You might remember that last semester I decided to take an algebra class to prepare for possibly going to grad school. I ended up with an 89%, but I worked my ass of for it. It wasn’t easy and I’m not exaggerating when I say that I spent hours almost every night and sometimes entire weekend days doing homework and practice problems and studying.
I would do the practice tests a half dozen times and then, when it came time to take the test, I’d look at the problems and think….now, how do I do this again? It sucked. It was super frustrating for me. But, I passed. And, I passed with a high B. I’ll take that.
I thought I should continue on right into the next Algebra class before I forgot everything I learned, so I enrolled in Math 21 (College Algebra). But, after a few weeks of having my life back over winter break, I realized I didn’t want to go back to math. And, I’m probably not going to go to grad school either because life is too short to spend so many hours doing homework for no good reason.
I have a good job. I already did college. I’m at a point in my life when I should be able to kick back and enjoy it. I’m in that sweet spot between kids and old age. The girls are grown and (mostly) self-sufficient. Dan and I are making as much money as we are likely to ever make and we are still (fairly) young and healthy.
Now is the time we can enjoy life and the years of struggle and labor, right? Now is the time to go hiking and biking and kayaking in our free time. Now is the time to go on vacations and spend evenings relaxing in the cabana by the pool. Now is the time to read all those novels I had no time to touch when the kids were little. Now is the time to spend summer Saturdays at the beach doing whatever I want, not rushing home to crack open a book and crunch numbers till my brain hurts and I need a whiskey-and-coke.
A friend suggested I drop the math class and take something I am interested in. “See if it’s college that’s hard or just math,” he said.
So, I enrolled in Intro to Fiction Writing, figuring it was something I would enjoy that would still be a challenge as I’ve never in my life tried — or had the urge — to write fiction.
I am loving the class because it’s mostly reading and writing and talking about what we read and wrote and, I could do that all day.
Also, I can do my homework here:
My first short story is due Sunday. I haven’t started it, but that’s par for the course with me. You can take the girl out of the newsroom, but she’s still not going to write till she’s on deadline.
I’m not sure where I’ll go from here. I am 99% sure I’m not going to grad school. It just seems like a lot of work (well, I know it will be) and money for not a lot of gain at this point in my life. I wouldn’t mind continuing to take classes that I enjoy and, yet, they are work, too. Also, they cost money and it’s not an insignificant amount even with my employee discount.
One of the things I learned about fiction writers, is that they don’t typically have their stories all figured out ahead of time. They have a general idea/plot and a well-developed character (or two) and they just let their characters lead the way, i.e. what would this character do now, how would she act, what would she say, who would she turn to for help?
They’re quite literally making it up as they go.
So I don’t have my story figured out. I have no idea where this school stuff is leading me, but I guess I’ll just follow along and see where I end up next.
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About Just Write: Just Write is my adaptation of free writing, a technique in which a person writes continuously and quickly without little regard for spelling, grammar, or topic. It helps writers overcome blocks of apathy and explore everything from meaningful topics to mundane observations with the same effort and without the pressure of crafting perfect prose. I just start writing.