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Finishing - by KT Chen

10/28/2019

If my fiction workshop this semester has been about anything, it has pushed me to work on finishing a book. I have generated about 100 pages over the course of the workshop towards that endeavor, and now I'm just ready to finish it.

So, that's something.

I'm also looking at how to finish my first maters in English. The Spring classes are not the right combination, so it'll be Fall before I can pick up the last remaining class needed, but I'm okay with that. To be honest, I'm considering not applying to graduate until Spring 2021 anyway, just so I can finish both masters degrees the same year.

I haven't decided about that one yet.

And there's six weeks of classes left, with three major papers coming at me. I've started one, but not the other two.

Right now, I'm all about finishing. Finishing the semester. Finishing one of my masters. And, most important, finishing a book.

Go forth and write!

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Way Behind - by KT Chen

10/21/2019

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I made an executive decision last week that put me behind. Not just a little behind - way behind.

But I didn't start out that way.

In fact, as of last Tuesday, I was ahead. I was reading ahead for one of my classes. I was writing for my next workshop. I was even doing some scout work on the upcoming bear of an essay-come-final that is fast approaching.

And I did all that while ignoring my reading for Monday. And by Monday, I mean today.

So, last night, I dutifully wrapped up the other coursework and started reading. For today.

I'm not going to get finished.

Not even close.

I wish I could say that I felt bad about my decisions. I don't.

I wish I could say I knew I'd catch up and everything'll be okay. I don't know that either.

What I do know is that I will go to class tonight and take good notes, I will turn in my workshop stuff tomorrow night, I will have my weekly Wednesday essay done in record time because I'm not reading as I'm writing. And I'll just have to write the next thematic essay strategically, so as not to expose the holes of my reading.

The only good part of any of this is that I got some actual fiction writing done. I'm not sure it's good fiction, but it's done fiction, and right now, that's the best kind.

Go forth and write!

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The Slump - by KT Chen

10/14/2019

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I'm halfway through one masters program and starting a second one.

I don't know what I was thinking.

Right now, I feel buried with all the work that I need to be doing on my degrees. And it feels like I'll never finish. And I think I'm crazy for even trying it at this point in my life.

Still, here I am.

Writing through slumps, reading through slumps, working through slumps.

Persistence, even through the slumps.

Go forth and write!

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A New Approach - by KT Chen

10/7/2019

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Last week, I was on the "hot seat" during the fiction workshop. Usually, I enjoy the experience. I learn a lot. I get great advice on how to improve my work. But last week was different.

I left workshop feeling defeated. I felt I should give up writing and do something else, anything else, really.

And I've thought a lot about the experience and what made it different this time. Part of it is that I'm trying something new. Something outside my wheelhouse, so to speak. And it isn't so much that it is going badly, it's more like it isn't going as well as I think it should.

My writing feels a bit off because I'm not writing the way that comes naturally to me.

So, I'm going to try a different approach to what I'm doing. It may not work. Or it might. I won't know until I write it, but I believe in the project enough to give it a really hard go.

Go forth and write!

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Finishing - by KT Chen

Way Behind - by KT Chen

The Slump - by KT Chen

A New Approach - by KT Chen

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