I’ve built over the last ten weeks with other Peace Corps Volunteers.  Given, it is a strong support system.  I have no fear of going without advice and help.  It’s the transition of going from my usual support system to something entirely different that is getting at me.  I have these people who I regarded as immovable pillars in my life back home.  To know that I can not rely on the pillars in strange…and awkward.  I miss my friends.  I miss my family.  I miss my special someone.  I will always love them.  24 months and counting…

A poem I wrote today:

Inescapable 

Day 56 in Peace Corp Morocco: The End of Training

Posted on by

I am 7% done with my Peace Corps adventure.  It’s becoming increasingly difficult to understand time here in Morocco.  It’s only been eight weeks since I left the States.  It feels like it’s been a year.  The thing is, my time here feels like it is flying by.  It just doesn’t make any sense.  To add more to the confusion, everyone back home is now an hour closer to me since Morocco doesn’t do Daylight Saving Time.  We found this out by trying to explain to our Language and Cultural Facilitator what DST is.  We confused her and came away with the understanding that there is no DST in Morocco.

Sorry for the sabbatical.  Studying is intense in the first few months of Peace Corps.  The thing is, it works.  I’m holding full conversations with my host family now.  I’m sure it’ll be easier to keep updating once I get to my final site.  Below is my first full piece of writing while in Morocco.  I am still doing a lot of writing–just not anything I can put on here.  I write in my journal on a daily basis.  I’m also doing well on the script I started a few weeks back.  It’ll be a long process, but it is definitely coming together.

Here’s my full Peace Corps Update:

Saying Goodbye to Mom and Dad