Naive is the New Black

There's something so beautiful about this photo. It's from the Library of Congress archive, by the way, and there was no additional citation on the website. Anyway, I just love old photographs. Especially those depicting women in such a gorgeous way. There's something amazing about being able to prepare a meal for the people you love. The hard work, the preparation, the presentation, the clean up; it's all quite beautiful. I love being in the kitchen and preparing meals for those I care about. I don't do it often enough.
So, I've been thinking a tad bit lately about what was my writing career. What is my writing career is limited to quarterly contributions I make to an anti-caffeine magazine and random newspapers that pick up my pieces for $0.05 a word. Technically, I'm a writer. But I long for what was my writing career...not so much what is my writing career. I had one piece of published work before I began my downward spiral into writing silly lifestyle articles about people who don't eat chocolate ("Crazies" is what I have lovingly re-named them). I worked so hard on this piece as part of a writer's workshop and I was chosen for publication. Oh sweet elation! I called everybody I knew...my grandmother was so proud. Then (duh, duh, duh), the critics got hold of the book. They liked most of the short stories until they got to mine. Dang it! I worked so hard and all I got in return were comments about how naive is not the new black. Ugh! Anyway, I've shied away from writing anything creative ever since. So...now, I've been a little inspired to maybe sort of start again. I have hundreds of notebooks with little lines or story ideas or what I thought were really profound thoughts in the moment.
So, this brings me to my next thought. I don't like growing up. I'm not sure who really does like growing up; but I especially despise the idea. Growing up is what I did after I was told my writing style was naive. I thought, I'll show them I'm not some naive girl from Iowa. In the process, I forgot my creativity. I grew some sort of weird penchant for numbers. Now this fondness for numbers that resulted from my loss of creativity has fared well for me. I use numbers every day. My current career revolves almost completely around numbers : dimensions, weights, budgets, installation processes...it runs the gamut. But, alas! Critics don't care that I like numbers and lack creativity. If anything, I've proved them right. So, now that I'm an adult, I guess I should stop worrying what other people think and start writing again.
I pronounce adult wrong, I think. Maybe it's a regional thing...I say a (like apple) dult. With the emphasis on the "a". Anyway, that came from left field, but it ran across my brain and thus translated to the keyboard and I really had minimal control. Maybe I should turn this into a stream of consciousness blog. A little Virgina Woolf-esque. I don't know how I feel about putting down EVERY little thought that crosses my mind. I guess for now I'll just limit myself to weird little tidbits that involve the way I pronounce specific words. Anyway, I better quit while I'm only marginally ahead.
Five things I'm grateful for -
1. Good conversation
2. Stephanie Anderson
3. Sylvia Escoe
4. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
5. Ambition

Top Five John Cusack Movies -
1. Say Anything
2. High Fidelity
3. Grosse Pointe Blank
4. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
5. This is My Father

...And I'm out!