Christmas Card

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

I get $10 off my next order for sharing my Christmas card project. Couldn't pass it up!

Excellence in Creative Writing--Could it go beyond the University?

Today, I was awarded by my university $125 collectively for a 1st place prose piece and a 3rd place poem. I am quite thrilled. Both of the pieces, along with two other poems were published in this year's Envoy, the campus literary magazine.

I'm graduating in a couple of months, so I started wondering what would happen to my creative writing after that. Without the Envoy to publish it, I'm afraid it will simply end up stored in a folder on my computer, labeled "Poetry" or "Creative Writing." No one but me will read anything new I've written--probably not even my husband. But I really like sharing my work with other people. And apparently (say two university awards and $125) other people like it too.

So. . .I've been toying with the idea of publishing a book of my own. Now, if I did, I wouldn't want it to be some kind of self-publication or some no-name publisher. To see my book on the shelves of Barnes and Noble is quite a lofty goal, but I think I'd rather "go big or go home" in a sense. I only want to publish something if others think it's worth publishing, not just because I think it's good.

All this to say. . .I've been given an idea for a book titled "The Life Works of a 21-year-old"--or 22- or 23-year old, depending on how old I'll end up being when I add my latest work. Basically, it would be the highlights of my writing (not necessarily the best work, since I'd like to give readers an idea about the major events in my life)--poems, stories, even journal entries or essays if they fit. I started writing poetry when I was 13, so I have a few years to cover. It would be like a coming-of-age story that shows my experience and growth as a person while also showing how my writing developed and matured. I think it would have something for everyone, since it would include a break-up poem about my first boyfriend and a story about the loss of my sister-in-law.

So, my question for YOU is, would you be interested in something like that? Do you think other people would be interested in it? I mean, I could always self-publish something because I know that my family and friends would love it. But they know me and they're biased. For those of you who read literature, do you think readers at large would pick up a copy?

I'd appreciate your input :)

"Here comes that dreamer!"

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. --Genesis 37:17b-19 (NIV)

I read the story of Joseph for my Bible as literature class this morning and this part made me stop dead in my tracks: "Here comes that dreamer!"

I thought, Man! I'd love to have that said about me!

Joseph's brothers meant it as a derogatory statement, something they put him down for. Granted, Joseph was a little boastful in telling his brothers about his dreams--dreams that showed them all bowing down to him.

But to be a dreamer is not a negative characteristic. Certainly one must be more than a dreamer-- a dreamer must actively pursue his/her dreams in order for them to be of any real value. But it all starts with a dream.

And the ones who are dreamers are the ones who make the most difference. Can you think of anyone who greatly impacted our world who didn't have a dream, a vision, a passion?

Let's go back to Joseph for a moment. His dreams got him into some trouble with his brothers. But later, his dreams are exactly what get him out of trouble, into the pharoah's favor, and into the position of second in command of all Egypt. And in this position and with his dreams, he was able to prepare for a famine and save countless lives.

Dreams are dangerous. People may not always agree with us or like us because of them. Dreams are sometimes difficult. We may have to do some work to actually make them happen. But dreams are also vitally important. Great people are not made and great feats are not accomplished by accident (with an exception or two).

It is the people who pursue their dreams and live out their passions that impact their world--whether their world is a classroom full of children, a congregation, their family, community, or all the inhabited continents on the face of the earth.

Don't let anyone tell you your dreams are stupid, unrealistic, or unattainable. Most importantly, don't let yourself tell you that. Dreams are powerful if powerfully pursued. They can come true. And they can change the world.

Babies and Jabberwocky

So, I've been thinking a lot about babies lately. Yes, babies. My husband's and my first niece was born this past Wednesday. Her name is Brianne Grace and she is so adorable! I sat down in the hospital room to hold her and my brother-in-law said, "We should put you in a hospital gown and send a picture to your mom."

Then when my husband held her (a beautiful picture, I have to admit--see for yourself above), the same brother-in-law said to me, "Brittani, this is where you tell him to get comfortable with it." Then I ran into one of my dad's friends on my way to class the other day and he asked, out of the blue, if I had any plans for getting pregnant.

My question is, What is the deal?!

Nate and I DEFINITELY want kids, but we also DEFINITELY don't want them anytime soon. We've been married only seven months, I'm still going to school, and we are nowhere near financially ready. We'll get a dog first, wait a couple of years, and then start to seriously consider having children.

But with all of this talk of babies and kids, and being the lover of reading that I am, the thought occurred to me that I do want our future kids to love to read. And to foster that, I plan to read to them a lot when they are young.

And this brings me to a poem that I didn't know until last year, but I love it as a fun children's poem. It's by Lewis Carroll and is called Jabberwocky. It's a little lengthy, but I inserted it below:

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Carroll was brilliant with this poem. It's composed of made-up words that no one really knows the meaning of (Carroll himself probably didn't know), and yet somehow, we're able to get a meaningful story out of it--a story that is so fun to read! I love reading it out loud just to see how the nonsense words roll of my tongue.

If you have kids, consider having some fun by reading them Jabberwocky. If you don't have kids, you can still have fun and read it yourself :)

The Purpose of Literature

This semester, most of my classes focus on literature. In one, we are considering the Bible as a literary work. In another, we are soon to discuss what makes something worthy of canonization. In still another, we are learning about literary criticsm and I am developing my theory of literature.

The question has come up a lot: What is the purpose of literature?

It's not the easiest question to answer, and many people have come up with many different answers. Some written words are meant to entertain, some to inform, others to persuade.

But my theory is that literature, on the whole, has one primary and lofty goal (or at least the best of literature has this goal). And this theory is so poetically stated by Lord Byron (from whose words I adopted the title of this blog).

He wrote, "Words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think."

I love it! Words are thoughts that are captured by the bright green ink on the diary page of a young girl, or by the virtual text passed in an email to an office administrator.

A work of literature is a collection of these words, a collection of thoughts, put on a page or in a book and handed to the world.

The best literature makes us think. Many poems and novels that I have read--some of the best--aren't tied up in a neat little package with a feel-good conclusion, a happy ending, and an explicit moral lesson.

The purpose of literature is to engage the reader's mind--get him thinking about himself, his life, his values--to think critically about what a book means.

Therein lies its value. Kids need to keep reading "the classics" in high school, colleges need to make a literature class a requisite, adults need to pick up more than a harlequin romance or last month's issue of Sports Illustrated.

We need more thinkers and less ignorance in the world. Literature can help with that.