Ah! I can’t believe I’ve had to sit on this for almost a whole month. I’ve been DYING to share this group of people and their goals with you.
Look at them over there! Aren’t they just the cutest pile of people? I’m already in love with who they are, their goals; and how enthusiastic, warm and encouraging they’ve already been towards each other (and me!) behind the scenes.
Before I introduce everybody—I want to point out on of the main differences between this year and last year. If you were hanging out with us last year, you’ll notice that things look a lot different around here. Mainly, each “Spire Fire!” (Amy coined this term…as all of us were like Spirererer? SPIREr? One who does SpireSpire?) Anyways, each Spire Fire (person) gets their own personal stream to blog on, add pictures, show what they’re up to, BUT it also means you have to add each RSS feed if there’s a specific story or stories you’re interested in following. For those of you that want to follow everyone, you can follow this feed.
Not an RSS feed person? Just keep coming back to the main page, each blogger will be featured on a specific day and you can click through and around to catch up on what you’ve missed.
If anyone doesn’t know who the heck I am, I’m Shay! I created SpireSpire last year, and went through round 1 last year, finishing my first novel manuscript. This year I’m taking a “producer” role or “tender to the Spire Choir” or my preferred title, “PuppetMaster!” I’ll be checking in here throughout the year to give a bit of through line, but for the most part, I give you these awesome people to cheer on. I chose not to do a personal goal this year because…well…I’ll be having a wee babe in a month. I think that’s enough to take on for a year J
To the Introductions! (Each of their pictures will take you to their personal stream.)
Look at them over there! Aren’t they just the cutest pile of people? I’m already in love with who they are, their goals; and how enthusiastic, warm and encouraging they’ve already been towards each other (and me!) behind the scenes.
Before I introduce everybody—I want to point out on of the main differences between this year and last year. If you were hanging out with us last year, you’ll notice that things look a lot different around here. Mainly, each “Spire Fire!” (Amy coined this term…as all of us were like Spirererer? SPIREr? One who does SpireSpire?) Anyways, each Spire Fire (person) gets their own personal stream to blog on, add pictures, show what they’re up to, BUT it also means you have to add each RSS feed if there’s a specific story or stories you’re interested in following. For those of you that want to follow everyone, you can follow this feed.
Not an RSS feed person? Just keep coming back to the main page, each blogger will be featured on a specific day and you can click through and around to catch up on what you’ve missed.
If anyone doesn’t know who the heck I am, I’m Shay! I created SpireSpire last year, and went through round 1 last year, finishing my first novel manuscript. This year I’m taking a “producer” role or “tender to the Spire Choir” or my preferred title, “PuppetMaster!” I’ll be checking in here throughout the year to give a bit of through line, but for the most part, I give you these awesome people to cheer on. I chose not to do a personal goal this year because…well…I’ll be having a wee babe in a month. I think that’s enough to take on for a year J
To the Introductions! (Each of their pictures will take you to their personal stream.)
This is Patricia, she’s our youngest member this year. She contacted me last year about doing SpireSpire, and I’m so glad to be able to give her this opportunity to fulfill her goal—to write a symphony in one year. I mean, holy crap, right? She has a deep love of classical music, an awesome sense of humor and I am SO excited to see what she produces this year. That and this is so far outside of my personal abilities that I’m really interested to see how it’s done! (Patricia’s featured posting time is Sunday mornings.)
For anybody with us last year, you already know Christian. I’m so excited to have someone cross over from last year to this year, and his perspective and enthusiasm for doing so has already been invaluable. Christian is a freshman at Bradley University and has been pummeling the music scene down there with his boundless creative energy. Go see the shows he puts on if you can! Between this year and last, he created a band with musicians he’s connected with and his goal is to take this new band on tour this year. (Christian’s featured posting time is Sunday evenings.)
Meet Corinne, (some of you may know her as Cori). Corinne is quite literally one of my favorite people walking around, and I had the honor of getting to see her get married to John this past year and she was not only a jawdroppingly stunning bride, she had created a unique, gorgeous experience for her wedding and reception. She met me for lunch a few months after that, and told me that she wanted to be a wedding planner. I was like “YES! Yesyesyesyesyes! This is EXACTLY what you should be doing with your life.” Her goal this year is to make a large switch in income, the goal being to make her main portion of income from her wedding business. Ladies, if you’re getting married, check this woman out, she is unbelievably organized, calm, encouraging and has impeccable taste. (Corinne’s featured posting time is Monday mornings.)
Next up is Amanda! Amanda emailed me about doing SpireSpire a month ago, and within that one month I’ve been so impressed with her passion, energy and she has this spirit that just wants to give and give and give away that gorgeous energy and passion to everyone around her. Amanda is a professional dancer, choreographer, actress, comedienne, and improviser (and probably much much more.) Part of the process of SpireSpire is that a participant has to narrow down what they want to do for a year, and that is almost the hardest part. Through a lot of soul-searching, Amanda decided that she wanted to focus on her goal of being a castmember of Saturday Night Live, and to do that, she would have to get the places where they draw their cast from…mainly, Second City Mainstage Shows in Chicago. Her goal is to go through their entire conservatory process in a year in order to get cast in a Mainstage show. (Amanda’s featured posting time is Monday afternoons.)
Then we have Jess! Jess was actually my daughter’s Sunday School teacher at church, and Ena LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEDDD Miss Jessica. Jess is sweet and giving, and on first impressions, you would think that her style would be more to stay closer to home and find a nice teaching position in a school and be very happy. But underneath this very chill surface, there lives an adventuress waiting to bust out that go woken up during her last mission trip to Brazil. Jess’s goal is to be living in another country in some capacity (missions, English teaching, Peace Corp…this is to be determined this year!) by this time next year. (Jess’ featured posting time is Tuesdays.)
Meet Rebecca! After talking for a month online, I actually got to meet Rebecca and her daughter for this first time this week by finding out that we’re practically neighbors! The world is small, people. Rebecca and I share a love of writing AND Steampunk, a type of Victorian, steam-era genre with some of the coolest visuals around. Soon after she discovered the genre, she wrote a Steampunk Epic in three parts that she wants to make into a web series. This means she wants to cast and film the first twelve episodes this year (part one), and have three episodes up online for our viewing pleasure by this time next year. (Rebecca’s featured posting time is Wednesdays.)
Heeere’s Amy! I met Amy doing theater, we were in a show together and then I had the pleasure of directing her in another show. She’s brassy and hilarious, and has a very unique contrast between how she makes money (doing IT, she’s a shaaarp cookie) and what she loves to do. Amy’s love is to make fused glass, and her work is awesomely creative and I’m sure that you will get to see lots of examples throughout the year. Her goal is to buy a new bathtub sized kiln, using only money from her glass sales, by next year. This means she’s going to have to find lots of new and different ways to get the word out and sell her glass, and create a LOT of pieces. (Amy’s featured posting time is Thursdays.)
This guy. He’s wonderful and dreamy and I love him to pieces. So much, in fact, that I married the crap out of him. This is Colin, and he’s my hubby. Colin is such a unique mixture of traits that I’ve never seen combined before. He’s about as manly as you can get; he builds stuff, he’s an extraordinarily strong leader, he’s totally fearless with a fantastic sense of humor—but he’s also an artist, animals LOVE him to the point where it’s almost obnoxious, he’s the one that taught me how to cook, and he has an high level of patience and gentleness with those around him. Namely, I’m not sure how I snagged this guy, but I did. When we were first married, Colin did a lot of artwork and sold a bunch of stuff, but then we had wee babe number one, and a lot of that fell by the wayside. So I am so excited that he’s doing SpireSpire and his goal is to land his stuff in a gallery by the end of the year, but will also be doing at least a piece a week. (Colin’s featured posting time is Fridays.)
Meet Stuart! I got to meet Stuart as a vocal student of mine with a giant voice and a lot of musical talent. He has a passion for karaoke, but wants to take it further and pursue music in a fuller way. It’s been fun to watch him try new things (and sometimes scary, waaay outside the comfort zone things). Stuart is a quieter guy, and personally, I think he finds it a little fun to shock people with his voice. And he’s got a good one. His goal for the year is to get a live band together for performances, land some gigs and do some recording. (Stuart’s featured posting time is Saturday mornings.)
And our last but not least lovely Spire Fire is Sheri! Sheri is awesome and passionate and recently married the love of her life Chris, starting their little family. She’s a fantastic actress and dreamer and can quite literally do anything she puts her mind to. Sheri is one of the few people with the self-control (that I’m jealous of!) and discipline to lose weight, but I know she’s found it frustrating to maintain. Her goal is to lose and maintain weight loss and reforge a good relationship with food and exercise by this time next year. (Sheri’s featured posting time is Saturday afternoons.)
And that is everyone! And this is where you come in. Hold them accountable. If you know them in real life, ask how they’re doing! If you’re inspired, or have an idea for them, comment! If you know of resources that they could use, COMMENT! We need the community of SpireSpire far more than you know. You guys give us a reason to keep going. Keep your expectations high! Thank you all for coming with us on this journey!
Thanks and love,
Shay
Thanks and love,
Shay
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