The day is August 31, 2012, and my clock currently reads 1:19 AM. By the time you read this post I’ll already be a plane, halfway to Boston to begin my sophomore year in college. But that’s not why I’m writing this post, sure I could write about my family, and valuing every minute with others, and saying goodbye, yada yada yada but I’m trying to steer out of the pit of emotions that I often live in.
Instead this post is about my summer and all the things I’ve accomplished and you can accomplish in three months.
My summer officially started after my last final exam sometime in mid-late May of 2012. I was so excited to come home but when I got here I found that life hadn’t changed that much (go figure). Well, my dad took my brother, sister, and I on a vacation to South Padre, it was amazing and a great way to destress from college.
I’m not positive but I think that’s when I started or at least when I really got into writing my (now, first completed) manuscript, BLOOD OF ISIS.
In classic Patrice style, I told no one, and I spent time (whenever I wasn’t at the beach) writing. I actually began and almost finished BLOOD OF ISIS completely by writing it by hand in a few notebooks (it was such a pain to type it!).
Then I began my summer job, I hated it, all of that paperwork, copying, &completely mundane tasks but if it were not for that job two things wouldn’t have happened: 1) BLOOD OF ISIS might not be/ever have been finished 2)I would have never started Diary of a Paper Pusher.
- I had so much free time during that job, in fact (especially towards the end of the summer) 75% of the time I was doing nothing 7 what better use of my time than writing, so write I did.
- You might but you probably don’t know about Diary of a Paper Pusher, but in short it was my way of dealing life as a bored intern. And seriously, what better way if there of dealing with anything than satirizing & writing about it
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If you click on the link above you will see that it didn’t exist for very long & it’s full of horrible grammar. However it gave way to Whimsically Yours and that is what’s important…maybe I’ll make a book out of it one day (?).
During the time I was writing BLOOD OF ISIS, I started this blog (on June 25th). At the time I had started many blogs, had recently created another one, however I never kept those blogs more than a couple weeks. Somehow a combination of frustration over starting and never finishing blogs (TBH I don’t think I was inspired enough by those) and frustration over feeling like no one was listening to/valued my opinions led me to starting this blog.
I could quote statistics: page views, followers…but none of that is truly important what’s important is that I validated myself. I gave myself faith in me which after the many ups & downs of my first year in college and previous years in high school, was exactly what I needed. Honestly, had it not been for this summer I don’t think I would have ever wrote a book, started a blog, created a writer website, started writing two new WIPs, got closer to family & friends, fell back in love with reading, and made some amazing connections with fellow writers, bloggers, and so forth.
So I just want to say to everyone reading this, you can do it. You really can. What’s important is that you keep trying. I am no where close to where I am to be I’m only touching the tip of the life boat. I still have to figure out how to get in (without toppling it over), get to the shore, and back on my feet again. But the important thing is that I have begun the journey.
If my life was an epic fantasy, say LOTR, Gandalf has already come knocking, I’ve found out about the ring, I’ve decided to begin the journey, I’ve got to Bree, and I’m currently at Rivendell where the Fellowship of the Rings has just been formed. This is not me knocking down my accomplishments, rather it’s me being realistic and accepting the fact that I still have a long way to go before I reach Mordor. However at this point I do realize that there’s no turning back; Shire life, for me, is no more. Am I scared? A little I would be a fool not to be–fear is what keeps us fighting for those dreams to come true and goals to be reached–but more than anything I’m excited, I can’t wait and most importantly I’m proud of myself which is something I haven’t been in a long time.
(I hope I didn’t confuse you with my analogy–if I did first click here & buy & read it, then click here (because you’ll still probably be confused/won’t remember everything) and if all else fails watch the movie) 
What are you summer accomplishments, future goals, dreams aspirations??? And if you really want a challenge–how far are you on your epic journey (liken it to a book or movie for funsies)?
