Discovered a quite place on the Chattahoochee

Earlier today me and the boyfriend where riding around and discovered a public but dirt road that ran along the Chattahoochee river.  I have an explorer’s heart and love a little “safe” adventure. The kind that is off the beaten path but on a non-beaten path.  The key word being there is some type of public path. So dirt roads that are public streets appeal to me.

As we where riding along this dirt road we noticed that it ran against the river and if I swerved off the road my car would tumble into the river.  You better drive straight along this country road.  We passed only a few houses with half being new and the others looking like they have been there a few decades. But nothing run down or poverty stricken.  So I didn’t feel anxious just cautious. I mean lets face it this is still a dirt road that only one car can fit on and not that many inhabitants in the area.

As we drove we saw a pull off area where we could park the car and walk well climb down to the river. And once on the river there was a group of big rocks we could sit on and enjoy the peace and quite of nature.  It was one of the most beautiful spots I’ve encountered along this river and I’ve hiked this river in a number of places upstream.

Looking up and down the river I didn’t see any houses just nature and just us. We plan on returning and having a picnic on those rocks.  Makes me want to take up nature poetry.

Transition

I took a week off from writing to do two things. One is to focus on getting my online branding efforts up and running. This included updating my website so it’s a central location to find my online profiles on different sites. This included updating and creating my online profiles for sites such as Reverbnation.com, a fan page on Facebook.com and creating a video montage for one of my poems to start up my YouTube page. I’m still thinking on how to create my MySpace page.  My plan of action for my online profiles is to get all of them up and active with some basic content and then as I develop my poetry all the online outlets are already developed for me to add my poetry or poetry readings. Basically build the shed first and then get the stuff to store in it.

The second thing I wanted to focus upon is shifting the nature of my poetry. I’ve always written poetry that was more diary oriented. Poems that reflected places I’ve been and my experiences. Although I enjoy writing these types of poems I want to write poems that allow the reader or listener to relate. Therefore I’m opening up my writing to topics that most people can relate too. Current events that impact us all, financial concerns, relationships issues, and the entire range of feelings we go through.  This will be in addition to poems that reflect what I experience in my life. Just trying to create a broader range of work.

My online initial develop is just about done. Almost finished with the photo montage for my video about me reading the poem Meeting the Tennessee river. Even though I’m just adding pictures to reflect the different topics in the poem this editing business takes some time.

But it will all be worth the effort. My boyfriend said that my online presence looks like I’m some big shot poet.  It’s called taking control of your online image. In this information age we live in that’s an important action.

Bone Garden Cantina

I just arrived home from going out to dinner. Me and the boyfriend decided to check out this new restaurant he heard about called the Bone Garden Cantina. Actually we rode by the place a few days ago and found it quite interesting and promised ourselves we just had to go back and eat there. So tonight we returned.

Now I’ve been to some interesting restaurants in Atlanta (as the most interesting places to eat tend to also be vegan friendly…odd by true). But this place is at the top of my list of eccentric eateries which is cool as I like eccentric. (Makes life more interesting when things are eccentric.) This place is a Mexican restaurant and the decor honors the Mexican holiday the Day of the Dead.

Now for those not in the know it’s a day where you celebrate your relatives who have passed on in life. It’s November 1st and it’s a great festive holiday in Mexico. So the atmosphere in Bone Garden Cantina was very festival and had more jolly skulls hanging on the walls than you could “shake a bone at”.

For some pictures of the decor click here for some Flickr photos I found of the place.

As far as the food well lets just say I was more impressed with the decor. The food wasn’t bad but I’ve had better Mexican food. I do hope over time they will tweak their menu and improve their flavor. I did enjoy the guacamole and some puff pastry stuffed with grilled veggies. Which was quite good actually.

The place was quite full of diners and a lot of drinking going on which boyfriend concluded was what Bone Garden Cantina does very well. There were some overly happy “getting to drunk status” people at the patio dinning. So we figure the drinks are pretty good.  Their salsa that came with the chips at the beginning of the meal was a tad on the hot side but bearable if you like any type of heat. Or difficult to deal with if you like no spice heat in your food.

The other major thing is this place is tucked away. Very away. You have to use a map to find this place. It’s off an industrial side street and in the BACK of an industrial office park. You have to hunt to find the place. Which can make it a fun endeavor or makes you too nervous to eat there.

Overall I do recommend going at least once just for the decor. It’s the most amazing place to sit and look at the interior.

Making it all work out

I admire jugglers and how they are able to maintain multiple objects in the air at the same time. I don’t know how to juggle but I feel like I do it everyday with the tasks in my life. If I had the perfect day I would spend it reading, writing and tinkering with my online branding projects such as my blog, my page on Reverbnation.com and untangling the odd world of Facebook applications.

But I don’t have the perfect day that often so most days I’m juggling my non-work hours trying to make time for exercising, my family, my writing, my reading and cooking. I’ve learned that’s its easier to squeeze in minutes here and there than to try and block off an hour of my time. Then on the weekends I’ll spend a quality block of time doing items that are important to me.

Even now it’s 12:30 a.m. and I’m trying to finish this blog. Such is the life of someone with a dream. You got to get it in where you can fit it in.

Change in weather

I know that summer does not officially end until September 22 but Fall is here people and it’s my favorite time of the year.  Autumn is MY season and I reign! Not sure why I’m so connected to Fall considering my birthday is smack in the summer but my consciousness comes alive when the wind picks up and the leaves start to turn different shades and rustle in that wind. The clouds start to take over and the sky is shades of bluish gray. And for me poetry flows well this time of year.

For me September is the precursor to October which for me is my favorite month in the entire year. Fall festivals, the change in colors of the leaves, and of course Halloween. I like this holiday . I love the fun atmosphere, the way people dress up in ways they would never dress up all year, the parties, the food and candy.  All exciting and I like the youthful aspect of Halloween. I can do without the gore and guts aspect. Never understood people’s fascination with that part of the holiday.  How did guts and gore ever become a part of Halloween anyway?

Time though to pull out the jackets as the wind is starting to kick up and to look at my fall wardrobe to see what’s needed this year.

Michael Jackson-Will You Be There

One of his most touching songs. Love the lyrics and the music. Poetry to music.

Life inspires poetry

Poetry full of passion, joy, pain, love, lost, fear, ecstasy, anger, hurt, peace, enlightenment or any other emotion comes from living life. You live long enough you experience events that tug at your emotions and heart from cloud nine to rock bottom. That’s life but that is what creates a great poet, a great writer. Never dismiss your experiences as nothing more than a bad day or a good memory. Use those moments to reach by poetry to others having a similar lot in life.

I’m finding my voice and sculpting a purpose for my voice. I’ve always written poetry for me and now I’m writing poetry to share with others and I’m developing my ideas of what is it that I want others to experience by my work. I hope my work takes you to a place that allows you to reflect on your life and maybe my poetry gives words to what you’ve lived.

Starting to record my poetry

Downloaded a free recording software called Audacity and now I’m able to record myself reading poetry and save it as a mp3 file. Actually to save the file as a mp3 file I also had to down load the free LAME mp3 encoder. instructions here. Gotta love open source software LOL.

What’s so cool about the software is that when I save the file it asks me the name of the artist, the genre of the work, and the name of the album. When I opened up my iTunes player and added my recording to my playlist it shows up as a song with my name as the artist and my “album name”. How cool is that!

So I’ll be creating more readings of my poetry (and also purchasing a nicer microphone). I’m now on the hunt for where to upload my recordings. Looking at Reverbnation.com It seems to be the spot where a number of poets have their recordings listed. I just have to read their website and see how all of that works.

Taking my writing to the next level

I decided to publish my poetry and spent time on the internet looking for a website to showcase my work. I decided on AssociatedContent.com as it seems to be a reputable website that encourages, promotes and pays for writings. Not just poetry but prose, how-to, commentary, travel writing, finance writing and a many genres of topics.

For me this is a first step as this is the first time my poetry has been showcased in a location that reflects professionalism. I’m excited to watch my list of content grow and you can find my contributor’s page at www.associatedcontent.com/alisalawton. My first “professional” writer’s page. Yea I’m excited.

I also decided to begin a short story which may result in a novel. I’m shooting for a short story though. Found a free writer’s software that will help with this daunting task of creating my first short story. It’s called yWriter 5 and you can find it at www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html. It was created by a programmer who is also a writer. It allows me to set up characters, locations, scenes, plots and write the story. This helps me to create the framework on which to build the story. I’m excited about this too.

My biggest challenge is setting aside writing time every day and make sure I produce something. I also need time everyday to read and learn. It boils down to discipline and focus. But writing, especially poetry, is what I enjoy doing. I’ll make it happen.

A writer’s manifesto.

I found this fascinating quote today:

I was recently in a writing workshop with author Pinckney Benedict, who spent a portion of his time discussing manifestos. A manifesto is defined as a public declaration of intentions, opinions or motives. As an exercise, Benedict suggested we draw up a list of items or subjects that would make up our own manifestos. For the purposes of writing, think of it as a list of items that usually (or always) appear in your own stories, poems or essays — either subconsciously or by your strict intention.writerscommunity.net, A Community for Writers About Writing, Critiquing, Editing, and Developing as a Writer, Aug 2009

You should read the whole article.