Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Resolutions For 2016

from The Broke and The Bookish

 

First week of January means RESOLUTIONS! I prefer goals to resolutions, and I try to make mine specific and measurable. I’m going to do a separate post listing the books I finally want to get around to reading in 2016, so most of these goals are a bit broader. Reading, writing, fitness and life!

 1. Read 52 books.

2. Don’t beat myself up for setting a much smaller reading goal than in previous years. (Working full time is no joke…it’s taken a huge toll on my reading habits!)

3. Read (or reread) 3 short story collections.

4. Finish The Darkest Minds series. (reread NEVER FADE, read IN THE AFTERLIGHT and THROUGH THE DARK novellas. This has been on my To-Do list since summer 2014, and I'm not letting myself read Alex's newest book, PASSENGER, until I finish The Darkest Minds)

5. Condense my TBR collection into one shelf instead of two. (This is one of my loftier goals…a combination of reading my unread books and slowing down my book-buying. I also want to decrease my “To Read” GoodReads shelf. As of today, there are 88 books on that shelf, though a handful of those have yet to be released)

6. Borrow at least one-third of my books from the library instead of buying them. (From my 52 books goal for the year, that means 17 should be from the library)

7. Write 3 new short stories.

8. Finish revising my manuscript, HALFWAY TO HONDURAS, and send to readers for critique.

9. Continue exercising. (I currently do yoga twice a week and treadmill/elliptical two or three times a week. I have many smaller yoga-related goals, like doing a steady crow pose, but as long as I’m still practicing this time next year, I’ll be proud)  

10. Unapologetically love the things I love. (This is my attitude goal of the year. Two years ago I had a similar, John Green-ish goal of being “ironically enthusiastic about stuff.” Often I think we alter or downplay our passions based on fear of others’ judgement. I know I do. So this year, I’m going to try and eliminate that fear, one small step at a time.)

And there they are! What are your 2016 resolutions, bookish or otherwise?

Ready. Set. WRITE! goals

Last summer I participated in Ready. Set. WRITE! as motivation to get some writing done, and now I’m doing it again this year! It’s a summer writing intensive hosted by Jaime Morrow, Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, and Erin Funk. Goal setting is Monday, June 9^th, and the intensive goes all the way until August 25^th. Weekly check-ins will be on Mondays, and I’ll be posting about the following things:

1.  How I did on last week’s goals
2.  My goal(s) for this week
3.  A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised
4.  The biggest challenge I faced this week (ex. finding time to write, the siren song of SNIs)
5.  Something I love about my WiP

We’re only writing 2-3 sentences on each post so we don’t spend more time typing these blog entries than working on our WIPs! So without any extra babble, here are my goals for Ready. Set. WRITE!

 

1. WRITE EVERY DAY. I have a notebook that I’m carrying around with me, so I can write in there or on my laptop…or even a scrap of paper at the bottom of some MapQuest directions in my car. And I don’t care if it’s a story scene, a travel blurb, or summer grad school homework. Just write something!

2. PICK A PROJECT and go for it. I’m bouncing between two or three half-formed summer projects at the moment. I’m trying to find something I can write in conjunction with my thesis in the fall because all the second year MFA students say it helps having a separate writing project to turn to for fun when your thesis drives you crazy. I’ll update further once I decide which to go with!

3. REREAD/REVISE PARTIAL TNW DRAFT (140 pages). I’m slowly printing out and working through the draft I worked on last summer, to refresh my memory and hopefully spark some new ideas. I’m at the point in the draft where my outline thins out and am lacking plot points, so I hope combing back through the draft will help me find some threads I need to continue. Plus I can clean things up a bit too! Ideally I’d like to finish this read-through by the end of June so I can continue writing.
 

And that’s all! Keeping it simple this summer.

Goals for the Week:
1. Edit chapters 8-12 in TNW.
2. Write a potential epilogue for TNW.
3. Finish decent character outlines for the story idea I'm currently throwing around.

 

Are you participating in Ready. Set. WRITE? What are your writing goals for this summer?

2014 reading goals check-in!

So back at the end of 2013 I made some reading goals to expand my book horizons. Since we're 1/4 of the way through the year already (OMG!), I thought I'd revisit them and see how I'm doing so far!

Goal 1: 3 Pulitzer Prize winners/nominees.

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ANNE FRANK by Nathan Englander

[1/3]

Goal 2: 5 classics/literature/modern classics

None yet!

[0/5]

Goal 3: 4 nonfiction books/collections

THIS STAR WON'T GO OUT by Esther Earl

TEACHING A STONE TO TALK by Annie Dillard

[2/4]

Goal 4: 3 books with LGBT characters

THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen

THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN by Claire Messud

[2/3]

Progress is being made, I guess! I also am doing a GoodReads 2014 reading challenge of 50 books, and I just hit 46%! 23 books so far this year. :)

Hope you all are having a great reading year so far. Did you make any goals for 2014?

What's Up Wednesday/Writer Recharge final post

Happy Wednesday everyone! This week has been super busy even though a couple of my classes were cancelled. Here's what I've been up to:

What I'm Reading
ALL OF THE THINGS. AGAIN. I finished THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN for my Contemporary Novels class (and have to do a presentation on it in a few weeks, aah!) and gave up on Denis Johnson's SEEK. I read about 100 pages and couldn't do it anymore. Too boring. As for fun books, I finished and reviewed LEGEND by Marie Lu. I also read (and will be reviewing soon) SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi, LEAP OF FAITH by Jamie Blair, and THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW (the first Narnia book) by C. S. Lewis. I've been super excited about reading lately!

Currently I'm reading DEAR LIFE, Alice Munro's latest short story collection, for school. I also ordered some books from Amazon that should be coming soon!

What I'm Writing
I've been so preoccupied with all the books for school and fun that I haven't done much writing. I'm slowly working through a short story I started a month ago, and I love my main character, which helps. I've also started coming up with some new ideas for travel essays and short stories, which I'm saving up in a "to-be-written" list for future writing pieces.

I did reach most of my Writer Recharge goals, though! I wrote both my long and short travel essays as well as my critical paper on THE CORRECTIONS. I'm almost finished with my "Big Sister" short story revisions (and may have even found a real title to replace this stupid temporary one!). Sticking to the writing schedule was tougher...it's still a work-in-progress. One step at a time, I guess! :) 

What Inspires Me Right Now
Spring break! The day after tomorrow, I will be homeward bound! I can't wait to see my family (but I CAN wait for the endless stream of doctors appointments I have to go to while I'm home...that's the problem with living so far away from your doctors/dentists) and relax for a while.

What Else Is New?
I can't believe it's MARCH. The semester looks a LOT shorter from this side of February, that's for sure. And since it's March, all this snow needs to go away. It's not funny anymore, Mother Nature!!!

How was your week? Have you read any of the books I talked about today? As sick of the snow as I am? 

Writer Recharge/What's Up Wednesday combo!

Hi everyone! Today I'm doing a Writer Recharge update AND a What's Up Wedneday post. Hooray for multitasking!

What I'm Reading
SO MANY THINGS. I finished Annie Dillard's book of travel essays. Wasn't impressed. It was well-written, for sure, just not my style. I also finished THE MAZE RUNNER and will hopefully post a review at some point! ALSO I read Nathan Englander's short story collection WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ANNE FRANK that I had to read for class. It was REALLY good. The stories were long but seemed to fly by.

Now, onto what I'm currently reading! I'm almost halfway through Claire Messud's THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN for my Contemporary Novels class. Started another book of travel essays (SEEK by Denis Johnson) and Alice Munro's "last" short story collection (she insists she's retired from writing now...we'll see!) DEAR LIFE. And my fun book of the moment? LEGEND by Marie Lu. THIS IS EXCITING! I'm on a dystopian kick right now and am loving this one. :)

What I'm Writing
Guys. I FINISHED MY CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE CORRECTIONS! It's not due until Sunday. I also
finished revising a short travel piece and turned that in to my professor (early!). According to the Writer Recharge post-it note hanging above my desk, I only have two goals left: to revise my completed short story and to finish another one. I'm hopefully going to focus more on the revision so I'll have a solid story to submit to literary magazines and all that jazz. Maybe I'll post a snippet here soon!  

What Inspires Me Right Now
My motivation has returned now that Spring Break is getting closer. The one thing I don't want to do is lug home a bunch of schoolwork, so I have myself on a pretty ridiculous reading schedule to make sure I get everything done early. My "currently reading" shelf on GoodReads is pretty full!

What Else Is New?
My car was a brat today (okay, maybe I might've accidentally left one of the little lights above the rearview mirror on for an undetermined length of time) and was pretty much completely dead. So I called AAA and they got the battery charging up, and then I sat in my car and let it run for 20 minutes before heading out to do my errands. NEVER AGAIN will I use those little lights.
I bought two new bathing suits at Target (gotta get them before they're picked over!) last weekend, which means it's time to get back in shape. I had a really good run on Monday and ended it with more energy than I started with...that NEVER happens!

Okay, this post has been long enough. Tell me about your week! :)

Writer Recharge: Week 2!

Week 2 of Writer Recharge and I'm finally making some progress! I finished the first draft of my travel essay for class and sent it out to my classmates. I'm getting workshopped on Thursday, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

I've kept to my writing schedule on Tuesdays so far, even though I've also squeezed in Tuesday morning errands the past couple weeks (what SHOULD be a quick trip to the store in Pittsburgh is always such a project...so many stoplights and too many carts in the checkout lines. This is why I shop at 9 AM).

My critical paper on THE CORRECTIONS (a huge book I finally finished reading on Saturday) got bumped back to March 3, but I'm still going to work on it this month.

The next goal I'm tackling is my 750-1000 word travel essay. I wrote one about contracting food poisoning abroad, but the word count fell short so I'm going to work on expanding it.


How are your Writer Recharge goals coming along?

Writer Recharge Update: Week 1

I joined Writer Recharge, a February motivation challenge to get writing. I've got a long way to go (and a short amount of time) to accomplish my goals, but I'm slowly making progress.

This past week I've focused on writing an essay about my trip to South Africa for my travel writing class. I have to submit it on Thursday to be put up for workshop the following week. I've written eight pages so far, and my goal is to hit at least eleven or twelve before sending it out to workshop.

I'm trying to stick to my writing day schedule. Tomorrow will be my second Tuesday where I writewritewrite all day. I made my haircut appointment for 9:30 AM so I can have plenty of time before my night class to write.

How is everyone else doing with their goals?

Writer Recharge!

Several of the writers whose blogs I follow are doing a Writer Recharge this month, and with so many things on my plate writing-wise, it's the perfect time for me to join in! Here are the details in case you do too:

January is in the books and you’ve had to deal with:

a) polar vortices

b) ice storms

c) mountains of snow

d) gray skies and general malaise

e) all of the above

We thought our writer friends might be in need of a little boost. A jump start, if you will. A recharge.

We’d like to invite you to join us for Writer Recharge 2014, a month-long motivational challenge similar to last summer’s Ready. Set. Write! So many of us benefited from setting goals, connecting with other writers, and social media-based accountability. So, let’s do it again! Whether you’re delighting next to the crackling fireplace of a Shiny New Idea with a warm cup of tea and or spinning out on the ice-covered roads of revisions in an attempt to avoid the snow-packed ditch, we want to write with you! What do you want to accomplish this month? Hit a daily word count? Revise a certain number of pages or chapters each week? Complete a draft by the end of the month? Let’s get this party started!

Writer Recharge 2014

Your hosts and cheerleaders:

Alison Miller, Liz Parker, Elodie Nowodazkij, Sara Biren & Katy Upperman

Your timeline:

First week of February: Post your goals for the month on your blog, website, or Twitter. Use the hashtag #WriterRecharge. Link your blog post at sarabiren.com.
Every Monday in February: Update your progress via your blog or twitter. Link your blog posts at Sara’s Monday posts.
Throughout the month: Use the hashtag to connect with other writers, have writing parties, and cheer one another on!
February 28: Post your final update via your blog or twitter.
Anyone who uses the hashtag or links their blog posts will be entered to win one of five query or 3-chapter critiques. 

My goals for the month:
-Stick to my brand new writing schedule (Tuesdays and possibly Fridays are my writing marathon days)
-Revise my "Big Sister" (still untitled at this point) story after it is workshopped
-Finish writing "House" (again, still untitled) story
-Draft my long travel essay (15-20 pgs)
-Write/revise/submit my short travel essay (750-1000 words)
-Write critical paper on THE CORRECTIONS once I finish reading the book

Basically, this is just a broken down look at my syllabus for the month of February. Posting about my schoolwork will (hopefully) give me the motivation I've been lacking this semester. I haven't been this excited about the stories I've written in a while, so hopefully that means something good! 

Thanks for the motivation, Writer Recharge ladies! Anyone else joining? :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! & resolution time again

Here's to 365 days of reading books and writing stories that bring us joy!

Are you making resolutions for 2014? Once again, my goal is to read 50 books this year. I'm hoping to diversify my reading list a bit more this year, too.

My other goal sort of pertains to reading/writing and life in general. I want to be a better nerd. This might sound weird, but just let me explain. I'm operating under the John Green definition of nerd:

I'm definitely guilty of toning down my love of certain things (certain books, movies, TV shows) because I worry about what other people think. I need to stop that. My goal this year is to LOVE THINGS. I want to unapologetically love the things I love without worrying what other people say.


Who wants to join me in a life of happy nerdiness? What are your goals for 2014?

Read Better in 2014

I was inspired by this YA Highway post to analyze the books I read this year and search for trends. How many of the books I read are YA? Classics? How many take place outside the U.S.?

Being the obsessively organized person that I am, I made an Excel spreadsheet from my 2013 booklist and found commonalities and things that stood out. Here are my stats:

(out of 48 books read)*

Reread: 12 (25%)

Read for school (college and grad): 30 (62.5%)
YA: 26 (54%)
MG: 3 (6%)
Contemporary fiction: 8 (17%)
Literature: 4 (8%)
Nonfiction: 1 (2%)
MMC: 24 (50%)
FMC: 32 (66%)
(*some had both male and female MCs)
LGBT characters: 2 (4%)
MC of color: 6 (12.5%)
International setting: 8 (17%)
Award winners: 13 (27%)
(*major awards, like Pulitzer, National Book Award, Printz)

Observations

-Over half of the books with international settings were school-assigned books (the other were the Infernal Devices books)
-All but one of my MCs of color books were school-assigned books
-A quarter of my books this year are rereads, most of them for pleasure (3 for school)
-2 Pulitzer Prize winners (OSCAR WAO and THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA) and one finalist (TRAIN DREAMS)
-Pretty even female/male protagonist split (I knew there’d be a few more female narrators)
-Only two LGBT characters (I usually come across LGBT books by accident or when an author I love writes one, like A.S. King and ASK THE PASSENGERS.)


After looking at the breakdown, I made some reading goals for 2014:
-3 Pulitzer Prize winners/nominees (possibilities: CATHEDRAL by Raymond Carver, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee, A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD by Jennifer Egan, WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ANNE FRANK by Nathan Englander)
-5 classics/literature/modern classics [counting rereads] (possibilities: ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy, EAST OF EDEN by John Steinbeck, THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST by Ken Kesey, THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton [reread], TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
-4 nonfiction books/collections (memoirs and essays from my travel writing class next semester)
-3 books with LGBT characters (possibilities: WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green, CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE by Cassandra Clare)


Do you have any reading goals for 2014? Any recommendations of books I should read to reach mine next year?


*I did these calculations two weeks ago and have read a few more books since then, but the percentages are generally the same.

What's Up Wednesday: unfinished goals and Cory Monteith.

Linking up with Jaime and Erin again this week!

What I’m Reading
Still on READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN and loving it! The section on the Great Gatsby is my favorite, obviously (you can read about my Gatsby obsession here), and I underlined and starred quotes like crazy (I’m normally not a write-in-books person unless they’re textbooks, but I felt like I had to here). I have fifty or so pages left, and once I’m done I’ll post my favorite quotes and a commentary on each. This book is seriously cool!

What I’m Writing

SO. 25k didn’t quite happen this week. My word count landed at just under 23K. I just wasn’t as motivated to write this week. I think it was because my story is going in a bunch of different directions right now, and I’m struggling to find its focus. Also I find that I don’t reach my goals as quickly when I don’t have my Saturdays to write (I went to DC all day Saturday, which would’ve been my major writing day) and instead have to squeeze in writing time during my lunch breaks at work. I’m going to try again for 25k this week after going back and cleaning up my outline a little bit.

What Inspires Me Right Now

Honestly, I haven’t been too inspired this week. Another reason my focus lagged the past couple days is because of how shaken I was over the death of Cory Monteith. I’ve been a fan of Glee since the beginning, and although I stopped watching partway through the most recent season (after the original kids graduated, the quality hasn’t been the same), I still adore the show’s concept and messages. I can’t stop thinking about Cory because for so long I watched him every week, listened to him on my iPod, and read his tweets (I read a tweet of his a day or two before he died, and it’s the first thing I thought about when I heard the news...he was JUST posting on Twitter the other day). One minute he was here, and now he’s gone. (That sounds cliché, but I never really GOT the scariness of that until now.) Also, he was so young. :( All the entertainment news stations are airing old interviews with him, and it’s eerie to watch them, almost like he’s still here. It’s really shaken me up. Rest peacefully, Cory. <3  
 

What Else I’ve Been Up To
-Celebrated my mom’s birthday on Thursday with a cookie-cake and a trip to see The Heat at the movies!
-My mom, brother and I went to DC on Saturday. My only goal was to see a dinosaur, and I definitely accomplished that in the Museum of Natural History. If you can only go to one museum in DC, I recommend that one! There’s just so much to look at! My family and I have never been the type of people who can stand and read the information on every exhibit’s nameplate…we kind of stare at the exhibit for a minute and declare, “Okay, next one!” And Natural History was perfect for that. We also saw the Hope Diamond (PRETTY!), mummies, and they had an entire exhibit on Africa (I found lots of stuff about South Africa, which made me really homesick for it! I spent a few weeks there last summer, for those of you who don’t know). 

-Yesterday I had a phone interview (I babbled like a crazy person) and a dentist appointment (my dental hygienist is like my therapist, we talk the ENTIRE time, even when my mouth is full of dental tools). Also, one of the vendors that supplies my work’s office with chairs brought us donuts and muffins from Dunkin (to apologize for their slow service on repairing our desk chairs), which made a stressful day a little better! Nothing like a chocolate donut with chocolate frosting at 9am!

Happy Wednesday to everyone! :)

What's Up Wednesday? I'll tell you what's up...20k!

Linking up with Jaime and Erin for an exciting edition of What's Up Wednesday!

 

What I’m Reading

STILL working through READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN. It’s taking me a while not because I find the book dull, but because I’m not reading every day. I need to establish a time every day to read. I also bought my first three books for my grad school classes: REVOLUTIONARY ROAD by Richard Yates; THE BRIEF AND WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz (has been on my to-read list forever); and THE CHOCOLATE WAR by Robert Cormier. I found them all at a used bookstore for under $15 total. Can’t wait to search for more!

Have I mentioned I can't wait for grad school to start?

What I’m Writing

I’m pretty excited because I hit my goal of 20,000 words in my WIP! As of now, everything is lining up well because I’m approximately a third of the way through my draft and I wanted to land above 50k, preferably between 60-70k. I know word counts fluctuate like crazy during revisions, but I want a solid foundation to work with when I’m done with draft one.

Since I just reached this goal and am feeling confident (maybe a little too confident), I’m setting my goal for the week to 25k. I like round numbers like that. :) I wrote a scene a while ago (out of order) that I’m finally able to put into its proper spot in the draft, so that’s about 600 words right there. Plus there’s a lot happening in the next two chapter with Bowie’s school, her sister Caroline, and her new circle of friends that I’m excited to explore. Hopefully I won’t hit any boring lulls.

What Inspires Me Right Now

Surprisingly, myself! I’m really proud of hitting 20k in under six weeks (I started my draft May 30^th). I usually abandon projects around this point, and the fact that I’m still excited to explore the story keeps me going.

What Else I’ve Been Up To

-My family went shopping on the Fourth (I know, I know, we’re totally contributing to the nation’s

consumerism issue, but my family is SO BAD with holidays. We go to the movies on Christmas day every year.), and we got some super great deals. The Vera Bradley outlet was having a 50% off sale (50% off the already discounted outlet price), and I got a laptop case, a wallet, and a mini hipster bag for my mom…all for $60! I was in heaven! We also did some shopping at Gap. For some reason I always like the clothes they sell at the outlet more than the ones in the store (They sell different ones…no idea why).

-Last weekend I went to a Fourth of July/21^st birthday party for my Little (my “little sister” in my sorority), wearing my brand new Gap outfit. It was a Zeta Tau Alpha family reunion of sorts, because our entire line of bigs and littles came (my big, my little’s little, our crazy “aunt”). It was a little crazy but fun at the same time, and we all crashed in the basement overnight. I had fun reuniting with my sisters for the first time since the end of the school year. I miss them so much already!

-I’ve done a lot of driving over the past few weeks, and I think I’m FINALLY over my driving anxiety that I had at the beginning of the summer. It was pretty bad for a while (couldn’t drive on main roads because they were too crazy and busy, but I also hated back roads because they were so narrow), but between driving all over creation during my friend’s wedding week and going up to Pottsville for my little’s party, I had to get over it. I’m still looking for a  city/town where the drivers are nice and don’t honk at you or cut you off so I can move there and be happy forever. Suggestions welcome!

-Sending positive thoughts to Randy Travis, the country music star who is in critical condition because of a viral infection in his heart. I sang his song “I Told You So” at a show choir audition in high school and sing along when “Forever and Ever, Amen” comes on the radio. I hope he heals soon. <3 (I got into the show choir, by the way.)

-My mom, brother, and I are going to Washington D.C. for the day on Saturday to get our nerd on at the Smithsonians, so next week I’ll have lots of fun pictures to share! (I’m hoping to see the dinosaurs, but it all depends on how much time we have)
 

Happy Wednesday to you all!

What's Up Wednesday/Ready. Set. Write!

First off, on a slightly unrelated note, this is my 100th post on Always Write! I made this blog a few years ago and have had so much fun talking about books and writing. Here's hoping for 100 more posts! :)

Now, on to What's Up Wednesday!

What I’m Reading

I just finished THE MOON AND MORE by Sarah Dessen, and since there’s no better time to read her books than summer, I picked up THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER for the 849758943709437^th time. This is the book that really made me realize what I wanted to accomplish as a writer (and that I could actually do it). So this book is close to my heart and I love it just as much every time I read it. <3

I’m also working my way through ANNA KARENINA. I started it last summer and read 300 pages before falling away from it once school started. I’m picking up where I left off (after refreshing my memory with a few online summaries). Let’s see if I can make it to the end this time!

 What I’m Writing

I’m participating in Ready. Set. Write! The idea of the challenge is to set attainable goals for yourself all summer and update others on a weekly basis to hold yourself accountable. This came at the perfect time because my WIP is just starting to get off the ground and gain momentum (Wow…no pun intended…my story is about airplanes…). So, dun dun dunnnnnn, here are my goals for the next week:
-Write at least 3,000 words for my WIP, The New World. (I’ve been trying to do 500 a day, so this leaves some wiggle room for a day off or a lower word count day)
-Fill in gaps in The New World outline where necessary. (The last third of the book has a bare-bones outline, if that.)
-Write at least four entries in my journal. (I’m trying to keep a running log/journal of my life, just for me, to keep me self-aware.)

 

What Inspires Me Right Now

I’m still riding the tail end of my Sarah Dessen-inspiration wave I wrote about last week. I’m also having such a fun time writing my WIP this week because some of the scenes are based on my own life. It’s fun to relive my past and have the power to alter it as I see fit.

What Else I’ve Been Up To

Working 8-5. Contemplating a classic Disney movie marathon for this weekend. Pinning up a storm on Pinterest. Trying to exercise regularly so I’ll have rocking-looking arms and legs by the end of the month, when I’ll be wearing a strapless bridesmaid’s dress in my friend’s wedding. (This basically means I do pushups during commercial breaks while I’m watching TV, but whatever works, right?)

 

What about you? What does your Wednesday look like?

I'm playing a little bit of catch-up right now with my monthly goals. Here are my updates for March and April!

March: Writing

I took on a crazy amount of projects for my last semester at SU, and they didn’t all get done. I ended up dropping my senior honors project because it was just too much on top of everything else. I would’ve had to present my project to the department and field questions, and I didn’t feel comfortable presenting something that wasn’t my best work. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew” is definitely a lesson I learned this semester. I always think I can get everything done, but I’ve realized that I have limits and priorities. I spent time with my friends (friends who I won’t see daily anymore) instead of hiding away in the library, working on portfolios that I don’t have to do. Like I said, priorities.

 

I did, however, complete three other projects this semester, and I did a fair amount of work on them during March. I completely revamped the plot of my novel for my novel writing class during my spring break, sending my story off in a new direction. I wrote what is possibly my favorite short story to date for my independent study. And I started assembling my Scholars House project, a promotional portfolio of essays and letters about my time in South Africa.

I have a decent amount of material to show for all my hard work this semester, and I’m pretty proud.

 

 April: Be a College Kid

This was really important to me. As the clock ran down towards graduation, I wanted to have tons of fun with my friends and take every experience offered to me. Here are just some of the fun things I did in April:

-Danced in Airband for ZTA (a sorority/fraternity dance competition)

-Went to the ZTA spring formal with all my sisters (and didn’t cry!)
-Watched Silver Linings Playbook on Deg Lawn with my G-Little
-Went to the Spring Weekend carnival on campus, rode a spinny ride (and didn’t throw up), and ate friend Oreos
-Saw Kingsfoil (SU’s favorite local band) at Trax and danced all night
-Bonded with my Ladybug family from ZTA while making our family’s page for the sorority scrapbook

I’m going to miss being a college kid! </3

February resolutions (how'd I do?)

It's March now, and I'm reflecting back on the resolutions I made in February: to be kind, caring, and loving toward myself and others. These goals wound up connecting more to my writing than I ever imagined.

Some little things I did:
-Sent my grandma, uncles, and parents/brother valentines
-Sent valentines to the other SU sororities on behalf of the chapter (I'm the corresponding secretary for ZTA, and I thought valentines would be a nice surprise!)

I found the self-love part the most difficult piece of my resolution this month. I had a really bad workshop in my independent study where Tom (the professor that I admire more than anything) completely ripped apart two stories I'd previously thought were solid, one I'd even used in my grad school apps. I had a few really hard weeks where I felt lost, because I had to throw out half of my writing portfolio, and I wasn't sure how to fix my stories. It was hard to not feel like a failure.

Thankfully, I'd already received my Chatham acceptance, but I couldn't help playing negative mind games with myself. What if Chatham has no standards? What if they accept everyone? I had no idea what to think about my writing ability, and it didn't help that I was surrounded by the most talented writers in the department in my novel class.

I'm feeling more confident now, especially after attending the Chatham open house. I asked the department head a question (How many MFA students come from a creative writing undergrad background vs. a non-writing background?), and in her answer she said that if you were accepted, the department wants to work with you. You might not be perfect, but the department sees potential. So that reassured me.

A fun thing that ZTA did this month was a self-confidence workshop and photoshoot. We all made signs for another sister, saying what we love and admire most about them. I thought it came at the perfect time; how did they know that self-love was part of my February resolution?

Photo credit: KAMera Designs

Monthly Resolutions: February

 

 

February

Love

 

Self-love, the love of others, just caring in general. There is so much negativity, hate, and overall grumpiness in the world. I want to make sure I'm not a part of that, and I'd like to make some of it go away. At least for a little while 

 

Goals:

-Appreciate myself more and be proud of the things I’ve done (instead of always wanting to do more)

-Do something nice for myself (read a book for fun, go shopping, buy a big cookie)

-Give valentines to friends/family

-Spend time with someone I don't normally hang out with

-Smile



Monthly Resolutions: January



January

Grow up

 

This isn't to say I can't continue obsessing over Disney princesses (I had Tangled decorations for my 22nd birthday on Tuesday) and eating animal crackers. I just need to start some more adult habits, particularly in regards to money.

 

Goals:

-Start putting money in my savings account every month

-Balance my checkbook more frequently

-Prep for job market (fix my LinkedIn profile, update resumes)

-Pay off my car (or have it paid off by May)

-Do Bentley work (my part-time job, I work from school during the semester) even when I'm not in the office


Since it's almost the middle of the month already, I'll do a quick check-in of what I've accomplished so far. I've updated my LinkedIn profile and a few of my resumes, though I have a few other resumes that need some tweaking. I balanced my checkbook and am aiming to write down purchases right after I make them. Also, I have this ridiculous fear of using the phone/calling people I don't know well, but on my birthday I spent an hour on the phone to set up my new iPhone. It's cheating a little, because I've talked to the girl who helped me before, so I sort of know her (aka. I know she's super nice and not scary and mean), but still. I'm counting it as a grown-up thing!

Here's to hoping I can keep this up!

2013 Monthly Resolutions

I came across a post on The College Prepster about resolutions a week or two ago, and I really like how she broke down her resolutions by month. Since I love to obsessively organize my life, I decided to do something similar. I picked a category to specifically focus on for each month (although I'll still work on the other categories each month too).

So this isn't strictly a writing-related post, but writing is my March goal! It counts, right? I thought this would be a good way to share a little more of myself on this blog, instead of just my thoughts on books and writing.

January: Grow Up

This isn’t to say I can’t continue obsessing over Disney princesses and eating animal crackers. I just need to start some more adult habits, particularly in regards to money. I want to start putting a piece of my paycheck into my savings account each month, and I'm hoping to pay back the money my parents loaned me for my car.
 

February: Love

Self-love, the love of others, just caring in general. I want to buy valentines. I want to spend more time talking to people I don't normally talk to. I want to smile more.

March: Writing

I try and write all the time, but it doesn’t always happen. I have a TON of projects to finish at SU, and I want to have material to work with in graduate school. March is right in the middle of my semester, so it’s a good time for me to check in with my progress.
 

April: Be a college kid

I want to enjoy my last month as a college student. I want to take every opportunity offered to have fun and spend time with my friends.

May: Organization

I want everything to be in order as I move on to the next phase in my life (post-graduation, hopefully to grad school). I don’t need clutter in my way!

June: Exercise

I’m trying to get back into exercising this year, and once school is over, I’ll have free time to devote to exercise daily. I really want to start doing yoga again.

July: Food

Eat cleaner, cook more, find new recipes I love.

  August: Music

I’ve fallen away from playing guitar in the past year or so, which makes me sad. I want to start playing regularly again and build back those calluses on my fingers.

September: Relationships

I’m a shy person when I first meet people, so I need to put myself out there when I get to grad school and make some new friends. Because staying home alone is never any fun.

October: Reading

I love to read but never seem to have enough time. I need to set aside the time to read for pleasure, not just what I’m assigned for classes.

November: Relax

I always get stressed right before finals time when all my portfolios and stuff are due. I need to take time to chill.

December: Holiday etiquette

I always seem to put off holiday errands until really late in the month, and presents/cards wind up late or not sent. I need to be better about that.


I'll be checking in with myself over the course of each month, and at the end of the month, I'll make a post about how successful my goals were. Hopefully this will keep me accountable!

How about you? What are your goals for the year?

My semester so far and goals for the future

I’m halfway through fall semester, and so far I have:

-Written, workshopped, and revised one short story (about a girl who works for a hot air balloon crew)

-Written and workshopped my South Africa travel essay (I have a lot of revisions to do on this one)

-Written a partial draft of a second short story (about a girl who tries to convince her ten-year-old neighbor that she can hear ghosts speaking through her car radio)
-Written my midterm essay for Grammar about the Appalachian English dialect (I got to talk about moonshine and clan wars, it was awesome!)
-Gotten As on all my Living Writers essay quizzes so far, including the one I wrote about Tom Bailey’s short story, “Snow Dreams”
-Started a creative nonfiction piece about bride kidnapping
-House-sat for Tom Bailey (SO MUCH FUN, even though their water shut off halfway through the weekend and I thought I broke their house)

 

I’m also keeping busy with events for Zeta Tau Alpha, my sorority, and hanging out with my friends. This is absolutely my favorite semester so far, I can’t believe it’s halfway over already!

My goals for the second half of the semester are:

-Apply for grad schools (I need to get recommendations from professors, write my personal statement, and figure out what stories to put in my portfolio)

-Edit my South Africa travel essay
-Finish writing my second Advanced Fiction story and put it up for workshop
-Figure out what I’m doing for my Scholars House project (I’m thinking a portfolio of essays/stories about travel and my South Africa trip)
-Come up with an idea for my third Advanced Fiction short story
-Read a book for pleasure and not because I’m required to for school

 

Hope everybody’s autumn is going well so far. I’ve bought two pairs of boots in the past week and drinking pumpkin-flavored beverages!