The Best Appetizer to Bring to a Writer's Community: Yourself

I have a complicated relationship with writing. I’ve posted several blogposts throughout the years describing the successes and failures of different tactics I’ve used to actually enjoy writing: Writing: To Love or To Hate, Overcoming the Dementor and Essay Writing: From Frolicking to Mental Breakdowns. The common factor that’s helped me be successful in writing, is one I haven’t blogged about yet: being apart of a community of writers.

Essay Writing: From Frolicking to Mental Breakdowns

Frolicking with Creative Non-Fiction! Pic Credit

Hello! I haven't really used this blog this semester, because up until this point, I've been happily frolicking through fields of Creative Non-Fiction. Creative Non-Fiction has its own difficulties, but I am much more engaged and happy even when I'm struggling through writing it. Soon, I will make a post about revising and editing, because that is where I'm having issues. But now, my frolicking days are over. Now is the wonderful time in the semester when research essays are no longer an abstract threat, but a reality that makes me sleep on my couch instead of a bed and have mental breakdowns in between rows of books in the library. Last semester, I felt like I made a lot of improvements with my essay writing issues, but this time, I feel like I'm back where I began. So here's the breakdown on what's making me despise writing:

Great Britain, Visited.

Almost to the top of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland

At the end of the first day of my study abroad, I laid down in a hostel bed in Scotland and wrote, dazedly, "My pictures cannot capture the beauty my eyes have seen." I feel the same now. I've started so many blog posts trying to summarize the trip. I don't know if my words can capture the beauty my eyes have seen, the hills my legs have climbed, and the animal poop my nose has smelled.  Am I being dramatic? Cliché? Possibly, probably. But sometimes life is wonderfully dramatic and magical and to be unreservedly gushy is to be truthful. Because this was a fairy-tale that was real.

Let's Get Personal!

FOR ENGLAND!

This month, I submitted a personal essay/narrative for a writing contest because, England don't come cheap and  I wanted to challenge myself in a new writing style. And I learned a lot from this experience! My topic was pretty open and vague: "Applied Christianity in daily living."
I've flirted with doing this essay contest since last semester and planned on doing it over Christmas Break, but let's be real, Christmas break was all about family, friends, and taking a reprieve from everything. After coming back from Christmas break, I wrote down this essay on every weekly to do list, and, in true procrastinator fashion, never did anything till I had 3 days to go. Last semester, I read this awesome BYU devotional speech about fear and faith, and it changed my perspective on life. So I knew I wanted to write something about changing my fear to faith, but I wasn't sure how to go about it. In my manic process of speed writing, I learned a lot about personal essays:

All About That Book

I'm a bookworm. I tend to read a lot of books. Shocker, I know. But I don't think I've ever read so many in such a short period of time than I did last semester. The book binge was so fun and stressful that I was a little delirious from it all when I came home and had to do a little book detox. Since I'll be reading and studying mainly Classic British Literature this semester, I wanted to say goodbye to YA lit and list some of my favorites before life gets crazy.

Best Dystopia: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Overcoming the Dementor

Dear November 2014 Annalee,
You do finish your essay mostly on time. While editing it throughout thanksgiving break, do not despair. Things turn out okay. All that editing work is so appreciated when you accidentally sleep in too late the day it's due and only have an hour before you have to walk into class. As you frantically try and put in the correct MLA formatting and rewrite those last couple sentences in that terrifying hour, know that your essay does not suck. Honestly, the suckage is 0%. So good job!  But that said, it still could be better. I can't believe you missed writing "a" and "the" a couple times.
Now if only you would have actually wrote the 30 book reviews as you read them this semester.  That all-nighter was not a fun time.
Love,
Your Future Self

After crossing the finish line for my papers, I usually feel like a dementor sucked out all the love and fire I had going into it. But this time, that did not happen!

The Drawing Board and Back: A Procrastinator's Tale

Remember when I wanted to write about male narration? Here is what it was like trying to research it:

 

There truly is very little to say about narration. Like there's nothing. How did I think I could research and write so much about it?! A couple weeks ago, I met with my professor, and we commiserated over the awfulness of writing essays over a topic you aren't interested in. It gave me the push I needed to let go of an already decaying corpse of an idea and restart at the drawing board. I promised myself I would start researching again to look  for something else, but then life and fear stepped in, and I resorted back to my procrastinator ways: avoidance, excuses, distraction. With a week to go, the manic fire of do-die lit and, hallelujah, I found a good question: How are Asian Americans portrayed in YA Lit?

And okay, I know: Why in the world would I, a white, conservative southerner, be writing about minorities?