It takes over your life...

I am a horrible blogger. It’s been three weeks since I was last on here. I realize that in all likelihood, none of you have noticed. After all, it’s not like I was that steady before.  But, this break has been a result of a few things. Well, one thing in particular, really.

School.

Yeah, everyone uses that excuse, but honestly, it’s a good one.

So, two weeks ago, I spent nearly seventeen hours travelling out here to Idaho. Two planes and a bus with plenty of layover time in between, and absolutely no writing was done. I had intended to blog about the difficulties of writing while travelling, but I think the fact that I ended up not doing it says more than I could have in a blog.

Since then, I’ve been doing school. I have seventeen credits this semester and tons of homework already. Why does it feel like finals have decided to come at the beginning of the semester? My theory is that I just haven’t organized enough to get it done in a reasonable amount of time, but we’ll see.

One of my classes is a YA lit class. It’s mostly a reading class; I have to read 25 YA books by the end of the semester. Cool, isn’t it? It’d be awesome if I had time to read them. I have other work too. Like Biology.

Don’t get me wrong; I love biology. That’s why it’s my minor. It’s just labor intensive.

So, tonight, I’m taking a break from homework (yay for Friday) and doing some fun writing. Writing while in school, especially with all the reading I’m going to be doing, is going to be hard. Last semester, I was thinking I’d be done with my book sometime early this semester.

Now I’m not sure I’ll even get to do it this semester.

I’ll try, of course. But realistically, my personal writing comes after my homework responsibilities. Sometimes I hate being responsible. But, I hate the consequences of not being responsible even more.

However, there may be some opportunities to really work on my writing; there is a Creative Writer’s retreat that I’m going to apply for—if I get an entry in time. I have until May 13, and I’m going to try. It’s only 5-10 double spaced pages, but I want it to be good work. There is also a contest for a publication called Irreantum, which is a Mormon publication. That one has to be about 8500 words, by May 31. Even if I don’t get in to either of these things, it’s good to be getting into the world of having others look at my writing. If I can’t let someone look at short stories, why would I ever let them look at a novel? It’s good practice, at the very least.

Well, here’s hoping school allows me some time to write. After all, I may be a Student now, but always, I am a Writer.