My sophomore year of college is done, and I’ve rested enough that I’m ready to get back to blogging! I want to catch up before I publish (or write) a main post and talk about some goals, which I hope to do more on this blog.
School
My sophomore year of college went pretty well on the academic front. I was worried I was going to lose my 4.0 second semester but I actually managed to keep it. Things definitely got busy though, and I didn’t do so well on the time management front and the staying generally healthy front. I developed a difficulty getting out of bed (my brain would always find some reason I needed to stay in my half-dream), didn’t go to the gym as much as I wanted, my social anxiety affected things, and ultimately I realized I’m really ready to move into an apartment (which I am doing next year!) rather than a dorm. So hopefully all of that improves. I did meet plenty of great people, though, and I got involved with theater FINALLY (even if it was just props) which has honestly been a lifelong goal of mine even if I didn’t realize it for a while.
Reading
Well, I read quite a few Shakespeare plays and modern Japanese literature novels and stories for my classes. This meant I didn’t read a lot otherwise because of timing, but I’m mostly on top of my Goodreads goal (60), and I did get through a couple of books outside of ARCs I reviewed that I hope to talk about now: Wild Beauty, Exit Pursued by a Bear, Texts from Jane Eyre, Tipping the Velvet. I just finished Men at Arms, one of the Discworld books, and I’m reading Leah on the Offbeat now. Meanwhile, I’m on sort of a book-buying ban that has been going so well I should really extend it to Kindle deals because those do add up and I’m getting in a habit of checking out ebooks from the library.
I made a reading list at the beginning of the year I want to stick to, although I’ve been eying library books instead of what I already own. Nevertheless…here it is.
Writing
Unfortunately I didn’t do much writing outside of class, mostly because of my time-management problems. But I did write two (very different) 5,000 word stories for class which I’m pretty proud of, especially the one I revised for the final. The other one was more of an experiment that I didn’t go full satire on and should have, probably.
This summer, I want to maybe submit a story or two to a couple of publications if they are fitting. As much as I’m tempted to wander to a different project, I want to work on the project (a novel) I started last year because I do have a decent plot and should at least be able to get a rough draft. Mostly, I need to make it a habit! I’m hoping on keeping myself accountable with some friends, and I really need to work on my social media presence because my followers have stagnated.
Journaling and Design
I got really into journaling last summer. I have a Passion Planner and got a lot of materials for productivity and journaling, because I do miss organized brainstorming and personal entries without the burden of a daily recap. I tried a habit tracker this year but got sick in February and never picked it back up. Ultimately, if I clean up my desk at home, I should be able to really make it a habit and it will hopefully help me stay focused on my creative projects.
I also want to get back into designing…I haven’t really made anything for my Redbubble since figuring out Illustrator this school year, and I really want to become more adept at it. Plus, new blog and social media graphics are always great.
Music
This is a small note, but like always I love musical (and musicals) and this past year I’ve collected sheet music of some of my favorite Broadway songs (often tenor, because I’m a low alto…it took some trial and error) to sing and play along to. So I hope to continue that, especially the piano-playing part while I’m home…if we have room to set up my keyboard again. My brother’s been really into guitar and while we have totally different styles, it should be fun.
Olivia Anne Gennaro 