Hoops

Now Playing: THE HOURS by Philip Glass
Just Read: OUTLANDER by Diana Gabalon--Very enjoyable. Parts of it felt a bit too slow-paced, but overall it was an engaging read, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Reading Now: T-E-X-T-B-O-O-K-S!

It seems like a writer's life is full of things that come between him or her and the actual putting down of words on paper. The "day-job" for example. For some people it's kids or family obligations. Frequently, the writer gets in his or her own way and doesn't write for reasons like "I don't know where the story's going!" or "I just can't relate to these characters." Might as well go see what else is on the TV.

I've faced a lot of obstacles so far in my amateur writing career, and I've written through them all with various successes. The thing about not having a deadline--or, not being a full-time writer who writes to pay the bills--is that I'm the only one who holds me accountable for not writing. I've blogged before about feeling guilty for not writing for long stretches, and that's always been true, but not usually around unavoidable circumstances like going to a family wedding or studying for exams during finals week.

These metaphorical hoops to jump through as an amateur writer, I'm sure, will always exist. Even with them I've written dozens and dozens of short stories and four novel manuscripts, so I think I'm doing okay. Last month I received my second honorable mention from the WotF contest; hopefully that means I'm heading generally upward.

The latest, though, is a doozy--a behemoth called graduate school. You may have noticed my latest update on what I'm reading now: textbooks. I'm in a two-year nurse anesthesia program at Wake Forest, and it's time consuming. There's a lot I have to learn and not a lot of time. We go through classes in just a few weeks and have tests that bear a lot of weight, so it's important to do well on them. My goal of writing and submitting one story per month has never faced such a monstrous obstacle.

Still, I accomplished August. I submitted a few recycled stories and wrote one new one before school really got too underway. Tomorrow I'm planning on doing some editing (as a study break) on the piece I want to submit for this quarter's WotF. Hopefully it turns out okay and doesn't need too much overhaul, because I'm not sure I have the time for it. Test Monday!

Anyway, enough blogging. Back to the books!