A semester in review.

Credit

I've lived in New York for five months now. Things have changed... I'm a different person, at least that's what I think. I can (proudly, gleefully) spot a tourist a mile off, simply by his or her clothing, I walk really fast, refer to the subway as the train, (Subway is a restaurant, silly) regularly eat off  of food carts, and I know where to get the best pizza. I know that it's silly to take the train if you are going any less than 20 blocks, and I can give a tourist directions without much hassle. I think subway rats are rather cute.

This semester I've survived a "hurricane," an earthquake, and a visit by Justin Bieber to the Empire State Building. I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade from my balcony, I went to a jazz club (on my birthday, no less) and I have a favorite "Seinfeld" diner. I took a boat tour around the boroughs (with school) and met one of my best friends because of it. I tried to write a novel in a month, but instead started (but not finished) a novel during a month where most of my guy friends had scruffy, wannabe beards.

 I took a yoga class this afternoon, and find myself somewhat adjusted to the stupidly high price of things (like food) around here. I don't notice sirens anymore, unless I listen for them. I've spent countless hours in Times Square, and I've experienced the magic of ice skating in Bryant Park. I avoided venturing into Central Park at 2 am, because, mugged much? I've walked in New York in the rain. I've ridden (all 8 of) the escalators in Macy's to the top floor more than once.

The most peaceful place in the world is my rooftop at night, which has a mind-blowing view of midtown and the ESB. The Brooklyn bridge is beautiful. I've fallen in love with the cozy of the village, the busyness of midtown, and the class of the upper west side.

I know that 53rd street halal guys will still be around in January. I know that the Olympic diner will still be open 24/7, and that 2 Bros Pizza won't start tasting like cardboard when I return. But I also know that in 10 hours, I'm leaving my apartment and taking a train and then a bus to LaGuardia (who was a mayor of New York, and a key player in the fall of Robert Moses, thank you Dr. Hendershott) where I will be packed into a metal tube and launched 730 miles towards a small town with 6,000 people who all know my name.

I will climb into a minivan in 17 hours, and hand my weepy mother the box of Kleenex that I needed moments before. I will see my family and hug my friends and co-workers. I will spend exactly three weeks readjusting to the strange tasting tap water you people have, before I pack into a metal cylinder again, and break away from the people I love to jump back into this great life that I love, expensive laundry, garbage on the sidewalks and all.

When You Don't Finish.

I'm not going to finish my NaNoWriMo novel this year. As much as I would love to snap my fingers and find the time to write nearly 9k a day to finish, I'm not going to do so. I REFUSE. School was crazy, I had something almost every single weekend of November, and finals are coming up. But I'm okay. Not completing NaNoWriMo does not make me any less of a writer, or any kind of a failure. Yes, winning would be nice. But what IS nice, is that I have a good solid 15,000 words under my belt of a new draft. I've got a long way to go, but a lot of story left. Did you finish NaNoWriMo successfully? Are you sipping your coffee, maturely admitting defeat but planning for next year? You should let me know. We can party together either way. :)

Thoughts from a Wednesday evening.

I sit here in my lovely New York apartment, alone on Thanksgiving. I’m writing this on my couch, and have a non-Christmas Spotify playlist on. There are people who would say that this sounds miserable. “You’re not surrounded by loud family and drama on Thanksgiving?! How horrible!”

No, silly people. I am here and I’m able to be thankful more than ever. I have a family that loves me, and that I get to see in three weeks. The most in depth conversation I have had today involved the purchase twinkle lights. The sun is setting over the city, (MY city!) and I have a friend coming over to watch a movie.
I don’t have school until Monday, so I’m taking some time off and staying inside my apartment ALL DAY TODAY. My bliss right now is quiet, and that makes me thankful; I have quiet available.
I’m getting up early tomorrow to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from my balcony. I have dinner with school family tomorrow night, and then Christmas music will bounce around my apartment; Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney will add their magic sparkle to my eighth floor haven. I have a lot of writing to do if I want to catch up on my NaNo project, but that’s perfectly okay with me. I’m okay with letting things slide. I’m thankful for this time in my life. I’m thankful that the five words I would use to describe my world right now are peaceful, happy, calm, home, and grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Love!

Molls

Writing! NaNoWriMo! Oh My!

I have decided to do it again. National Novel Writing Month is an international internet-based writing competition, where participants set out to write a novel of 50,000 words or more. I first participated in 2009, and I WON! :) I took a break last year, but I'm back again, and happy to be writing regularly.

I'm actually finding NaNo to be really helpful in my regular life. It keeps me just busy enough to schedule things out a little more, which I'm finding helpful. My character seems to know what she wants, (and what her name is, no input from me!) so I'm letting the story be written that way- so far it seems to be working.

We'll see! 

I might be saying some very different things when I reach 30,000 words, as opposed to the 3,516 that I have now. If you'd like to follow my progress, the "writing" tab/page goes to my NaNo profile, which has my daily statistics, and my word count progress.

Thaaat's all folks!
You'll hear from me soon.
Or, you know... in December.



-Molly