2014 Is Not the Year of Grad School

I got the email last night from Michener. Denied again.

Yeah, I'm getting real tired of this. Perhaps grad school is no longer a thing I should pursue. As I gave it more thought after getting the email and throughout the day today (since I wasn't going outside, it's effing cold y'all), I really don't know why I'm going to grad school. What else could I learn that I don't know that I can't get outside of an academic institution?

This is really a long-winded way of me saying "I may not need grad school after all".

I think my professor was right all along...

On the bright side, I have a job interview tomorrow. At least some things are going better than I thought.

As I said on Facebook, 2014 is still a young year. We got eleven months more. Let's see what happens, shall we?

*memes do not belong to me*

Read the labels and create your own title!

As I reach the 60k mark in Spiders, I have come to a strange realization: I don't want to have the whole thing finished by the 30th. I wanna take it a bit slower, try to complete it at the pace I usually go at. At this rate, I could finish it in early December. And you know what? That's fine with me. I'm really enjoying the story and characters, and I really want to spend a little more time with it.

You see, I think this may be the last time I "officially" participate in NaNoWriMo. After doing it a second time,  I realize that I hated having to cram in a bunch of words in one day. I wanted to write two to three thousand words that meant a little more than padding. Nothing wrong with the NaNo approach, it works for some people, but I've come to realize that it doesn't work for me. I like taking my time (well, not years and years, but you understand) and crafting something a little more than a zero draft. Then again, oh hai perfectionist self! (And also, it doesn't help there I already got the nicest prize from the whole shebang last year: the coupon for Scrivener.)

This is not a hatefest on NaNoWriMo, people have shown their asses doing that and it's honestly a ridiculous thing to get worried about. Man, it must be nice not having real problems! Y'all are just sad that people found a way to make writing fun and more than an art, but a fun craft! But then again, just read what John Scalzi has to say about all this, he said it better than I could. And also, Mary Robinette Kowal. They are wise beings.

I think my time with NaNoWriMo has come to an end. I had tons of fun and wish everyone who still partakes in it all the best and nothing but the best.

~

I finished Woolf's A Room of One's Own. I got a bone to pick with it. I understand women having their own writing space (i.e. time) and their own funds is important, but thanks for throwing the poor and uneducated under the bus! I mean, damn! When I was reading this book, I couldn't help but think of writers that were born in working-class families and writers who don't have college degrees and thought "wow, y'all... hate to break it to you, but by Woolf's standards, you ain't ever gonna be good writers". Of course, there was rarely any decent discourse about writers of color. And I won't even get into the whole concept of one sounding like a man or woman in their writing... uuugggh. That is all such utter bull***.

~

I'll wrap up Spiders in due time and get ready for the next big challenge: the grad school application!

Now there's something I'll keep trying every year until I succeed!

Change of plans for "24 Reviews..."

I will hold off reviewing Casual Gods and 1Q84 until after "24 Reviews..." is done. After realizing that I haven't reviewed much female-created works, I have decided to change the plans a bit and honor my sisters in writing and music. Won't mention who, in fear of jinxing it. Be prepared. It's all arriving soon...

It's time to kick ass and eat jerky... and I don't have any jerky.

Since seeing a counselor, I have gotten a grasp on things and ready to take some action to get things moving again on this blog. Of course, that and my life. But I'm gonna assume you already knew that.

Anyway! First off, I will finish my all my review plans, and of course, the Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge. After that, for 2012, I'm going to do "The Year of Revisits". I'm going to review my top 12 favorite books of all time, one book a month. If I want to review anything new or old, I will, but that will be about it. This will be my last year of those "end-of-the-year" lists. If I happen to read enough to constitute those kinds of lists, awesome! But it has worn down on me in recent days, so it's no longer gonna be a big priority.

As for these initial plans, I'm scrapping the Charlotte Hatherly album and replacing it with Murakami's new book 1Q84. I will get a move-along on everything listed here. They're severely overdue.

I'm off for a road trip and a concert in the evening. See y'all later!