8.27 writing update
A weekly newsletter dedicated to the craft
It has in fact been MUCH MORE than a week since my last post. My apologies. I plan on posting more on here, though, so hopefully that will make up for it :)
check in
dealing with stanford’s decision to cycle out (or “future fire” as lecturer Tom Kealey puts it in his article) all of the creative writing lecturers
will be writing about this soon!!
set a rubik’s cube record of 1:07.09 after never “cubing” in my life
years back, i solved it in a few days but that was about all my experience up until now—so GO LEARN THOSE RANDOM THINGS
went to the olivia rodrigo concert (yes, it was 2 weeks ago, but it still deserves to be recognized)
decided to switch my medication AGAIN from lexapro to zoloft
hopefully i feel better on it—i’ve learned that i don’t break down any substances very well (including lexapro and, previously, prozac) so we’ll see how this goes.
What’s been going on in your life? Let me know in the comments:
writing update
Very up and down. A few weeks back I increased my Lexapro dose (this has relevance, I promise) and it kind of set me back a bit. I’ve been super tired all the time, don’t feel like myself, and have been hyperfixating on a lot of random things. Dress to impress, the Rubik’s cube, etc. My current obsession—which is taking up a lot of my brain space—is my college major/future career.
Allow me to go on a little tangent here, because God knows I need it. I’m torn between the classic question of passion versus profession. Mainly fluctuating between English and CS—very different, I know. I have yet to explore CS beyond the introductory course, but I really enjoyed the way my brain was working while in that course. I am also considering SymSys, which is a Stanford-specific major parallel to cognitive science at other schools. It’s very interdisciplinary, which I appreciate.
My main concerns with English are that I will be poor and unhappy. For me, money is less of a priority than fulfillment—but what if I’m not fulfilled? That’s the OCD chiming in—the what if—but still. It’s a real possibility. Is the risk worth the reward? I guess I’ll have to keep thinking about it.
I could talk about this for hours (might journal about it after this) but for now, I digress. Basically, my mind has been so overwhelmed with a variety of random things that I have left it barely any time to focus on writing. However, I did work with my mentor to turn some of my old poetry into prose, and I’m really happy with the results. Going to try to get those published within the coming months.
Over the next week, I plan on:
Finishing the final draft of a story
Finishing the first draft of another story
Starting the second draft of another story
Submitting finished works to contests/lit mags
Given my recent track record, it’s not looking good—but I’m also leaving for Europe in a week so it’s now or never.
current read
Last week I started A Man Called Ove! So far, I’m absolutely loving it. Maybe it’ll be a rare 5 star read, we’ll see…
one note of the week
Each day, I try to take note of stand-out things around me. Here is this week’s best:
Noticed someone who reminded me of Ove in real life and had a bout of sympathy for him.
writing prompt
WRITE A LETTER TO THESE PEOPLE IF YOU WANT TO HELP THE STANFORD JONES LECTURERS:
President Jonathan Levin (jdlevin@stanford.edu), Provost Jenny Martinez (jsmartinez@stanford.edu), Vice Provost of Undergraduates James Hamilton (jayth@stanford.edu), Acting Vice Provost Lanier Anderson (lanier@stanford.edu), and Dean of Humanities Debra Satz (dsatz@stanford.edu)