I can’t believe February is almost over!
I keep noticing that people are doing photo dumps for the month, but since I don’t take a lot of photos (and I don’t really do that much anyway), I figured I would do a blog post and a podcast episode about it.
Feel free to keep reading if you’re interested in updates on my fifth book and life in general. This is going to be more of a brain dump, so be prepared for a lot of rambling.
The audio version will come out on Wednesday, so follow the podcast (or visit the tab on my website) to stay up to date on when it drops.
Writing Updates
Honestly, for a blog that does focus on writing, I don’t give a lot of updates on my own projects!
In case you guys didn’t know, I am working on another book called Four Pink Walls. It’s a coming-of-age story that’s split into four different parts.
I’m not going to give too much away because I’m still working on the first draft (and honestly a lot of it is still subject to change), but it’s definitely been a journey for the last year and a half.
I’ve had the idea for a couple of years, but I finally started writing it in my sophomore year of college. This was a little after I had published Mourning Doves and I was looking for something else to work on.
Some days are better than others, but I can confidently say that I’m a little past 80K, which is crazy for me. I think this is the longest project I’ve ever written to date, which is saying a lot because I’ve written a lot of things over the years.
Funny enough, I was just talking about how burnout I was with the story in my last post (which if you haven’t checked it out, you should) but I started listening to some songs that reminded me of it and the creative juices started flowing. It was still a bit of a struggle because it had been so long since I had worked on the story, but it felt nice to come back.
I still have a ways to go with the story because it’s not even close to being halfway done, but I wanted to share some progress about it, even if it’s small.
As for poetry, that’s been a little more nonexistent. I think the last poem I wrote was about my boyfriend and that was way back in January. I’m one of those poets who go in and out. I can write a bunch of poems all at once or none at all for months on end. Just depends on if inspiration strikes me or not. Maybe one day I’ll share some of them on here.
Blogging is the only consistent writing I’ve done in the last month, which is interesting and fulfilling. Part of it is because I’m doing the podcast simultaneously, so no post means no episode. But the other part of it is because I like how freeing it is to just write and not think about what’s to come after. It’s been a while since I’ve done that because I’ve been on this kick of constantly creating for others that I forget that writing is still a solo act.
Life Update
Life has been relatively calm despite all the chaos that’s going on in the world. I can’t exactly complain.
I think there have been more up’s this month than downs, which I’m grateful for. Things could definitely be worse, but at least I have a great support system and I can pay my bills. Work has been great because now I get to chill with one of my friends two times out of the week since my boss adjusted schedules.
Also, college has been going pretty good too. I thought this semester was going to be worse, but it’s actually the easiest I’ve had in a while. Yeah, I’m taking six classes like a weirdo, but at least the workload is manageable. The only one I was worried about passing was Advanced Psych Lab since it deals with statistics and shit, but things are starting to look up. Now it’s just a matter of passing my film midterm on Thursday and I’ll be set.
On another note though, I finally started Dexter and at first, I was loving it! I kept watching it at work and I was on the edge of my seat. Then I get to Season 4 and it’s been a struggle to get through. The only compelling part is the Trinity Killer because that man really is sadistic as fuck, but we’ll see if it picks up.
But since I’m taking a break from it right now, I decided to catch up on the next season of Love Is Blind. If you haven’t seen it, I totally recommend it because it’s just interesting to see how far people are willing to go for love and how messy it can get. Plus as a Psych major, I like trying to analyze people and predict if a relationship is going to work or not based on how they act. So far, there’s one couple I’m sure will make it as long as one of them doesn’t fuck up, but I’m not confident about the rest.
Another great thing is that I played this game called We’re Not Really Strangers with my friends and I learned so much about them and about myself. We were sharing things that we didn’t normally share because it didn’t always make it into our conversations. Nobody is trying to have a heart-to-heart talk every time we meet up, so it was interesting. I know there was one question in particular where the card asked each player to admit something and mine was more along the lines of the idea that they would never get to truly know me. Obviously, that was shocking because we’ve been friends for over three years. At this point, they should know me. And they do. But only a part of me. There are so many aspects of me that they’ll never see because I don’t know if I feel comfortable sharing it. I think it’s because I feel like I always have to be the strong friend around them or “the rock”. After all, that’s how it was for a long time. And I guess at some point I just adopted that role because I figured that’s what they expected of me. I know that’s not the case now because we’ve all changed, but it’s not something I can turn off. There was a bunch of other shit we talked about too, but that was one that kind of hit home for me because I always pick and choose who to let in and who to trust. It just opened my eyes to how hard it is for me to be vulnerable with some people and not others. Like my mother says, we’re different for different people.
There was also one particular moment this month that was really shitty, but it is what it is now. Yes, it was mostly my fault, but they were kind of an ass for how they handled the situation. But when you live with a bunch of twenty-year-old women you can’t expect too much, I guess.
On a brighter note though, I noticed the numbers on my podcast are starting to climb up and that makes me extremely happy! You guys don’t even understand. Because I’ve said this is a passion project before, but to know I got a little over 40 total plays in over a month is awesome! That just makes me want to keep pumping out content since people seem to be enjoying it. I’ll update you guys on where it’s at when March comes to a close.
And as for what I’m looking forward to this month, Spring Break is one of them. I haven’t been home since Christmas so it’ll be nice to see my mom and my dog. I’m also ready for this weekend. My boyfriend and I are celebrating our first anniversary, which is so insane to me because I remember the first time we met. It feels like it was just yesterday.
As for my goals, I just want to keep building on my podcast and my blog. I also want to crack down a little more on my book when I have the time. If I can get to 90K by the end of the month that would be amazing. I feel like it’s manageable if I put the work in.
I would go more into depth, but this isn’t my diary and I’m pretty sure this is already long enough. I wanted to take a second to talk with you guys instead of at you. Most of my posts as of late have been a little more structured, so I figured this was a nice break. Plus you guys got the chance to know me a little bit more.
If you enjoyed this, leave a comment below. Make sure to check out the audio version and sign up for my email list if you want to receive updates! You can access it by clicking the ‘Podcast’ tab on my website and scrolling down to the bottom.
Until next time!
-The Writer Chick
the-writer-chick.com 