2011: the year of writing

so here are the goals i have for writing this year:

• i am going to write every day

• with purpose
• with passion
• even when i am sick
• even when i am tired
• even when school stuff is due

• i am going to blog [at least] five times a week:
  
  
  • on a schedule
  • with direction
  • for a broader audience than the people i know currently subscribe
    
    
• i am going to write at least one chapter of my book each month.
  
  
• i am going to publish my writing.

the master schedule

in an effort to be more diligent with my blogging and writing, i made a schedule. i think this will help me commit to creating quality posts for you; i also think it will allow me to work within a framework--in other words, if i have an idea about the types of things i will be writing, my brain will automatically shift to think in those terms.

you should know i am striving to give myself the kind of grace i give to others--so i will tell you right now that i doubt i will do this schedule perfectly, but i will make every effort to not allow failures to keep me down.

mondays: devotional thought. my hope is that i will have learned and processed things over the previous week (and weekend, when i don't plan on doing scheduled blogging) that i can formulate into something that is both personal to me and thought-provoking for you. we'll see. :)

tuesdays: faith and school. sometimes i will be talking about how my faith fits into my schooling process (or has in times in the past), but sometimes i will be talking more generally. faith integration is just as important in the small christian environment as it is in large public schools, so i think it will be an interesting topic that is broadly applicable.

wednesdays: why i am a writer. this might be a little abstract some weeks, but i just want to share general thoughts about writing, etc. i'll talk about books, people, and things that inspire me.

thursdays: my favorite feature. this should be one of the more chill days of the week. i'm going to pick something that i love in the world and explain why.

fridays: picture this. i'll do some photoblogging for you. with my own pictures, theoretically. i mean, i have a camera for that reason, right? ;)

special days:

30 by 30: on the 21st of every month, you'll be getting my update rather than the featured segment for the day. until i'm 30, that is.

monthly cooking segment: as close as possible to the day that i make the meal, i will post the pictures and recipe (if i feel like sharing it...if i don't, you might have to make a special request).

cast of characters: i know that last semester, i only did one of these...certain people around town are kind of surly and unwilling to be featured. but i will get on that for you and try to post a few more.

poem, song, and chapter updates: these will probably be little bonus announcements rather than replacing the designated days, but it depends on my workload.

***

just because i am getting more serious about writing does not necessarily mean my writing will get more serious. i'll try to maintain that charm and humor you know and love. :)

coming soon: cast of characters

while i was driving to fishers from marion today, i realized that a lot of you do not know the new people in my life. so over the next [however long it takes me to do this], i will be doing a series of blog posts called 'cast of characters.' there are multiple reasons behind this:

1) as miranda oh so sweetly pointed out, i have not posted any pictures that i have actually taken. they are all from google or miranda. so i am going to attempt to actually take some pictures and post them.


2) you can get to know some of the yahoos with whom i am spending the next couple of years. lucky.

boy, am i excited to go up to people and say, 'hey, i need your picture so i can write about you on my blog.' nothing sounds cooler than that.

please let me know what kind of information you would like to know about these people. i haven't gotten much feedback lately, so it's hard to know in what direction i should proceed.

oh, crap. i have a blog.

i know, i know. i'm a terrible blogger. last week was intense, but that's no excuse. feel free to hold me accountable for not blogging and not writing. the point of the blog is to share my life and do writing assignments.

oops.

on the plus side, i am wearing a skirt today.

i'm aware that has nothing to do with blogging, but at least i am trying a little.

and i didn't give you the ability to give me a real assignment last week because i felt overwhelmed by all the things i had to accomplish. however, it is a common occurrence for me to write poetry/songs when i am sitting in class in order to appear to be taking notes. so i have a poem/future lyrics to a song for you.

to be fair, it is sort of about what we were discussing in class--existential therapy...which is all about dealing with normal anxiety, finding meaning in life, etc.

my freshmen

my freshmen* are awesome. probably better than all the other freshmen on campus. i'm not biased. they're just that super cool.

in the last hour, i have seen 5 of them wandering around the student center. :) they're so cute. i just wanna pick them up and squeeze 'em.

since there's the chance that they might read this...it being a public and not at all secret blog...i won't use their names (unless they want some fame or something...with 9 followers, this blog is definitely a hot commodity), but i really think they are pretty terrific.

they had an assignment to write a letter to the authors of a book they were required to read. their responses (which i am supposed to be grading right now instead of blogging) have been pretty interesting. i have learned a lot about my freshmen over the past few weeks.

i also make them write 'exit cards' every friday before they leave class. thus far, they have had to write about:

-what they hoped to improve about themselves
-what they have learned that has real life application

they also write their prayer requests. these cards have been so authentic and vulnerable. i am really enjoying doing life with these kids. i mean students. (apparently calling them kids does not foster a feeling of being adult.)

if you think about it, pray for my 22 little ducklings. being a freshman in college is a hard and scary thing sometimes, and it's definitely a time to start working and processing through some heavy stuff. also pray that i would be very intentional with the words i say and the behavior that i model.



*i have 22 freshmen in the breakout group that i lead every friday.