Writing short stories is my first love and something that I will probably do for years to come. I like capturing short snippets of characters lives that reveal who they are. The stories are character driven and show the time and place of where and how these people lived. I look to other writers for examples of how to tell stories that create the affect I want to create. Some of the writers I’m reading now for inspiration are Alice Munro, Aimee Bender and Jincy Willett. They’ve got different styles, but share the same ability to write memorable characters and settings.

The novel has started to sprout. After two hours at the computer yesterday, I wrote over 1000 words, basically the first chapter. I feel very rusty in the craft of fiction writing and am turning to Janet Burroway’s “Writing Fiction” to give me some useful tips. It’s a good starter textbook for aspiring fiction writers, that will at least help me with these beginning stages of my work.

I was forced to write everyday, a lot, no matter what was going on and no matter how I was feeling. I dove in without a clear idea of who the characters were or even a rough plot structure and ended up writing over 30 pages of a story that I eventually scrapped because it wasn’t going anywhere. This past year, I didn’t participate in NaNoWriMo, but I did start yet another novel. Again, after maybe another 30 pages, I stopped. I didn’t like what the story was turning into. Now, I’ve got another idea for a slightly different novel that incorporates aspects of the previous two. I hope to start again, but with inspiration and ideas that sprung from the first two attempts.

Starting in January, I’m going to do my own verstion of NaNoWriMo and will try and post my progress regularly here. Instead of 50,000 words in 30 days, I’ll do half of that because it’s more do-able and will allow me time to have a life outside of writing. I basically just need a kick in the pants to get this novel off the ground, and what better way to start off 2012.

Wired magazine wrote about how to Write a Novel in a Month. The article says to plan ahead; have some scene ideas, and character sketches plotted out before even starting.

That’s what I plan to do the rest of December so that I have an idea of what I’ll be writing about come January. When I do start writing, I’ll take some time to plan the next day’s writing. I’ll also try target how many words to write in the morning before going to work and again in the evening, before going to bed, with weekends providing larger chunks of time to write. I’ll also blog about my progress every few days or so, tweet and post Facebook updates to help keep me motivated.

Happy to say I got a 94.3% on my first pre-req, Intro. to Psych, and am now taking a Developmental Psychology 6-week class over the Summer Semester. I was happy to learn that it would only last six weeks, but when I read the syllabus and class schedule, I almost cried. This is no joke. I am supposed to log in five days a week for approximately two hours at a time. You’re probably thinking, oh, you can fake that, it’s an online class. But no, oh no, if I don’t put in at least 10 hours a week I will fall way behind. This first week, I have nearly 12 assignments already and 100 pages of reading to do. This is an undergrad summer semester course, are you kidding me?

The nerd, overachieving side of me wants to get an A in the course and the slacker, rebellious side wants to take short-cuts and just get a passing grade. I’ll find a balance somewhere in between, that leans towards the A because heck, I need some decent teacher recommendations and any scholarships that I can gather up to pay for a costly graduate school tuition.

Take Maggie of Mighty Girl for instance. She devotes an entire section of her site called Mighty Closet that is all about the great things her friends wear. And when she goes on a trip, she blogs about what she’s wearing (see pic below). Love this idea. I might steal it for this section.

She says the dress is vintage and that “It’s cotton and it has pockets, purrrr. Great for visiting churches when I’m traveling, because it covers the shoulders and knees, but it’s cool and easy to move in.”

Then there’s Heather of dooce.com who herself has a great sense of Style, but also started the Camille Series, about a friend she says “has the most unique and at times flat out bizarre wardrobe of anyone I know.” (see below)

Not just clothes

But, I’m not only interested in Style as in clothing, I’m also interested in objects that add that “distinctive expression” to everyday life. Like for instance, this DIY salt dish with bud vase featured on Design*Sponge. Brilliant!

The first race is in a few weeks. It’s the Celebrate Israel 4-Mile race in Central Park. It’s my first race of the season and will also be a good training race for the NYRR Modern Mini 10K. I did this one last year and had a lot of fun. There was so much excitement in the air with all the elite runners at the start of the race. I even got to high-five U.S. Olympic runner Kara Goucher at the start!

Off to the races, nine of them. Check back here to read my posts as I check off each and every one of them!

So, I figured why not start jotting down my own experiences so that others who are also looking to change careers can read about what one person went through. Also, it’s a way for me to organize my thoughts into one place.

I’ve been researching various careers for the past three years, mostly going online to read descriptions, and sometimes talking to people I know who are actually in those careers. It’s a mind-boggling experience, and very exhausting or exhaustive as I scour the Internet for clues as to what I would enjoy doing, while making a decent living doing it.

My decision to switch careers evolved because of many reasons, which I’ll explain more in-depth in a future post. But mainly, I’ve grown disinterested in what I do for a living and want to try something very different. For a decade, I’ve worked in different forms of media as a writer, reporter, editor, web producer, and account manager, to name the most prominent roles. And although I’ve learned a ton, and enjoyed some of the work I engaged in, I want to try my hand at a health career. After much laborious research, I’m looking at Occupational Therapy as a possible new career path. There are many reasons for this choice, and again, I’ll explain more in-depth in a future post.