Hello, Again

It's been nearly a year since I've written. This type of thing is like a diet for me, I always go into it with good intentions and then never stick to it. Since the last time I've written I graduated with honors and moved back in with my parents. This is not ideal but it's a lovely house and I love living there but it's hard to be around people that want to micro-manage your life while at the same time telling you to take more responsibility. I've been painting more recently and have several of my pieces displayed in an upscale consignment store. I also got a job there so hopefully that will go well. I've also been in the throes of starting/taking over a business with my friend, Hannah. It's local to San Marcos and is geared towards teaching art to kids. Hopefully, this will become successful. I want to cultivate an appreciation for art in a small Texas town. This evening I've been organizing my poetry into a manuscript. Currently, it's in alphabetical order. I intend to print it out and organize it by tone/theme. I'm planning to submit it to the Yale Younger Poet competition. I'm not holding my breath, but I think it will be a good exercise to try to put my poems into an official collection. One of my poems was published in the 2011 Persona student literary magazine. The hard thing is trying to balance writing and painting. A big part of me feels I shouldn't have to, that they can be simultaneous. Sometimes, though, it's difficult trying to do both. I feel like poetry is painting with words, but it's hard to incorporate poetry into aspects of my paintings without them becoming corny or trite looking. I mostly paint portraits. One day maybe I could compile all of the commissioned portraits I've painted and write a poem about each person and publish that. Hopefully, I'll remember to write again soon. If not have good days, my friend. Most of my poems can be read here: http://www.webook.com/project/Stumbled-Upon-Truths