On Having Nothing to Say

Alicia Bock Photography

Do you ever feel like you don't have anything important to say? Do you ever feel like every word that falls out of your mouth or scribbled across a page is just noise? I've felt that. I'm currently feeling it, a little bit.

I just feel like we're surrounded by meaningless chatter and hurtful prose. I don't want to be a part of that. I want to lift others up with my words. Not only do I wish to entertain people and make them smile a bit, I also want to encourage and strengthen and love with my vocabulary. I want to inform people of injustices being performed and promote causes that I love. Is that too much to ask of myself?

Sometimes it feels that way.

What are your thoughts? What do you think the role of the modern writer, blogger, journalist, newscaster should play? I am so interested to know your opinion!

My Absence

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I'm having a blogging identity crisis.

I started out on a high note. I felt good about myself. I was writing! It didn't really matter what I was saying. The point was that I was saying something.

That initial joy quickly faded. What was I saying and who was I saying it to? I was saying nothing to nobody.** My biggest fear of the blogging world became truth. I was just another faceless keyboard linking you to my favorite products on Etsy and vaguely asking how your Tuesdays went. What a waste of my time. What a waste of your time!

I never wanted Waking on the Wing to become my personal venting journal where I dish about all my friends and how I'm mad that they didn't make me personalized birthday cards with my favorite nicknames in glittered letters (insert pouty face); however, the last thing I wanted it to become was a reproduction of the zillions of things already on the world wide web.

So, where is that fine line between airing dirty laundry and a link list? I don't know. I want to figure it out, though.

This past month I've contemplated canning Waking on the Wing. I didn't really know what purpose I wanted it to serve, and, rather embarrass myself anymore, I wanted to remove it from public eyes. Did I really talk about the "nautical look"?

However, I love writing. I love it! I received a BA in English and I want to use it, dang it! Currently this blog is my only outlet to do so and I want to honor that. I want to continue to practice my craft and I want to do it well.

What is writing if it's not honest? What is writing if it doesn't magnify a part of our seemingly normal lives so we can sit back and say, "That is a beautiful rose petal." We need writing to slow ourselves down, to remember we have emotions, and to remember we live in a community of people that also cry at the end of The Graduate.

I'll try to do that from now on. I'll mess up every once in a while, mind you. I know one day I'll be tempted to post about an Anthropologie dress I must have. But hey, I'm human! Besides, not every conversation can revolve around Niche's "super man" or Virginia Woolf's use of color in her novels and its reflection on femininity. I'd go crazy.

So, here it is. Waking on the Wing, Round 2. I hope you enjoy.

Love, Alli


**Note: If you're reading this, you're not a nobody. In fact, I greatly appreciate you! You're one of the fine few who I value as my readership. Basically, you're the bomb and I write for you. So, thank you.

There's Chickens in the Backyard

Katie Lloyd Photo

For a while now, I've dreamed of having chickens in my backyard. Of course, this dream can't come into fruition until I actually own my own home. Who knows when that will actually be, but it's still fun to envision little birds walking and bobbing their heads around my yard.

But, what is it actually like to have chickens in the backyard? Well, Kristina of Lovely Morning wrote a very interesting and informative post on this matter. It looks like there are a lot of cons to having chickens, but Kristina says that the pros definitely outweigh them.

I feel like if the author of Lovely Morning can successfully raise chickens in her small LA backyard, then anybody can be successful in raising chickens. Thanks, Kristina!

Would you ever consider raising chickens? If you already do, what is it like? Has your experience been similar to Kristina's?

Love, Alli

Wedding Magazines v. Blogs

Ruffled

As you know, even though I wasn't engaged until late September, I've been guiltily following several wedding blogs under the pretenses of doing research for my friends' weddings.  I found some very pretty things and carefully documented each idea on Pinterest.  Once I became engaged, however, I began to tire of the blogs.  It seemed like the same-old, same-old over and over again and I wanted to look for something new.

While on vacation, my mom and I went grocery shopping, and there I purchased my first two wedding magazines.  It was an exciting moment.  I've grown up watching women in movies read these magazines as if they were their lifeblood, and I was finally among the select few who could possess a wedding magazine without having to hide it with a secret stash under my bed. I had arrived.

Later that day, I excitedly headed out to the beach, armed with my Martha Stewart Weddings and The Knot Magazine. Within 15 or 20 minutes, however, I tossed the magazines aside and headed back to the villa to grab the novel I had been working on.

Since then, whenever I'm at the grocery store, I head to the magazine section, flip through new editions and different titles, but nothing really catches my eye. The wedding magazine has disappointed me.

Maybe it's because I've already purchased my dress and I can't bare to look at one more David's Bridal ad.  Maybe it's because I want to implement more DIY aspects into my wedding and the magazines are more focused on what you can buy where.  Or, maybe it's because I can envision my own wedding better while studying the real weddings of the beautiful brides I see on the web.

All I know is that, in my eyes, the blog has won.

Green Wedding Shoes

Now, don't get me wrong, I think these magazines are fantastic.  They are very well done, and if I ever was offered the opportunity to even observe these people at work I would consider it a high honor. The writers and editors who create these publications are very talented and they certainly know what they are doing. I humbly realize, and admit, that I could learn a lot from them.

However, the magazines are not for me and my tastes.

I never thought the day would come when I would pick a digital media over print, but here it is. I love my wedding blogs.  I cling to them.  I say, "I'm sorry I ever doubted you. Please forgive me. Show me more of your secrets!"  They sweetly respond with a, "Sure, why not," and continue to fill my Google reader with breath-taking photos and creative DIY projects. My Pinterest boards continue to be filled and I thank the blog for understanding my brief hiatus.

Some of my personal favorites for inspiration are Green Wedding Shoes, Once Wed, Ruffled, and Style Me Pretty. Do you have any favorites?

What are your thoughts on the battle between blog and print? Do you have a preference? I'd love to know!

Love, Alli

Popularity Contest

publicbookstore

The beautifully brilliant blog author of Oh, Hello Friend asked the question, "Is blogging like high school all over again?" in one of her recent  posts.  As a new, unknown author on the blog scene I felt that I was actually an authority on this particular subject.  I've been meaning to comment more on posts that inspire me so I can not only put my own voice out there, but to also encourage my fellow bloggers.  I felt this question was the perfect opportunity to express my own opinion! So, here's the gist of what I said:

I don't know if I've found myself thinking of me and my blog as the kid that sits alone at the lunch table, but more of the voice that's yet to be heard.  Yes, I know that sounds incredibly haughty, but I try to be more of a glass half-full kind of gal... Yes, I'm jealous of the bigger bloggers like you (yes, you!) and Joanna Godard and the like, but instead of angrily brushing you off as the snotty, popular crowd, I look up to you! All I want is to be able to get my name out there and reach my audience with the passionate, thought-provoking, fun posts I see here and elsewhere.

 Sometimes I do get down on myself and think I'm the kid that sits alone at the lunch table, but what's the use in that?  It will get me nowhere.  I'm still finding my voice in this very large, highly populated space known as the Internet.  I may not be the big fish right now, but nobody started out with thousands of readers.  I merely need to work my way up and I'll enjoy every second doing it!  I just hope you enjoy my posts half as much as I enjoy writing them.

What are your thoughts on blogging? Is it like high school all over again?

Love, Alli

Look, Ma, I'm a Writer!

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If you had asked me six months ago if I thought blogging was writing, I would have laughed and walked away.  Psh, blogging.  I was so high and mighty I didn't even think that question deserved an answer.

"Is blogging writing? Please!" I thought.  "It's a bunch of silly people saying nothing to nobody.  Of course it isn't writing!"

At least, that's what I thought until I took my Writing for Electronic Media class my last semester at State.  Among other things, we were required to start a blog and create at least 10 posts over the course of the term.  I begrudgingly completed these assignments, sheepishly hiding the incriminating evidence from my friends, family, and, most importantly, my English colleagues.

Every post was tainted with cynicism as I was ashamed to be taking a part of the "blogging world."  It actually wasn't until I was assigned to reflect on my blogging experience that I found out I actually kind of liked it.  By the end of the assignment, I wanted to be a blogger!

Fortunately, this classroom blog has been deleted as my half-hearted posts were a little embarrassing.  Through those posts, however, I did discover my "blogger voice."  It felt good to develop a style of my own and be able to properly express my thoughts and feelings in a (hopefully) entertaining way.

While I wouldn't consider any of my blog posts equal to James Joyce's Ulysses, I do believe that what I am doing is, in fact, writing.  I don't want to kill the English language or destroy this treasured art form that has been carefully crafted for years.  No, I wish to bring writing into the 21st Century!  I want to help our ever-changing language merge into this new form.

I like to think of myself as a pioneer of sorts, even if I am a pioneer that jumped on the band wagon a little late.

I don't see how a blog is any different from an opinion column in your local newspaper.  I just edit myself and my circulation isn't as large.  Whether or not I'm good at what I do, well, that's for you to decide.

Love, Alli