User Profile

"We tell ourselves stories in order to live."
- Joan Didion







About Me:

I just graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor's of Arts in English (Creative Writing Concentration) and Anthropology, and I still love melting grape popsicles on hot summer days.



"All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible."
- William Faulkner



The Countdown:

Ten places I‘m determined to write about: Machu Pichu, Florence, The Parthenon, Kilimanjaro, Pyramids at Giza, Prague, Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat, The Great Wall of China, Scandinavia.

Nine reasons music inspires my writing: Sufjan Stephens, Poe, Joan Baez, Death Cab for Cutie, Barenaked Ladies, Bob Dylan, Bright Eyes, The Beatles, Juno Reactor

Eight screenwriters that should be worshipped: Aaron Sorkin (West Wing), Tony Kushner (Angels in America), Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly), David Hare (The Hours), Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve), J.J. Abrams (Lost), Adrienne Shelly (Waitress).

Seven characters that have made me who I am: Mercedes (Fall On Your Knees), Viviane (Mists of Avalon), CJ Craig (West Wing), George (Dead Like Me), Darla (Angel), Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter), Polgara (The Belgariad).

Six books that I would risk car sickness for: Bel Canto (Ann Patchett), Fall on Your Knees (Anne Marie MacDonald), The Belgariad (David Eddings), Any of the Harry Potter books (J.K. Rowling), Movable Feast (Ernest Hemingway), To Kill A Mocking Bird (Harper Lee).

Five poems that send me into raptures of delight: 'For the Dead' (Adrienne Rich), 'Questions About Angels' (Billy Collins), 'Another Song' (Anna Ahkmatova), '#341' (Emily Dickinson)

Four poets who own my soul: Adrienne Rich, Anna Ahkmatova, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Emily Dickinson

Three authors who own my soul: Kurt Vonnegut, Ernest Hemingway, Joan Didion

Two songwriters who own my soul: Bob Dylan and Ben Gibbard

One reason for living: Coffee



"People seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved."
- Annie Sullivan



About My Writing:

I've recently had a poem called Pistolero published in A.

I've also participated in and won NaNoWriMo.





"And so we turn the page over / To think of starting. This is all there is."
- John Ashbery



About This Journal:

"Meditating among liars, and retreating sternly into myself,
I see that there are really no liars or
lies after all,
And that nothing fails its perfect return—
And that what are called lies are perfect returns,
And that each thing exactly represents itself, and what has preceded it,
And that the truth includes all, and is compact,
just as much as space is compact,
And that there is no flaw or vacuum in the amount of the truth—
but that all is truth
without exception;
And henceforth I will go celebrate anything I see or am,
And sing and laugh, and deny nothing."
- Walt Whitman, All That Is Truth


Also, and I realize this is rather random, I'm completely fascinated by PostSecret. I only mention it because many secrets have become the inspiration of particular stories, poems, and photographs.

As an example...



Disclaimer 1: Many of the elements of this journal are inspired by Walt Whitman poems. All entries, unless otherwise noted, belong to me...

Disclaimer 2: You might have already guessed, but this is a journal for my... more artistic endeavors - writing and photography mainly. If you are looking for a more general look into my life (perhaps you're wildly bored), my public journal is bettyentel

Disclaimer 3: The layout for this journal was made by thefulcrum

Regarding Icons: I don't really make icons, but I respect the work that goes into making them. You are more than welcome to snag icons from this journal, but please make an effort to contact and credit the person who made them.



"Writing and reading is to me synonymous with existing."
- Gertrude Stein

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