Published!

I have loved writing my entire life. It's always been a way to just kind of manage my freak out moments, my happy thoughts--you know, just my stuff. When I was a kid, I would make up fairy tales and poems and hole myself up in my room to write when other kids were outside playing. I craved the smell of pencil lead and carried my pink Lisa Frank notebooks like prized possessions.

And I thought that when I grew up, I would grow out of it. Thought that my love for writing and make-believe and playing with words would slip away.

But I was wrong.

Through the course of pursuing an English degree in college (can I get a whoop whoop for being done with that?), I came to realize that poetry was my thing. POETRY. You guys, that's where my music is. Poetry is how I think. It's how I read novels and letters and e-mails and recipes. So, mock me if you will, but I've realized that I don't really care anymore what people think of my weird English major habits.  Because I love poetry. And I want to write it and read it every day until I die. And probably after that, too.

So I write and write, and suddenly a while back, I had a realization. It went a little something like:

HEY! I need to GET MY STUFF OUT THERE. If I want to be better, if I want to progress and grow in my writing and not stay a stagnant moldy blob, then I need to push myself out of my writer cave and submit my work.

So, I submit some stuff. And I'm still submitting stuff. And I am loving it.

AND SO THE POINT OF THIS RAMBLING:

After I won first place in a poetry contest with my poem "Customer Service," I was contacted by the creator of monologging.org to see if I would be interested in collaborating with an amazing artist, Lauren, (who is based in Hawaii) for a project. So, of course I said yes. And you guys. It was such a blast!!

The results of the collaboration were published today, here. And I think it kind of rocks.

Go take a look, and hit me up with your thoughts!