A Story and an Introduction

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It's a classic tale: prince meets princess; prince is captured by a vicious dragon who burns down princess's castle and all of her belongings, forcing her to don a paper bag; princess rushes off to find prince, outwits the dragon, and saves her beloved; prince is barely grateful for his heroic rescue, and is no longer interested in princess because of her now-plain appearance (most notably said paper bag); princess frolics off into the sunset sans prince, knowing she's better off without that superficial jerk anyway.

Okay, maybe it's not so classic. But that's what I love about it, and that's why the Paper Bag Princess is a hero of mine. Not only is she fearless in the face of danger (I'm pretty sure most princesses would not be willing to go up against a giant, deadly, fire-breathing foe), she uses her considerable intelligence to outwit  the dragon (dragons being, of course, the second cleverest mythical creature after Robert Downey Jr.), and she knows that all of these traits are far more important than physical appearance, as evidenced by her unceremoniously dumping her shallow prince boyfriend. Any time a heroine puts brains and courage over looks and outer beauty, I can't help but love her.

I offer this tale as an inspiration (for you) and an explanation (and, incidentally, an explanation of an inspiration). I've named this little corner of the blogosphere "The Paper Blog Princess" in the hopes that I can exhibit the traits of The Paper Bag Princess in my life and in my blog. (Plus, I thought it was rather catchy.) The reasons I finally decided to cave in and start this blog are myriad and manifold, divergent and diverse, varied and – you get the picture. There are a lot of reasons. Here are a few of them, listed in no particular order:

1. I have a hard time doing things consistently for any long period of time. All of my childhood diaries have about three entries, spaced out over a six month period. Remembering to brush my teeth is a daily battle. And, though I’ve been playing the violin for 14 years, I don’t think I’ve ever gone a week where I practiced every single day (don’t tell my teacher. Though I’m sure he can tell by my guilty-looking eyes and sloppy 16th note runs.). Basically, it is my hope that if I have legions of adoring fans (okay, let’s be real here – dozens. Okay, let’s be even more real – a dozen) waiting for me to do something on a regular basis, I will actually do that something. And that something, if you hadn’t deduced from logic or the title of this list, is blogging.

2. I love to write. Even though I go to a writing-intensive college, I rarely get to write for pleasure any more. Ergo: blog.

3. I hope that this endeavor will force me to be more creative, from the clothes that I wear to the things that I make to the tales that I weave. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut with your wardrobe, to put off projects that you’ve been meaning to tackle, and to not…write things. See? I’m clearly rusty at the whole “writing creatively” thing and need this blog so I can stop ending sentences like that.

4. All of the blogs that I read on a regular basis are written by beautiful, hilarious, intelligent women who inspire me every day. My hope is that I can perhaps inspire others to be creative, silly, funny, and accepting of their own beauty and intelligence. Or maybe just make people laugh or think or procrastinate their work on a semi-regular basis.

5. I’ve always wanted to. Surprising reason, I know. But ever since I first stumbled across my first blog ‘round about January of 2007, I knew this was something I wanted to do.

So here’s to you, fearless blog readers! Let’s hope we outwit our dragons and believe in ourselves above all else. And let's hope it's a wild ride.