Writing in College

Been meaning to write this post, and since it's the end of my spring break, I thought I'd get it up! From the title, you'll know that I'm going to get down to the truth of how I make time to write in college.

For a similar reads, here are some general tips I gave in a pervious post: 3 tips on juggling writing and school

A lot of writers are faced with the sentiment: "oh, I wish I had that much time to write!" And while the frustration writers feel in response is usually universal, everyone has a different way of making the time. Some carve out sacred hours. Some save the writing for weekends. For me, and for many others most likely, it's all about leading that double life.

STUDENT AND WRITER

I do decently in school, which fools people into thinking that I'm a massive try-hard (e.g. I was nominated for the "most likely to study for the SATs after the SATs" superlative senior year of high school, which was totally untrue--until I accepted the job to tutor SATs and then yes, I did have to study for the SATs three years after taking them -___-).

The truth is, I don't actually give school my all. I procrastinate. I cut corners by studying "just enough", whatever that means to whomever. I have a fantastic short-term memory which, to the dismay of my mom who would really like me to master Chinese, means that I excel at taking vocab quizzes by cramming the characters and forget them shortly afterwards.

But the aforementioned things alone do not "make" the time, especially since I am possibly one of the slowest writers I know. Instead, I've had to make decisions, most easy, but some harder.

I would be as busy as any other undergraduate if not for the following choices:

DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying that these are good or bad choices. These are simply choices that work for me.

• I'm majoring in psychology, which isn't a walk in the park, but plays toward my strengths of being able to read and memorize, meaning that I can be more efficient in learning the material, meaning that I have more time to write. 
• I'm not minoring, because I'd rather take a random assortment of classes for the pure sake of interest than fulfilling more required credits. This allows me to broaden my knowledge base and dabble in many things, which makes for inspiration, and also allows me more time. 
• I take 4 classes each semester, which is 1 class fewer than the average load of 5. 
• I participate in one club.
• (and this one I hesitate to list because it's not an active choice...for the most part). I have no social life. A lot of people say this, but I say this and live this. I've never been to a single party even though I'm at a college with a "work hard, play hard" philosophy. I rarely hang out in person with friends. By nature, I am a super-introvert, and I like to hermit, so as I've said, it's mostly personal preference.

Am I sacrificing a bit of my college experience? Yes. Am I taking risks? Yes. Though I keep in contact with the the close ones, I might have fewer friends than the average fresh-out-of-college student at graduation. Minors might become all the rage, and I might not be able to find a job without one. Psychology isn't exactly the easiest field to find a career in, especially without a higher degree. 

But I take these risks. I've taken them before.

BEFORE

Before I lived the double life of student and writer, I lived the double life of student and artist. Looking back on the years (age 7-14), those "sacrifices" weren't as big as I made them out to be (Weekends spent in the studio. Weekdays spent in the studio. Competitions entered, competitions lost. Less time for playdates, more time spent staring at nude models, which is always a fun conversation topic now, but wasn't something I could casually bring up back in middle school). But they hurt as a kid. And I ultimately "quit" art (stepped off the professional track) because I was neither mature enough to understand why things had to be less than fun sometimes NOR (and this is key) passionate enough about art. 

NOW

I'm grateful that I experienced those previous years, because they've taught me that if you have a dream that you are passionate about, you have to give it your all, embracing both the bits that are fun and the bits that kind of suck, but are worth it in the long run.

If you're also leading the life of a writer and something else, I'd love to know what choices you've made in order to juggle both! 

October: Pitch Wars and a month in review

Many a time during October, I imagined myself writing this post. How triumphant I would feel, knowing that I had survived.

And now I finally get to write it! Albeit sick. But I have my tumbler of warm liquids close by and fuzzy socks on, so it's not too bad. 

So if you've read this post, then you know that October was off the crazy charts. I was college counseling three students who are not native English speakers. I had to comprehensively + line-edit all their essays. It was fun but, as you can probably imagine, quite a bit of work. I also had college going on the in background, and the usual onslaught of readings and exams.

And then I had Pitch Wars.

I've heard about various revision experiences, from getting a few line edits to changing the POV entirely to tearing out sections and rewriting. I'll be upfront and say that I did not have to rewrite my book, and so I guess I could have had it worse in terms of work-load. My biggest/hardest edit was increasing the tension and pacing in the beginning.  

At the same time, I am a notoriously slow reviser. First, I take a lot of time to mull over solutions. Then I take a lot of time to implement them because I mull over word choice and other nit-gritty things like that. I am also a slower drafter. Basically, I am slow at everything.

So despite the comparatively "smaller" revision, I ended up slaving over it. 

Going into October, I realized that I had all of this on my plate. And since I like placing a lot of stress on myself, I resolved that I would not let anything slide. I would give my kids all the counseling that they needed. I would get the grades I wanted. I would complete PW to my satisfaction.

And now I'm glad to say that I kept my promise to myself!

(With the exception of one exam that I'm pretty sure I did not do so hot on, but that was an early November exam, so not officially part of the October crazies).

I think the key to staying somewhat sane (the bf would argue otherwise and say that I was not sane at all) is to remember to do the little things. For example, I rarely paint my nails during the summer, but come fall and winter, there's just something satisfying about having nice nails to go with my sweaters. So despite not having that much time, I tried to take a little time for myself every other week to paint my nails. I even got some new Essie colors to inspire me!

That might sound like something really small, and I agree it was. I had to give up some bigger things. My fall break is one example. While my roommates from Texas and New Jersey all left to go home for their fall break, I stayed at my dorm for the majority of it even though I live twenty minutes away. I decided to use that quiet time to work on revisions, and I'm glad to say that I got a lot done during those days! When everyone returned, refreshed, I was anything but refreshed, but sometimes you can't have everything (even I recognize that). 

But the thing about giving things up to accomplish something is to make sure that you then celebrate your accomplishment. I fall victim to getting swept into the frenzy of everything and not truly savoring my accomplishments. This time I was determined so carve out some time and not fall into that habit. 

So three of my good friends and I went to Linvilla Orchards for apple picking. This is the place that I used to go to for my birthday as a kid. It's been years since I last went. 

I actually didn't end up picking/buying any apples, but it was still incredibly fun. We all went out to dinner afterwards, and then I splurged on some fancy tea. 

In the end, was it a rough month? Yes, it was. Probably the roughest month of all time. But was it worth it? Yes, a thousand times.

And I couldn't have done it without the support of all the various people in my life. Thank you to:

- My parents, who realized that I wasn't eating as well as I should have. My mom, who works close to my college campus, took me out to lunch many a time during the month. She also read through the first 50 of HESPERIA again when I asked her to evaluate the changes. 

- My CP's Molly, Laura, Anne, and Deb. Some of you have read HESPERIA as I was writing it, some have read later drafts, but no matter what time of the MS I found you at, you have all helped it grow so much. 

- My fellow writer friends who have been so supportive on fb and twitter.

- My biffles Sean and Cindy, who remind me to have fun even when I'm all grumpy and convinced that there is no time for fun. 

- The Pitch Wars mentee community. You guys are the bomb. I'm neither the most social person ever nor the person who posts the wittiest and funniest posts, and so sometimes I find fb groups intimidating, but I'm so, so glad that this community is one that I feel like I'll turn to for a longgggg time. Thanks for all the hugfests, guys :)

- My mentor Mara, who literally opened this golden door of opportunity for me. Her fierce championing of the manuscript still blows me away sometimes, and I still have to pinch myself to believe it's real. Without her, this post wouldn't exist. Without her, I wouldn't have had the chance to go on this journey of my life. So thank you. Thank you.

- And lastly, the bf I've mentioned before. He's worn many hats for me--beta reader, idea brainstormer, restaurant exploring partner, cheerleader, and best hug-giver. We just celebrated 1.5 years together today, so he's really had a chance to see all the scary that is involved in the journey of a writer seeking publication.

Luckily, I haven't scared him away yet :D

How was your October?

An Update of Sorts

As I've mentioned before, I'm PACKED* this month. I haven't ever had to juggle so much. But while reflecting on the busyness, I actually find some things hilarious. So this is a quick snapshot of what's going on in my life.

*college counseling three kids who are applying to a bunch of 11/1 deadlines, participating in Pitchwars, the launch of Penn's peer counseling group (and of course, college, which almost feels deceptively insignificant at this point but really isn't...so much work)

On the food scene:

-I've consumed a lot of peanut butter sandwiches:

-And a lot of almonds:

-And a lot of coffee (by a lot I really mean my cup-a-day, but I was actually off coffee for a while before this month. Now I'm back to getting headaches when I don't drink it in the mornings!)

On the school scene:

-I'm done midterms! For like, a week and a half! And then I have round two of exams! Weee!!!

On the reading scene:

-*cue cricket chirps* I really need to read the MS for a CP before the month of October ends. So once I have reading time in my life again, that's the first thing I'm doing. 

-Does college-required reading count? Not really in my mind...

On the clothing scene:

-Comfy and easy to wash clothes all day, all night. Pajamas are my friend.

On the social scene:

- Me to the BF: Hey, read this. *shoves MS into his face*

BF: *reluctantly stops spectating a video game tournament* *reads* It's good.

Me: Pinpoint exactly what it is that is good. And tell me if its better than the original. It needs to be better than the original. I'm just not really sure if it is.

BF: Well...you know I like the original. Basically, I like everything you write. Everything is unicorns and rainbows. *eyes drift back to video game*

Me: *uses amazing detective skills and reads into that as a bad sign* Welp. Everything I write sucks. I hate revising. You're unhelpful. Goodbye.

-And literally, that's all I have going on socially. I have been interacting with a minimal number of human beings. 

How's October going for you?

3 tips on juggling writing and school

Sorry about the hiatus from the blog. As some of you might know, I was torturing teaching high school students on how to score the best that they possibly can on the dreaded SAT's. Unfortunately, I had to brush up on allll my math skills and read some painfully dry critical reading passages, but FORTUNATELY I loved my job. It was so rewarding to see everyone improve. And I've added more words (that I didn't memorize the first time around before my own SAT's) to my vocabulary. That's always a good thing. I just didn't have that much time to myself, and when I did, it was to work on my WIP. But now I'm back!

This post is inspired my friend Julia's post on how to balance school and writing. I really enjoy reading posts like this because I am a student myself (sophomore at UPenn), and while I know that a lot of adult writers have to juggle work and writing, juggling school and writing is just as hard! I would hesitantly assert that sometimes it's harder--I'm biased, obviously. It's just that a lot of the grown-ups I know don't have to stay up until 4AM in the library to do homework or prep for an exam that accounts for 50% of their grade. Meanwhile, the 4AMer in the library is a common sight at my college, and these aren't even people who procrastinate like me and cram.

This is not a how-to write and do school because if there's one thing I've learned from my years in academia, it's that everyone has to put in a different amount of time to do well in school. I don't want to tell anyone that this is the best way to get the most writing time out of your student years because there is no best way. These are simply my tips that I wanted to share with you. They work for me, sort of. Sometimes, I do get in over my head a bit even with these tips in mind. But that's life.

Here are the 3 tips:

1. Procrastinate wisely. 

If I'm going to procrastinate, I'm going to procrastinate because I mean, there are still XXX days until the paper/exam/assignment and I simply cannot muster the will to be like my roommates, who do all their homework for the week on Saturday. When I do procrastinate, however, I use that time to write. I could be watching random things on YouTube, or looking at pictures of food and cats and all the other random junk I like looking at. But I write. Strangely enough, I kind of like the sensation of having something schoolwork-related hanging over my head while I write. It doesn't bother me to the point where I can't put out words, but it's just enough discomfort that it is almost like writing on a deadline. And I'm so much more efficient that way.

2. Get into the mode by doing the little things.

This is mainly a trick to make you motivated for and committed to your writing time, because writing time is precious in school. If you prep before going to the gym (such as hydrating, putting on your favorite work-out outfit, tying your hair back, and packing your post-workout stuff), why not prep before you go to write? Whoever said that writing wasn't sport? It is, and you should treat it that way. Simply going through the motions of getting the little things together can really ease your mental state into one that is ready to be productive.

The little things for me are the beverage, the outfit, the hair, and the bag. Here's how it breaks down.

Beverage: If I know I'm hauling butt to the bookstore or the coffee shop to write for more than a few hours--this is usually on the weekends--I'll treat myself to a coffee. Nothing fancy, just an iced coffee, since it's still summer, will sharpen me up and get my mind going. If you don't have something that you particularly like to drink or eat, at least bring water. It's incredibly easy to get dehydrated when writing.

Outfit: I'll usually wear something soft and cotton and easy to wash on the top, such as a plain T-shirt, and then jeans for the bottoms. Also, dark colors are great. Less worry about chocolate stains. I affectionately call my writing day outfits my "ugly" outfits. The whole idea is that I want to wear something so plain that I won't be thinking if my camisole is bunching up or if my shirt is getting wrinkled. All the focus should be on the writing. Obviously, if dressing sharp is going to get you in the right mindset, then by all means do that. Once again this is just me, and although I love my fashion and looking put together, I am quite lazy with clothes when I want to be.

Hair: Out of sight, out of mind. I'll braid it tight, pin it up into a bun, and then put on a headband JUST IN CASE some flyways escape. I can't write with my hair in my face.

Bag: If I'm leaving my dorm to write, which I often do, I'll pack sure to pack everything that I need in my messenger--pen, notebook, earbuds for music, laptop (most important item!), and water.

3. Think of classes as research.

My last tip on how to juggle school and writing is about the times when you are NOT writing, AKA when you are in class. Unless you can subliminally learn your class material through the process of osmosis, you should probably not be writing in class. However, there is a way to actually use your classes to further yourself as a writer. I'm not talking about just the creative writing classes or english classes--of course those will help you as a writer.

A well-informed writer has more tools in her arsenal than someone who closes herself up in her room 24/7. You may never know what sort of research you need to do for your next novel, or what genre you're going to delve into next. Who knows when that information that you learned in Astronomy is going to come in handy when you decide to tackle a space opera? Or maybe some concept in Economics 101 is going serve as a major inspiration in your novel. If you do well in your classes and actually learn the material, not just get the grade, you'll save yourself time in the future when you are writing because you'll understand some things without having to research them. And that means more time to write. See? There are so many ways you can make time to write.

Hope this was somewhat helpful! I'd love to learn what are the things you do to maximize your writing time while still fulfilling all the other obligations you have (doesn't have to be school).