Switching Gears

Things are going to work a little differently on this blog here on out. While I still love the idea of documenting Chicago and the rest of my world, I got derailed pretty quickly. And then right when I started thinking about getting back on track, I got a new, shiny, amazing idea, and I have to pursue that until it's finished, before I can do anything else.

I'm writing a book.  A novel, to be specific. A few weeks ago, I came across a blog post describing a minor event from over a hundred years ago. It was an interesting little anecdote, but it wasn't thoroughly researched (not that it needed to be for that particular blog), and there were so many gaps in the story. I must have written two dozen questions while reading it, stuff that the post hinted at, but never really explained.

And that was when I realized, by answering all of those questions, I could have one hell of a book.

Because it's historical, and archival records from late 1800s to early 1900s weren't exactly well kept, there's still gaps. I've been researching for almost a month, and the gaps have just gotten wider. It doesn't help that at least two of the main characters changed their names, went by stage names, and, I believe, at least one of them was adopted and I don't know where she came from prior to age 16.

photo by luckey_sun shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

I quickly figured out there's too much uncertainty for a nonfiction history book, so, instead, I'm taking the facts I do know, some fuzzy genealogical connections, and some stuff newspapers had made up for sensationalism, and turning it into a big, sprawling novel, from 1880s New York tenements to turn-of-the-century show business, from prison in the Gilded Age to the post-WWI influenza outbreak.

So, because there is so much to the book, so many areas that need careful research, I'm going to be writing on a number of different subjects here. I need a way to organize myself, because following up on one historical lead just keeps leading me down various rabbit holes.

I need to be able to organize my thinking, to make my research make sense. There is so much minutiae that needs to be meticulously documented, and I need to practice, practice, practice writing about things that, at this moment, I know so little about. I figure I'll be researching and blogging like crazy until the end of October, then, with the help of NaNoWriMo, get a huge push in November to actually shape the story.

My biggest fear now is that, there is this story that I am desperate to tell -- but do I really believe I'm good enough to do it? All I can do is try.

Weekends

Busy, tiring, fun weekend -- so much so that I took a hiatus from posting. (Can you take a hiatus after three days? ...)

Back on schedule tomorrow.

Day 3 - Juxtaposition

One of my favorite things about Chicago -- and living very downtown -- is the juxtaposition of tall gleaming skyscrapers with beautiful old buildings that have stood there for decades. Walking down the street, half the buildings it seems has a plaque announcing its historical significance.

Sadly, nowadays, they are no longer home to independent publishing companies or enormous department stores (former Marshall Fields/present-day Macy's excluded) or classy hotels; instead today, they house McDonald's and Subway and Starbucks (it's no joke; there are literally eight Subway restaurants in a three-block radius from my apartment).

Day 2 - You Are Beautiful

Standing on the train platform today during my morning commute, seconds before the train came roaring to a halt in front of me, I glanced at the big green box to my left to find a shiny sticker telling the world, "you are beautiful." I snapped the photo just in time.

Using an article in the Tribune about last weekend's Pride Parade, I thought I would try my hand at the first draft of an almost-kinda-sorta-not-strictly erasure poem (moved a word here or there, changed a verb tense):

You Are Beautiful

Rainbow colors danced,
Reason cheering without worrying,
Recognizing everyone knows
The excessive historic past.

To remember
Tutus subdued,
The popular fought back,
Turning, lamenting.

Enjoy our world;
An amalgam laying down,
Stopping to explore
What else is possible.

Day 1 - Meet Rosie

She goes by many names -- Rosie Bear, Rosemont, Doodlebutt, Muffin -- and she responds to them all. (But that might be because she's not smart enough to know which is which...)

Today's post is a little bit of a copout; besides the 9-to-5 job, I spent the rest of my day today playing with a brand new toy: a Canon Rebel, just for me! But because it was starting to get dark when I finally got around to using it, instead of something more interesting, I opted to just use one of my ready-made models (I'll save the other one for another day).

Rosie was an impulse purchase at the pet store one day -- much like a pack of gum or a tabloid magazine. There only for kitty litter, I couldn't help but check out the cages set up near the front of the store. And there, smashed up against the wires of her cage sat "Pippi," an underweight one-year-old stray with the most adorable black spots. After sending a picture of the little cutie pie to my husband, he responded with: "Well, get her!"

Didn't have to twist my arm -- that was all the push I needed. And she's been the single best purchase I've ever made.

She's not one for being picked up and cuddled, but she will curl up on your lap seconds before you want to get up, wake you up in the middle of the night when she's ready for head and belly rubs, and wait patiently on the edge of the bathtub while you shower, hoping you'll pop back out from behind that curtain soon. She's crazy curious, prefers to eat things only after she's batted them around for a while, hates to be alone, and has the uncanny ability to never land on her feet. Oh, and when she's playing, she tends to be lazy about it:

(Never one to leap for the string, she prefers to instead recline gracelessly and wait for it to come to her before killing it with her tiny teeth.)

Essentially, she's me, as a cat.

(First post, meh effort -- I'm too tired.)

New Project

It is once again time for me to revisit my sorely abandoned blog, and reboot my writing life. This time, with pictures.

Besides finally writing at least two book reviews (BAD Classics Club member), I wanted to come up with a concept that will not only get me writing but will get me looking at my day-to-day life in new ways.

Classics Club Challenge/My Ultimate Reading List

While looking for a way to get back in to regular blogging and an excuse to compile a list of everything I want to read, I stumbled across The Classics Club. Their challenge: pick at least 50 classics (25 years old or older) you want to read and set a goal for 5 years from now.  You can pick more than 50 and a date sooner than that, but at minimum 50 books and at most 5 years to do it.

Yeah, my list ended up being 300 books long.