Tag: writing

Topic Tuesdays: Random

First Year of Grad School: DONE!

liz

After 74 pages combined in four final research papers, 8 presentations, 8 novels, and a shitload of articles later, I finally completed my first year of grad school.

Here comes the wonderful summer break!

If you’d like to know how my first year went in depth, be sure you read my “What Grad School Taught Me” post; I feel like a lot of college students have this misconception about grad school and when they finally get into it, more students drop out of it more than they stay in – so I feel like that post could help people make the decision if grad school is for them or not.

Anyway, it’s just so surreal to be going into my second and final year of grad school in the Fall. My first year definitely came and went by so quickly, it still feels like something completely new for me. The experience I had this past year has been such a reality check for me, yet it’s been such an amazing journey thus far.

Going to grad school, especially at CSI, was never in my “5-Year Plan” when I had my life planned out when I was a sophomore in college. This time last year when I was getting ready to graduate with my bachelor’s, even then I couldn’t picture myself in grad school. A year later, I’m halfway through and the first year had unexpected encounters and moments I surprisingly didn’t think I’d get. For starters, I found myself a group of decent school friends who I’m going through the experience with. I’m not alone, and it’s good that this time around, I’m actually making friends with people within my department; I graduated last year not knowing anyone within my English department because I wasn’t so heavily involved in the program oddly enough. Now, I have a group of friends who plan to graduate with me on time in 2018, and I’m excited to be celebrating this accomplishment with actual school friends of mine.

Back to 2017 though: this semester alone has been one of the roughest semesters I’ve had solely because of insane professors, insecurity in my writing, and just overall anxiety from the courses. Even though it seemed like it sucked, this semester taught me a lot about being a writer and how to write, and my final paper for my literature class shows it.

Also, the end of the semester means that my friend, Tori, is going to be graduating in a couple of weeks. For the past year, she has been my ride to the bus stop after class, and yesterday was her last time doing so for me. I’m going to miss our car conversations about life, boyfriends, and school whenever we did link up, but I’m honestly so proud of her. She’s going to be an amazing English teacher; any student will be lucky to have her as one.

What to expect next year!

Next year (yet alone next semester) is going to be a rough one. This last year showed me just how hard it’s going to be handling two classes, so I can only imagine how tough it’s going to be when I have to take a Shakespeare class with possibly Shakespeare’s biggest fan as my professor, and an Independent Study with the professor who gave me a hard time this semester. It’s going to be hectic and I know my life is going to go down the drain once I go into this semester, but I know I am strong enough to go through these two tough courses and do what I gotta do.

In addition to that, I was granted the opportunity to do something insanely awesome next semester. So within my school, grad students in the English program have to write a 30-paged thesis paper prior to graduating. You pick a final paper you wrote in a class and expand on the ideas already in the paper; I’m currently working on a thesis discussing the disadvantages minority writers have in academia and the way they are the most oppressed group in writing classes. Because I plan on graduating on time next year, I will be focusing a lot more on my thesis and polish it up to submit to the graduate committee for grading. My writing professor at the time, Professor Carlo, is going to be the one consulting me with writing my MA Thesis. She’s possibly one of the coolest professors I’ve had at my school, so I knew that right away, she was going to be the professor I worked with.

Because I plan to do so, I received an email from her asking me if I was interested in being her Supplemental Instructor in a class she is teaching in the Fall semester: Autobiographical Writing. Now if you know me, this is straight up my damn alley. I live for writing about yourself and your own experiences; that’s what TNTH really is! But long story short, I’d be practically teaching her class, which is such a great honor and I hope I can proceed in doing so.

So yeah. An independent study + a really hard class + this SI Leader job = one stressed out Liz. But I know I’m able to do this.

But as of now, it’s time to wait for the final grades and then my summer vacation can finally begin!

What’s going on with TNTH now that school is over?

Because of grad school taking over my life this last couple of months, it’s been forever since I had time to myself to do the things that I’ve wanted to do for months, i.e actually put my everything into the blog. I have some amazing projects coming up (which I will be announcing soon on here), and some goals I want to hit during the summer.

Although usually, I’m over the summer after the Fourth of July, I’m excited to hang out more with my best friend, I’m excited to explore more places and take pictures, and I’m excited to officially start journaling again, specifically just summer journaling (I’ll be daily journaling again for the 2018 year).

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great month, whether or not you’re officially on vacation or not, make the most out of this beautiful Spring weather! Stay tuned for a great summer for TNTH!

-Liz (:

Topic Tuesdays: Random

Pros of Journaling.

liz

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For the entirety of 2016, I decided that I was going to journal write every single day until the end of the year. For the most part, I kept up worth it and the 300+ page journal I kept is now completely full of memories, moments, and simply just thoughts I had at the time. By the time the year was ended, I realize just how much journaling the entire year helped me shape into the person that I always wanted to be.

People dismiss journaling because people classify it being something that “emotional” people do to cope with their emotions. Where, yes, it’s a place where you most likely write your emotions down whenever you’re feeling them, but journaling could be s helpful when things get a little too much to handle. Nowadays, people keep bullet journals to help organize their life and make sure it keeps them on track, so it’s not always about writing to your therapist named “Diary”. I kept a daily journal for an entire year for one reason and one reason only: to make me feel better.

I came into 2016 from having such a rocky and terrifying 2015. I felt like I was slowly losing who I was and I needed to change it ASAP. I decided that I was going to keep a daily journal that would document the year 2016. 2016 was an important year for me because for the main reason that in June, I was graduating college. Who would’ve thought that there was so much more that I actually documented that are now life-long memories? It’s crazy how life works that way.

I don’t know why I stopped after 2016 was over, but I did. I noticed that towards the end of the year, my entries sounded a lot more like Facebook status updates instead of things worth documenting, but even after that – journaling really helped improve my mental health tremendously. I know everyone isn’t a writer and may not feel it be necessary to write in a notebook without a reason, but doing so helps you “talk it out” with yourself with words.

Sometimes, all you need to do is to talk out your thoughts to put them out in the world. Journaling does that while also keeping them confidential, just in case there are just some things you don’t want someone knowing like a family problem or health problem. Personally, I was going through a lot of family problems before I started writing in a journal. Although journaling didn’t help the problems go away, it did make it easier to cope and deal with my feelings in a way that didn’t make me lash out in anger.

I also wanted to start journaling to physically see the change in myself once I finished the book in a year. Although I haven’t had the time to read 365 pages of entries, I know I saw the change in just a few of the posts that I wrote. I began to write about the happy things in my life, as well as look at myself through an unbiased lens. It’s weird because I felt like journaling made me into a “real person” again because the journal had memories and moments told in my perspective, which meant I had to trust myself enough to believe these things happened the way they did.

 

Journals of the past.

 

The fact of the matter is that I was always a journal writer. I’ve kept journals since I was 9 years old, the difference between those journals and the daily one I kept was that these other journals spoke about things that happened because of other people. “Oh, this girl told a nasty rumor about me and I was so close to beating her ass at lunch today.” “Oh my god, my crush finally kissed me in the rain!” They were about moments that involved me, yeah, but these became impersonal because they never truly showcased any growing I did over the years. I actually just recently threw away a lot of my old journals because of this very reason. Why did I want to keep journals that never represented my journey?

Besides my middle school journal, the only other journal I kept was my 2016 journal.

Sometimes, journaling just shows you the journey that you forget about being on once you’ve already been there.

Because it’s already too late into 2017 to start a daily journal for the year, I’m planning to strictly keep a summer one. Because 2018 is going to be another big year for me, I might just start another daily journal then, to document that year’s accomplishments and big events that I can’t wait to actually go through.

Pick up a pen and book and start writing. Trust me, it doesn’t hurt to try. 😉

-Liz (:

 

Self-Appreciation Saturdays

No Self-Appreciation Saturday Post! (4/29/17)

liz

Hey, guys!

Sorry, but there isn’t a post today for Self-Appreciation Saturday! I’m in the final weeks of my semester and my crunch time game is serious at the moment, so I’m spending my entire weekend trying to get as much work done for my classes as possible!

Yes, there are other queued posts for May, in this particular case I didn’t have much time to write this week, so come by on Tuesday to see another TNTH post be published!

In the meantime, you can check back and read the previous Self-Appreciation Saturday posts by clicking the bolded link or the “Self-Appreciation Saturdays” tab on the TNTH homepage.

Thank you guys for following and supporting TNTH, see you on Tuesday!

-Liz (:

Topic Tuesdays: Advice

What Grad School Taught Me.

liz

I’m the first one within my immediate friends’ group and family to be attending grad school. Ultimately, I didn’t plan on going to grad school for my Master’s because I thought four years of college were enough to last me for a lifetime. I knew I wanted to expand my studies in Cinema because I wanted to become a scriptwriter for awhile, and I needed more studies in film and television if I wanted to pursue that as a career. I applied in Fall 2015 to attend a film school in Fall 2016. I got rejected due to limited spots within the program, and by that point, I felt extremely discouraged and told myself that grad school was officially out of the picture.

Until CSI granted me the opportunity to continue my studies in their MA program for English. I felt blessed to have this handed to me without having a backup plan after the film school rejected me, so I decided to stay at my college and study English (again) as a grad student.

I am currently wrapping up my first official year of grad school. I will be graduating this time next year.

Boy how time flies.

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If you were to ask “22-year-old college senior Liz” what grad school would be like, I would tell you that it was going to be tedious, but nothing that I can’t handle. I still remember my last famous words being “I did 5 classes for two semesters straight; how hard could two classes be?”

Dear “22-year-old college senior Liz”, you played yourself.

Prior to attending grad school, I planned to do a lot of things with the spare time I thought I was going to have. I wanted to be more involved with my school’s drama club, I wanted to write a lot more scripts and potentially make them into short films or scenes, and I definitely wanted to finally get a job. After realizing that I had a project already due the first day of grad school, I realized just how intense grad school was going to be.

Grad school is definitely a different type of commitment you make than regular college. Nowadays, it’s ideal to go to college after high-school; most careers and jobs require a Bachelor’s degree. Going to grad school and getting your Master’s isn’t as common, hence why it’s more a commitment. The reality of it all is that you don’t have to go to grad school; you could be perfectly fine with life with just your Bachelor’s degree. So when you decide to pursue grad school and it becomes too much to handle, the question of “do I really need to do this?” definitely comes up. I know it did for me.

Grad school, especially studying English, requires a lot of research. You’re writing 20-page final papers, you’re putting on presentations for 4 different projects, and your vacation days and breaks that you have are strictly for doing work.

Grad school has definitely taught me a lot about my work ethic and how to properly handle my time management. My undergrad years I did my work very last minute, especially in classes that I really didn’t like. I went through many semesters not reading any of the books for my literature course and still managed to pass all of them with A’s and such. Grad school… a completely different ball game. The readings are longer, dense, and require a lot more of your time in order to engage in class discussions and most of all, you’ve made it this far. People don’t understand that at when in a grad-level class, everyone made it just as far as you. People are a lot more intellectual, and the people who may appear like they don’t do much in class are the same people who are honestly just low-key geniuses.

The truth of it all is that you have to physically prepare yourself for grad school and even then you’re not fully ready. People assume that grad school is just going to be a little bit harder than undergrad (or even easier) when really, two classes feel like two full-time jobs. Grading is different, attendance is different, the work is different, and yes – even the stress is different.

In my bad habits turned to good ones’ post, I explain how I had to revamp my time management skills by pretty much using my calendar to write down even the days that I have to do work. Grad school work is nothing like undergrad; YOU CANNOT LEAVE IT FOR THE LAST MINUTE. It’s impossible, to say the least.

Last but certainly not least, you have to change your attitude towards school if you want to pass grad-level classes. Specifically, at my school, I have to keep at least a 3.0 GPA (in other words, a B) in order to graduate. My GPA right now is a 3.3, which honestly can change with just a simple bad grade in one course. The pressure that comes with exceeding in grad school literally wears you out, and if you don’t have tough skin to handle the ups and downs of grad school, then grad school isn’t the place for you.

It’s the honest truth.

Of course, grad school isn’t just this horrible place of negativity and anxiety. If anything, grad school has made me into a better writer and has been teaching me the reality of what it takes to be respected in academia. In the near future, I’ll be writing a post about the writing/rhetoric composition side of writing I learn in grad school that I never knew even existed; but that’s beside the point. As a grad student, you are granted this freedom that you don’t get as an undergrad. In grad school, you are allowed to have your own ideas and explore all these different things without having your professors tell you you’re off-topic or some shit (of course, some professors are just naturally one-sided). As a grad student, there is this certain respect you get from your peers that you don’t necessarily get from undergrad because the classes are just overly crowded on the undergrad level. You also get to connect with professors better when you’re on the grad-level (honestly, Professor Carlo has been such an inspiration for me while on this grad school journey, so thank you for making me a better writer).

All in all, grad school is a risk that you should take if you believe that you can do it. It’s okay if you know deep down inside you can’t handle it; it’s not for everyone. I didn’t know that it was essentially for me, and I’m still trying to cope with the new surroundings and identity being a grad student. Yes, at times I feel like the stress and anxiety do take over me, but personally, I feel like grad school has made me grow into myself and to perfect my craft as a writer.

So, if you’re thinking about grad school, I say go for it. There’s nothing wrong furthering your education. If you’re not thinking about grad school, don’t sweat it. Don’t do it because you have to, do it because you want to.

-Liz (:

Self-Appreciation Saturdays

Self-Appreciation Saturday. (4/15/17)

liz

I hope everyone who is currently on Spring Break is having a lovely week off from school or work or whatever you are on vacation for; I definitely needed this time off to get all the week that I needed to get done GET DONE before the semester ends in a month. Again, this is what my Spring Break has been like for the last two years: just working on school stuff at home.

But now that we all had our week off and we all return to reality on Tuesday, it could be hard to transition from “lazy, unproductive self” to “did I forget to breathe during my long day of work?” self. We all got a taste of relaxation and days of sleeping in, and now we all have the Spring Break blues. 

So, how do you get rid of them before the break is actually over?

Continue reading “Self-Appreciation Saturday. (4/15/17)” →

TNTH Related Stuff

Tomorrow’s the day!

liz

Hey, TNTH followers and TNTH readers!

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For the past week, I’ve been reminding everyone on my social media accounts that the live-streams for TNTH will begin TOMORROW, April 8th! They will all start at 12:55pm EST (so if you’re not from America or on the East Coast, check your time settings and see when that is for you).

Make sure that if you will like to be a part of these live-streams this next week that you are FOLLOWING ME ON INSTAGRAM! It isn’t public for many reasons, do you will need to request to follow me and I’ll accept!

Thank you guys for following and supporting TNTH! Look out for more updates on new content and because planning for the summer content of TNTH has commenced!

I will be explaining a new topic that will be coming to TNTH in the near future, so I’m excited to share that with you all as well.

See you guys tomorrow! 😀

-Liz (:

Important

Just a couple of minor thoughts.

liz

These posts seem to be written far too frequent, and I apologize that that’s the case.

I’ve just been feeling really out of place and under the weather for a couple of weeks for many reasons, and keeping up the blog has not been something I’ve personally been wanting to do with my free time. In all honesty, it’s one of the things that I’m starting to consider stressful, especially on top of my schoolwork and all that jazz.

Honestly, I feel like I’m slightly getting lost and slightly depressed. The last thing I would want to happen is if I completely lost myself because of everything currently going on around me.

I personally need some space.

I’m taking a break from TNTH these following two weeks, which means that no new posts will be published until then. I need time to plan out what I want to write, as well as have time to do what I have to do personally and just get myself out of this funk.

I just don’t feel like I’m currently in the right mind space to be writing blog posts about positivity and happiness when I’m personally not feeling that myself.

I definitely am still planning to do the Instagram Livestreams during Spring Break, so yes, TNTH will be back the week of Spring Break, starting Saturday, April 8th. 

Again, thank you guys for sticking around, whether you click on the links I share throughout my social media accounts, or find my blog posts on the WordPress Reader; I appreciate each and every one of you who read my stuff.

I apologize, again, for going on this hiatus from the blog. As much as I want to write and post and create for this blog, my mental health and schoolwork take priority in everything.

See you guys in two weeks.

-Liz (:

Self-Reflection

Happy 1st-Month of TNTH!

liz

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Hey guys, sorry for no #TBT related post today, I just wanted to take the time out on this special milestone to personally thank you all who have been supportive of me and this blog since it launched one month ago.

In celebration of the 1-month milestone, here are some of my favorite posts I published since the launch of TNTH:

Because of you guys, I’ve been able to showcase my writing and show you guys just how passionate I am of doing so. I’ve had many of you write to me personally, expressing your interest in certain posts (definitely the #TBT ones) and letting me know just how much my writing helps them. It truly means the absolute world to me to know that there are actual people viewing my content and reading what I have to say.

Unfortunately on my side of things, this month of TNTH has been quite an eye-opener for me.

Continue reading “Happy 1st-Month of TNTH!” →

Important

♥ Update. ♥

liz

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Hey guys.

I just wanted to share this with you guys because, well, this blog is about my life and the things that I experienced, what I’m up to, and all that jazz. As I’m sitting here, writing a future post for the weeks ahead, I do have to admit something…

I’m beginning to feel very robotic.

Last semester, I felt robotic because of the constant attention I needed to put on grad school. I had to write my first ever 25-page MA Thesis, as well as a 12 page research paper, and on of that, I had presentations and assignments that began to bury me alive. As I had my little break from school, I began to feel more free, yet bored. I decided I wanted to start this blog in place of my daily journaling, something that I did faithfully everyday of 2016. I am starting to feel the pressure of keeping up with the blog, and again, I feel like the blog is being more robotic than fun for me.

Guys, I love doing this, but I need to step away from the blog for awhile.

I need to reevaluate myself and my hobbies. I know that my interests and hobbies have definitely changed over the months, but I still don’t feel like I’m doing what I want to do. I’m currently in grad school, but I feel completely lost about what I am going to do after I graduate in 2018. I feel like I’m in school just to be in school, and I hate feeling like I’m getting a Masters in something without a backup plan or motive.

I still really want to get into writing scripts and stories. I am a storyteller, I’m not your average “I wanna be an English teacher” type of English Major. As of right now, I feel like I am trying to build my name up on something that is not what I want to do. I am not a columnist, I am not a journalist, nor a blogger.

I am a creative writer, even more so, a scriptwriter. Yet I haven’t done any of these things for the past year now.

I feel like I’m losing my identity as a writer and I need to get it back.

I have posts queued for the entire month of February. I have ideas scheduled for March, but I really don’t know if I will be continuing taking on this blog in the direction that I am currently taking it in.

I’ve gotten great feedback on certain posts, and I thank each and every one of you who take the time to read what I have to say, but I need to begin writing things without feeling like it’s an unpaid job.

Again, I apologize in advance if you’re an active reader of TNTH. It’s not going anywhere for now, but I also need to step away from it and begin to think where I want to be as a writer, and how I can showcase that through TNTH. Content may change, scheduling may be biweekly instead of weekly, but know that TNTH is something I would want to have as a credential on my resume for writing positions in jobs.

I just want to do what I love to do, and I need to start thinking about bettering myself in the field that I want to be a part of.

Thank you for being a part of this journey, and I apologize for the sudden change.

-Liz (:

Monthly Favorites

January 2017 Favorites!

liz

First official month of 2017 has come to an end and what was once my birthday month, is now gone until 2018. With February around the corner, I wanted to share some of  my favorite things this month.

So, here’s “10 things that exhibited some interest to me and kept me from dying of boredom this last month” list! 😀

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1.) The Fujifilm Instax Mini 26 Instant Camera.

This camera has been something that I’ve wanted for months now. I love taking pictures and capturing moments with friends and family, and I wanted a way to either keep them and put them in my journal or give them out to my friends and family to keep. It’s the one thing I wanted to make a habit in 2017, and so far it’s definitely been a good one.

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2.) Ombre Hair color.

A little fun fact: I was once the Ombre Queen before I decided to dye my hair all black for the past year. It was such a great change, but after a while, I did miss having some other color than black in my hair. Because of the build up of black dye I had in my hair, it was literally impossible to make my hair lighter without it instantly turning to a brassy red/orange color. It took me a while to get the somewhat desired hair color I wanted, but that’s a different post for a different day.

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3.) Wordpress.com! Excuse the horrific cropping.

Ever since I started TNTH in the beginning of January, I’ve been on the blog site non-stop writing future posts and checking out the stats on published posts. In some sort of funny way, it’s becoming more of a reflex to go on my computer and check out the site, and it’s been a way to kill time during my month-long break.

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4.) Laptop. Funny story, I was watching a YouTube Video when I took this.

So, I got my new laptop for Christmas because the one I previously had been not working anymore. I needed a new laptop before the semester started back up because these papers and thesis’ for my grad classes are nothing to joke around with. Before this became my “school” laptop, I regularly would use this everyday to watch videos and write-up blog posts. I don’t know why, but I’ve been obsessed with being on this all day, everyday. Sadly, it’s not going to be so easy to relax on it anymore because of school.

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5.) Journal.

Last year, I used to carry around this big, pink journal and wrote something in it every single day for an entire year. I realized towards the end of 2016, my entries weren’t as  thought out and entertaining like they once were in the beginning of the year. I still wanted to daily write, but I wanted to make it only when something was worth writing about. Lately, it’s been a book mainly for ideas and scheduling for TNTH, but it does have the occasional entry of an awesome day.

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6.) Spotify. My cropping skillz need improvement.

I’m forever on Spotify listening to music no matter where I’m going. I’m a Spotify Premium User, which takes  care of the hassle of not being able to listen to what you want on your mobile device. I’m currently listening to A LOT of nostalgic playlists mainly because I’m not really into the mainstream music that is out unless it’s really good. 

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7.) Wonderstuck by Taylor Swift.

Another Christmas gift that I’m highly obsessed with. Typically, I’m not a perfume person; I just wear some body spray and call it a day. When I first sprayed this perfume on me, it literally stayed on my skin and on my clothing all day long which surprised me because nothing ever stays on me. It’s a new scent and my “beau” likes the smell of it too, so it’s a win-win situation.

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8.) Ava & Viv Blue Denim Jacket.

This one is an oldie, but goodie. I got this at Target way back in November, and I still consider it as one of the best buys I’ve made. I still wear it in this cold weather with a lot of underneath layers, and it makes me feel like a 90’s kid all over again. This item will probably make its comeback in another monthly favorites. 😉 It’s just THAT good.

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9.) Ava & Viv Marble open Cardigan Sweater.

Another oldie, but goodie. I got this sweater in October, and although I can’t wear it outside that often because it’s too thick to put under a coat, I still wear it as much as I can. You can dress it up or dress it down; it still feels and looks great with whatever you pair it with. Maybe in the future I can buy myself another one in a different color, that’s how great this sweater is.

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10.) Miss Jessie’s “Quick Curls” & Neutrogena’s “Triple Moisture” Deep Conditioner.

Because of my now color treated and bleached hair, I need to take extra precautions to take care of it so it doesn’t became too brittle and dry. With any type of bleach in your hair, your hair will show some damage. To keep my hair wavy and soft, I use these two products. The Quick Curls is like putting a softer, more gentle mousse in your hair. The curls don’t feel crunchy like regular mousse does, but yet a soft and moisturize texture. The Triple Moisture deep conditioner has been a holy grail of mine for years, back when I was a blonde. This stuff is amazing for both color-treated and bleached hair; it kept even the most damaged hair of mine soft and easy to manage. It’s definitely a must-buy for all my hair bleached obsessed readers!

And that’s pretty much it! Stay tune for next month’s favorites as I begin my journey to find some new favorites!

-Liz (: