100 Days of Writing

It's been over a year since I've written here, mostly because I had to wrap my head around a few things, I started a new job and had to start putting my business together. Although really I haven't gotten to do much, mostly because I have been in somewhat of a writer's coma. I've had ideas about scripts, short stories, essays, etc. but haven't been able to get past the idea stage. I've decided to do a writing exercise to see if I can get things going again. I'm going to write everyday for 100 days starting today, March 16, 2018, until June 24, 2018. This is also a way to introduce my multimedia publishing company, Reckless Press, LTD.

This will also coincide with this blog moving permanently over to Patreon in the next couple of weeks. This wasn't an easy decision for me to make, but one that has to be done. I'm going to be using funds from this blog to help start my business.

In the next two weeks all blogs will be published here and on Patreon and then starting March 30, 2018 all blogs will be posted on Patreon. The only blogs that will be published publicly will be my Sunday and Wednesday blogs. Sunday will be my movie blog, This Week On TCM and Wednesday will vary.

Before you decide if you want to see how my 100 days of writing plays out, let me tell you about my publishing company and what I hope to achieve and why I think people will be interested in helping me to get this business going.

Reckless Press is first and foremost a publishing company. But this publishing company helps people. How does Reckless Press help people? First, I want to be able to pay authors for their works, a dream I know, but one I think I can make a reality. It may be a small advance for the author at first, but they will also receive part of the sales from the book. This is where things get interesting. With the sales of the book I would like for the authors to donate a portion of their profits to the charity of their choosing. I would also match their donation with my portion of the profits from the sales of the book. In this way the writer is helping a community that they care about and it is also a way for readers to give to a charity and better their communities. Reckless Press believes that the world can be a better place and that this is a big way to help make it better. 

What makes Reckless Press a multimedia company is it will also be involved in podcasting and might branch out into producing how to and travel videos in the near future. A percentage of the proceeds from this part of the company will also go to charity as well. 

The way that I will start generating money for charities is here on Patreon, a small percentage of what you donate will go to the PTSD Foundation of America. I've chosen this charity because it is an issue that hits very close to home for me. My younger brother is a military vet with PTSD. He did 18 months in Iraq and 2 tours in Afghanistan. He has lost many of his Army brothers to PTSD. He was just discharged from the Army after 12 years and only given 13 days to clear post. Perhaps I should give what I would donate to charity to him to help with moving costs? The only reason that I say a small percentage is that I will only be able to give 5% of what I raise here to charity, the real purpose for starting this page is for my business so that I can get it going so that I will be able to make bigger donations to charities in the future. If you want to read an article that I wrote about my brother, you can read it here A Soldier's Story

I'm hoping that you'll find what I write or what I'm doing interesting enough to donate so that I can take things to the next level and support more charities as Reckless Press opens up more. My first goal, after my 100 Days of Writing exercise/challenge (because it really is a challenge, 100 days.....) is to start podcasting. I love listening to podcasts and I'm hoping that people will want to listen to me. The podcasts aren't just me. The first one I want to start is with my friend Rebecca, it's going to be us talking about everything, from just what we talk to on any given day, fashion, politics, movies, celebrities etc. it just depends. I think we're funny, but you never know we could just be funny to each other, either way wouldn't it be fun to watch some people try something and see if they can make it work? If nothing else the podcast will have an interesting name: Gas Station Latte. Another podcast that I would like to do is called The Thing About My Art, where I'll talk with artists, actors, painters, DJ's, musicians, photographers etc. about their art, how they make it and what influences them to make their art. I'd like to also do two more podcasts, one that I might do with my daughter and my brother is called a Legit Moment in History, where we give a short dramatization of the moment in history and then talk about the effects it had on history, what our thoughts are on the moment in history, and what impact it still has on the world, and Cannabesties with my friend Michelle where we talk about all things Cannabis (products, laws etc.) talk to people in the industry and go on cannabis adventures (like the time that we looked for Michelle's car in Boulder for 20 minutes....). These are just some of the ideas that I, and a few others, have been thinking up. All of these can change and become something else, these are just ideas, a starting point. 

The major goal that I want to work on at Patreon is getting Reckless Press's first publication rolling. I want to print a literary anthology by the end of the year. My goal besides finding authors to publish, is to publish a yearly anthology made up of different authors short stories and poetry based on a central theme. This year's theme is Science Fiction. Why Science Fiction? I really enjoy good Science Fiction, and good Science Fiction is usually written during times of social and political strife, I want to see what people are thinking about and how they express it in their writing.  I would like to start taking submissions when I have 100 patrons donating. 

My overall goal with my media company is to give readers good literature. There is good literature out there, but I believe there are more writers out there that might not want to go the mainstream route and that will want to do something a little different to get published. I think this will bring more diverse writers into the world and give voices to people who never thought that they would be published. I really want to cultivate writers that are diverse and that want their writing to have an impact on their communities and society. The Reckless Press website, (which should be up and running by April) will have information on what types of manuscripts that will be accepted and information for submitting to the literature anthology. 

Another main goal that I have is to establish a brick and mortar location.This is a goal that might not happen for quite a few years, but it's still a goal that is worth mentioning. It would be a place the front is a coffee shop/book store to help fund our charitable donations and in the back are the offices, recording stations, art spaces and a photography studio. Maybe we'll offer a few writing and photography classes. I really want to make it into a place for artists and budding businesses to come alive. I know that it might sound like a utopia of sorts, but I think that if I can help artists and other businesses, I can help communities that might not get the help that they need other wise. I've always wanted to help the world around me and this is my way of doing that. I just hope that this project is interesting enough to get people to help fund it. 

Onto the 100 Days of writing! The rules are pretty simple, I have to post something everyday on my Patreon blog for 100 days, it can be one sentence or one word, but I have to post everyday for 100 days. It can be a photo essay but I still have to writing of some type to go with it. I can write about movies, politics, script ideas, short stories and poems, I just have to write for 100 days. I can't have a guest blogger or use anything from anyone else, this has to be all my own writing. I can post interviews but mostly I will probably do a lot of essays, political op ed pieces, etc. This is a starting point to get me back into the habit of writing as I've been blocked (actually stunned is more like it and we all know what I'm talking about) for quite awhile. I'm not looking to publish my own writing with my publishing company but I'm hoping that my writing will get other writers interested in Reckless Press. This is more to get people interested in a writing community that gives back. 

So in a nutshell that's everything that I'm trying to make happen. Here's the link to my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/RecklessPress and you can find me on Twitter @ ChristineLarra 

The Journalist's Creed

*I know that a lot has happened since the last time that I published a blog, I'm sorry about that. I started a new job and have also been working on getting my publishing business up and running in my spare time, but getting into the swing of things is taking a bit longer than I planned with the new job. I like my new job, it's a good company and doing a lot of editing which is great. My plan is to publish here at least once a month but I'm hoping to write more. I will be posting a few things about things that happened within the last few months and our social and political climate going forward. 

With everything that is going on with our newly inaugurated president calling journalists and the media fake news, I think it's only right to remind people that, we journalists, actually have a creed that we take seriously. I also think that journalists need to be reminded of The journalist's Creed now more than ever and that we can not listen or pass off "alternative facts" as news and that we have to question anything that comes out of Trump's White House and hold his presidency up to scrutiny like never before. Journalists have a job to make sure that the public is getting the truth.

The Journalist's Creed 

Walter Williams, circa 1906

I believe in the profession of journalism. 

I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust. 

I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism. 

I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true. 

I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible. 

I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one's own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another's instructions or another's dividends. 

I believe that advertising, news, and editorial columns should alike serve that best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service. 

I believe that the journalism which succeeds best - and best deserves success-fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of for today's world. 

Journalists keep this in mind and remember the responsibility that we have to the public and to ourselves. 

An Open Letter To My Fellow Democrats and Americans

President Elect Donald Trump, publicity photo

(Is it me or does he look tired? and a normal color?)

I love that we are protesting but it's too late to change what has happened and we have to deal with that fact. Where were we 16 months ago when Trump announced his candidacy? We should have been there, protesting instead of taking it as a joke.

I fault myself for his Presidency. I thought like many of us did that it was a joke, and that this celebutante had no chance of winning the Republican nomination. We should have taken it seriously, we took Ben Carson seriously (and he's a big joke) we should have taken Trump seriously. Anyone that throws his/her hat into the Presidential arena, with the amount of free time, money and public backing that Trump had at the time, should be taken seriously.

Hillary Clinton, DNC 2016

Another reason that I fault myself and Democrats as a whole for this Presidency, is we didn't do enough for Hillary Clinton. We were frightened by what could happen if we spoke up for her, especially being a woman. I was terrified of the backlash that could happen if I showed my support for Mrs. Clinton. We as a progressive country failed Mrs.Clinton and for that I apologize. I let fear hold me down and not speak up for myself as a woman or as an American. Women! Our voices matter, especially now. I cannot and will not let my daughter be told that she is any less than a man and I will not let her country tell her that she is any less of an American.

The protesting that we are doing now will not help unless we protest in the right ways. What are the right ways? We get involved, push forward for a progressive, inclusive America. We don't let fear hold us hostage any longer. If our Democratic leaders don't fight for us every step of the way, we push them out of the way and fight for ourselves. We do not let Trump take advantage of us letting our guard down. We do not allow Trump to spew hatred, misogyny, and racism as his tool to scare us back in line. We stand up and say NO. We are a country of the people, for the people and we can do much better than hate. Trump said in his acceptance speech that he wants to work together and unify our country, I say we call him on that and unify in a way that he doesn't expect. We come together as a country to say that no matter if you're a woman, a man, African American, Latino, Asian, Muslim, Catholic, Buddhist, Indian, American Indian, LGBTQ American, White American, etc., we are for ALL of us. Not just a fraction of us. We keep fighting for the America that we want. We don't run away to another country, we stay and we fight for the America that we want: An Inclusive nation. It is what our Forefathers set out to do. As Alexander Hamilton sings in Hamilton "I am not throwing away my shot/Hey yo, I'm just like my country/I'm young, scrappy and hungry/And I am not throwing away MY shot."  America is our shot and we can NOT throw it away.

We also have to preserve President Obama's legacy as much as we can. President Obama gave us so much, that I have no idea how to thank him for the sacrifices that he and his family have made, except to say, Mr.President your legacy will not be lost. I will fight to preserve it, the roads that you begin to pave for America's way forward will continue, we will keep fighting to be the great nation that we have always been, we will rise up and be the Americans that you want us to be. Thank you for your service to our great country, it has been an honor to have you as our President.

The Moon

Blue moon rising in December in Denver

To say that I've taken a lot of pictures of the moon would be an understatement; you might say I have an obsession with the moon. 

It started when I was little, looking with awe at the moon, fixated on what was up there. The vastness of the moon. It has the ability to change how you look at the world and how the world views you. We expect to see in the moon in  the sky every night and when it's missing, our world is darker, smaller and a lot quieter. 

My favorite time to take pictures of the moon is the fall and winter seasons. The moon seems bigger, closer and brighter this time of year. Although I have taken some amazing pictures during the summer as well, like the moon covered behind the red of forest fires and during a red moon eclipse in June. Favorite thing is dancing at Red Rocks under the moon in the summer, but nothing beats the moon on a crystal clear night in January, especially if it's just snowed. Maybe it's because I'm a winter baby that I love the moon. 


Moon at the beginning of an Eclipse in June

When I take pictures of the moon it calms me and I'm able to think a little clearer, Maybe it's because when I take photographs I breath deeper. It feels like my soul is at peace when I make art, I feel better about everything. And when I take photos of the moon it's so quiet and it's just me. I hope when people look at my photos they get that sense of peace and take something away from them about how big the world and universe is, if that's what's up there what new thrilling thing is just around the corner for us?


Moon through sky light. 

Just a Short Note

Since I last posted a lot has been going on. I LLC'd my publishing company and have started putting into motion the submission process for our annual literary zine. Wow, I don't think that a more Frasier-esque sentence has ever been written by me. Anyway, I've been in the process of writing a business plan, an operations agreement, flyers and getting things together to start a podcast with my business partner, Rebecca. So I've been busy, but I am getting my shit together because I do want to keep writing blogs. For now I am putting my fiction serial on hold, still working on it, but just won't be posting here for the time being, I will still be posting about movies, books, pop culture, politics, etc on Wednesdays and Fridays. I'm getting on a schedule, it's important to do these things I've been told by people....plus it keeps me dependable. I'll also be posting info about my business here and on the business website. A lot of that will be about writing, publishing and literature so more than likely I'll be starting another blog for my business. I will release my business name when the Facebook page and website it up. Anyway look for my blog tomorrow morning.

Infinite Sorrow

I know that I was supposed to start my fiction serial this week, but editing has gotten the best of me so I decided that I would post early about a somewhat overlooked film, "The End of The Tour" about David Foster Wallace's interview with Journalist David Lipsky. I will be posting again about another overlooked movie later on in the week and will be posting on Friday about news etc. and will hopefully have my editing finished up and will start posting the serial on Sunday/Monday. 

In where I write about a much overlooked film, "The End of the Tour" 


Jason Segel as author David Foster Wallace in the film 
"The End of the Tour"

The movie "The End of the Tour", is about a week long conversation/interview between writers David Foster Wallace and David Lipsky, about Wallace's infamous novel, Infinite Jest. "The End of the Tour" gets to the heart of Wallace, but it does almost miss it in the beginning.

The reason for that is Jesse Eisenberg's Lipsky comes across as a little smarmy at the start, but it's only because Lipsky at the time was searching for himself. Eisenberg does an honest, somewhat halting performance of Lipsky: the writer desperately wanting to be successful.

 As writers we all want that recognition and acceptance from other more successful writers, especially someone as brilliant as Wallace. I like the honesty of Eisenberg's performance, he's just a guy who is lucky enough to spend days getting to know one of his idols and he so badly wants his acceptance. I've been there, that feeling and awe, but wanting to treat them like they are just people so that they let their guard down to let you in, in a meaningful way, so that you can do your art, while they're doing theirs. It doesn't get more intimate than that.

David Lipsky got lucky not many writers, particularly writers of Wallace's stature, want to let another writer in. It's like being looked at by the world, the way that this person or writer views you and you don't want to be viewed as not able to get the work done, that you are a joke.

David Foster Wallace so wants to be approachable, just an average guy, but he knows that he is an incredible writer. Jason Segel's stripped down version of Wallace is Wallace. Segel is able to understand the crippling pain of understanding everything that Wallace had to him. It surprises me how open Wallace is, but really what did he have to lose by not opening up? I remember being 17 and reading Girl With Curious Hair, Wallace's short story collection, it was hidden in the back of my high school library along with copies of Sylvia Plath's Ariel and Hemingway's The Dangerous Summer that I had hidden there because I had hit my limit on books to check out, I was also doing research on Mozart,  so I had depleted the library's biography section. The library was my favorite place, there were books there, that's besides the point, Wallace's short stories made me look beyond the "normal," to realize the absurdity of life and how full of excitement it could be.

My favorite parts of "The End of The Tour" is when Wallace is trying to get Lipsky to understand his depression and to put it behind himself. He wants in vain to leave it there, he's embarrassed by it, it's his Achilles heel. Depression is funny that way, some of us will be open about it, but most of us who have been through bouts of depression feel that we will be looked at as abnormal, that we don't fit in the world. I look at my depression as something to learn about myself, watching for triggers keeping myself off that line. I don't want to go back to having to take antidepressants, ever. That said, I believe that antidepressants can help people, for me, I felt lost and even lonelier on medication so I've figured out other ways to keep it at bay. I felt it coming on when I first left my day job a few months back, I went into survival mode, throwing myself into a daily routine of getting my kid up, ready for school, taking the dog for a daily walk and finding projects to keep myself busy. My depression began years ago after I lost my newborn son, Zachary, at birth. I got pregnant with my daughter not too long after that, which kind of kicked me out of it, but about a year and a half after her birth I was attending classes at Metro State here in Denver, I started having issues concentrating and getting into my academics. I was also having a hard time being a mom, I hadn't really dealt with losing my son and being a mother to another child so quickly. I got on antidepressants and they helped for about a fraction of what they were supposed to and I decided to just quit taking them. I didn't taper off of them, I just quit. Which, I know isn't the most responsible thing to do in the world, I just couldn't do it anymore. Yes, I am a Cannabis smoker and most would say that I am self medicating, but let me tell you, I can deal with and function on a much higher level then I ever could being on antidepressants, and trust me I tried quite a few of them to get me functioning.

Talking about writing, Wallace puts it all into perspective at the beginning of "The End of The Tour", "At the end of the day it's just a plain piece of paper and me." He gives a look into what it is like to be a writer, what can we turn that piece of paper into. If we're lucky it becomes something like Infinite Jest. 

The best part of this movie, and about understanding Wallace,  is at the end of the interview, David Lipsky is laying in Wallace's "guest bedroom" fuming about a discussion the two of them had earlier in the day about Wallace's fame, drug use and depression. Wallace sums himself up by saying, "It was much more that I had lived an incredibly American life, this idea that if I could just achieve x, and y, and z, that everything would be okay. There's a thing in the book how when somebody leaps from a burning skyscraper, it's not that they're not afraid of falling anymore, it's that the alternative is so awful, and so then you're invited to consider what could be so awful that leaping to your death would seem like an escape from it. And I don't know if you have any experience with this kind of thing but it's worse than any kind of physical injury. It maybe in the old days what is known as "Spiritual Crisis." Feeling as though every axiom of your life turned out to be false and there was actually nothing and that you were nothing. And it's all a delusion and you're so much better than everybody 'cause you can see how this is just a delusion, and you're so much worse because you can't fucking function. It's really horrible. I don't think that we ever change. I'm sure that I still have those same parts of me. Guess I'm trying really hard to find a way not to let them drive. You know?" and that's what depression is really, trying hard not to let it drive.

You can find "The End of the Tour" Available on Amazon Prime if you have an Amazon account and on Hulu. It's well worth the watch, especially if you enjoy reading David Foster Wallace, it's a small glimpse at a genius writer.

If you have an suggestions of other over looked movies etc please let me know in the comments or follow me on Twitter @ ChristineLarran or on Facebook Christine Larranaga or at my website https://christine-larranaga.squarespace.com/   and please feel free to check out some of my photography on Flickr @https://www.flickr.com/photos/missy2876/

Changes

I've decided to do some re-vamping here and I may need to do some more changes down the line, like creating separate blogs, for now though I will keep posting here and on my website. Starting next week I will be posting three times a week. Sunday/Monday I will be posting my fiction serial, Wednesday will be about movies and Friday will be editorial, news, and random journal posts about how my business is doing, writing,etc. I've been thinking about doing this for awhile so that I can get myself into a rhythm with my posts. I just want to make things a little more deliberate instead of just doing whatever.

My publishing business is getting closer to becoming more of reality as I've been working with funding etc to get things started. I'm hoping that I can start my podcast soon. It will be hosted on my website christine-larranaga.squarespace.com Myself and my friend, Rebecca will be hosting it and will be talking about everything from Literature, Movies, Politics, single mom hood etc. basically everything that we find interesting. I will be posting the names of both my business and the podcast soon so that interested parties can take a look and a listen, I just want to get set up and on the way before I give specifics. Hopefully we will be looking to take submissions for books etc, by October 1 and hoping to have the podcast set up mid- September.

If you have any questions, comments, ideas for stories, please let me know in the comments below or contact me on Twitter @ChristineLarran