Category: Personal

A Little Writerly Life Update

~ Brooke F. ~ Leave a comment

Tennessee weather is so unpredictable. Last week there was a chance of snow, this week it feels mid fall. Not that I’m complaining about the 60-70-ish degree weather. It’s a rather nice break from the grey I’ve been dealing with most of January.

It’s weird to think that it’s already almost March. 2023 felt like it ended just yesterday and suddenly we’re almost 3 months in. I hear that’s a sign you’re getting old but if that’s true, then please don’t tell me and allow me to live in blissful, timeless ignorance.

Hope you all have been doing well and that 2024 (that year still doesn’t feel real) is treating you well! I just thought it would be fun to do a nice little writerly life update seeing as I have a few matters to discuss and update the wide web on. I know you’re all waiting with baited breath.

First order of business, I’ve been working on a chapbook! It’s been in the making since last fall semester of 2023 and I finally am pulling all the pieces together. It’s a combination of everything I enjoy- poetry, science, stainglass windows, and angsty little musings about how I’ve poured money into an education and yet, on the cusp of my senior year, I still feel clueless. Yaknow. The standard stuff. A little sneak peak page can be seen below:

I hope to enter a chapbook contest and submit it for online publishing but we’ll see where this little project takes me. It was loads of fun to work on and I can’t wait to see what I end up doing with it whether its publish it or set it on fire. What matters is I am essentially done!

Second order of business, I am taking all writing classes this semester! I just need to finish up my silly little writing minor so I’m taking The Creative Market Place as well as Short stories and Fiction. Oh, and walking. Yes, I am taking a walking class. I needed the credit.

The Creative Market Place is a cool class where I get a little bit more insight on the business side of being a writer. We recently finished up a peer review workshop where we critiqued each other’s papers and reviewed books. Generally workshops can be a source of stress because I want to sit down and write a thorough and extensive feedback paper for each piece but, alas, time is not always on my side. Not to mention the fun of sharing your work to a class room. I was surprised to find that, ironically, sharing my overly angsty, corny poems doesn’t bother me in a class room setting but writing something semi-professional is. I think I just have to try extra hard to be professional and the poetry thing is just kind of fun. So when my professional review sucks, that’s a little more of a blow to my writer ego (something’s gotta keep it in check).

Short stories in fiction is both wonderful and awful. I’m having to fight against my long-winded tendency to describe everything in a room and what every single skin cell looks like on a character. I blame my consumption of Tolkien literature I think.

Final order of business, I am figuring out what I am doing with my life. This has proved to be a most arduous task and I still haven’t quite completed it. Most days I find myself torn between the two moods of “Yay! I’m almost done with school!” and “Oh no, I’m almost done with school!”. I’m not entirely sure what the future has in store for me with a bio degree and a creative writing minor. I am not entirely certain whether this writing thing will just be a brainless little hobby that I do when come home from a long day working at a lab or if it will actually be a part of my professional life. I guess it’s just whatever doors God chooses to open. So, with this in mind, I’m trying not to spontaneously melt from the stress. I know it’ll all turn out alright. All my college seniors out there know the feeling I’m sure.

And that’s it! Or all the important stuff at any rate. Thanks for taking the time to read my existential crisis about my quickly approaching future. Feel free to share any anxiety tips in the comments below and take care!

What’s IN and What’s OUT

~ Brooke F. ~ 6 Comments

Its only 10 days into the new year so why not a fun little post talking about what trends are in and what are out in my opinion? After all, I’m clearly an authority on matters of current crazes and the desires of the masses! I’m obviously qualified as a 20-something college student who spend the majority of her time working or playing videogames from 20 years ago (The Wii and the N64 gaming system is where we peaked, guys), watching movies from 40 years ago and reading books from 50 years ago. Glad we’re all in agreeance here. So, without further and minimal explanation, here are trends that should burn in the fiery pits of the underworld (also known as what’s out).

What’s OUT:

Buying ingredients but never cooking

Calling myself out already? Seriously though, why do ingredients go bad to quickly? Sure, you might say its because fresh veggies aren’t loaded with preservatives, radioactivity, and Lord knows what else but man, its frustrating when I want to cook and that potato I bought a week ago has already sprouted a new plant.


Cheap soap

Because my skin in sensitive.


Grudges

Have I ever mentioned how bitter of a person I can be? Probably not, it rarely comes up in conversation but BOY, can I hold a grudge. Let’s not talk about the pointless hours I’ve spent ruminating about how people who are meanies can get their comeuppance. Perhaps its best such use of my time is left in 2023.


Cruddy socks that need to be replaced

Only saying this because I cleared out my sock drawer recently and it was a sad sight indeed. I need to make a little sock run, I ended up throwing out half of the socks I thought I could wear.


Plain coffee

Time to add syrups and sugars like real men.


Falling asleep to your phone/TV

Guilty as charged. The blue light does wonders for my sleep schedule as I’m sure you can imagine.


Minimalism

Gosh, why did we ever consider this a valid aesthetic? I’m raving against a very specific type of minimalism known as sad grey and sad brown. I’m just too addicted to my cute little trinkets.


6am alarms

I am not a morning person. Far too long I’ve tried to emmulate the “it girl” schedule but alas, twasn’t meant to be. How those girls get up before the crack of dawn, I’ll never know. They have my respect of course but I think I’m going to try for a little more balanced sleep schedule where I spend the last hour of my day cleaning and journaling and getting ahead as opposed to getting up an hour earlier to do such things.


Not complimenting people but still thinking it

I’m so bad about this sometimes. There’s a shortage of compliments out there however and I refuse to contribute to the problem any longer no matter what my social anxiety says.


The color grey

As mentioned before, I’m just not a fan of the sad grey aesthetic.

What’s IN:


Cream soda

Particularly in glass bottles. I used to love these because as Baptist child, I thought they looked like beer. Now, I know much better- they taste oh-so delicious and I don’t have enough cream soda in my life as is. Something that needs to clearly be fixed in the year of our Lord, 2024.


Cute coffee shops

These have always been in but they should remain so.


Taking walks everywhere

I’m a ghostly little victorian child and could use the vitamin D.


Impressionistic art/paintings

I just think they’re nice.


Gas station snacks

Just snacks but on a whole new level.


Retro games

Oldies but goodies.


Pasta

Any and all types of pasta. Alfredo, red sauce… I don’t care. I’m in my pasta arc and have been for the last 4 years.


Formal gowns for no reason

Who says you need a reason to feel like a princess? I’ll vacuum my apartment in a ballgown, just you watch.


Giving people the benefit of the doubt

Perhaps this circles back to the whole “grudges” thing. I’m attempting to move out of my Villain era and into my “Gracious” era.


Microwave popcorn

Stove-top is fun but also time consuming and sometimes messy if you make it like me. The anxiety I feel when pulling the lid off of the pot to dump the newly born popcorns into the bowl is unmatched.


Herb gardens

They smelly good.


Petting as many cats as possible

Listen, friends. I know we petted a lot of cats last year. But, this year, let’s strive to make last year look like rookie numbers. This year, we’re petting ALL THE CATS. (unless of course you’re allergic. I’m so sorry friend).


Body spray

It smelly good.


Changing bedding regularly

We’re not going to talk about how long I’d go without changing my sheets in the past. I cringe, dear sir. But that was the old me. And we refuse to acknowledge her.

So yeah! A pretty comprehensive list but feel free to talk in the comments about what trends we should leave in 2023 or what 2024 should consist of moving forward. I’d love to hear ya’ll’s thoughts.

Anyways, hope you had a happy holiday!


It’s been a hot minute…

~ Brooke F. ~ 4 Comments

Almost a year I think? One minute I was posting (semi) consistently and then BOOM! gone. Without a trace nor warning. Honestly, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t really notice. My posting as slowing down a bit anyways as I was getting into the swing of my second to last year of college. So… here I am!

To make a long story short- I moved! I moved from home and am now braving living as an independent adult while still not fully feeling like an independent adult. It’s weird and strange but I do love the freedom that I’ve enjoyed thus far in this phase of life. While the timing was somehow unexpected, it was definitely for the best and I’m glad to be in a new but still good phase of my young adult years.

My rate of posting is still going to be pretty bad, to be totally honest with you. I started a new job at the same time as moving and it took me awhile to find a different kind of stability again. Honestly, I’m still not sure if I’ve found it yet. But I have missed posting so you may see something here or a post there. Hopefully see you blogging buddies soon and thanks for taking the time to read my little life “update”. I’ll always be lurking….somewhere….

The Disappearance of a Blogger

~ Brooke F. ~ 1 Comment

Brooke: Sorry I’ve been gone for a month! I’ll post a life update soon!

Also Brooke: *Disappears for another month*

Ahem….so anyways! Thanks for sticking with me through this busy summer. I honestly did not expect it to be as eventful as it turned out (in a good way of course). But as a result, my once somewhat established blogging schedule is a little off-kilter. Which for the time being I’m somewhat alright with seeing as how I think I can get it back on track as I start back to college in the coming weeks (it’s much sooner than ever thought. Time flies!). But, regardless, I still miss posting regularly and at least wanted to do a quick life update for all 3 of my blog readers (perhaps I’m being a bit generous).

As many (3) of you are probably aware, the majority of my time has been devoted to my summer internship which has been going swimmingly as they say. I enjoy the work, albeit pretty exhausting work. I do a lot of field research and data gathering so I’m out in the sun for about 30+ hours a week and with the heat wave we’ve had this summer, I’ve found myself rather drained at the end of the day after sweating my brains out. But it’s definitely not all bad. In fact, I’ve quote enjoyed the experience and the variety in tasks that I get to do at work.

And, very honestly, a lot of my exhaustion may simply be in part that this is my first consistently full-time job. I’ve worked full time hours before at other places prior to this, but not on a regular basis. Really I think a lot of my tired can be contributed to everyone’s favorite words: change and adjustment.

Ugh. Sorry to give you cold-chills like that.

Anyway, as I alluded to in the earlier paragraphs of this post, I will be starting back to school however. I am actually looking forward to this semester as my schedule looks a little lighter class-wise so I’m hoping to squeeze in some nice hobby time somewhere in there. At this moment I have a masterlist of posts that I’ve wanted to write these past months that I simply haven’t gotten to so I am delighted at the thought of slowly making my way through said list. I’ve also got a butt-load of digital art that I want to share with you guys as well!

Basically, don’t worry friends! I am not, in fact, dead. Good things are coming!

And I think that will wrap this post up for now! How has your summer been? Despite being on busier side this summer, I rarely find myself lacking time to read comment!

Have a lovely day!

I Review an Obscure Art App

~ Brooke F. ~ 13 Comments

Hey, everyone! Thank goodness it’s the weekend. I started a new job recently as I’m sure some of you have heard about via a blog post of me basically saying “Haha I’m tired because of work so sorry but there will be less posts hahaha”.

But it’s Saturday! And this post has been something I’ve wanted to share and talk about for a week or two now but just haven’t found the time to really MAKE it. Honestly, this post isn’t quite like a normal one for me. I usually splash my blog with writing related posts, a few personal posts, and maybe a FEW art posts here and there but writing seems to be my real bread and butter. I haven’t really had any inspo for writing prompts or tips though so HERE WE ARE.

Wow, that’s a lot of backstory without any real context to the specifics of what I’m talking about. Apologies. Getting to the point is not always my strength. What was I talking about again?

Oh yeah!

I found an interesting though slightly obscure art app that I wanted to talk about with ya’ll. It’s called Wombo Dream. It is an AI art tool that generates pieces based off of your “prompts” which tend to consist of a few keywords and phrases. It’s a fascinating tool and I’ve played with it on and off for a few weeks now. I think the best way to really explain this AI and how it works is to share with you some of the results I got while using it as well as the prompts I used.

The prompt for the image above was “Circus Tent” and, as you can see, the results are pretty trippy yet also recognizable. Let’s try another!

The prompt for this guy was “cozy coffee shop”. You can definitely see it, even if not everything in the picture is completely identifiable.

The prompt for this one was “Rivendell” which is a location from Lord of the Rings. I can recognize this one really well, especially with that waterfall in the background.

The Prompt for this one was “Emerald Castle”. You can really see the AI doing its best here to create a structure that resembles as such.

You might be able to tell the prompt for this one already, but in case this structure doesn’t seem at all familiar to you, the prompt that I used was “Tardis Castle.” As in, the Tardis from Doctor Who.

This one is definitely a little vague but hopefully it seems recognizable when I tell you the prompt. The prompt was “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”. I can see them twirling in a group here, their skirts swirling round them creating such an appealing composition for the image. It’s crazy to think that an AI generated this!

I think you get the idea now so I’m going to stop explaining the prompts and just show you a little showcase of other beautiful images I got from using this tool. Let me know in the comments if you recognize any of them!

I know this was sort of an odd post but hopefully you found yourself just as fascinated as I was upon finding out about this app. Just the idea that a AI tool could create things that look so familiar has such neat implications. Will there be a time when this AI is perfected so well that It will be hard to tell the difference between AI art and human art? I don’t know but until then, I definitely encourage you to check out this art tool. Not only is it fun to play around with, but it might be good for art inspiration or even writing inspiration for when you have a fictional place but aren’t sure how to exactly describe it.

Oke doke! I think that’s about it! Thanks for sitting through my rambling review of an obscure art app.

Take care!

Life Update 😂

~ Brooke F. ~ 10 Comments

Afternoon all.😂

Just wanted to bring y’all a quick life update as it relates to my blog posts. 😅😂

I started a new job (my first full time job/internship position) which has been going great but it means I’m going to slow down a little bit on posts at least until I’m more well adjusted. 😂 As you can probably tell from the haphazard emojis, I’m a little tired. 😂 The job is great, I’m just having to adjust to a new sleep schedule.😂😂😂😭

Posts may appear more frequently on the weekends now but I’m not entirely sure yet.😂 Y’all know how it is. 😂

See ya in the next post & take care 😂😁

Rating my Childhood Obsessions pt.2

~ Brooke F. ~ 6 Comments

And here we have it folks! The sequel that everyone saw coming because clearly I cannot cram all my childhood obsessions into one singular post! (There were far too many.) I didn’t know I had so many phases that I grew through but the more I thought about it, the more obsessions I found myself recalling. A red flag of mine? Or perhaps a loveable quirk? Who knows! We don’t have time to unpack now as I need to get on with ranking my various childhood obsessions, part two!

1. Pirates

This was a brief one but it still shows itself even to this day through my love of white, puffy sleeved shirts. Despite this phase not lasting incredibly long, I still find it entirely understandable. The hats. The cutlasses. The gold. The SHIPS. THE FREAKING SHIPS. I remember spending way too much of my spare time sketching pirate ship designs because of this.

I don’t think this obsession was spawned by one singular franchise or piece of media though Pirates of the Caribbean and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader probably aided this fantasy. To this day if someone told me I could make a living by sailing the high seas, wearing magnificent hats, sword fighting, (but not getting scurvy) I would. Alas, I think my fantasies are somewhat unrealistic however that has never stopped me!

Someday I wish to dedicate an entire post to the appeal of pirate costume-ry and fashion however, this is not that day. Instead, have a mood board.

2. Rise of the Guardians

Another brief but still instrumental obsession of my former high school years. This movie was integral for sparking my passion for animation and animated movies. Not to the degree of wanting to make a career by working in such a field, however I did enjoy spending my days design Guardian OC’s because they were just too much fun to create. The whole concept of the movie was ripe pickings for the young imagination. The characters were bright and interesting, the story compelling but never lacking an air of mystery. It was a bit of a tragedy when I found out later in life that this movie had been a box-office failure for Dreamworks, practically ensuring that it would never release a sequel. *weeps*

However, despite the fact that the movie did not make a lot of money at the box office, I still believe it is well-worth a watch and it remains to have, I believe, some of the most shockingly beautiful CGI animation that I have ever seen to date. High school me had good taste.

3. Avatar the Last Airbender

Gosh, I love this show. And yes, it still holds up, even to this day. Even as an 11 year old girl, I could appreciate the amazing and surprisingly mature writing in this show. The jokes almost always landed, the characters felt grounded and real, and I probably don’t have to tell you that it contains one of the most well executed character arcs I have ever seen executed on screen. If you grew up in the 2000’s, you probably have heard people sing this show’s praises. Heck, you might have even heard people sing them recently. It’s a darn good show. However, I was never really a big fan of the sequel show, Legend of Korra. That was a little…disappointing. (It’s hard to follow up greatness you know?)

I still love this show. Even now I like mentally classifying my friends into groups .

“oh they’d totally be a firebender. And so and so gives water bender vibes. And so and so seems like an earthbender and…”

4. Libraries

Okay, hear me out. When I was like, 9, I was convinced my family needed to convert the loft of our barn into a library. My parents, for some strange reason, didn’t agree with me. So I set about doing it myself. I began to author books (stories where the papers were stapled together) and scrolls to fill my “new” library and arranging them neatly into boxes. My heart was all but broken when I found out the paper attracted bugs (specifically spiders) and my dreams of a giant library in the loft of our hay barn were crushed.

This little scheme of mine was a symptom of an obsession that I think a lot of us have. This obsession shows itself when we walk into a library (the older, the better), and want to squeal at the sheer size of it. This is the part of us that loves marble floors and old architecture and the smell of old paper. This is also the part of us that gets strangely angry when we remember that the library of Alexandria was burnt to the ground.

Did I lose anybody? I hope I’m not alone but something tells me I’m not.

5. Wizards

Did you ever wish you could just start fires with your mind? Or flip a light switch from across the room? Or make something levitate for no real reason? Well you know what would fix these very common problems? MAGIC.

Ladies and gents, I have this theory that like 75% of the population just wants to be wizards and I am one of those people. This desire to be a wizard shows itself in different ways. A Harry Potter phase. A time in your life where you took horoscopes way too seriously. Or even a super hero phase (because after all, aren’t super heroes just specialized wizards in leather suits?). Or trying to use the force to shut a door from across the room.

We all just wanna be wizards, don’t we? I think it’s time we face it. Who doesn’t love starry patterns, pointy hats, cloaks, shiny and potentially magical rocks (THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ITS OWN PHASE. WHY AM I LIKE THIS), wands, staffs, towards away from everybody you hate… the superior lifestyle, clearly.

And yeah. I think that’ll do it. I really don’t know how to wrap up with post except for simply stating that your childhood self is nearly always right. Magic is still cool. Dragons are still the best. Webkinz is still fun. Pirate hats still look like the absolute bomb. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Life is too short not to believe in these things anymore. Hmm… I think my pal C.S. Lewis had a quote for that actually…

“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

C.S. Lewis

Good ‘ol Lewis. He has a quote for everything.

And that’s it! Have a wonderful day and stay young my friends!

My Latest Coding Project

~ Brooke F. ~ 4 Comments

Hello, Lovelies! Hope everyone is doing well this fine day!

I just wanted to jump on here real quick and share my latest writing related coding project. I present to you: “Writing Prompts for the squad”

It’s a fun little writing generator where you type in character names and generate a writing prompt. I put a lot of my friends names into the generator and came up with a lot of fun one-shot ideas. I still want to add more prompts but I definitely encourage you to check it out if that sounds like you’re thing. Click here to navigate to it if you’re interested!

Alright, that’s it! Resume your day!