The Three Seasons

I almost titled this post as another "life update”. I did some brainstorming today about what I should write about in my blog, and I basically just listed everything that had occurred in my life in the last two weeks. And it wasn’t a whole lot of reading or writing.

Here are the things I’ve done in the meantime that pertain to reading/writing:

• I finally started CROOKED KINGDOM by Leigh Bardugo. Or what my family likes to affectionately call it: the dictionary (due to its red pages and thickness). It’s been sitting on my dresser for almost a year now…yikes. Unfortunately, I’ve only read the first ninety-six pages, so I’m not that far into it. But then again, I always knew it’d take me a while to read through it. (I’m really enjoying the book so far, though.)

• I haven’t done any sort of actual creative writing, but I have been devising ways on how to rework one of my larger stories that I wrote last year. I’m thinking about writing it in a slightly different genre. Of course, depending on how much I want to veer into the new genre, it could completely alter the actual story/plot. I’m not saying it’d be a bad thing, but I’m unsure if I’d like to travel down that road just yet. 

And that’s it.

But is that so bad?

I told myself a long time ago how there is a season for writing, a season for editing, and a season for absorbing. Plenty of writers or past professors of mine have recommended that I should be writing every day in order to develop the habit. And while I commend those people who spend a chunk of their day writing daily, this tactic doesn’t work for me. After a while, I become burnt out or I begin to view the act of writing as a chore. Obviously, neither of those things is good for me. Sometimes I honestly don’t have time to write and would rather sleep. It happens.

Just because I’m not putting my fingers onto a keyboard, though, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m not doing activities which could improve me as a writer. Brainstorming the plot and outlining the characters are important aspects of fleshing out the story. Re-reading and editing my work also takes time, but only involves a certain amount of writing. Being out in the world and living life allow me to generate ideas for my stories, even though I’m nowhere near my laptop.

So I’m currently in my season of absorbing. So what? I shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Sooner or later, I will find myself back into my season of writing. I always do.



Disclaimer: If your job involves you writing on a daily basis, ignore everything I stated above. You have a deadline, and a paycheck to factor in. You probably don’t have the luxury of having a season of non-writing. Sorry.

The Opposite of Routine

The end of summer is just over the horizon – and perhaps I’m speaking too soon – but I had a pretty dull season. Now, I’m certain there are plenty of people who find their own lives boring. I mean, how many times have you heard a conversation similar like this?

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing. You?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, no news is good news, right?”

It’s easy to fall into a routine. At least, I’m definitely guilty of this. (I am a girl who thrives on schedules, after all.) But the last straw of enduring another monotonous day occurred this weekend when I was trying to come up with a topic for this blog post.

In the last two weeks, I managed to finish Scythe by Neal Shusterman (which I started reading in July; the society within the novel was so fascinating) and then finished reading a novella. I didn’t do any writing because I decided to take a break from my July marathon, but I have been contemplating about editing/rewriting a NaNo 2016 story. And then I created more vocab cards.

After I looked at my dismal list of activities, I decided that enough was enough. If my brother could spend three days in Alabama last week for work, and if my sister could fly down to Florida yesterday for the next six days to see a friend, why couldn’t I partake in some kind of fun adventure, too? I don’t need to wait around for a friend or family member to have a free day; there’s nothing wrong with taking a trip somewhere on my own.

Therefore, I woke up earlier than usual yesterday and took a drive. I was only an hour away from home (no out-of-state activities, unfortunately), but I hadn’t been at the establishment since I was in junior high.

On my day off, dedicated to doing fun stuff, I decided to go...

…visit an outdoor museum.

(I’m such a nerd.)

I acquired so much trivia knowledge during my journey around the village. Like how apples originally came from Europe. Or how Heinz first bottled horseradish, not ketchup. Or that Daniel Webster only included one word of his own creation into his dictionary: demoralize.

Of course, as a writer, being immersed in a historic “community” made me wonder what kind of stories I could pull from this site. I mean, the world-building was already done for me as I wandered around the various time periods. There were even actors who roamed the streets, dressed in the proper attire from the late 1800s.

What I found amusing, though, was that by the end of the day, a couple of the museum guides began to recognize me. Turns out, when you walk around by yourself and only have the attendants to keep you company as you tour the houses, they remember. Some of the workers rotate to different exhibits later in the day and I’d show up at their new stations.

Needless to say, I broke the monotony of what could have been a typical Wednesday. I left the house and did something! (Running errands doesn’t count.) And now you (the reader) can get a slight break from reading a blog post of mine that doesn’t pertain to books or the act of writing. Look at me, breaking free from more routine-like stuff!

Of course, I could always loop my experience yesterday back to crafting stories, but I’ll spare you this one time. I’m sure you’re smart enough to reach your own conclusions.

All in all, sometimes I just need to go on a little adventure or try something new. It’s easy to become so wrapped up in my bubble of everyday responsibilities that I can forget how interesting the world is. So much information to uncover and places to see.

…I just wish I was more willing to plan these explorations earlier in the summer. Before I know it, it’s going to get cold here in Michigan.

Results of My July Writing Project

July is officially over, and so is my Writing Project for the month. Remember how my goal was to write at least 1,000 words/day, so that I could ultimately reach 31,000 words? Turns out, I wasn’t so good at that daily word count, but I did succeed in reaching my end goal.

Quick summary of what I accomplished in July:

(Warning: Yes, I do talk about math and numbers in the upcoming paragraphs. I apologize if you’re one of those people who receive headaches whenever calculations are brought up. The left side of my brain took over here.)

I wrote a total of eleven stories, which tends to be around my average whenever I do this sort of project for a month. Seven of those stories could be considered the opening pages of a larger piece of work, but the idea tampered off and I stopped writing for that particular plot. Three of my stories were more like snapshot scenes from a much larger story, but they at least could stand on their own. And finally, my longest story in the collection was complete at 16,750 words exactly (so, basically half of my overall word count of the month).

Also, I re-discovered my love for writing in the third person. Seven of my stories were written in this perspective, including my large story. I used to always write in third person, but in my early days of college, I started leaning toward first person. Now I’m really enjoying how I can hide certain things from the future reader while I’m writing in third person. (Of course, the fact that the last few novels I have read were written in third person might have subconsciously affected my own writing.)

Lastly, I was not a consistent writer this past month. During the first two days, I only reached a combined total of 1,278 words. So I had to make up for my lack of words on day 3. And that was basically me throughout the entire month. I was very erratic in my daily word count. See, here’s proof!

Yes, I did overachieve on the very last day. I could have stopped at around the 1,000 word mark, but I was determined to finish the story, so I kept going.

But despite all my (very) late night writing, not having a strategy on what kind of stories I was planning on writing, and having an irregular daily word count, I successfully reached my goal with 32,208 words. In fact, I actually beat my total word count from last July.

Good job, Amanda. I knew you could do it. (Now you just have to get back to a somewhat normal bedtime schedule. Good luck with that.)