Hello, friends! A little bit of a late post, but the end of the month kind of snuck up on me here. The month of August was a slow wrap up of my summer, ending with me moving back to school. Here’s what I got up to for the end of my summer.

academic

This month I sort of gave myself a break from reading research. Instead, I dedicated my research time to watching shows and movies about WWI. I started with The Crimson Field, a mini series about a field hospital during the war. I really enjoyed how the war was a present part of the characters’ lives, but not the source of the plot. Instead, the characters had their own dramas and stories that developed while the war happened to be going on. I really enjoyed the series and learned a lot about the workings of a war hospital.

Parade’s End offered a similar version of the war. This was a mini series that took place during the war but focused heavily on characters’ personal development. The war was present in the background and even influenced many of the characters’ decisions, but mostly the story was driven by the characters rather than by a war-heavy plot. This is something I kind of want to emulate in the story I want to tell, so I really learned a lot from this series.

The final research I did was a rewatch of a great film, War Horse. Mostly I just wanted an excuse to rewatch this movie because I love it, but it’s also another good example of a character driven story that explores the realities and inner workings of the war.

As it is the end of my summer, I returned to school and had my first three days of classes. Because I haven’t had the chance to really dive into these yet, I’ll describe more about those in my next post. For now, let’s just say it’s going to be a hardcore semester.

activities

Because I had another break in the middle of this month, and then went back to school a week later, I finished working at the beginning of the month. While I’ve missed my paycheck, it’s been nice to take a break from working.

Now that I’m back at school, I get to start working here. I recently received a new work study position in the PR department of my school, so I left my previous work study in the Writing Center to better focus on my new job. I’m also working on my internship at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum for the second semester. I’ll be working on balancing those this semester.

I’m also back at work as Vice President of my school’s chapter of College Democrats. Because this is an election season, we’ll be working very hard on campaigning and registering voters. It’s going to be very busy, but after the turnout we received at Club Night, where we advertised our club to the school, it looks like it’s going to be a fun semester.

creative

This month I also took a bit of a break from my YA novel that I’ve been working on all summer. Instead, I focused on edits for my short story, formerly called “Siren”. After editing the second draft heavily, I sort of impulse-submitted it to a literary magazine. Immediately after submitting, I began researching other magazines to submit to in case it’s rejected. I don’t expect it to be accepted for publication, as it is still an early draft and I didn’t spend any time in the beta process. I wanted to keep it somewhat private to myself and see what happens upon submitting it. Any feedback I can get from the magazine would be invaluable to working on a new draft.

Something I think is important in publishing is always maintaining your creative momentum on a project. I’m not expecting a publication deal with this magazine I submitted to, which is why I immediately looked up other magazines after submitting. This is a rejection-heavy industry so you have to be prepared for that. I don’t want to be rejected and suddenly lose all hope, so I’m forcing myself to think a step ahead.

I also released a video on my writing goals for the spring and summer. I have noticed these videos especially don’t get a lot of views. Considering I post a lot of the same content in my blogs, I’m wondering what the value of these writing goals review videos is. I may rededicate the time I use on them and put it somewhere more productive. I have a lot of other videos prefilmed to keep my content going during the busy semester so I’m at least trying to be prepared.

inspiration

This month I’ve consumed a lot of mindless content. I’ve gotten really into Shane Dawson’s docuseries and older vlogs so that’s been really entertaining. I also saw The Meg for my best friend’s birthday, and it was actually pretty entertaining. I’m not big on killer shark movies but even I can appreciate Ruby Rose and Dwight Shrute in a wildly unrealistic film.

I’ve been enjoying a few new albums this month, particularly Sweetener by Ariana Grande, which is just such a vibey album, and Starcruiser by Vinyl Theatre, which is such a different sound from their usual music. Would recommend both.

personal

The big highlight of August for me was getting to see Taylor Swift perform in Tampa. She is absolutely the most impressive artist I’ve ever seen live. Say what you will about her, but she is a dedicated performer. She had fireworks and fireballs, choreography to all of her songs, inflatable snakes, several screens with effects, seamless mashups of several of her songs, and such a genuine way of speaking to her fans. It was an insane concert and it was a blast. Shoutout to my girlfriend for getting us tickets, and to our friends for traveling with us to the concert.

My return to school was really a blur. My mom and I drove down and moved me in within the same day, then I went to Orlando with my best friend to celebrate her birthday with her family. When we got back I started getting sick, and was sick the entire first week of classes, which was awesome. A lot has been going on, and I know the pace is going to continue at this speed all semester.

To help with this stress, I found a really cool therapist in St. Augustine to talk to about my struggles. While my physical health is in question, at least I know I’m working on my mental health!

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That’s about how my final summer month went. With the semester starting back, expect a lot more chaos and potentially (but hopefully not) some inconsistency with posting. Comment down below about how school is going for you or when you’re starting. Feel free to like and follow as you see fit.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!