Firesign10

Language and culture significantly shape our perceptions. Most of our concepts -- and especially the abstract concepts we use to understand and contextualize our concrete experiences -- are learned, stored, and remembered through words (Coe 267).

When I began to consider such things as preconceptions, and that I most certainly had a few, I realized that my environment, my culture, aided in developing the way I perceive everything, and the way I express myself. That self-expression for years had been noted by others as unique. My first employer told me, "You've got a way with words that I've never encountered in my life!" (She meant that as a compliment. I asked just to be sure.) At first I was thoroughly unhappy with the realization that my style simply wasn't borne within me -- from me -- but from everything I'd heard, witnessed, loved and hated, and inevitably absorbed throughout my life. The images that form when prompted to write about "Digging", the way I string together a phrase that began to dance in my head, are these truly mine? Do I accept them, or deny them?

For maybe the first time in my life, I had absolutely no preconceived notions when I joined brigits_flame because I'd never ventured into anything of its kind. I could only enter this community with hope that I'd learn a thing or two about writing because I felt compelled to write, but I didn't want to suck at it. I won't say that I wasn't apprehensive, but the apprehensiveness didn't last long because I got swept up in an amazing discovery. From one single little prompt that first month of contests I witnessed back in February '09, I saw numerous different perspectives come to light. All of them creative, entertaining, and completely different from any idea I had for that same prompt. That experience broadened my understanding of inspiration, language, and creativity in one day, and in turn helped me to understand and appreciate my own ideas and how I expressed them. I'm no longer unhappy with the fact that my past, even that of my parents and my hometown, influenced my personal style -- that the language I was weaned on helped form the language I speak and write with now. I'm eager to use it, and I'm eager to discover the beauty or tragedy in all of yours.

Today's featured writer has a unique voice, a unique language, and an absolutely astonishing style. She is one of our amazing Mods, a writer that will move you, and an all around terrific lady! My darlings, I shall now stop rambling and give you Firesign10!

Coe, Richard M. Process, Form, and Substance: A Rhetoric for Advanced Writers. Second Edition. Prentice Hall:New Jersey, 1990. (p. 267)

Bio:

I'm a SAHM with 2 children, who most of you have virtually met already as furuba9 (15 yo daughter) and Mr Bear (7 yo son). I did some writing as a kid, as so may of us did, but then funneled it into school papers. I graduated from college with a double major in English Literature and Theater, both of which require tons of papers. Life then carried me down busy currents, and writing got left behind on a desert island. A few years ago, my father - a learned and funny man - told me he thought i had talent and should start writing. That advice came out of left field for me! Nonetheless, I took it to heart, and - being that I was already on Livejournal at that point - I figured, what better place to start than an LJ community?

I searched writing comms and found Brigit's Flame. I joined a month before the first Spotlight - I think the first contest I was in was a dozen people! At that time, Boundfate was still here but she was already shifting the comm management over to Jacques. Then the Spotlight hit, and the comm exploded! It was very exciting, and not a little scary! The fun outweighed the fear, and I stayed.

I have had a lot of fun writing entries here, and I feel extremely fortunate to have won three times. As time has gone on, my role here has changed from writing participant to moderator and now maintainer. I am so pleased that Jacques has invited me to grow with BF, and I enjoy my time here a great deal. I know I am now as big a chatter-er as some of you, but I have made some really great friends here and enjoy the warm atmosphere that I think makes BF so distinct from other comms. My goal at the moment is to start writing again - not as a contestant of course, but as a JFF entrant. I feel my creative side has rather languished, and I'd like to feel it being more active again. The All-Stars contest in January was a lot of fun!

For my featured entry, I first went with the one that popped into my head. Then I was all nice and thorough and actually went through my folder of past entries. I narrowed it down to 4-5 and got stuck there. So I thought I'd see which ones were actual week 4 winners, and ta da! One of those was the one that popped into my head in the first place! SO that must be the entry to share here. Please know that ALL my BF entries are open, and you are more than welcome to go in my LJ and read them. They are all tagged brigits flame.

One thing that was unexpected for me was I found I really enjoyed writing poetry. I love creating the imagery and conveying emotion with spare brush strokes. That being said, my first love is prose. Those of you who have been here a while know that I write all over the place. I do not have a particular genre or voice. I might do sci-fi here, morality tale, there, southern menace, or something tied to me very personally.

The Chosen Piece:

This piece, "Amber", is both an interesting character study and has some deeply personal undertones for me. I remember when Jacques gave this prompt, there was a lot of "OMG!" and so on as we all though "WTF are we writing for AMBER?" This, then, is what I came up with, and I hope you - many of you reading this for the first time - enjoy it. "Amber", the winner for Week 4, September 2008.

The Link:
http://firesign10.livejournal.com/520490.html

 

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