Creative October Challenge Begins

BIG THINGS HAPPENING FOR LOCAL BRA-FITTER 

by Yours Truly

     Earlier this week, a local woman, Amanda LaFantasie, finally landed a full-time job after months of searching. After earning her MFA in Creative Writing in July she wasn’t willing to settle for just anything. “I’ve always wanted to be involved in an industry that values the written word as much as I do,” she explains. Starting next week, Amanda will join the Circulation team at the Spokesman-Review, the leading newspaper of the Inland Northwest. She leaves behind a long standing career as a bra-fitter and customer assistant at L’eggs Hanes Bali. 

     When asked how she feels about the change she responded, “In some ways I’m terribly sad. I’ll miss my coworkers and store. I’ve spent three years of my life there. It was sort of a home away from home and I took a great deal of pride in my work. But then I’m also extremely relieved. This new job will open up doors for me that no amount of bra-fitting ever could.” What are these doors? As a writer, Amanda has high hopes to someday move out of circulation to become a content contributor or copy editor for the Spokesman-Review. However, she states, “Even if I don’t get to write and edit for the paper, I’m still going to work on my novels, and I think working in a building surrounded by other creative and productive individuals is going to be incredibly stimulating.” 

     There are other things she looks forward to as well. “They (my coworkers) seem geeky and fun. Total nerds. I know I’ll get along with them. Also the place is already completely decked out for Halloween. And I’ll even get to wear a costume on the 31^st. I love it!” Amanda’s friends and family are also excited. Her fiancé of eight years, Hannah Richardson, says, “This means a new beginning. A chance to start over in a new city. We’re finally on the fringes of being out of limbo.” Amanda and Hannah plan to move from their Post Falls residence, a residence the young women share with Amanda's parents, to an apartment in Spokane Valley sometime around Thanksgiving. “Having our own place is going to be our Christmas present this year. In fact, instead of gifts and cards, what I really would like is for our loved ones to help us cart our millions of books over to the new place,” Amanda says. She laughs and adds, “I guess I would settle for moral support instead. After all, Hannah and I want a vaulted ceiling which means third story. So book moving might be a bit much to ask.” 

     But this change comes with a few challenges as well. While working for L’eggs Hanes Bali, Amanda could easily drive to work in fifteen to twenty minutes and had ample free parking at her disposal. Now that she is employed by the Spokesman-Review, in order to get to work, she’s going to have to get creative. For the first two months she plans to take the bus via the Park-n-Ride option out of Liberty Lake. “It’ll save on gas and wear and tear. Won’t save on time, however,” she explains. “But that’s just until we can get enough saved up to move to Spokane. Then I’ll either take the Spokane Valley-Plaza Express, or buy a parking pass for the Cowles Company parking garage.” The latter option is $50 a month but offers guaranteed parking 24/7. “I can park there even when I’m not working,” says Amanda. “Like, for instance, if I wanted to go to a concert at the Knitting Factory, I could park near work and walk over. Much better than trying to find metered parking or worrying about a bus schedule.” 

     Despite transportation and parking being a bit of a challenge, she’s ready to face it for the benefits of working for such a prestigious company. With a bittersweet smile, Amanda looks toward the future. “I’ve sort of got the jitters. But I’m ready for structure and growth. I’m ready for a life.”

This is my creative craft project for Day 1 of the Creative October Challenge. This is a mock up article for no newspaper. But all the juicy stuff is in fact true! I wanted to create a newspaper article style blog post in honor of my new job working at the paper. To answer my three questions for the COC (Creative October Challenge): 1) What was my project? Mock Newspaper Article; 2) What did I learn? I learned that newspaper writing style puts a great amount of psychic distance between the writer and the audience; 3) Did I complete the project? Yes.