My first year: a look back

This is going to be a pretty image-heavy post, just to warn you. I got the idea from like a bird's blog and thought it was wonderful and wanted to do something similar.

January

The first time I used the camera that would be mine.

February

I turned 26 and worked on my novel, received the third of my set of owls.

Alexander held the envelope in both hands and looked hesitantly up at Mr. Whitby. "I have something I must bring to your attention, sir." There was a tremor in his voice. His heart threw itself against the walls of his chest in an allegretto beat. He took a deep breath. "If you have a moment."
      
       Whitby paused in his writing but kept his head lowered. "Certainly. What is it?"
      
      "I possess a letter…" He tried to think of the most appropriate words. "A rather distressing correspondence from a pupil, one that I must make known to you. It is…Well." Now he stepped across the rug and laid the envelope down with care at the edge of Mr. Whitby's writing table. "I… I require your advice and guidance, sir." He bit his lip.
      
       Whitby raised his eyes and let them settle on the folded paper. He didn't move to take it. There was such an expression of dread in his face, Alexander caught his breath.
      
      "I will have a look," he said flatly. "And I shall notify you when I've had time to contemplate it." He turned his face down again. The quill scratched across his page.

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March

I made my first pair of earrings:

And really started focusing on my etsy shop for the first time.

April

April is National Poetry Month. I only managed one piece this year. :(

The Phoenix Must Burn

A shadow rain, those feathers---
pestilence in the form of
fireweed; thunder
across the ground.

We huddled,
and in those moments
we forgot who we were.

I made and sold my first pair of chainmaille earrings with the first briolettes I ever used.

May

I made my first major three-strand, asymmetrical, pearl necklace using techniques I had been teaching myself. It feels like a milestone in my jewelry-making experience.

I also wrote what some (who I highly esteem) consider to be one of my finest poems so far:

Sleepless

 His eyes are spoons,

empty and bright. He has

taken to counting the clock-

ticks in absence; pages

flutter in his lap, but

he does not read.

If I should listen
hard enough, some
old dead will find the
voice to speak into
these hours, he thinks.

Nights pass like this.

There is only quiet;

that endless tick ticking,

those pages as they ruffle

beneath his patient fingers,

the creak of furniture

like scolding old friends

around him.

June

Tried my hand at designing costumes; it was a lot of fun!

Wrote my first rhyming poem since the Christmas before, based on the story of Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary

A bright doubloon of moon

fell upon the golden wheat

when a lady, in her gown,

went down into the lea.

All the night she walked among

the stalks of dewy wheat,

white hems trailing far behind,

footsteps soft upon the peat.

She wandered 'til her frilly robes

were laden with the sweet

nectar and the dewdrops twilight

placed upon the wheat.

The pathway to the river

was celibate and clear;

she could see the starlight shimmer

as water-lilies there.

July

Ah, July. This was the busiest month of all; it was flash fiction month, my fiance's birthday month, the 4th of July, we went to several concerts, and won some pretty hefty online honors for myself.

We saw this, my fiance's favorite band, in concert:

I won the annual six-word story contest on deviantArt with this story and illustration:

"She conquers everything with a book."

I was able to get through half the month with my flash fictions.

Love's Moment

He chose the moment that he loved her most to relive. It was crystal-clear in his memory: a Sunday morning shortly after their youngest son had gone off to college. They were sitting at the table across from each other. He was reading the paper; its pages ruffled in his hands. The house was otherwise quiet. Leaves, the first of autumn and still yellow-green, were falling past the windows. Then a sudden beam of sun poured in, turning everything a golden hue. That's when he looked up.
      
      She'd been slathering jam onto a slice of toast. Now she brought the knife to her mouth, closed both lips around the blade. She raised her eyes. He was watching her with such a reticent smile, with tears sitting in his eyes. It startled her.
      
      "What?" she said.
      
      "Nothing."

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On July 15th, I signed into my deviantArt account to discover hundreds of messages for me. I had been awarded my second Daily Deviation feature on deviantArt. It was for a nonfiction piece I'd written about creating believable characters: "A Note on Writing Characters".

August

I took a hiatus from deviantArt to get myself situated and to focus on my writing and jewelry making. There was something else I wanted to do, too: launch my Jamberrysong's Creations blog.

I've since met wonderful people, whose works and thoughts I now follow. You brighten my day, and it's amazing to connect with you! I hope you all know that. :)

Photography was something else I wanted to practice. We took lots of walks and lots of pictures.

I attended my first bead show, in Syracuse, NY.

And posted the first of my shop features and 

my first tutorial (on making head pins and eye pins) this month.

September

I broke through my writer's block, returned to deviantArt,

and started making bracelets (I hadn't made many up to this point).

October

More photography.

I participated in Lorelei Eurto's first Michael's beading challenge! It was so much fun. :D

November

Ah, National Novel Writing Month. I used it as an excuse to keep working on the novel I have been slogging through for many years now. Cheating, I know, but I made a lot of valuable progress on it.

This month marked my first real craft show! I did very well at it, and met several amazing people. It was also a tragic month for me; my beloved HP digital camera finally bit the dust. :(

One of my flash fiction pieces was published in a project on livejournal called Fiction Mingle:

Some claimed they had seen her in the bayou, an Ophelia of the swamps. Floating on her back, her dark hair radiating in tendrils around her, white dress translucent in the water. The glimpse of form beneath her gown was enough to drive men mad; many had jumped overboard to go after her. They met ragged alligator jaws or the sharp poison of moccasins before reaching her arms.

Others did not see her, but they describe a sweet, lone voice in the darkness. And there are some who swear it was her hands that first made water lilies grow there.

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My artist's block finally broke and I made some illustrations to go with my novel.

December

Here we are. This month, I embarked on a really ambitious endeavor that will carry into next year: 

my list of 150 theme prompts.

It is my goal to finish a piece for every one of these prompts by the end of next year.
I got my new camera, which will continue to slow down your computer with beautiful images. XD

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I am so happy to be able to have shared this year with you. Already, I'm so thankful for having started this blog. It has offered a creative outlet, a way to network, and invaluable inspiration. Here's to another wonderful year, and many more after that! <3

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