An Instance
Here’s a sample from the instance collection I’ve been working on all semester.
It’s been 6 months?
I can’t believe it’s been 6 months since I last posted on this blog. I guess I should fill you in on the hectic nature of my life that has dictated my lack of postage. After a long summer/beginning of fall of going in and out of retail, losing one job to find another, working 2 jobs at all times, music festivals/concerts, somehow managing a social life, a new kitten, the start of school, multiple writing assignments, multiple book assignments and fitting in pleasure writing and reading between all of those activities, something terrible happened. Well terrible as in now terrible, maybe someday I’ll look back at these events and realize it was the best thing that happened to me. Anyways, right now they’re terrible.
A little over a month ago, I was at a friend’s housewarming after going to the Taking Back Sunday Tell All Your Friends tour just hours before. I was outside on their one-story porch, leaning on a railing and suddenly gravity took hold. I shot to the ground in a matter of seconds, my lower back landing on the cement below. At first, the doctors thought it was a soft tissue injury, then they saw multiple fractures, THEN they admitted me after a week of pain because I had 3 fractures of the transverse processes of my spine. I was admitted to the hospital over night, on heavy intravenous medication which incidentally I wish I would have wrote on because I had some crazy ideas while on them. I had to take a medical leave of absence for the semester and give up my different roles on campus, including both of my jobs. The oral medications they had me on made it difficult to read or write, two things essential to most writers and I had to move away from my apartment and a lot of my loved ones and return back home with my parents. It was a week of agonizing change exacerbated by shooting pain on the whole left side of my body that I would NEVER wish on anyone.
So, what am I up to now? Well, as you can see, I streamlined the theme of this blog. I’ve been steadily moving into reading and writing again. I have a hard time sleeping and use both of those activities as an outlet of whatever I’m feeling when my vision isn’t too blurred from exhaustion or side affects. These habits also give me a sense of control when most of the time, a person has to help me get a drink of water or plug in my phone charger. My body fluctuates from pain in my back to horrible stomach aches as a result of the medications. I can’t do anything really that would put stress on my back such as walking, lifting, stretching or bending. This limits me to the confines of a bedroom. When I can’t read or write, and don’t want to watch TV which I do more than half of the day, I sing. And I’ve been singing more and more and starting to love it again. I’ve been online, reading essays and finding craft projects to keep me busy.
Well if you got through that monstrous explanation of the events of my life, you get to know that I will be posting work here again as soon as possible AND that I even figured out the purpose of my very first novel (title to be revealed soon!)
So for all the people who continue to believe in me through this time, thank you. You keep me going.
XOXO,
Nicole
Things They Carried Parody
This was my full movement that I turned in today for Fiction II. I haven’t decided whether this is going to be its entirety or if there’s more to it.
“King Cole’s American Salvage” Alternate Endings
Bonnie Jo Campbell’s “American Salvage” is an AMAZING collection of short stories. If you haven’t read it, you really should. This following piece includes some alternate endings I wrote for my Critical Reading and Writing class last semester. Not nearly as talented as Bonnie Jo Campbell, but I took a stab at her style.
