The Writer’s Block

…and I’m slightly obnoxious.

Yah, I’m Jess. I’m 22 years old and live in Los Angeles with my boyfriend, Derek. He’s dead sexy. We’ve been together for about five months now. I own Lianhua.nu, which is sadly falling by the wayside because of my new job and classes and general lack of time. I’m working on it, I promise.

I’ve been writing since I was about five years old, and my elementary school had a big school-wide project where we all wrote, illustrated and even bound our own books. I wrote a non-fiction about tigers the first year, and in subsequent years fiction stories about a whale who couldn’t sing, a parakeet who threw a slumber party and Garth Brooks. Ahem. In high school, I decided I wanted to be a journalist, but ended up going to Sarah Lawrence College, where I decided fiction was really where I wanted to go. Eventually, I want to be able to write (fiction as well as screenplays) and translate (from French, Italian and/or Mandarin).

At the moment, though, I work for one of the largest/most-visited sites in the US. You’ve probably used it before, in fact, or at least heard of it. Anyway, I’m one of the codemonkeys. Specifically, I do the CSS/HTML for the frontend of the site. It’s pretty fun. I love my job.

I’m starting a creative writing class focused on writing drama (the good kind, not the evil kind) tonight, so hopefully the fact that I’ll have to finish some assignments will get me into a creative mindset. Or something. And then I’ll end up writing more to put up on WB as a result? I’ve got my fingers crossed.

I’ve got a little poem here that I wrote a couple of years ago as part of an adaptation/modernization of Dante’s La Vita Nuova (”The New Life”). It’s one of seventeen poems that echo the storyline of La Vita Nuova. Enjoy.

III.
i saw you as i walked today
beneath the golden falling leaves
showering around me
shaken from their perches
by a playful, autumn wind.
you caught my glance
as i strolled past
and looked into my eyes,
suddenly my heart was filled
again with that explosion
of rushing, running emotions;
my soul was featherweighted.

and then–
incredible and unexpected–
you reached to me,
your fingertips gently
clasped my sleeve,
halting my steady steps.
smooth, graceful words
swam upon the air
from your mouth,
danced into my ears,
filled my head
with your being.