Sunday
I began my career with Johns Hopkins in 2021. Returning to an academic setting after my health setbacks was both exciting and terrifying, but with excellent professors and a passion for story, I dove in. What an experience of a lifetime. I have been to Scotland and back, modular structure and back, novel and novella and back. I must say: I am going to miss this program fiercely when I graduate in December.
Today has been all about getting ready for my final semester, which begins tomorrow. I am taking two classes, one advanced workshop and one thesis course. Part of this week has been a fast and furious approach to having Canis Major and some short stories in shape. But o! I seem to churn out a bevy of short fiction pieces that have no figure, no real shift where the reader understands that this is what the story is really about. To wit, I write a bunch of blobs. How does one go about turning these blobs into literature? Short stories are infinitely more difficult than novels. Perhaps I was made for long-distance writing, and, when I have to sprint, I tend to topple over.
I took a leap of faith this morning and decided to focus all of today on chapters three and five of my wee book. If I can get them done ere the day tapers into night this evening, I will be able to rest easy knowing that I am prepared for the thesis class to commence. I can’t rightfully say that I did anything else but write this blog and stare at chapters three and five. God help me if I decide to throw in chapter two.
After all this is done, I am quite eager to get into my Turkish grammar. I bought a large guide to Turkish in Edinburgh, in the basement of the large bookstore a few blocks from my hotel room. In that basement were books on Croatian, Swedish, and more, but I was drawn to Turkish because I love all of Orhan Pamuk’s work and because I want to be able to travel more freely in the Middle East someday. Then there is also the fact that it is just a cool language.
Reflecting on all that I accomplished this week:
I began my certificate program in UX design through Google.
I applied to two jobs, one a writing job and one a linguistic data labeling job that I hope for. I do. That would be a phenomenal experience.
GRE orientation.
JSTOR! There are so many great articles on Swahili novels waiting me and my highlighter.
Reflecting on all that I did not accomplish this week:
I did not do a lot of math or programming practice. Prior to this week, I have been working to proficiency in R, Java, and Python. As an undergraduate, I did have a certain ability in R and Java — I was never superb, but I was comfortable in a fashion. I set myself a goal this week of reviewing a few chapters into these textbooks, but I didn’t get any traction.
Vocabulary. A few months ago, I compiled a list of 2500 essential words sifted into different categories (verbs, material items, body parts, etc). I printed out these lists and had them laminated. The goal was to translate all these — or at least some of these — into Portuguese, Spanish, and Persian. Will go for it next week.
Reading. Although I love everything that I am reading, I have had very little time to sit down and just be one with a book.
There is so much that goes into fashioning a life. Last year, I wrote in my copy of The Book of Disquiet: “If I cannot write the poem I wish to write, then I must become the poem I wish to be.” This is not an original thought, but therein lies the poetic prism through which I must direct any light that I can find. It is almost like having that light splashing on your face, a spotlight, one that you follow with your chin held high.
The light is gorgeous.
