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So, perhaps my writing isn’t as bad as I thought…

Hello Readers,

I hope this finds you all well. I just got my packet response back last night and it wasn’t all bad. The parts that she thought needed work were things that I always struggle with on first drafts, so that’s a good things. Well, it’s a good thing insofar that I was not surprised by any of her comments, but maybe since I knew that those were areas I needed to work on I should have done more editing before I sent it off. Oh well. 

The type of feedback that I got was something that my writing has always needed, but I have never found someone other than my undergrad teacher (bless his heart) who would take the time to critique it in the way I needed. Now that I have that connection I can’t wait to see how I will grow.

I have been pleasantly surprised how much improvement I’ve already seen in my writing since I turned the first packet in. I think since I have time that I can devote to just working on my writing I’ve been seeing improvements faster than I imagined. Writing as always been my passion, but it has always been something I’ve had to put on the back burner because of school and life, as I’m sure other people understand all too well.

Being in this program for even this short amount of time has really solidified the fact that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. There have been times when I’ve been reading school work and suddenly think, “Oh, shoot I need to be doing something more useful with my time instead of leisure reading”, but then I realize that this work that I’m enjoying so much is what I should be spending my time on. Quite a moment of revelation.

Basically, school and education are the best things ever so long as you find your obsession!

Happy Friday, dear readers!

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I enjoy writing now more than ever have before

Last weekend was a stressful one at that, and I was happy to get back to the normal routine for my writing. I have been writing at least 10 pages of new content a day. It’s not as much as I’m expecting to write once my program starts in just a few weeks, but I can safely say that am enjoying writing more now than I have before.

Before I was something I did because I loved it, but it always had to take a slight back seat when school and life got in the way. I spent a lot of my weekends just writing because I had the time. Now that I am going to school for writing I am much more driven to not only create a fair amount of work, but also try and create work that is of good quality.

I have a long way to go before I will think any of my work really outstanding, but I know already that this program will help me shape my writing into something that I know I will be proud to attach my name to.

I’m only writing about four hours a day now, and when I’m done I’m pretty exhausted, but I like knowing that even my the end of my first semester I will be able to so much more.

Anyhow, if you’re reading this, thank you.

I know I may not have really stimulating stuff on this blog, but having it as a place for me to share my revelations about writing is very helpful in the whole process.

Happy Friday!!!

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Why having support is paramount for writing.

Sure, the image of the lonely and deep writer who hides away in her small apartment to write carefully constructed masterpieces is a fantastic image. One, I’m not shamed to admit, I have tried to emulate to little success.

I’m coming to realize that that image is hard to deal with considering how much I depend on my family and friends to read the rough drafts of my writing. Yes, the actual act of writing is a lonely process. It’s introspective, and challenging, but if you don’t have anyone to tell you that your rough draft reads like a spastic ball of ideas to nowhere then you’re out of luck.

I’m probably not the only one who tries to edit my work without letting my emotions get in the way. By tearing apart that paragraph and making it read better I am not insulting myself. It sounds weird, but I sometimes feel bad about editing my own work because I feel like I should have done better in the first place. Silly, I know, but it happens. 

That’s why I’m grateful to the people who read my stuff the day I’ve finished working on it and tell me where things don’t quite line up. I put a lot of myself into my writing, so trusting my readers enough to just give them free reign through my mental playground can be quite nerve wracking.

I know I haven’t posted any writing on here for quite some time, but being able to discuss revelations I’ve made on this blog is so helpful in tracking the progress I’ve made. So, thank you dear readers for listening to my ramblings about life and writing. You keep me honest, and keep me scribbling away.

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Following your passions

Hello dear readers,

Today isn’t really a post about anything directly pertaining to writing. I just wanted to say that we all should follow our passions. I say “passions” because we all have more than one. Sure, some are more hobbies, and some we focus our careers around, but always make sure that they play an integral role in your life.

Our passions make us who we are, and doing them makes us happy. Our happiness should never be a self sacrifice. Even if you haven’t worked on your car, or gone to a museum recently always taking that step towards your passions once again can be an uplifting experience. If you like doing something, then do it. If it’s something that makes you smile, makes you want to talk to people on the street, or be a better person, there is nothing stopping you from pursuing that passion with zeal.

Find friends that share in your passions. That is one area that I haven’t been very good at, but I’m hoping that with my program starting in a month I will be able to find new friends that I can talk to about writing. Writing has always been such a lonely passion for me because it is sometimes difficult to explain what you’re trying to achieve in your writing. I’ve had overwhelming support from family and friends, but not many people I can talk to about the structure of writing, or character development without feeling like I’d be boring my listener to death.

Find your passion. Find people that share that passion. And never let anyone tell you that your passion is not worth your time and energy.

Have a great Friday, dear friends.

 

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One year later….

Hello dear readers,

I hope this post finds you well. I was notified today that it has been a year since I started this blog. It certainly has changed since I began both in it’s set up, but also in what I now hope to achieve in posting every Friday. Thank you to everyone who even glanced at this blog once, and thanks to all of you who are still following my posts.

I feel like I’ve found a small community where I can share my passions and ideas, and people who don’t mind hearing about them.

I don’t know about some of you, but I’m still a bit distraught over the death of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I have loved his work ever since I was introduced to him, and he will be sorely missed. I have been reading Of Love and Other Demons, and I just reminds me of the power of his writing. His writing is so clean and crisp, but there are always layers of depth and meaning. Salman Rushdie, another famous author who uses magical realism (the type of writing that Garcia Marquez was so famous for) said that, “he was the greatest of us all.”

If you’d like to read the article that Rushdie wrote, I’ve posted the link here.

I’m back to working on getting fully prepared for school, and I get more excited every day. I’ve known since a very young age that writing was my passion, and finally having the chance to make it part of a career is more than I could have hoped for. I’m going to work on getting more ideas on paper focusing on what I want to achieve by the end of this two years. I just can’t wait to get started!

Have a phenomenal Friday, dear readers!

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The AWP Conference

The conference for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs was in Seattle this year and I might not have known about it except that my professor from my undergrad was coming into town for it and told me to come.

I am very happy I did. I wasn’t able to attend everything because I got there on the last day and the tickets were rather expensive, but the book fair section of the conference was great. They had tons of booth with hundreds of different small time publishing companies. There were magazines there accepting submissions for their upcoming edition. They also had a plethora of colleges there promoting their low-residency MFA programs. I still haven’t heard from the program I’m currently trying to get accepted to, but I found at least three others that really seemed impressive. 

It was also nice to be around writers and people who just genuinely love books and writing. I haven’t had that kind of experience for a while and I certainly missed it. I think that we can all get bogged down in our day to day grind that we sometimes forget what makes us really passionate, and we may not forget it, but it can sometimes take a lower priority when work, bills, and life get in the way.

I resolved myself today and decided that I would move my writing back to the forefront of my daily tasks. Nothing unimportant in my life is going to burn to the ground if I let it take lesser priority than my writing. Walking around the book fair I knew that I wanted to be there with a purpose when I go to a future conference. In reality, it may take me a few years before I actually achieve that goal, but in the grand scheme of things a few years isn’t too bad, and I can’t wait to get back on track with my writing.

I hope you all are having a great start to your weekend!

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I thought it was Thursday…and sushi documentaries.

I feel like I do this a lot. It happens during any type of holiday. I totally lose track of time. Yesterday I thought it was Saturday. I felt like Saturday. Anyhow, I’ve been back to work and hanging out with my friends. I also have been grinding my teeth over my Master’s application because I’m getting rather nervous about it. I’ve really been wracking my brain for three people that I can ask to give me a recommendation.

Other than that I’ve been working away on the writing portion of it. I have been trying to figure out what I want my piece to focus on. The choices we make in our own lives are important enough, but I think it’s fascination how those choices that we make can affect later generations. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and it’s something that there isn’t really an answer for because how do know how your choices will change other people’s lives? It is even something we should be worried about? What kind of a responsibility do we have to others when it comes to our choices?

On a side note I’ve been watching tons of documentaries. It’s my guilty pleasure when it comes to the kind of t.v. I watch. I like being educated about things that I have never heard of before. I watched two on sushi and both were great. It didn’t necessarily open my eyes in any certain way, but I really enjoyed learning a bit about the cultural importance of sushi. I also watched one on obesity which is very visually hard to watch. There was another one on illegal drugs. Weird stuff, but I find it totally fascinating.

I hope you are having a great afternoon, and it is Friday. I am aware of what day it is. Finally.

Have a great day, dear Readers. You are all awesome.

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Adventures into cheese

I’d like to say that the title is a metaphor for some deep and intellectual thing, but it’s not. Trey and I have literally been trying different cheeses for the past week or so which has been quite fun. Assuming you like fermented dairy, which we do.

It seems we’ve been having lots of other adventures when it comes to figuring out how to best live in our apartment. I was not under the impression we would still be figuring things out four months after having moved here, but it certainly is the case. We just now are figuring out that a coat closet can be put to a much better use as a pantry. Now we actually have counter space to cook. You’d be surprised how much of a difference that makes in terms of wanting to be in the kitchen.

On another good note my writing is coming along quite well. I still need to take the time and work on some things I haven’t touched in a while, but I feel like I could get some progress made. It’s just that kind of day.

Well, this post was a bit random, but I hope that it amused you in some way, dear readers.

Have a great rest of your day!

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My confidence has left me

downloadIt hasn’t been a sudden abandonment, but I am sitting here wondering why I don’t have confidence in my own writing before. Maybe that’s because I tend to not be confident in a lot of things, but writing was the one thing I could be confident about.

I’ve tried to write on three different occasions today, but all I can do when I sit down is think that my writing is trash. I can’t really get past that hurdle and work on stuff if I don’t have confidence in my own creativity. It certainly is very alarming, and I honestly don’t know how to go about fixing it.

I know that part of it is I’m not around the people I once confided to about my writing, and I feel a bit alone when I work. Granted, writing is a lonely profession, but that’s not quite what I’m talking about here. I’m trying to write, but I don’t know what to do after those pages are written. They just sit there on my computer. Although the story may be progressing (even if it is poor progression) the work itself just sits there stagnant on my computer gathering imaginary dust.

I guess I’m not stuck when it comes to writing because I can put words down on paper, but I’m stuck in trusting myself that this is what I want to do. I know it deep down in my bones that I couldn’t be satisfied doing anything else, but that doesn’t mean that my insecurities don’t have me wondering why my confidence decided to go on a vacation.

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Words, Words, Words…and Puffer Fish

I’m once again working on writing today. I wish I could say I was getting a lot accomplished, but my brain is just not cooperating with me. I’m doing the thing all high school students do when they’re asked to write a paper: I open up Windows, find the place where I felt off, and promptly get distracted by something else. 

It’s a rather willing distraction. Not because I don’t want to get more writing done, but because I feel burnt out before I had begun. A lot of famous authors say that they write about four hours a day. That’s really isn’t a lot of time when you sit down and start cranking out pages, or work on editing, but they also have words of advice cautioning against pushing yourself too far too fast. I think I’m going to take the latter advice and try working later this evening because I just don’t feel like it write now (haha I made a joke).

In other news, I hung with coworkers last night and had a blast. I have to say I work with some pretty cool people.

I even succeeded and got the apartment deep cleaned which hasn’t happened since…well since we moved here if I’m being completely honest with myself. Luckily it’s small, and I don’t have much ground to cover. When we got the place I thought it would be easy to keep clean because it’s so small. In reality, it just makes the disarray more apparent because you can’t really escape from it. That’s what living in an apartment has come down to: try to run away from the laundry so I don’t have to fold it and put it away.

We are also planning on reorganizing the book shelf. The apartment came with this funky bookshelf that has all sorts of mismatched cube things in different sizes. It’s like a game figuring out which book will fit where, but once it’s done I can buy more! That’s super exciting. I haven’t gone book shopping in a while. Or we might get a fish. Not sure which I’ll like better.

I love books, but I have this strange obsession with fish. Seriously, one of my dreams is to own a salt water puffer fish.

Image I mean, look at this face. So cute.

 

Wow, this has turned into a long post. Random musing have abounded on this post.

Anyhow, have a great Saturday!

Happy Reading!

P.S. Did anyone get the Hamlet reference in the title of this post? Yeah? Cool beans.