April Writing Challenge #4 - Write Based on the Next Line of Dialogue you Hear

"My name is _________ and I am interested in the open position for __________."

Dear Human Resource Manager,
{Dang! I couldn't find the exact name. They tell you to use their name but I don't know what it is! Will they even read the rest of the letter? Maybe I should spend some more time looking for it...}

My name is _____________ and I am interested in the open position for a _____________. I feel like my experience, education, and interests make me a prime candidate for this position with your company. {What if the don't like my name? What if I could have written this line better. Is 'prime' the right word? Does it make me sound like a piece of beef? Am I REALLY a good match for this position?} I am a graduate student finishing up my M.A. in Liberal Studies. I have also been working part-time for the past 5 years in this field. {Do I write out M.A.? Or do I abbreviate the whole thing? Will they consider this a mark against me if I don't do it right? Do I need to tell them how much time I have left? Ugh! These letters are so hard.} I have always been interested in a position in this field, even going back to my undergraduate degree and the volunteer work I did during that time, {Does this matter to them? Do they care what I was doing 5 years ago? Do I capitalize Undergraduate?}Please take a look at my enclosed resume. It shows all of my education and experience in this field. I do believe you will find that I am a great candidate for this position. {Did I mess up the resume? Maybe I should have paid someone to write it for me! They probably would have done it better. What if I made a HUGE mistake on it and that ruins this for me? Will I even know that's what happened?} I would love to discuss further the possibility of my becoming a member of your team. Please call me to schedule a time to meet at 555-666-7890. {Am I being too forward here? What if she doesn't ever call? PLEASE CALL, PLEASE CALL, PLEASE CALL!}

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
Moi
{Oh, yeah. I nailed this baby! Of course she's going to call. I rock!}

April Writing Challenge #6 - Poem About How I Am Different

I am Different Because of My Pain:

I live in pain
So much pain
It starts effecting my brain.
I often feel a drain
On energy that is my main.
My body I try to train
The tears they fall like rain
It's all I can do to refrain
From thinking about the pain.
I may seem like I'm vain
As I am often only thinking of how to explain.
I don't mean to complain
I just always live in pain.

April Writing Challenge #3: How To Be (a Bad Ass)

Today, we will talk about the steps it takes to be a bad ass!

1. Decide you want to be a bad ass (because why the hell not?).
2. Don't tell anyone about your decision (you can't truly be a bad ass if you tell people you have decided to become one).
3. Get into the right state of mind by watching movies with bad asses in them (this includes movies like "Rebel Without a Cause", "Grease", "Footloose", "Dirty Dancing", "The African Queen", "The Help" and any others starring bad asses).
4. Get into the right state of mind by listening to music about bad ass (this includes empowering music like "Eye of the Tiger", "Roar", "I Will Survive", "Don't Stop Believing", etc.) .
5. Finally, read inspiring and empowering news stories, about men and women who are making a difference in this nutty world of ours.
6. Now that you are starting to think like a bad ass, you've got to dress like one. Start by researching what other bad asses are known for wearing (Yes, we all love the James Dean look!).
7. The point is to dress in the way that makes YOU feel like a bad ass (Want to rock that bikini even though you don't have a supermodel bod? You go for it!).
8. Brainstorm ideas for what will make you feel like a bad ass (Have you always wanted to change the world? Does being a bad ass just mean an attitude change for you?)
9. Start rocking it at home. It can be a hard transition to bad ass so practice makes perfect. Start trying on the clothes that you want to rock, address your pets like a bad ass, freak out your family, etc..
10. Start rocking it with your close friends. see #9 for suggestions.
11. Now is the big reveal. It is time for you to start rocking your bad ass attitude and look to everybody. We're talking school, work (with the exception of work uniforms), going out in public (like clubs, bookstores, etc.). 
12. The first thing that will happen is some opposition from the significant people in your life. Make sure you let them know that this is you finally being you and nothing is going to stop you from doing so. Ask them to please support you.
13. The second thing that will happen is opposition from the public. You may hear comments about your changed attitude and/or look, you may even hear nasty insults. The point is that you are now a bad ass and that means nobody else's bullshit is applicable.Practice blocking everything out and focusing on how YOU feel now that you are fully embracing being a bad ass!
14. As time passes, so will what being a bad ass means to you. Stay on top of what feels real to you. If something you wear starts feeling not right or like it's cramping your style, be sure to evolve with it. Even bad asses go through constant change, but it doesn't mean you stop being a bad ass!!!
15. Congratulation! You are a bad ass and you know what is to come. I am very proud of you!!

April Writing Challenge #2: The Color of the Room

I am sitting in a beautiful, yet cluttered, room painted the turquoise of a Hawaiian sea and the white sand beach that goes with it. This is what it inspired:

 I sit here, in view of the most gorgeous water and beach I have ever seen, and yet it very well could be hundreds of miles away for how accessible it is to me. I have been working around the clock in this ocean paradise and now, when I have a small window of time free, I am much too exhausted and in too much pain to be able to go anywhere but the bed of my hotel room. You see, I have a chronic pain condition that also leads to significant fatigue, but I don't know this yet. I don't know that pushing myself to work so many hours, for so long, everyday for the past several days, is my kryptonite. I don't yet know that when I return home from this "working vacation", I will literally collapse, come apart at the seams, and it will take YEARS before I feel even close to whole again. I don't know that this paradise will be the last time I feel like a normal human being for... well, for I don't know how long because I still don't feel that way today, 11 years later. I think I will always love Hawaii for how beautiful it was and how much fun I still managed to have there, despite the working practically around the clock and despite the eventual collapse. But a part of me will also always hate it... I can not hear the word Hawaii without being flooded with memories of the good and bad that happened while I was there and as soon as I returned home. Maybe when I am better... because, yes, I am getting better; maybe then I will be able to think of it in a different way.

April Writing Challenge #1: Song Lyrics

Glee Cast, “Don’t stop Believin’”

“Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world…she took the midnight train going anywhere.”

“Don’t Stop!”

“She took the midnight train going anywhere.” It didn’t matter where she ended up because anything would be better than where she was coming from. There was only pain and heartbreak back that way… it was time for her to walk away from all of that and start over again. Start a new life in which she learned to be open, to be vulnerable, to love, and to let herself be loved. A new life in which she didn’t let people who didn’t deserve her stick around. And those who did, those who were worthy of her, those were the ones she embraced, and coddled, and truly, truly, loved. It was only in this new place, with these new people, where she truly learned to LIVE.

“Don’t stop!” She learned that she could never stop moving away from the past and moving into a new person. If she stayed still for too long, she started to stagnate, and the memories and hurts of the past started creeping in. She had to keep moving forward, keep setting goals, keep working on bettering herself and healing the dark, quiet places. She had to keep moving forward in her friendships and romantics relationships… meaning being vulnerable, slowly revealing who she really is to the people who mattered the most. She truly learned that to LIVE, one must never stop moving forward, embracing what life truly was about. To LOVE and BE LOVED.