With the end of the Vive chapter, a new one started, appropriately named Storyville Live. I need a full time job like you wouldn't believe, and through divine workings, I landed a job with a coffee company called Storyville. This coffee company admires and respects International Justice Mission (IJM.org) and wanted to help them liberate the 27 million people who are currently slaves on our planet.
Enter mission. Enter my job. Enter live music and cups of coffee.
The new division is called Storyville Live, where I work as a concert producer (funnily enough). My job is to produce a series of private, at-home concerts that help spread awareness about human trafficking through our partnership with IJM. If you ask me what I do for a living, I can think of various ways to say what I do, "I drink more cups of coffee than any person really should", or "I cold call realtors all over the Continental United States", or it can be my favorite: "I free slaves."
No one, not even through my words, can know the degree of my outgoing personality through my written word. The truth is, I have no shame. Zero. I can talk to anyone, "break into" the well constructed walls surrounding a person's heart. Somehow I can always convey the same message, "I'm asking because I care. If I were you, I'd want someone to listen to me, too."
And now I talk for a living. With a pretty rad headset provided by the folks at Storyville. I love what I do. I love that a phone call can lead me to Urban Meyer (true story, had no idea who he was) or to members of Sister Hazel. Or to some sweet realtor in Vermont who just adopted a little girl from China who spent time in a brothel. She signed up to host a concert. Amazing.
Onward to my recent thoughts/moments about THE NOVEL. Incredibly, it is starting to frighten me. Is that not the most bizarre thing? As I near the end, and yes I mean just the first draft, the periods in which I'm not writing lengthen. When I get back to the screen, I freeze. Not unlike a deer would before a cement truck. I have to walk away and then come back, but only after I've given myself a pep talk. A rather long pep talk.
I have decided to try and find a writing workshop in my area. I have gone through many a workshop process, but since I've graduated I'm wanting some feedback for what I have written. I've managed to cut, rearrange, dress up and dress down some of my earlier chapters.
Looks like I have some research to do. Speaking of, researching medieval Spain has been fun. I could bore anyone at dinner parties now with my trivia.
Thanks for reading, whoever and wherever you are :)
