Friday, January 1, 2016

hello 2k16

     I did it. I can't believe it, but I submitted my entry for the Five Magic Spindles contest yesterday at 10:26 p.m., with an hour and a half to spare! And then I blasted Taylor Swift and danced around my room in celebration... but that is neither here nor there.      
      This story has been one of the funnest, craziest, most terrifying projects I've ever had the privilege of working on. Since the announcement of this contest in June, it's been sitting on my shoulder like "hey, Julia. You're going out with friends. You should be writing me." and "hey, Julia. I know it's 2:30 a.m., but I'm gonna keep you awake with all of the ideas you have about me." and "hey, Julia. You have three more days until December 31, and you are going to actually die if you don't finish working on me." Well, guess WHAT, you pestering story-voice-guilt-creature? I WROTE YOU AND SUBMITTED YOU AND YOU'RE DONE AND I'M GONNA GO WATCH NETFLIX NOW     
     No, for real - I've been stressed out over this story since forever. It feels amazing to have the weight of it off my chest, and I spent the past three days working harder on it than I've worked on anything all semester in order to have it done in time. Even if it doesn't win the contest, I'm so glad I wrote it - I learned a lot about myself and my writing throughout the process. For example: Julia and deadlines do not do well together. For another, less surprising example: Julia does not like to persist.       I have always known this about me - I have trouble sticking to long-term projects. As someone who claims that she writes novels, I spend a very small amount of time writing novels. I kind of quit digital art a few years ago, even though I enjoyed it, because I didn't think I was good at it. And the truth is, i haven't been writing very much recently because I stopped thinking about it the right way - I got a little overwhelmed by the voices in my head that told me I wasn't a good writer. It was so easy to stop fighting them and to just not write instead. I was afraid of not succeeding, so I didn't try at all.
     But that ends now! It's 2016, and I'm not going to let my fears get in the way of my favorite thing - writing. I'm going to write more this year. I'm also going to draw more, because I've been keeping myself from making art for far too long. So here's to a new year and to not holding myself back.