I’ve been writing since I was about 14. Embarrassingly enough, the first thing that inspired me to write was reading that Michelle Branch wrote the songs on her own album. (The Spirit Room anyone? 2001?) For some reason, realizing that this singer-songwriter, who was only three years older than me, could write songs and sing them on the radio made me want to give writing a shot. That very night I composed a song in the bathtub, and I was hooked. Writing was fun! (Also, please encourage little girls to write. It’s kind of sad that it had never occurred to me until then.)
Despite having written a whole lot of stuff since age 14, I’ve struggled to find a home for it all. I blog, I do arts journalism, I do marketing stuff, and in the last two years I’ve spent my evenings learning to write fiction. I’ve tried to keep a portfolio website that rolls everything together, but struggled. I recently realized that’s because Squarespace (and most portfolio sites) aren’t necessarily built for writers. They’re beautiful, visual templates for designers, photographers and people with restaurants that make food porn. What was I doing there? I crawled my butt back to WordPress, dealt once again with their “Famous 5 Minute Installation” – note, it is not easy, and it does not take five minutes! – and voila! Now I have my own little couch on the internet.
The other reason I started this website is because I’m approaching 30, and whether you want to call it my biological clock or my insane dancing baby hallucination (a la Ally McBeal), I’ve been asking myself some hard questions. What have I accomplished creatively? Other than helping to co-found The Tangential, not nearly as much as I hoped I would have by now. It’s time to get cracking. I’m starting a podcast called Writingness that gives me a chance to meet, chat with and share the wisdom of writers I admire. I’m also trying to write a second book, which I’ve got about 15k words of, one that explores the weirdness of family, puberty and suburbia. I’m also doing more arts journalism, right now mostly with City Pages, which has been incredibly fun!
On this site, I plan to blog more about my life (while keeping in mind The Tangential’s motto of “Don’t Be Boring”), write about media I love or hate, and write more about the process of writing. Let’s hope it doesn’t suck!