New Look, Inspiration, and a Tribute

As I hope you're able to tell, this website has undergone a few aesthetic changes. Also, the mobile version now more aligns with the browser. I'm trying some new stuff, still playing around with ideas. Yeah, and I added my crows. Blogger made some changes to how their templates work, and so my old look needed revamping pretty badly. I'm probably going to be going through the entire site and cleaning up dusty pages while I'm at it. It's 2017, right? Time for change?

Inspiration is the next thing I want to talk about now, since it's a fresh new year and all. Someone I work with told me I should be doing more, and she's right. I sometimes get down that my ambition to write and publish novels isn't immediately rewarding me. I work at a school for autistic kids, and it's rough on me. I'm constantly bruised up, hurt. I'm dead tired at the end of the day, constantly sick. I believe that I have the creative power to make money writing stories. It's just that editing a novel, for a new writer, is a lot of work. I'm not G.R.R. Martin, but what I've crafted is fairly complex. Anyway, what I'm saying is that I do believe in myself, but it's nice to have someone else say that they too believe in me. I've had that luxury a few times lately, out of nowhere. Another random friend I haven't seen in years messaged me saying that they always thought I'd do something amazing. I need to live up to that expectation. I need to make that my own.

Another thing that happened recently is the death of one of my high school English teachers. I wanted to post what I wrote on Facebook here so that I will remember her when I write. She was very important to my aspirations, you see.

Ms. Bielong inspired me to become a reader. I definitely wouldn't have gotten an English degree if it hadn't been for her. 

I hated English, as a subject. I thought reading was boring. 

Somehow, I ended up in a lit class with Ms. Bielong, and she kept putting astoundingly good book after astoundingly good book in front of me. Logan's Run, Ender's Game, The Giver, Alas Babylon, 1984, and The Good Earth are still some of my all-time favorites, ever, and I was given them all in one Appreciation Of Literature class. I tore through those books. I know I read a few of them in a night. 

I remember that she handed out copies of Pride And Prejudice for homework. I could barely stand to read it. The next day, she collected up all the copies saying something along the lines of, "I couldn't make it to page 5, so I don't expect you to." Then she handed us 1984 instead... which I destroyed. I remember reading in class, having the books she gave me at my feet during choir practice. Man, I might never have read Harry Potter if not for her sparking my interest in reading. I certainly would have never begun writing novels for myself, which is now my biggest passion. I think about her from time to time, when I'm remembering how I got to be where I am. 

So, I'm not just saying this because she passed. She really did have a profound effect on my life. She made me a reader. All that said, I should also mention that I did theatre, and she was a major part of that. I was in the audience for her last play at Belleville West. I've been reading what other classmates have said, and many others feel the same about how much of an influence she was to her students. 

Thank you, Ms. Bielong. I hope you rest well.