Hey. Here's another post about something that relates to me. Sometimes I wonder if this blog isn't accessible because I write about myself so much. The writer of a good blog writes about themself in a way that universalizes their experience for a wider angle of the human experience. I'm not really sure that I do that.

Although I want to fix it, and I hope that I fix it as I write more, I also am the only reader of this blog. In that sense, then, my writings are doing exactly what they're supposed to—serve as a resource for me.

The genre of the book that I'm writing is nonfiction. Zinsser's book On Writing Well claims that nonfiction is just as valid a mode of writing as any other genre. I hadn't necessarily doubted this, but it was nice to hear. Zinsser gave the history of this preference, which was interesting. Americans stopped preferring the novel after WWII and the increase in television, and "[o]vernight, America became a fact-minded nation" (97). Because of this, the genre most demanded by the American people is nonfiction.

That preference is convenient for me, because the genre I'm interested in writing is nonfiction. I didn't realize the extreme difference between fiction and nonfiction until my first assignment was due in my Creative Writing Fiction class. Even though the class was called Fiction Workshop, I hadn't realized that I had to cover the page with words for a story completely made up from nothing. It was remarkably hard. I ended up writing a story about how hard it was to be a writer, which is exactly not the point. Fiction is supposed to be about real people. That story, I suppose, was about me—a real person—but I was getting too close to nonfiction. So I discovered my preference for nonfiction through a fiction class.

So I liked this chapter in On Writing Well because it gave so much validity to nonfiction. Zinsser writes that "the great preponderance of what writers now write and sell, what book and magazine publishers publish and what readers demand is nonfiction" (97). So I'll finish out with two other quotations from the book about nonfiction:

"there's no area of life—present or past—that isn't made accessible to ordinary readers by men and women writing with high seriousness and grace. Add to this literature of fact all the disciplines that were once regarded as academic, like anthropology and economics and social history, that have become the domain of nonfiction writers and of broadly curious readers" (98).

"Ultimately every writer must follow the path that feels most comfortable. For most people learning to write, that path is nonfiction. It enables them to write about what they know or can observe or can find out . . . They will write far more willingly about subjects that touch their own lives or that they have an aptitude for. Motivation is at the heart of writing. If nonfiction is where you do your best writing, or your best teaching of writing, don't be buffaloed into the idea that it's an inferior species. The only important distinction is between good and bad writing. Good writing is good writing, whatever form it takes and whatever we call it" (99).

I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the over-romantic title of this messay. 
          But really, I've been thinking a lot recently about what comes next. Please notice that I didn't say "what I want to do with the rest of my life." College students put too much pressure on themselves by thinking that their first job out of college determines what they are doing for the rest of their life. That's dumb. How many of our parents are still in their first job that they had out of college? Nope, I didn't think so.
          But I've been thinking about what I'm doing after college, and I'm not sure. So here's a list of my thoughts and why they may fit my skill set, arranged as a list of comma splices. Read at your own risk (of boredom):

1. Education Administration: I love education, I'm passionate about education, I'm organized, I'm good at delegation, I would be happy in a school.
2. Writer for Darling: I'm creative, I like talking to creative people, I am good at helping other people make the words say what their brain is trying to say, I love beautiful things.
3. Personal Assistant: I'm good at knowing tons of stuff about other people, I'm encouraging, I love to do little plain tasks for people, I'm organized, I'm willing to be behind the scenes.
4. CEO: My third grade teacher said I should be a CEO, my mom-friend who's a CEO said I could do it, I love powerful women doing powerful things, I am comfortable in positions of authority.
5. Waitress: I love interactions with people that actually have a purpose, I'm good at hard work, I think sharing food is important, I think how you share food is important.
6. Plain Job: Anything where I do something for a certain number of hours and make money, then get to go home and work on my writing on my own time in the evenings.
7. Interviewer: I think people are interesting, I'm good at asking questions, I believe everyone is important, I believe understanding people's motivations fosters empathy.

Stay tuned for . . . hmmm, three years or so? . . . then I'll know. We'll see if it's anything like these.

I've been wanting to write a post about my very favorite bloggers/social media people. These are my top three internet inspirations.

1. Peyton Perry
I've mentioned Peyton Perry in earlier posts on my blog and on Instagram. We've interacted a little bit—sometimes I comment on Instagram, once she mentioned me on her blog and I found it months later and freaked out. It's mildly awkward because she's not quite famous enough to have fans, but I would definitely consider myself a fan of her work, aesthetic, and personality. Though I wonder if it's strange, or a little creepy, I've decided to keep speaking about and being inspired by her work. I listened to a podcast once about the importance of "tightening your feedback loop," which basically means making sure you're hearing encouragement and criticism from people about whatever it is you're doing. If my encouragement (read: fangirling) helps Peyton (first name basis) know that her work is inspiring me and making me happy, that's what I want to be doing. And if I'm the only one doing it, maybe that's even better. That's something that's cool about social media and blogs—even if you're not quantifiably famous, you can still reach people.

2. Audrey Conklin
I discovered Audrey on Instagram. I don't remember how . . . I think I was looking for fashion blogs to follow in Boston and she came up from some tag or something. Anyway, I love her Instagram pictures. She always has captions that either don't relate at all, or that relate perfectly. When I get back on Instagram after a while away, I scroll past everything and only stop on her pics. She also has a blog, which I just love. As with Peyton, I dream of being real friends with Auds one day. Knowing the two of us, it will probably be when we're elderly spinsters traveling Europe looking for the best pancakes and softest blankets. I can't wait.

3. Ashlyn Kittrell
This is the final friend (loose term, considering that I've never met any of these people.) I'm going to mention. She had a blog for a while called The Quiet Kind. First, let's just talk about how that is a killer name. Nailed it. And it was an offshoot of her earlier blog Triple Thread, which was when I first started following her. She has an expressive style that is adventurous yet classic, and she has an excelelnt ability to create outfits that walk a fine line perfectly. She just announced, however, that she's going to stop blogging about fashion for a while. I so respect that decisions. Whatever is healthy for her as a real person is great with me, because I only interact with their virtual person. She's going to start writing about mental health, so I'm excited to see where that goes. Here's the link to her Instagram.

So. There's three ladies I love. Check em out!
Maddie