Hello everyone! It’s me! Winter break has been kind to my thus far and I am super relieved finals are over at long last. And even though I’ll miss some of my teachers and class, overall, I’m excited I don’t have to worry about the whole writing & school juggling thing that I have to do for the majority of the year.
Admittedly, some weeks I’m better at it than others. But I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t picked up a few tips and tricks along the way that help me balance writing and doing homework/attending classes like a good college student. And here are a few.
★Read
Reading gets your brain in that “book” mindset. It helps exercise your brain and keeps you sharp and in the zone to write. Plus, reading other people’s books is always a marvelous way for you to pick up writing nuances and techniques that you could employ in your own work when you finally have the time to work on it.
★Write between classes
Filling up the random chunks of time you have between classes with a bit of writing never hurt anyone. In fact, you don’t even need to sit down and write for a long time. I had a goal of a 200 daily word goal throughout the semester and while I didn’t manage it everyday, most times I met it while writing between my biology lab and poetry class.
★Write on breaks
I mean during Winter break, spring break- whatever you feel like you can manage. But I do caution people in the event that they really need the mental break for themselves and not for writing, that is 100% fine too. I did that many times throughout the school year. At first it made me feel guilty as I felt I was wasting precious writing time, but really, sometimes the mental rest is worth more.
★Write in more chill ways
For example, journaling. Or roleplaying with your friends. Or writing a blog post. Or setting a timer for five minutes to crank out a flash fiction piece. Writing a little or badly is better than not writing at all. Quantity over quality is a philosophy that applies to writing as you naturally get better with more practice.
★Be kind to yourself
Just keep in mind that you’re student. You have limits. And school is going to cut into your writing time quite a bit. That’s just the reality of it. School also might cut into your “mental space” to where you don’t have the brain power to write all the time. And that’s fine too. It’s a hard thing, juggling two parts of yourself, and sometimes you just need to step away from it all and just be a person.
Not a writer.
Not a student.
Just you.
And that is enough.
By the Brooke 