Happy Sacred Sunday, though a week late because... college. The rush of everything being new and exciting has begun to tarnish as the reality of using the library's 11 p.m. hours has replaced it in full swing. I wasn't even going to write this post because I figured a week late was too late, but if anything, it was a gestation period for me to realize what I needed to write about. I write these monthly posts for my own reflection and I imagine my future self rereading them one day, trying to get a sense of what my life used to look like. So I'll tell you: my future self, my twelve-ish consistent readers, my six-hundred sixty-some Lost in Thought Instagram followers, my parents who'd prefer I call them directly with these updates instead of cryptically writing them online, and my current self too. I'm a freshman in college, and there is so much going on all the time, so sometimes I forget to remind myself to slow down and realize what is actually happening, so here we have the perfect opportunity... Sacred Sunday.
As we all know, I love to write, hence the whole blog thing, but I have never explored it seriously until now. I chose my university based on its renowned creative writing department and decided to tie it in with the rarely offered publishing and editing major. It's the best of both worlds as I'm learning how the entirety of the literature world from two opposing angles that conjunct beautifully; art and business. I plan on using my p&e knowledge for my career and creative writing for passion, both balancing perfectly to provide an ecstasy on mere living alone and hopefully a liveable wage. Lorrie Moore's fictional short story, "How to Become a Writer," explores this idea of rejecting the impracticality of being a writer and perhaps going into a field like psychology that will provide stability, but the narrator always comes back to writing. It is the sole driving force in her life that gives her something to live for, even if her work isn't any good, and that's why I will never give up on this lifestyle. Writing really is a lifestyle because there is no separating work and personal life, just a constant stream of creativity that strings along pieces of a million lives throughout moments in time.
In the first month of college, I journaled nearly every day, and then in the second month, I fully immersed myself in the experiences. Now I am entering my third month and feel really good about where I am at. I thought I didn't have anything to write about, but so much has happened that a-year-ago-me would have flipped over. I went to the Brooklyn Book Festival and met authors like Casey McQuiston and E. Lockhart. Wrote my first two short stories and a flash fiction piece. Got involved in a slam poetry club. Attended two author readings, one fiction, and one poetry. Hit twenty books out of my twelve-book Goodreads challenge for 2022. Fell into a groove with schoolwork and am maintaining all A's somehow. Found a family of new friends. Got into new hobbies like rock climbing which is a nice physical challenge and a break from the chaos. Visited home and got to actually relax for the first time since August. I did so much this month. I grew so much this month. October was such a treat that I will forever be grateful for. I kept thinking nothing happened (which is ironically the title of my first short story), but so much has happened and this is why I have this series to remind myself.
Happy Sacred Sunday everybody, and although it is the next Saturday, it is never too late to take time to reflect. Breathe in, breathe out, and take a moment to realize all that you have right in front of you. I am excited to see what November has in store for me because five days in and I can already tell I am going to reap so many of the rewards that I have been working for
-Emma Claire