It’s that time of the year again. Summer. End of classes. Holidays. The sinking feeling that you should be doing something more productive, like an internship or a job or really anything to not make your resume look as pathetic as it looks now. I have two more tests this week, German oral evaluation on the 22nd, hopefully no exams (this threat, I believe, has been neutralized but it’s never bad to remain cautious), and no classes until September returns and I have to redo the painfully stressful process of signing up for the new year (and no one will take that Creative Writing class from me, I swear to Cthulhu). It will be my third year, my last year, in college. Yeah. It’s funny how life creeps on you.
I think this whole anxiety about the future, which I suppose is a way for the brain to tell me to prepare for the changes ahead, has the ironic side effect of making me do nothing about the future. The more you worry, the less you do (the more you procrastinate). Instead of fight or flight, you get freeze.
Anyway, I’m digressing. June. New month. What am I doing?
I want to pick up steam this month. Things have been very mellow and slow, because I do not have the capacity to deal simultaneously with the stresses of college and the creation of a writing habit, it seems, but now that part of the equation is temporarily out of the way, I can concentrate on the other.
I’m taking part in Rachel Giesel’s Short Story Challenge (I know, I’m late, May was… a month I’d much rather not think about, thank you very much). Basically, read a short story every day, write a short story a week. It’s good, it’s structured, it’ll give me a concrete goal and no excuses for me to go all over the place just because I can. I will eventually publish these stories here on the blog, though maybe not as I write them. I’ll check back at the end of the month/first day of July.
Speaking of July, that’s the next Camp NaNoWrimo! I have to think about what to do. I remember in the beginning of the year saying that I was dedicating one of the two Camps to edit the stories I was writing at the time, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to be doing just that. But that’s not all I’m doing. To keep things interesting, I’ll also be working on my worldbuilding project which I, sadly, have been neglecting. Like how I neglect all other aspects of my life. I’m pretty sure I need help.
Anyway, I’m expecting the stories to already be related to that, somehow, either in setting or characters or both, just to give me a better idea of the place. Right now, what I have is just country and town names, basic history and geography, but nothing really concrete about the town itself, for that I’ll have to look at some pictures of riverside towns.
I’m also bringing back weekly updates, which makes sense since I’m actually doing something productive with my life and writing, for once. These, I suppose, will be similar to my earlier updates, and I think it’ll do me good to return to a familiar format. At least until my brain becomes bored again. I’m pretty sure I need help.
Without further ado, I shall end my update here. It’s late, and I have a test tomorrow.
A Youth and the Sea 