Creativity – Winter Break

To begin, I’ll start with creativity. I’ve decided to start with creativity because this break I passed an enormous personal milestone that I worked extremely hard for and am very proud of. I was able to finish writing the first draft of my novel! The end manuscript was about 111,000 words long, which translates to a novel that is around 440 words. I started this project on November 11th and finished on December 27 (at 4:30 AM in the morning), and within those two months I was writing practically every day. During the times in which I had school, I had set a simple goal to write 1,000 words a day and 10,000 on the weekend. This was extremely challenging as it was a very busy time academically and I was already spending a significant amount of my day working on homework, but nonetheless I stuck to my schedule. Once break began, I increased my daily checkpoint to around 3,000 words a day, which, to be quite frank, is simultaneously one of the most rewarding and difficult things I’ve ever done. 3,000 words is no small feat, and upon beginning I would spend 3-4 hours a day writing straight, with virtually no breaks. The words poured out onto the paper, and there were certainly times when I would sit and stare at a blank page, absolutely sure that there was no way I would write my daily quota. But I somehow managed, and I quickly learned that writing was something I enjoyed more than anything. It was a truly magical experience, and I do not exaggerate when I say that the first draft of my book took part of my soul. But as I said it was extremely rewarding to be able to create a world that had so far only existed in my mind, complete with flesh and blood characters, all with their own passions, flaws, and goals. It was an extremely emotional experience, and once I was done I was, surprisingly enough, hungry for more. Despite having spent half my break writing and thinking about my book, the feeling I got once it was complete was not a feeling of relief, but simply a drive to write more. I think I’ve found one of my passions, and it was extremely comforting and exciting. I am proud of the creative effort I put into the book, and I hope one day readers will be able to enjoy it as much as I do!