Faith, Hope, and Love

... I quit the YMCA. ...  I did not take that job . It just wasn't the right fit for me. ... I did not successful complete NaNoWriMo . I didn't even get a quarter way through. (Although, personally, I am fine with it because I DID complete three short stories, which I can now use for my MFA applications.) ... and speaking of MFA applications, UT-Austin, Ohio State, Brown, Cornell and Wash-U officially have my complete application. Five down and seven to go (I've decided to apply to all 12 on my original list ). Now that the writing samples are all done and in great shape, I might go ahead and submit them all before the end of the week. Although, that is a little contingent on if my bank account can handle it.

It's Day 4 and I have 971 words. Out of 50,000. I'm about 3 (maybe 4) days behind schedule.  Unlike the dude in the cartoon, I have an idea of what to write about. But since I signed up on a whim, it's been a slow process. Especially since most of my free time is spent hanging out with family and friends. But it's coming along... and at least I'm writing!

It's official. I signed up for the National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo ). This means I have 30 days to write 50,000 words or more, successfully completing a novel. I have no outline. No characters. No ideas. Okay... some ideas. But nothing really developed. I kind of decided to do this on a whim. I've had a few friends take up the challenge in previous year, and have been tempted to join, but always had some excuse as to why I couldn't do it. Well, I was seeing a lot of promo for it and then a friend of mine said she was doing it and asked me to add her as a writing buddy. And that's when I took the plunge. I've found a few tools to help me, too: Google's Writing Nook  and Scrivener .  And maybe along the way, I'll figure out what I'm sending as my writing sample(s) for my MFA applications! Wish me luck for next month! (And feel free to keep me accountable.)