I know this blog is mostly just me talking into the void, but I'm back. Again. Man, I've got a horrible history with this. Life's fun that way, I guess.
Six months ago I was in Virginia attending Hollins College for an MFA in Children's Literature. Only I spent a lot of money that I didn't have and felt like I was doing nothing but wasting everything: time, money, energy. I met some great people, but Hollins itself just wasn't a good fit for me, especially not for the price tag. So I came back to Arkansas, again, though VA was only ever a 6 week thing to begin with.
Still, it was rather disappointing to chase after a dream only to have it wither and die. And then come home to a sick cat and a $200 vet bill that I couldn't afford.
Yay!
Now I'm back at Tech, yet again, and working on yet another degree. This one's for teaching, so now I can at least be eligible to teach at the secondary level, not that that's what I really want to do with my life, but it's allowing me to work at the library again, which is currently paying my bills, so. Although, I do love teaching, especially literature and writing. It's just not the dream.
In dream-related news, I'm still working with Dr. White to get Tea Tree Publishing off and running. We've been working on our first manuscript and should have it ready to go before too long. Exciting! Everything's been taking longer than we anticipated, but that's more because this is our first go of it and we're still learning the ropes. I love it. I just need to find more time to dedicate to all of its social media accounts. I need to reconnect with the world, which is sort of why I'm here. I'm setting a new schedule for myself, and part of that time includes writing and reading. And that always brings me back to talking about it.
Meaning new reviews! And new stories! And me actually posting regularly about things instead of popping in every few months to promise that I'll be back. I'm getting my life together, and this time I mean it. I'm not going to let anything get in my way this year, especially not myself. So, if you're reading this and there's something you'd like to see in the content, let me know. I'm rededicating myself to the things that I love, so I'm also up for recommendations on just about anything: blogs to follow, books to read, tricks to try...
Reviews will resume shortly, and I'll probably tweak the site layout a bit and update, but I'll be back soon, lovelies. With regularly scheduled posts and everything. ;)
I was going to write a comment yesterday, but didn't, then you commented. (I would have remembered!) :P I check Feedly on my phone and it's not always the most convenient way to comment. Especially when I have more than 3 sentences to write.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I don't know how I missed this, but you went to Hollins! I have no idea how big the program is, but did you ever meet/know a Donna Patterson? She's my good friend who is going through that program currently.
Having not made the MFA choice myself, I hear you on not seeing it as much more than a money/time suck. I mean, I firmly believe that for some people it's beneficial, probably depending upon one's personality, but for me, it was a matter of owning to myself that I will need to master self-discipline eventually anyway.
...Still working on that. Doing better every day. Ugh, I fell out of practice last year. The worst.
I admire you for having the bravery to both make a big life change then owning to yourself that it isn't the best decision for you. Both of those are things that many people never do.
I'm looking forward to your new content! I like book reviews but I also like hearing writers talk about writing. :)
I knew that was you! I'm friends with Donna on Facebook now, and I could have sworn I saw your name pop up on something the other day. Small world! She was one of the few people there that I actually connected with; she's fantastic.
DeleteI'm still really bad at keeping to my schedules, but I'm going to force myself to get off my ass this year. Regardless of what happens. I mean, I can only have so many major disasters to blame, right? Haha.
But yes, I like reviewing so I'll get back to that, but I'll definitely just be rambling about writing a lot too, I imagine. And posting excerpts, hopefully, to keep me on task. I need to start a writing challenge, that might help. Like daily prompts or something.
Anywho. Always glad to hear from you!
Yes, Donna is definitely a keeper. :) That's really cool that you know her. I met her in college... 9 years ago? Eesh, I'm preparing myself for the years between me and college to be in the 10+.
DeleteOkay, plug. I'm not that crazy about this book, but it did inspire me today. I started doing the outline/beat thing on my own last year, and that's discussed in this book. She fleshed it out in more detail for me; also it's encouraging just knowing another writer that does it. I think the reason I'm even bringing it up is her drive inspired me and reminded me of something I used to have, while also making me less critical of myself. It hit me at a good time. So, this is a very light book plug. I'm mentioning it on the off-chance. I've gotten a lot of straight-up writing advice that it was interesting to get some advice on self-discipline for a change.