How do you make it in America? By making dollas...

If you read this blog you know by now that I want to be a writer. And your probably like OK, we get it, you want to be a writer. Shut it. I hear you. The only reason I mention it so much is because it's what I want. So bad. In fact, this has been the only profession I could see myself in since the ninth grade. My ninth grade English teacher, Mrs. Marshall, would encourage this by writing, "Great paper, you should write in cursive because that's how writer's do it" on my assignments. I'm not sure what cursive has to do with it, but maybe Marshall was on to something. I still remember beating the child prodigy in a Romeo and Juliet quiz. (He was a violin player who appeared on Oprah when he was 12 and now works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.... so go him.) I was so happy. Mrs. Marshall was psyched. I know it's kind of pathetic holding on to something that happened when I was maybe 14, but at the moment seeing that almost perfect Romeo and Juliet quiz, I knew. I knew that I understood writers and I have a bond with them. The only problem is I'm not the best writer. I want to get better and I know the only way is to work hard and write every single day.

This leads me to the new HBO show, "How to Make it in America." When I first saw this show I was like "eh." They seemed to being trying to hard. Every character is smart, a NYC stereotype, smooth, gorgeous and not at all awkward. In short nothing like anyone I know my age. (Although I do know awesome people.) Although, like most shows I watched another episode and I'm still not thrilled with the male character developments, there is one character I can see myself in, Rachel. She's a designer just trying to build her name in NYC no less and is in this limbo of "I don't know what I want or what I'm doing." Umm, yeah. Can relate. In tonight's episode she starts talking about her her ex roommate who is in the Peace Corp, "My old roommate is in Africa single-handedly solving the Aids crisis and I'm I don't know? picking up pillows?" This quote was even weirder to me because one of my best friends is currently in the Peace Corp. In Africa. I may not know what I'm doing, but just like the character of Rachel I have to keep going. You just have to keep going until you find something you love. Keep on trucking. (That's definitely my favorite 70's expression, by the way.) I may have nights where I come home and the last thing I want to do is write. But I will because I want to make it in America. Whatever that means.

It's not always easy to spark the creative flame

While studying public relations in college my writing improved, but in a straightforward and factual manner. While I was in college the last creative writing class I took was freshman year. The rest of the time was spent learning how to write press releases, fact sheets and other important public relations writing materials. As much as I needed to learn these skills and I feel there is an art to writing a good creative press release, I missed writing stories.

I used to write stories and never finish them, I have a whole folder of unfinished stories in a drawer in my desk from high school. Maybe one day I'll finish them. I always doubted that the stories will lead me anywhere. Now, I'm not so sure. Everyone has talents and I'm trying to find mine, I'm hoping writing is one of them. In the meantime, I'd love to work on my creative writing skills more, it will probably help me when I'm trying to writing interesting story introductions at work and I draw a blank.

Here are some tips I believe help increase your creativity.

1. It's pretty amazing what story ideas you can come up with at 3am. (I'm not saying stay up up til 3 am every night, but try it one night where you know you will be up later and just write what comes to your mind.)

2. The next tip is a bit similar to the first. If you happen to remember your dreams right them down. Any detail you can remember, you never know if these dream sequences could help launch an idea. Let me tell you, I've had some CRAZY dreams, like one time I dreamed I was a Velociraptor... I'm not going to get into it. Just trust me. Crazy.

3. If you get frustrated and feel writer's block emerging, stop what you are doing and go back to it later. Nothing hinders creativity more than frustration. The process should be fun and almost therapeutic.

4. People watch! There are stories all around you. Find one person to focus on (without being creepy) and imagine what they are thinking or what their life is like.

For anyone who reads this blog, you may have heard most of these tips before. If you have, I hope it was a reminder. If you haven't, I hope you try them out. I often forget that you can't force creativity to come out of you,even though some people are naturally gifted at what they do. I have to work a little bit harder at it and I can always use some inspiration. If nothing else, I think my press releases will start to have some more pizazz.

Hello February!

With my 24th birthday fast approaching, I've recently started doing a lot of thinking about my past and obviously my future. It's hard to write about who I am now because there is a strong chance that anyone who stumbles upon this blog won't know me. Just take my word for it. I am a completely different person than who I was two years ago. It has taken a number of personal events like graduating college and being thrown into the real world to make me realize who I want to be and where I want to go.

After college, you start to ask questions like, "What do I want?", "What do I need?", "What can I do to make positive changes?" (Not only within myself, but through others as well.) Once you go through that self evaluating process, life seems to change, especially because you are pushing yourself to make those changes.

One positive change I've tried to maintain in my life is getting healthier, both through my diet and exercise. I've recently started running and have never felt stronger physically and the mental improvements are coming as well. I've never been the best runner, but I've really been trying to stay with it.

If you are new to running like me, I recommend the Couch to 5k running program and DailyMile. Both have helped me stay on track. A month ago I could barely run a mile, now I'm up to running 3 miles straight. Running makes me feel alive and when I can feel my heart beating in my chest and the sweat on my forehead, it also makes me feel lucky to be alive. Finding something you love to do is a way to naturally improve your positive attitude. I'm glad I've found something to do just that. I've started to look for 5k's to sign up for, preferably one that helps support a charity, so I will be updating my blog with posts about my training up and downs.