Is It Time To Redefine Your Goals?

Hey, guys.

Lately I've been trying to head in new directions, with my writing and the blogs. For example - you might've noticed visual changes to both Writer, Bewildered and Roses & Mustard. I've been mixing and matching colors, backgrounds, and graphics to improve the looks of the sites and (hopefully) increase blog traffic.

Writing-wise, I've made a huge decision: I'm sticking to short stories.

While I was in Paris, I wrote a short story entitled "At the Zoo." I'm very happy with it because I think it marks - or I'd like it to mark - a change in my writing habits. This past year was a dry one, creatively. I produced barely anything. I wasn't committed enough - I didn't make the necessary time and energy sacrifices.

I want to change that this year by redefining my goals. I've been so focused on idea of a novel, but it's now that I'm finally realizing the truth: I'm not ready for a such a lengthy project. If I want to get anything written, I need to set smaller, manageable goals - that is, short stories by given dates.

The other change I'm making is plot-wise. I've spent the last several months developing characters for my early-twentieth century story. (It's switched from 1945 to 1922 and back again more than once.) But none of my characters have had the right spark. I've liked them, but never loved them. And this week, I finally figured out where I went wrong.

I don't really want to invent my own characters. A story I find much more compelling is the life of Anna Akhmatova, my favorite poet since I was 12, when I first discovered poetry. I'm interested in her relationship with first husband Nikolay Gumilev and her brief affair with Amedeo Modigliani - which took place in Paris. I've made my first goal to write about her and Modi's time together.

What are your goals? Do you need to redefine them, or have you had to in the past?

Oh! - last but not least, I'm heading off to the UK for 2 more weeks. I doubt I'll have time to post on the trip, but I'll see you again September 9th.

And did I mention my Kindle got broken? Well, my Kindle got broken. I might blog about the experience when I return...

Oh, Commitment

If you know me, it's no secret that I have troubles with commitment. I'll promise to write a blog post on Sunday and wait till Tuesday, promise to spend an hour with the WiP and spend 15 minutes writing a paragraph...

So. Commitment issues.

As every serious writer knows, it's not easy to complete every task we set ourselves up for. Writing can be a stressful process. It takes time, which those with full- or part-time jobs may find lacking. Personally, I find myself with an average of at least 2-3 hours of homework each night, plus 1 hour walks in the morning and at least 1 hour of community service activities every week day (from tutoring to Honor Society to a school community service club.) That's a lot to juggle, and I often don't get nearly as much sleep as I'd like. (I usually get about 6 hours of sleep during the school year.) My habits aren't healthy - I gain weight, feel stressed... and my writing is also affected. It's difficult to write every day - some days, I simply don't have the time, or am so tired that forcing words out is no more than an unpleasant chore.

So how to keep up productivity? In my view, morale comes first. So put in place a reward system. Write a poem and grab a bowl of ice cream. Finish a chapter and spend some time catching up on your favorite TV shows. And that brings me to an important point - don't neglect friends and family. Remember: writing is important, but you have a life to live! (Besides, experiences equal inspiration. I don't know about you, but most of my writing is somehow inspired by my experiences. Important events leads to new plots. My characters may be shaped by fictional characters, but for the most part they're based on myself and my interactions with friends and family.)

How do you stay committed to your writing? Do you use a reward system? What's your trick for balancing writing and life?

Weekend Lessons; Or, What I Learned from My SAT Prep Course

It's an established fact that my mom borrows techniques from the Tiger Mother. So it's obvious that I'd be forced into taking a Princeton Review SAT prep course.

The class began yesterday, with a diagnostic test. I'll be taking several over the course of the class, all gradually increasing in difficulty. I'm already nervous, and here's why. (You might already have an idea.)

THE ESSAY.

**sinister dum-dum-dum**

If you read proficiently, have a pretty nice vocabulary, and know proper grammar, the writing section of the test can actually be fairly enjoyable (am I a nerd to admit it was fun?) Not including the essay, of course.

The essay. For which you're asked to analyze quotes rooted in analogy and political principles and... The essay for which you're reccommended to use "examples from literature, the arts, science and technology, history, current events, or your own experience or observation."

The essay for which you're given 25 minutes.

So basically I saw the prompt, then the suggestions for examples, and I had a 15-minute blank. No kidding. Peripherally, I watched each of the students surrounding write their essays - I think all of them had finished a page by the time I began. I actually wrote my introduction and first body paragraph, then skipped to the conclusion. I was having a near heart attack.

So I definitely can't speedwrite. In other news...

Once the miniature torture session had ended, we moved onto some math, grammar, and vocabulary. And, as usual, I found something I read from the "analyze this section" quite interesting.

Basically, the passage was about scientifically using linguistic information to determine the identity of a writer, lifted from a book published in 2000. It didn't give the name, but I wanted to share this:

But none of us can easily change our basic vocabulary, our personal store of available words. Human beings, in that respect, are the prisoners of their own language. We write from within a repertoire in which certain thoughts and words and spellings are available to us while others are not.

 The idea isn't especially new. My English class actually discussed this a bit at the beginning of the year, as we covered 1984, with the government attempting to crush the language and leave citizens with extremely limited vocabularies - without the words to express their doubts, eventually unable to even conceive of rebellion.

When I read this, my thoughts actually went into a different direction. It gave me a hopeful thought, in the midst of my rattledness: that no matter the lack of progress I make, I'm still able to say things no one is able to, because of the way in which I express them. The details I choose to add. Even if I'm not certain of my point (and I'm certainly not an articulate speaker) - I can write it out, give it time, and eventually the right words will come. I don't care if this is actually how it works, it's something I choose to believe in.

So that's that. Phew! And I haven't even mentioned *grinning like an idiot* that I wrote 655 words last night, and I think I could make it a daily routine, and after 100 days I'd...

Time to end the post? I agree. I'll just leave you by saying I'm pretty excited about the copy of Dante's Inferno I just picked up. Cool illustrations, from Hieronymus Bosch to Last Judgement depictions from the Renaissance  to some Gustave Doré engravings.

Have you also been rattled by the SAT essay? Any thoughts on the quote? Cool literary editions you've picked up?