Writing A Piece of Her

I have always loved flipping through magazines. Magazines offer inspiration and insight a bite at a time. It's just enough to wet your whistle at an idea without a big commitment. I like a variety of style, decorating and lifestyle magazines, mostly picked at the recycle center when I'm making a drop. As a teenager I would have 100 magazines in my room at a time...all skimmed off the top of the recycling bin. Of course the holy grail of magazines, in my eyes, has always been Vogue. It's perfect for vacation - bigger than my (small town) phone book and will hold me for countless hours mesmerized at the designer feats. There's flipping, longing, earmarking, re-checking, perfume testing, realization, and finally a do-it-herselfer attitude of "maybe I can put together a look like that at Goodwill?!?" I've always been mediocre at clothing styles, and hair - I couldn't save my life with, but make-up is my creative pleasure...so, I linger on that artistry. My true love of any magazine though, is the Letter from the Editor. Along with clippings of inspiring outfits, decorating wows or DIY guides, I keep Letters from the Editors too. What makes them enjoyable for me is when I read an offering of the Editor that makes me feel like we're new friends sitting in a coffee shop getting to know one another. I always picture Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) sitting at her typewriter looking out her small New York City apartment window in Christmas in Connecticut while writing that she's looking out her window overlooking her farm in Connecticut. You can let people in as much or as little as you want. "It's your story" as my husband always says to people. Of course you can write whatever words you want on a piece of paper, but it's still your writing and that's a portrayal that's like...a naked reveal. I love to read the simple yet poignant words of writers who allow people inside of them. To share a childhood memory, a feeling, an idea, or even an explanation of that idea. I'm honored to be given a glimpse inside of that person's being.