“I’m Gonna Let Out All My Anger In The Form Of Kissing You.” 

It’s never too late to start recovery

#96: Experiments

I wrote this post for myself as much as I wrote it for you.

You have an idea for a short story. It starts small, a random, sudden jolt of inspiration. Over time, other ideas latch on to it, big and small. Slowly but surely it expands into something bigger, and you start paying attention. It stays close, at the back of your mind at all times, and you pick the thread up whenever you have a spare moment.

Even more time passes, and you realise that the idea is so big that you can’t keep it inside your head anymore. So you pick up your notebook and dump all your thoughts under the heading initial notes.

You’re excited about it and want to explore it further. Things seem to be getting pretty serious. If you do it right, this could get really big. Not a short story but a novel for sure, perhaps even a trilogy. Now you have to be careful and really think about it.

And you do. More unsorted notes start piling up until you’re pretty sure this will be at least an eight-book series with the possibility of spinning it off into a fantasy empire not unlike the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.

At this point, you’ve been racking your brain on this for months, but all you have is an idea. A pretty epic idea, but still, only an idea. You don’t know if the story’s going to work and have no idea whether you’ll actually enjoy writing something like this. This has happened to me many more times that I’m willing to admit, and most of them remain mere ideas to this day.

I often wonder: why not do it the other way around? When the initial jolt of inspiration comes, why not harness it? Why not sit down and write whatever story comes out in however much time you have without thinking about it? Just a little experiment.

Writing scenes with those characters that just appeared in your mind puts things in perspective. It gives you an idea of how much research and other related work you would have to do. Writing even a short experimental scene doesn’t spoil the idea. It puts it to the test.

As writers of fiction, we have the luxury of being able to try things out with almost zero cost. A surgeon or barrister or firefighter can’t turn up for work with a wild new idea and immediately put it into practice. That would be dangerous.

Unlike all these responsible people, you can write out whatever comes to mind as crazy and half-arsed it might be. In case that fails, you can always just delete it or tear it up or burn it or take it to Nevada and nuke it in the desert (stay safe, though).

You can abandon it if you don’t like it or change it in the middle. There are no rules. Even if it turns out well, you have no obligation to publish the exploratory story. You can rewrite it as a novel and/or incorporate it into a larger body of work.

If you write just a few hundred or thousand words towards a story, you have a much better idea if it’s going to work than a person who spent months just thinking about it. There’s nothing to lose.

Think less. Do more experiments.

What I Am Reading

This week, I finished Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman — a collection of short stories by Haruki Murakami. It was a fantastic read. I have to admit, I’m becoming a massive fan of his style. I’ll have to read more Murakami in the future.

Short Stories

I read the following short stories this week:

Firefly by Haruki Murakami

Chance Traveller by Haruki Murakami

Hanalei Bay by Haruki Murakami

Where I’m Likely to Find It by Haruki Murakami

The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day by Haruki Murakami

A Shinagawa Monkey by Haruki Murakami

Divorce by Tita Chico

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Past Editions

#95: Project Fatigue, June 2019

#94: Writers and Jobs, June 2019

#93: Time Tracking for Writers, June 2019

#92: Decisive Moments, May 2019

#91: Writing and Life, May 2019

Unpopular truths you should keep in mind!

While most of the studyblr community is really empowering, uplifting and inspiring, there are also ideals and misconceptions that are really harmful, so please always keep in mind:

You don´t need straight A´s. In some subjects, or basically in life, passing is sometimes enough. Don´t expect yourself to get only straight A´s and destroy yourself for these grades.

Your health, physical and mental, is more important than your grades.

Not everyone enjoys studying. Some studyblrs may be there because they try to motivate themselves, not because they love studying.

You don´t need expensive stationery. Cheap ones are more than enough.

You don´t need to wish for stationary for christmas or your birthday. Wish for something your really want and what brings you joy.

Staying up all night and having only 4 hours of sleep is not healthy!

Drinking multiple coffees per day every day is very bad for your stomach and heart!

Being productive can mean lots of things. It means something different for everyone, and while for some of us it means studying 8 hours a day, for others it may mean 2 hours, or maybe just organizing and sorting out stuff.

Not every day is the same. While today may be wonderful and productive, tomorrow may be not so productive. You are a human being, not a machine.

Honestly, being 100 days in a row productive is more harmful than helpful. Take that day off if you need too!

Your bullet journal must not be perfect or artsy. As long as it helps you organize your stuff and as long as you are happy with it, everything is fine!

You don´t need to do calligraphy to be a studyblr or a good student.

You don´t need to rewrite all your notes. As long as you know how to learn from them, that is enough.

Your handwriting doesn´t need to beautiful. You (and your teachers) should be able to read it without problems, that´s all.

Studying too much can make you depressed. But that is normal and will pass.

Just because others may find a class easy does not mean you have to. Everyone has weaknesses and strengths.

Ambience and piano music is not for everyone. It is totally okay if you listen to heavy metal while studying, as long as you can concentrate.

Getting up early is not always good for being productive. If you are not a morning person, you might not be able to concentrate.

Your background does not have to be white.

You do not have to study on your bed or wrapped in blankets. There are enough people who get tired by doing so.

Your desk will be messy more often than not, and that is totally okay.

Everyone is procrastinating sometimes.

Planning your whole day or week, including every single minute, does not make sense. You will have moments where you will just sit there and stare, you may want to eat an unplanned snack or whatever. Don´t try to plan every second. Give yourself some freedom.

Enjoy your breaks. Don´t minimize them down to just 5 minutes. Take breaks as long as you need them to be in order to feel well and to focus again.

Don´t revise in your head as soon as you´re not studying. Give yourself times where you don´t think about it at all.

You don´t have to revise on your way to school. There are many other productive things you can do, even if it is only waking up and mentally prepairing yourself for the day.

so your last semester wasn’t great.

we’ve all been there fam. in fact my previous semester was not great either – i got kicked out of my university’s honor program. You need a 3.5 cumulative GPA to stay in, and because of a lot of different circumstances, I finished out with a 3.48 – which is, frankly, better than i deserved. But this semester I’m gonna get a 4.0 and reapply. So here’s how ya do it. 

1. have a good first day. 

a big mistake is to go balls-to-the-wall discipline on your first day. Fuckin… relax, dude. Wake up as early as you need to be ready, but don’t push yourself to be up at 5am or anything like that. Set our your stuff the night before so you can have an easy morning. Treat yourself to a good breakfast or just get that fast food you’ve been craving for lunch. It’s really important not to stress yourself out too much, especially after your last semester kinda sucked, and it’s VERY important not to let yourself automatically associate school with negative emotions like fear and stress, because that will paralyze you down the line when things get more difficult closer to exam season, etc. 

2. don’t be afraid to drop

when going to all your new classes, really seriously evaluate your ability to succeed in a class with that time slot/professor/etc. last semester I had a quantitative reasoning class that was part of our core curriculum – the professor was NOT good at their job, did not teach us the material, and frankly showing up to that class was a waste of my time. What i SHOULD have done was DROP THE DAMN CLASS the first week, and taken it the next semester with a better professor. 

3. limit other activities at first

your first couple weeks of the new semester, cut back on other activities. I’m really active in political stuff going on around my city, and i’m on a leadership team for an organization that does that kind of stuff. I’ve let the team know that I’m not going to be participating, going to meetings, or ANYTHING for the next two weeks while my semester gets started. The reasons for this are many – it helps you get used to the pace of all your classes without being stressed out by other things, it helps you reorganize your priorities and put school first, and it also helps you build credit with your professors, so down the line if you’re having problems (like ‘oh SHIT i forgot this homework’ or ‘FUCK i don’t understand this project i need an extension’) they’ll be more likely to help you out, because they know you’ve been putting the effort in. 

4. try out something new organizationally

if you’re like me, keeping track of assignments is really difficult. I lose papers all the damn time. So this semester I’ve bought one of those accordion file thingies – so I can keep all my papers in one place, while still having them separate and organized. Just remember, the strategy is only one part, but you’re responsible for sticking to it and making it work. 

so there ya have it, friends. you’re ready to start this ‘recovery semester’ off with a bang. you can do it, and so can I!

bad study/school habits to drop

like seriously, drop them asap. 

they’re toxic and prevent you from being productive and doing your best. change won’t come right away, but do your best to stop these bad habits.

comparing yourself to others. in anything, we tend to compare ourselves to others even though we know how unhealthy it is. stop comparing yourself to your friends and classmates because everyone works in different ways at different paces.

complaining. i get it. nobody wants to write multiple essays or do fifty math problems. it’s either you do it or you don’t. if you don’t do it, there’s nothing to complain about. if you do the assignment, why complain if you know you’ll finish it anyway ? complaining is counterproductive and honestly quite annoying.

being negative. “i’m gonna fail this test.” “i can’t do it.” everyone says these things to themselves, including me. sometimes i’ll say “i don’t understand anything” even though i’ve barely tried. speak your success into existence and put in the work. believe in yourself or at least accept the situation if you didn’t prepare enough so you can do your best.

cramming. if you know you have a test on friday, start studying a few days before. rather than spending a whole 3 hours studying the night prior, study in smaller increments several days beforehand. take your time to understand the concepts. cramming stresses the body by trying to force memorization which usually doesn’t end up well.

going out when you have homework. i get it. you want to hang out with your friends, but you really should get your work done. make an effort to finish most/all of your work before you go out. personally, the fact that i have work to do lingers in the back of my mind which lowkey stresses me when i’m trying to have fun. who wants that ?

procrastinating. you all know why you shouldn’t do it so there’s really nothing to say. it’s one of the worst habits to have, and i hope we can all work towards getting rid of it.

p.s. thank you to everyone who disagreed with my advice but gave me feedback in a polite way. i’ll keep editing slightly because i usually write these at the end of a long day so sometimes my intended meaning doesn’t get across to some people.

STUDYBLR MASTERPOST

STUDY TIPS

Study things in 15 mins by @kantstudies

Study tips from professors by @daisystudies

Studying for History by @universtudy

Revision methods that work by @tangledstudies

Last minute revision tips by @muststudy

Untraditional study tips by @obliviatestudies

STUDY MOTIVATION

Motivation vs Discipline by @tangledstudies

Motivation and discipline by @niqabisinparis

10 things to tell yourself by @sweetpeas-and-appletrees

BULLET JOURNAL

a whole bunch of prompts by @studbylr

everything you need by @bujowsofie

my inspo tag 

MENTAL HEALTH / SELF CARE / BURNOUT

what to do if you fail a class by @jwstudying

dealing with stress in academia by @joyce-grad

dealing with burnout by @eintsein

self care during the school year by @studycation

Studying with mental illness by @tangledstudies

how i destress by @shayshestudies

emotion skills to learn by @surviveschool

UNIVERSITY AND JOBS ETC

cooking as a broke student by @couple-a-hundred-of-em

personal statement do’s and don’ts by @motivastudy

how to answer common interview questions by @adulttalk

things i wish i knew as a freshman by @jwstudying

NOTES INSPO

flashcards w/ cute headings and highlighted info by @planwithmae

pretty notes with lots of colour by @intelliqents

big colourful cards w/ lots of info! by @unistudydiary

study sheet inspo by @studyforwhatmatters

pretty arty mindmap by @the-etranger

mindmap inspo! lot sof inspo and colour-coded by @studysthetics

simple inspo by @studymlk

𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞… 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢. (っ◔◡◔)っ 

[𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢]

things to pay attention to

the tiny specks of colour in their eyes

the bass and background sounds in a song

starlight on a cloudy night

how someone looks when they think nobody can see them

the mannerisms of a stranger

real meanings behind spoken words

subtle facial expressions which last a second

the underlying flavours in food

emotions that a friend is trying to hide

little lights in a sleeping city

flowers growing through cracks in the pavement

the mixed colour palette in a piece of art

the melody of someone’s voice