And So It Begins

I'm back at school. Another year of balancing classes, theatre, a social life and trying to write. In the last couple years I slacked on one or two of those, mostly it was writing. I want to do so much this year, but the question that keeps running through my head is "can I have it all?"
Classes and theatre are set in stone. Without classes, I technically wouldn't be in college. Also theatre and classes sort of mix. Theatre is my major and it's what I want to do in the future (and writing of course). So I can't give that up.

My new desk!

I just got a social life. Seriously. It took a long time to get one, but I got it and I'm not letting it go. I've only been to a hand full of parties. Technically I've only been to cast parties. But those still count. Right? Anyway I also have a few circles of friends I hang out with at during the day or in the evening. It's fun just being around people. If I become a hermit again I would miss so many of my friends and the opportunity to make new ones.
 Then there's writing, which for two years got the short end of the stick. I've tried so hard over the summer to get my first draft finished. But life decided to be a douche and punch me in the stomach saying "Not on my watch." So now I have a first draft that is halfway to my goal and I start classes and the crazy madness of college in the next few days.
So what am I going to do? Well at WriteOnCon I found a whole group of college students in my predicament. Some were further than me, like on their third and fourth draft others were in the same boat. They all shared how they find time to write and trying to be well rounded in school. Honestly I don't know how these kids do it, but I know it can be done.
It will be. I'll have it all. Maybe not at the same time. I'm positive I can do it this year.

Bookshelf. I could only bring unread books.

Now usually with the new school year I fail at blogging. This will not be the case this year. I'll be doing YA Highway Road Trip Wednesdays and I'll attempt to get in a few post a month. Also the vlog is still a thing. 30 Days of Vlogging might have ended but I'll have "Morphinominal Monday" and maybe another video in the week. I might cheat and put the video up on the blog. Vlog on the blog. That's fun to say.
This has been a great summer and I'm thrilled to start the school year.
Happy Reading!

As 2011 ends...

Looking back on my year I kinda epically failed on the blogging part of my resolution as well as my reading and writing goals. Also my vlogging failed in the most epic way possible. That didn’t last long. I actually tired to make a vlog several times and I was going to post all of the bloopers up on YouTube this break, but my laptop crashed and I lost almost all of my files. However this year wasn’t entirely an epic fail on my part. I READ THE HUNGERS GAMES.


I READ THE HUNGER GAMES.

It was peer pressure mostly. I was working on a show and the dressing room chatter was all about the Hungers Games. I hate spoilers so started again and finished within days. I’m still on Catching Fire so no spoilers. It took me a long time to get into it. But after I got through with part one I could not stop reading. (This was a problem because it was midnight and I had class at nine the next morning.) All I could say now is I’m hooked. Peer pressure is bad.

In writing I have epically failed upon epic failure. I’ve dabbled with a few story ideas but they never fell through. Since my laptop crashed I’ve had more time to sit down at my desk at home and write. And the creative juice kept flowing. Maybe the main problem was that I could not just sit on my bed and try to write with my laptop because it’s too distracting. I’ve written more this past week without my laptop than I written this year. I defiantly have to take this into consideration when I go back to school.

This year had its ups and downs, but I think through all of this chaos I’ve found clarity. I learned from my mistakes and when next year rolls along I could better myself as a reader, writer, and person.

Happy Reading!

Break

I know I haven't been present for a while and I'm sorry. I still need to adjust to college life. With that I will be taking a break from all of my social sites. I might still do a teaser Tuesday fro nanowrimo but there will be no initial though put into the post just the teaser. I'm really sorry to all my readers. I just need to relax and focus on school.
Happy Reading!

I'm back!

I’ve been taking two lit courses this semester. One is Introduction to Literary Fiction and the other is a Comparative Lit class called Major Characters in Western Literature. I have been assigned quite a bit of reading since I started these courses and it has been a handful. My limits have been pushed in these classes and I had an epiphany Reading and writing from an academic view point is hard.


I love to read but it’s hard to read a novel and just study it and say what I think the author is trying to say (if anyone has E.M. Forster on speed dial from the dead let me know.) on the other hand I do like discussing literature with my well educated colleges students, but writing it on paper has without sounding like I don’t know what I’m talking about? Yeah a little difficult.

College life has been good for me though. I’m never late for my classes; I get my homework done and have an adequate social life. My problem is that I don’t have time to read or write. I barely get through my required reading for class and whenever I say “I’m going to have a writing day” I get tired or remember I have to do something for class. I just need to get into the grove of things.

Next week is banned books week and hopefully I’ll get to talk about my favorite banned books. Last year I wrote an article on Banned books for my school newspaper. I posted it a while back after Ellen Hopkins' uninvitation to the Teen Lit Festival last month. You can check it out here
What are your favorite banned books?

Happy Reading!

College

Sorry for my lack of blogging. So as many of you know I started college this week. Once I get settled in I'll start to blog more. I'm taking two different Literature classes so that might be interesting to talk about. I promise I'll be back soon.
Happy Reading!