The First Three Months

Reflecting back upon the day I began this blog, it amazes me to think of how things have surpassed my expectations. I figured this would be a small blog where a few family and friends would read occasionally because they feel the need to be kind and read a post or two. That was the status of my previous attempt at a blog almost two years ago. I think that one made it a month before it died off, much like my attempt at creating a website.

That tends to happen a lot. The grand visions fizzle out when the initial excitement wears off.

The excitement for this one hasn't fizzled yet. Instead it is exceeding what I aspired to accomplish when I created Scholarly Scribe. So, in celebration of reaching this first minor milestone, I will answer a few questions that were put forward by some of the readers of my Guys' Night post on Friday.

The following questions were asked by Youngman Brown:

1. What was your original reason for starting a blog?

My original reason for starting a blog was actually highlighted in my first post, Why I Write. I created this as a place to share my thoughts on writing and being a writer. I wanted to be able to share some literary opinions and make book recommendations for other readers (which I still haven't done!). And, most importantly, I wanted a place to share my writing with the world.

Like I mentioned in that post, I don't care whether or not I become a rich or famous writer. I write because I want to share my poems and stories with others. If I were to measure the success of that over the past three months, I would have to say I've succeeded. I've had almost 800 page views in three months. That is much better than I anticipated, and a lot of that is courtesy of Yeah Write. But people are reading some of these posts, which means I've met that goal.

2. Have you always been interested in writing/sharing your life, or was it something encouraged by others?

I have been interested in writing itself since about my Sophomore year of high school. That would date around 1999 or so. My earliest poems and stories come from that time frame, and some of them are still among my favorites. For years I have dreamed of getting things published so others could read what I've written. I have made websites and a blog over the past few years where I would tease with a portion of a story, or with some of my poems that I didn't expect to submit.

I was worried about First Electronic Rights for future submissions. So I posted subpar material or general blogs with my thoughts on a certain topic. But I never really shared the ones that I loved. That ended when I started this blog. I've shared a few of my favorites so far, and have even more to come (and others that I've yet to write!)

3. And would you say that now, three months later, that your motivation for blogging has stayed the same or has it changed?

I would say that it has evolved. Originally my intent was to do nothing but post short stories and poems and occasionally throw in something blogish, like my post From Skeptical to Faithful. Today I still have some original writings, such as my Serial Novel that I started a few weeks ago, but I also have a fair mix of regular blog posts about my life or my thoughts on certain topics. I'm sure over the next nine months it will continue to evolve as I find my style and my voice as a blogger.

But I don't think I'll ever lose my desire to share my writing with everyone. I love getting feedback on poems and stories. The good and the bad. Those comments help me to continuously grow as a writer and hone my skills.

The next set of questions come from Shiftless Mommie:

1. What were your biggest concerns when you first got started?

I was concerned about several things when I first started this blog. The first concern was that I would lost interest, yet again, in an attempt to share my thoughts and writing with others. As I mentioned above, I have had several failed attempts at starting blogs and websites with a similar purpose in mind. Thankfully it only takes one exception to break the cycle, and I think that is going to happen with Scholarly Scribe.

My second concern was that no one would take notice. My blog is still small enough and new enough that I get a sense of excitement when I see any new comment, or notice that any single post is getting a fair number of views. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment that aligns with the goals that I had for this blog. As long as I continue to get some views and some comments, I believe I'll continue to have a reason to post.

My third concern was that my greatest fears would become realized. My self-confidence would take a beating. The comments I would get would all be negative and along the lines of telling me to stick to a real job and that I couldn't make it as a writer. Finding acceptance and a sense of belonging never really came easy to me growing up. For the most part I have left that sense of insecurity in the past, but it is always ready to sprout up at the (not so) perfect moment and crush my hopes.

2. What is drawing you to WordPress?

Comparitively there aren't many major differences between Blogger and Wordpress. At least that is what I have been led to believe from the bit of research I have done into the matter. Blogger is newbie-friendly and has some great features. Wordpress, from what I have read and seen so far, takes most things a little bit further in what you can do. I like the designs offered on Wordpress, and they have a free account that gives the same sort of address choice that Blogger allows.

In the end it is just those minor things that Blogger doesn't do that draws me to try it out. I think the biggest appeal is the ability to create Pages, which will make it easy for readers to access each part of my Serial Novel. I'm 98% certain I'm going to enjoy the change to Wordpress and stay there for a long time. Now I just need to get enough skill to create a passable-looking banner for the top of my blog. I've never been able to do things in Paint, much less any of the more advanced photo/image creation/modification programs.


Many thanks to the two bloggers who presented some questions. Any others that happen to pop up over the next few days will be addressed in a future blog post. Feedback is always welcome, as are any other questions you may have thought of!

5 Songs That Made Me Want To Play Guitar

One of the blogs that I follow is I Can't Brain Today, and today's post covered the five songs that made him want to play guitar. It was great to get a chance to read what songs have inspired him musically, and it got me to thinking about some of the songs that stick out in my mind. Before I get into the songs, I'll give a little bit of background.

No, I don't currently own a guitar. I borrowed one for a few weeks last year and enjoyed it in the brief time I could spare between work and homework, and it confirmed my belief that I want to learn to play and someday get decent at it. And I'm sure I won't surprise too many people when I declare that Guitar Hero really is what got me to thinking about playing the instrument.

I spent months of agony going from struggling on Medium difficulty, moving into frustration by adding the fifth fret, and eventually getting to the point where I could hold my own on Expert with most songs. It comes as no surprise that, during the course of the day, three of the five songs that have stuck for this list were featured in the first Guitar Hero game. It really sparked my desire to play the guitar, and all three of the songs are old classic rock songs.

Hopefully by this time next year I'll be able to write about learning to play the guitar on a real instrument. At this point I'm not picky between Acoustic or Electric, although ultimately I'll be getting an Electric Guitar to rock out on.

I think when we buy a house it'll have to have good insulation in at least one room...

5. Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple



This was the song that inspired me to pick up the Guitar Hero instrument and give the game a chance. The intro to this song is recognizable to almost anyone who has listened to any Classic Rock. In the short time I was borrowing a guitar, I learned those chords and enjoyed playing just a few seconds of the awesomeness that is this song. I can hardly wait until the day when I can play the full song. Then I will know that the Guitar Hero has been replaced by a real Guitarist.

4. Cocaine - Eric Clapton



Eric Clapton is one of the greatest guitar geniuses to ever live. In my early years I had a cassette of Slowhand, and I played the first side of it to death. This song is anti-drug if you listen to the lyrics, the guitar in it is memorable, and the solo is fantastic.

3. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd



It is hard to choose a favorite Pink Floyd song, but the guitar solos on this song have always been something I was fond of. I have to confess that I've tried to vocally imitate the guitar solos when driving in the car, or while listening to this song while home alone.

2. Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughn



This is a slow, bluesy song by another one of my favorite guitarists. But if you listen to how fast some of those guitar parts are, you realize his fingers are blazing even on this song. If I had to pick a favorite song overall by Stevie Ray Vaughn it would be Pride and Joy, but even the guitar part on that can't compare to this one. This was probably my second-most played song on Guitar Hero, and I loved every minute of frantic struggle to hit all the colored frets almost as much as when I played...

1. Crossroads - Cream



Yes, this is another great guitar part by Eric Clapton. His early years were absolutely brilliant, and his solos reflected how great his talent was. I've read that Cream was marketed to be a band that was better live than in album. Which is probably why a fair portion of their "Wheels of Fire" album contains live tracks, including this song. If you like great guitar solos, you can't go wrong with live versions of Cream because they are all incredible.

So there you have it, the five songs that have inspired me more than any others to learn the guitar. It surprised me, when I got to thinking about it, that my favorite two Bands/Artists didn't make the cut with any of their tracks, but David Bowie and Queen don't need epic guitar parts to make great music.

What are some of the songs whose guitar parts stick out to you?

Hero Wanted?

I love the Fantasy genre. I love knights and dragons and magic and elves and all of that stuff. I love the idea that one person, or a small group of people, can help save the world. Even the most unlikely person could end up being a hero, like Frodo and Sam. Maybe part of me hopes that I can accomplish similar deeds in today's world.

But then I got to thinking about something while I was working out at Planet Fitness today: I'd never make it as a hero.

I'm out of shape. I don't eat very well some days and my daily fitness regiment is more like an "on occasion" affair. Which usually means a week or two of doing it and then a month or two of not. It is a lot easier to just enjoy life and utilize that hour doing other things.

Like reading or video games or watching The Biggest Loser. Great choice, trading active for sedentary.

Everyone knows the Number One rule in Zombieland:

And I know I wouldn't last if the zombie apocalypse occurred today.

If the world needed me to strap on a suit of armor and ride a horse for miles and then face off with an evil wizard, I would probably fail somewhere between putting on armor and riding the first mile on a horse. If I had to fight with a sword for more than a minute or two I'd probably end up dropping my sword from exhaustion.

Goblin Horde: 1, Knight David: 0

I'm not anywhere near the physical shape I should be. I'm overweight and at the rate I'm going I am more likely to look like this

Than I am to look like this

Is this madness? No, this is the sad reality of life as it stands. And I know I'm not the only one struggling with the same problems. Unhealthy lifestyles have become an epidemic in this nation, from what I can see. And I won't stand for it any more.

In July I might not look quite as good as Leonidas or any of the Spartans did. But I intend to look more like that than someone who belongs on The Biggest Loser.

And if I can complete this quest, maybe slaying a dragon or saving the world won't be such a challenge in comparison.

Writing Goal Tracker

An odd set of coincidences has convinced me to create this post. A few nights ago I was falling asleep and thought about making a blog post to establish my writing-related goals for 2012. I figured this would be a way of keeping myself accountable, since I would have my readers to encourage me to achieve these goals.

The next morning there was a prompt on The Lightning and the Lightning Bug for "Commitment Device". Coincidence? I hardly believe it could be. It was certainly a sign to get motivated and put an action plan into words.

For those who read my last post about the fear of submission, I will provide a status update. I got a response for three of the seven poems I submitted. They were all rejected by an "Emerging Writers" publication. The kicker? Two were rejected solely because they rhyme even though the submission guidelines mentioned nothing about not wanting rhyming poems.

They don't deserve to publish my poems anyway.

I've decided to break this down into six categories: books read, poems written, stories written, works submitted, works accepted, and works rejected.

An important part of being a writer is reading a lot as well. It helps us to grow and develop ideas and voice in our own writing. This is never an issue for me because I love to read. I decided to finally create a GoodReads account last night, where you can see my collection and which books I've read this year.

I tend to write a lot more poems than stories, but I think it would be best for me to continue to generate new work in both categories. That is why there will be a lot more poems than stories for the goals, and for these categories I'm tracking from today through 12/31/2012.

For the submission-related ones, the reason should be fairly self-explanatory. I'll never become published if I don't submit, and I'll hopefully fail to meet my rejection goal.

Check back often because I'll be editing this page every time any of these numbers change!

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Books Read: 17/52           Last Book Completed: The Importance of Being Earnest and Four Other Plays by Oscar Wilde

Poems Written: 2/65

Stories Written: 1/12

Works Submitted: 17/100

Works Accepted: 0/5

Works Rejected: 10/95

Poem - Drifting Peacefully

Twitter has an interesting trend that I discovered only last week: Follow Friday I'm relatively new to Twitter, having really only used it the past few months as a requirement for class. I realize that puts me about 15 light years behind the trend. Which is slightly closer that the 16 light years from just now really making headway on a blog.  But I love the idea of tagging people you feel are worthy of your friends and followers' attention, and so I hope to do the same here on Fridays with my blog.

And if you want to just skip right over this and get to my writing, then that is certainly your choice. But before I include my poem for the day, I want to make mention to my three blogs of the day.

The first blog I will mention is Chicken Noodle Gravy. I discovered this particular blog through the Yeah Write contest, which is an awesome community of bloggers who take the time each week to read 50 blog posts, comment on them, and then vote for their favorites. Two weeks in a row now this blog has gotten one of my votes. She is a talented writer and I'm glad I found another writer who I can model my own blog after.

The second blog is I Can't Brain Today; I Have the Dumb. I actually came across and began to follow this blog near the end of February when I read his post about how his father, through Dungeons and Dragons, was his greatest influence as a writer. It was extremely well-written. Then a little over a week ago I discovered Yeah Write through my interest in one of his posts where he answered 33 questions and was going to tag everyone who entered into Yeah Write that week. Unfortunately he was unable to participate due to time constraints, therefore was unable to tag people, but I gained something even better as a result.

The third one is For the Love of Writing. This is another gem I've begun following thanks to Yeah Write (notice a trend here. Seriously check it out and read some of these blogs each week. They are filled with awesome blogs and bloggers). She has a sense of humor in her writing that I enjoy, and I believe you would too if you take the time to read her blog.

So now that you've clicked all those links to those other blogs and have them open in new windows or tabs, I'll let you read my poem. You did click those, didn't you?

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Drifting Peacefully

You lay next to me, drifting off

Into a peaceful slumber while

I remain awake, reading. The warmth

Radiating from you comforts me,

Putting me at ease. Your breathing

Becomes heavy, growing slower with

Each moment that passes by. My

Book fails to maintain my interest,

Instead I find myself listening closely,

Laying still as a stone.

Every breath you take makes my

Smile grow. Every time I feel your

Body shift, snuggling closer, it makes

Me love you more. You must feel secure

To be with me, so close together, wanting

To touch at all times as you fall into

The realm of dreams. I hear the gentle

Rhythm of your snoring begin to emerge

And I turn to hold you close.

I whisper softly in your ear

The thoughts that cross my mind

As I listen to your sweet

Slumber. You are so beautiful,

So soft, so warm and gentle.

I want to hold you in my

Arms every night. I can’t believe

How lucky I am to have a

Woman as wonderful as you

In my life.

Sleep soon catches up with me

As though it were a contagious

Infection spreading. My eyes grow

Heavy as I think of you and

Smile, knowing I will dream

Of you and soon enough will be

Waking next to you. This last thought

Makes me smile as I begin my

Drifting peacefully, happily, with you here

Sleeping next to me.