I went a little crazy :-)

Hello all :)


As the title says, I went a little crazy last night. I'm subscribed to get daily emails from Writerly Life (a wonderful creative writing newsletter by Blair Hurley--check it out here: it's great!) and one of the posts was talking about a book she recommended called Make A Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time by Jordan Rosenfeld. I myself have been having difficulty lately trying to put together individual scenes in the current idea I've been working on so I bit. :-) I went to Amazon and put it in my cart. The thing is, after you put something in your cart, Amazon brings up a million suggestions; sort of like 'People who bought this book also bought these titles.' I put three other books in my cart and checked out before I could think twice. I'm very excited to read these titles. 

• One Year to a Writing Life: Twelve Lessons to Deepen Every Writer's Art and Craft by Susan M. Tiberghein
• Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Dr. Linda Edelstein 
• Creating Character Emotions by Ann Hood

On another note, I think I'm finally getting back into the swing of school. When classes started last week, I felt totally unprepared, physically and mentally. I had my tuition paid, books bought, and all that, but I was so comfortable staying up until 3AM watching reruns of 24 and Friends with my sister and sleeping in until 11AM. The thought of having assignments to do and material to read (I mean scholastic reading, not pleasure reading) was simply detestable! But now I'm doing a little better with the pace--though I've had to bid farewell to late-night Jack Bauer dates--and have gotten into the groove with most of my classes. I got so overwhelmed with assignments and deadlines this past Monday I decided to take a Facebook break for a week. I knew I wouldn't get anything done so I pledged not to log on until next Monday. These next few weeks are crucial to setting the mood for the rest of the semester, and I just know if I laze out early on, I will be lazy until May.

My English class is not at all what I thought it would be. I was under the impression that it was more geared towards composition and literature, but apparently the Department changed the core English courses to be more rhetoric-centric. The class itself is a little boring, but the professor has a dry sense of humor. My Spanish class is going very well; I'm enjoying it a lot. My professor is blind so almost everything we do in class is oral, which I think is good because practicing a foreign language out loud helps me learn it better than doing writing exercises. 

I'm also taking Political Science/American Government. There's plenty to read (and by plenty, I mean SO much) and it's pretty interesting. The professor is really interested in what he's talking about and that's always helpful in contributing to the relevance of a topic. My World Regions Geography professor is from Cork, Ireland and has a heavy accent. Being part Irish myself, it makes me happy to hear him talk. I feel like I'm going to learn a whole lot in Geography.

I have a feeling there are about to be some big changes in my life. I have been doing a lot of thinking about my major and what it is God wants me to do with my life. Right now, my major is English with a concentration of Creative Writing. I know that Creative Writing is not the most employable major out there, so I've been doing some careful thinking about possibly changing to a minor in Creative Writing and majoring in something a little more employable like Tech Writing or something of that ilk. I've considered teaching English. There are so many people out there who have not learned the basics of writing clearly. I think the best way to becoming a proficient writer is to start when you are young. If I was going to teach English, I would want to teach kids in the grade schools (Elementary or Secondary). I know teaching is no glamorous profession, but I believe in its utter significance. I am not married to any solid plans yet, but I am definitely giving the teaching field some serious thought. Honestly, all I want right now is to know what God wants me to do because what good could I possibly do if I am operating (or trying to operate) outside of His plan? Everything I touch will fall to pieces if what I'm doing isn't what He's told me to do. 


I'm unsure, I'm afraid, I'm insecure, I'm weary, I'm burned out. I will not give up. This world isn't my final destination. 


"...what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”" James 4:14b-15