The Sassy Steel Magnolia
  • Archives
  • January26th

    ran across this post Sunday on tumblr. couldn’t help but share. so very true. if you could read some of my poems and short stores, you’d understand exactly what it’s talking about. enjoy:

    What happens if you fall in love with a writer?

    Lots of things might happen. That’s the thing about writers. They’re unpredictable. They might bring you eggs in bed for breakfast, or they might all but ignore you for days. They might bring you eggs in bed at three in the morning. Or they might wake you up for sex at three in the morning. Or make love at four in the afternoon. They might not sleep at all. Or they might sleep right through the alarm and forget to get you up for work. Or call you home from work to kill a spider. Or refuse to speak to you after finding out you’ve never seen To Kill A Mockingbird. Or spend the last of the rent money on five kinds of soap. Or sell your textbooks for cash halfway through the semester. Or leave you love notes in your pockets. Or wash you pants with Post-It notes in the pockets so your laundry comes out covered in bits of wet paper. They might cry if the Post-It notes are unread all over your pants. It’s an unpredictable life.

    But what happens if a writer falls in love with you?

    This is a little more predictable. You will find your hemp necklace with the glass mushroom pendant around the neck of someone at a bus stop in a short story. Your favorite shoes will mysteriously disappear, and show up in a poem. The watch you always wear, the watch you own but never wear, the fact that you’ve never worn a watch: they suddenly belong to characters you’ve never known. And yet they’re you. They’re not you; they’re someone else entirely, but they toss their hair like you. They use the same colloquialisms as you. They scratch their nose when they lie like you. Sometimes they will be narrators; sometimes protagonists, sometimes villains. Sometimes they will be nobodies, an unimportant, static prop. This might amuse you at first. Or confuse you. You might be bewildered when books turn into mirrors. You might try to see yourself how your beloved writer sees you when you read a poem about someone who has your middle name or prose about someone who has never seen To Kill A Mockingbird. These poems and novels and short stories, they will scatter into the wind. You will wonder if you’re wandering through the pages of some story you’ve never even read. There’s no way to know. And no way to erase it. Even if you leave, a part of you will always be left behind. 

    If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die. 

  • October13th

    Once upon a time there was a young girl who opened a book. She was reading the book as part of her summer reading assignments from her advanced english class in the upcoming school year. At first it seemed as another ol’ book. One of the classics they told her at the book store. A book for all the ages.

    This book will change your life, young lady.

    The man behind the counter told her as she started to walk off.

    What’s so different about this book?

    The girl wondered to herself.

    It’s almost 300 pages. It’s going to take me forever to get through this thing and I have 3 other books to read this summer.

    Alas, she made her way through the mall with her sack of books wondering which to start first. The young girl ended up leaving that one particular book for the last read of the summer. When she began reading it, she had 3 weeks to push through its pages before school was in session.

    The young girl read the entire book in 3 days.

    She couldn’t explain it. She had never been so encompassed by a story. She had never felt such a strong, bonding connection with a character. (At the time she didn’t even realize just how similar the two actually were.) She had never felt such deep admiration and respect of talent for any other author before.

    She was speechless when she put the book down after that first time reading it. A complete loss of words. The title staring up at her.  Her mind racing. And there she was. And there it started.

    The young girl is still working on her ever after but for now she’s quite content with the happily part.

    *Just in case any of you were wondering: A. what my favorite book is. B. who my favorite author is. C. what literary character I connect with the most. …. or D. what sparked my passion to become a writer and one day published author.

    In the past 12 years since being introduced to Pride & Prejudice, I have read the book no less than 30 times. Every time I fall more in love with the story, the characters, the art and technique of writing. The man in the book store that day was right. The book did change the young girl’s life.

    Do you have a book that changed your life?

  • July14th

    three years ago today, my world came to a complete stand still.

    three years ago today, i made the calls to dear friends letting them know.

    three years ago today, i learned what true heartache feels like.

    three years ago today, the greatest change i could have never imagined began.

    three years ago today, i started to really understand what it is to love.

    three years ago today, my Father went up to the Big Garden in the Sky.

    and three years ago today, his youngest started to find her own way.

    Stephen F. Fiechtl

    October 10, 1946 – July 14, 2008

    “It’s in the bag.”

    *comments have been disabled on this post.
  • January20th

    My dearest, sweet 7 year old Jennie,

    Happy Birthday! I guess by now you’ve figured out that your big brother Jim was just kidding and there’s no test you have to pass before you can turn 7. (He will never stop joking around with you like that.) It’s my birthday too, except today I’m turning 27. There’s a lot that happens over the next 20 years of your life. Some of these things I want to apologize for and some, well, some will just be good to know. You won’t understand what I’m telling you now, but in 20 years it will all make perfect sense. Here we go….

    • For starters, I know you get frustrated being the baby of the family. It’s never going to change. You will always be the Little Sister and they are always going to look out for you, try to protect you and be your Big Brothers and Sister. One day you’ll realize just how lucky and grateful you are for that.
    • Your first (and only) detention in grade school is for initiating a peanut fight. Own it.
    • Right now you are living in state #3 / city #3. You’ve got a few more moves on the way. I’m in state #6 / city #7 right now. *Heads up: the move to state #4 / city #5 will scare the hell out of you but it will be the best year of your life. You might want to start learning Spanish now.
    • Being labeled as having the dynamic personality of the family ain’t all that bad.
    • In high school I’m sad to say you begin an awful downward spiral. You are going to develop very twisted views of the perfect body image which will lead to doing harmful and hurtful things to try and attain that image. This will occur off and on for years but eventually the cycle will come to an end as you become comfortable with who you are. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough. I’m sorry I starved you, forced you to rid yourself of food, and for all the lies I made you tell to cover this painful secret. After college, your self-consciousness fades to give way to self-assurance, and even today it’s still growing.
    • There’s going to be an incident Senior year of high school where you will wake your mother in the wee hours of the morning to speak to a police officer. You will never live this moment down. It will be a running joke in your family for years to come.
    • It takes a handful of spiral perms before you learn it is not a good look for you.
    • In college you are going to get your heart broken. Bad. For a few years you will look back absolutely horrified at how silly, naive, stubborn and humiliated you were. Honey – it’s all part of the journey and by the time you’re 27, the horrified part has slipped away and you will look back at these times with a smile, a little bit of laughter and say “Well that was one hell of a ride.
    • *Note: You will have this reaction when looking back at nearly all times in your life – the good, the bad, even the heinously ugly – don’t worry, just keep the journey going.

    • Your sister is going to become your dearest friend. Regardless of your differences, arguments and struggles, she’s always going to love you and be there for you and vice versa. Always.
    • Stick with your writing. Trust me.
    • When you are 24, you will go through the darkest time of your life. I won’t tell you what it is, but I want you to know this: the darkest time will spark a change greater than you could ever imagine. You will begin to see your world in a whole new way and I’m so excited for you to get to this part of your life.
    • And finally …. I’m sorry I stopped believing in the magic. This one single act caused an astounding ripple effect and much more than the magic I once believed in, that you believe in now, was locked away; held captive by a wall that grew thicker as time went by. But don’t fret, little one. Remember that big change I told you about? Well, I finally believe in the magic once again. It seemed like it took an eternity to get it back, but I promise, this time I’ll never let it go.

    Well now, I know you are probably very confused by all of this but take comfort that in 20 years you will nod your head and smile. This by no means is all the highs and the lows, just a few pertinent points for you to keep an eye out for. But it’s time for you to go celebrate your 7th birthday…..enjoy your yellow cake with chocolate frosting, it’s always going to be your favorite.

    Happy Birthday to you, dear sweet Jennie Boo!

    love & magic,

    Jennie B

    p.s. You finally get to live by the Ocean one day. ;)

    p.p.s. This song is your celebration song starting at about age 25 …. enjoy!

  • January11th

    You may have noticed I haven’t mentioned anything in regards to New Year’s Resolutions. Well the reason is simple: I don’t believe in them.

    Maybe I should rephrase that a bit. Literally. I don’t believe in the phrase. I agree with marking the start of the calendar year for planned changes (i.e. writing new goals, changes to a blog, purging your closet, getting organized at work), it’s a great measuring tool. But when it comes to the phrase New Year’s Resolution …. no sir, no way, no how.

    I’m not a fan of the hype that often surrounds this phrase and how more times than not they back fire and end up making the person who made it feel worse about his or herself because they didn’t “stick to it” for the whole year because that is what a New Year’s Resolution is. That is entirely too much pressure for my liking. You can have your New Year’s Resolutions, and I’ll support you on your journey, but I’m gonna have to pass on making my list.

    However,

    I do love love love the excitement and anticipation a New Year brings with it. I wrote a letter to Dear Diary in mid-December about it and how much happier people in general seem about starting something new. And a New Year is a big new.

    So why can’t you bottle that excitement up and drink a little bit of it every day? Why is that so hard to do? To wake up every morning with the excitement and hope of January 1?

    By the time I had finished writing my letter to Dear Diary the decision had been made. Starting the next morning I would wake up every morning as if it were January 1. I could do that, right? Why not? Might as well give it a go. Couldn’t hurt. And so I started..

    Since that first morning in Mid-December I have indeed noticed a change. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there’s definitely something different in the air. Believe me, every day has not magically turned into satchels of gold, but there’s something about going to sleep with the mind set of tomorrow is a new year [day] and whatever I did or did not do can be left behind that makes a WORLD of difference. Every day really is a New Day, it’s just taking me a little longer to realize that.

    So I guess you can bottle up the excitement of a New Year and drink a little every morning. But I have to wonder, does that give me a green light to toast a glass of bubbly every night, too? Hmm….

    photo credit: weheartit