Visiting Writer: Aryn Kyle.

So tonight I went to listen to a writer at my school. My club, Creative writing club, hosts the visiting writing series at Brookdale. We get to have dinner with the writer and talk to the writer directly before the reading itself. It was pretty awesome. Tonight the writers name was Aryn Kyle. She wrote the novel “The God of Animals” and the short story anthology ” Boys and Girls like you and me” She lives in the upper east side and she has been writing for as long as she can remember. She is pretty young and her hair is really pretty  in person. In some ways she looks like Nicole Kidman but without the obnoxious voice and red hair. Her voice reminded me of a book on tape and I wished she read her whole short story book instead of just one story because her voice was just that captivating. I really enjoyed talking to her because she answered questions that I was seeking answers to. Being a young writer is hard, especially when you think your writing is shit half the time. I read one of her stories “Nine”  and it was very good. Also, she can write a killer beginning and a killer ending. I would definitely check her out.

here’s a video of her reading a short story.. It wasn’t the one I heard tonight, but this one is good too.

Tonight was pretty inspiring..
Sarah.

Taking A Chance.

This semester I purposely put alot on my plate when it came to school. I wanted to see if I could balance going to school full time, going to work,running two clubs,and participating in two others.Plus staying active and still being social. For an ordinary person that might sound like way to much but for me, I am somehow managing it,ontop of having a cold for what feels like a million years. I surprise myself on a daily basis. I’ve realized that with all this pressure comes LOTS of organization skills. I’ve never been organized but now that’s all I think about. I plan my days by the minute and only I can change plans. I know it sounds really bitchy but sometimes I can’t fit everything I want to do before I pass out at the end of the day.

But as a writer, I can’t just sit around and wait for inspiration to strike, I have to go out and find it. I never understood how some writers like Emily Dickinson could just sit in her room all day long and write. I would need to go out and smell the air. I need to look at people and take everything I know about them and slap it on paper. My prompt for this week for my creative writing class is to sit somewhere and watch people talk to eachother and take notes aka stalking them. As a “creep” I think its kind of awesome because I do that alot anyway. I eavesdrop all the time. It’s so difficult for me to sit in a restaurant with someone and not eavesdrop.Dates are the worst for me because with all those people around me at a restaurant, I can’t concentrate on the person in front of me.

As a writer you have to creep around a little just to get inspiration. You have to dig deep into a person’s soul for ideas because your soul  holds only so much and there is some stuff you may not want to share to the world. When you’re a writer you MUST take a chance. It may be publishing, or just writing about something you aren’t too comfortable talking about. Last semester,I took a nonfiction writing class, and I must say, that class is the definition of risk. There were tear stains on my paper when I was  handing them in. That class showed how much the world wants to hear your story, even if you don’t want to share it. But as a writer, you must have the confidence in yourself to write it down.

I believe that writing is a way for people to tell the world how they feel without getting beat up in the process. In alot of my writing, especially  in fiction writing, I write things that I wish could happen in my life, or things I wish I could have said  or how I felt about a person when I met them. After becoming friends with fellow writers, I’ve realized that we are all very judgmental people. I can say that I  am one of them. We have gut reactions and they may or may not form into characters but with every person I meet, a little inspiration is left with me.

With my life and in my writing I take  chances.maybe I’m just crazy… who knows.. We’ll find out at the end of the semester..

Sarah.

A Message Behind You.

I really love looking at license plates, and while sitting in hours and hours worth of beach traffic,I can tell you I have seen  some interesting license plates. I personally know my license plate number by heart just incase someone annouces  it over the loud speaker  at a store because I’m parked in the wrong place (It’s happened)

But over my course of driving, I’ve seen a couple of interesting license plates that I actually took pictures of, I wonder if that is considered creepy.

I actually saw this ^  the other day while driving to the gym. My friend Cheekz and I were have a pretty heart to heart deep conversation  when I stopped at a red light, turned my head,started laughing and took out my phone ( the Iphone does wonders) It ruined the entire conversation but I really am happy someone is that clever… ( AMERICA HAS SOME HOPE!)

I saw this license plate on my journey to Nashville Tennessee. It was funny because my mom and I were trying to see where they were going. It was a group of old ladies which made it even more perfect. They didn’t go to Tennessee, I think they went to Atlantic City, but I am not sure.

There was another one I saw that was by far my favorite. I unfortunately did not get a picture of  it ( I was not part of iphone nation at that time) We were in Virginia on our way home from Disney and we stopped at a rest area to go to the bathroom, My friend turns to me and shows  me the best license plate in the history of time. It said KRIPA (Creep-AH) I almost died. It was so awesome, why would one put that on their license, and than I thought about it. I would defiantly do that. As my nickname which I have grown to love, I would defiantly get QKRIPA as a license plate. ( Q stands for Queen, obviously).

My Dad has one with his initials on them and my uncle has his first name. I don’t know if I would want a personal license plate. Its funny seeing them though, when thinking about getting a personal license plate when does getting YADA 3X go into someones head? I love the American Driver.

Sarah.

I Don’t Bleed Red.

Yesterday I visited my friend Brandon at Rutgers University, I had never been to a four year school before. I went to Monmouth University once, and I liked it because I didn’t have to sleep in the dorms. My cousin had a house about a block away from the campus. It didn’t feel like college. I never felt the college experience before… well before yesterday. Driving onto Busch Campus, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of “ghettoness” in the area. If anyone who  doesn’t know  Rutgers,  people say they are known for their STD infestation and their parties. I saw none of the above. My friend is in the engineering department. All I can say is that i DID NOT fit in. Those kind of people are whole different species, I swear. I’ve never seen anything like it in the my life.

I only saw 1 remotely attractive guy… it was a slight disappointment. But as the hours of the night progressed I was in dire need of alcohol because the people I was with were not my cup of tea, because I am so used to hanging out with writers.My friend had changed and he wasn’t the same guy I knew my whole life. It kinda was disappointing, but I know I have changed too.

Enough about the people, the campus on the other hand was beautiful. The downside of the campus itself was that it was HUGE! I got lost just trying to find a parking spot. It was ridiculous. You have to drive from campus to campus. There are classes on all the campuses and there are 4 or 5 campuses. It was crazy! You couldn’t really walk to anything besides the student center, which didn’t really make any sense because not many people have cars on campus but yet they make it so far away.. I didn’t understand that.

As my friend gave me the tour of the Livingston Campus,  it was alot nicer than the Busch Campus. There were fountains and shit and the dining hall was really cool. They had  a little pub thing and there were of people there. It was cool, but it wasn’t Brookdale. It was too detached. Brookdale is very cozy, well to me it is.Livingston Campus is for the Buisness majors. It seemed stuffy, I wasn’t smart enough to even be seen with them, I felt like.

As I walked to my car this morning, I felt like these people didn’t think I was smart enough. They were engineers. I am a writer. I love being a writer. Writing is my life. Chemistry, Physics,Ethics, and philosophy are things I really DO NOT give a shit about at all. I am curious about what life has in store for us, but I don’t care about alot of things. I don’t care about organic chemistry. These people are NERDS. I am not a nerd. I feel cool because i am writer. I wouldn’t wanna be anything than what I am.

People take unimportant things so serious. Like in the real world, why would one need to know about physics. Like C’mon. If you were getting mugged knowing how to compound atoms is definatly not going to save you. Being logical and witty yes will, but being book smart is not going to help you in the real world.

I think alot of people look down on me because I am a writer. People don’t want to persue writing as a career because its a starving art form, but I say bullshit. If I love what I do, then I am going to do what I love to do and make shit money, than do something that I am not passionate about make millions of dollars.

Money to me is not a big deal. If I can afford gas in my car, food in my stomach and coffee on my lips, than I am content. I do go out my buy 500$ purses. I don’t even use a purse. I wear the same flip flops with all my outfits. I have been wearing the same pair of flats for a year and half now. I got them for 12.99 at payless and they are still holding strong. I have a computer I’ve had for 6 years and its still kicking. I don’t have a fancy Mac. The only real fancy thing I have is an Iphone. It makes things easier for me. I can show people my work with a touch of a button. I tend not to get lost as much anymore. I can get a hold of people really easy now. I am in the loop more. It’s also good for school because I can manage my school work on my phone. I send emails to my professors instantly.

But anyway, going back to Rutgers. As I look back at my temporary stay at Rutgers, I am so grateful I go to Brookdale. It is a great start. You learn how to be in a college environment and the courses are alot cheaper and if you fuck up a little bit, its really not a big deal. You get used to what colleges expect and the people and the connections you are going to meet. I Love College, it was the best decision I ever made by going. I think I would have hated it if I had to live there already. I enjoy living home. I don’t have to share a room with a complete stranger.. that is weird.

another year and a half until I am done with brookdale.I don’t want it to go fast :(

Sarah

The Window of Opportunities.

This is the view of my bedroom window. As shitty as my neighborhood is, in the early mornings it pretty damn beautiful. This is where I write the majority of my work. I used to be writing in my bed, but then when I did that, I always fell asleep. So to not fall asleep and actually get some work done. My parents bought me a desk, and a fan and a little light and I spend hours at a time in a little rolly chair that I decorated with sharpies when I was a freshmen in High school. I don’t know why I thought coloring the furniture was a good idea, but after 5 years it finally is starting to fade. As writers, what does your work  space look like. Some writers don’t have work spaces at all. They write on their phones or on their ipads. I don’t think I could do that. I believe that windows are doors for imagination to walk through, its like drugs for a drug addict. Windows are what imagination needs to grow, and I think I have a pretty nice view.

Have a great Day!

Sarah