I set the goals at the beginning of the year. I wanted to write one fictional story (fanfiction) per week, of any length (most of them tend to be short scenes, ~500 - 1500 words), and I wanted to write two to three blog posts per week on a given topic.
I've fallen behind on both. On the fiction side, I missed a couple of stories while travelling last month, and another 1-2 a couple of months back. On the other hand, travelling gave me the time to map out a multi-chapter story, that may have brought my average back to 1 per week. On the non-fiction, blog side, I'm usually posting at least once per week. While this isn't as much as I had hoped, I'm beginning to think it's more realistic.
One of the reasons I bring it up, is because I am contemplating returning to graduate school, again. I had been trying to keep my blog chronological, which had brought me to 1995, but I'm going to fast-forward and give an executive summary here.
In addition to my engineering degree, I also have a Master of Arts degree in the Humanities, earned while I lived in Houston. The focus of the degree was Space and Exploration Studies. If you have followed my previous posts, that came out of my interest in Space History.
Among the multitude of reasons for moving to Huntsville, was the fact that my mother was dying of cancer. (Another blog entry that I've been planning to write, but haven't done yet. I have photos picked out, perhaps I'll finish it tonight for posting later.)
During her decline, I didn't want to get too tied up in local commitments. I absolutely hate breaking promises. Knowing that at any given moment I could get a call that things have turned worse, knowing that on any given day, I could be leaving work to make the trek north for another emergency visit... if I was going to commit to anything, it had to be portable.
(Incidentally, my sister also attended graduate school during that time, but she went the route of a full-time student at Indiana University South Bend, with a part-time job to supplement expenses. Between my full-time job and my family, I took the slow-roll, one-class-per-semester approach.)
I completed three classes, three semesters before my mother died, and one class/semester after. Then I took the summer off, as planned. Summer school was just too condensed, given my work & family commitments. I didn't return to school in the fall. Or the spring. Or the following summer.
In addition to my dislike of breaking promises, I also dislike not finishing what I started. Last summer, I thought about going back to school, and what it might do to my family. And I stayed away.
A year later, I'm considering my options yet again. This time, I'm inclined to think I would like to try again. It's a big commitment. I won't have as much time to Blog, write fiction, Tweet, Tumblr. So... I don't think I have any actual followers yet. Certainly, Blogger tells me there aren't any subscribers. But just in case, here's notice that I'll probably cut my goal back to 1 post per week. If I'm able to post more, consider it a bonus.
I've fallen behind on both. On the fiction side, I missed a couple of stories while travelling last month, and another 1-2 a couple of months back. On the other hand, travelling gave me the time to map out a multi-chapter story, that may have brought my average back to 1 per week. On the non-fiction, blog side, I'm usually posting at least once per week. While this isn't as much as I had hoped, I'm beginning to think it's more realistic.
One of the reasons I bring it up, is because I am contemplating returning to graduate school, again. I had been trying to keep my blog chronological, which had brought me to 1995, but I'm going to fast-forward and give an executive summary here.
In addition to my engineering degree, I also have a Master of Arts degree in the Humanities, earned while I lived in Houston. The focus of the degree was Space and Exploration Studies. If you have followed my previous posts, that came out of my interest in Space History.
Among the multitude of reasons for moving to Huntsville, was the fact that my mother was dying of cancer. (Another blog entry that I've been planning to write, but haven't done yet. I have photos picked out, perhaps I'll finish it tonight for posting later.)
During her decline, I didn't want to get too tied up in local commitments. I absolutely hate breaking promises. Knowing that at any given moment I could get a call that things have turned worse, knowing that on any given day, I could be leaving work to make the trek north for another emergency visit... if I was going to commit to anything, it had to be portable.
(Incidentally, my sister also attended graduate school during that time, but she went the route of a full-time student at Indiana University South Bend, with a part-time job to supplement expenses. Between my full-time job and my family, I took the slow-roll, one-class-per-semester approach.)
I completed three classes, three semesters before my mother died, and one class/semester after. Then I took the summer off, as planned. Summer school was just too condensed, given my work & family commitments. I didn't return to school in the fall. Or the spring. Or the following summer.
In addition to my dislike of breaking promises, I also dislike not finishing what I started. Last summer, I thought about going back to school, and what it might do to my family. And I stayed away.
A year later, I'm considering my options yet again. This time, I'm inclined to think I would like to try again. It's a big commitment. I won't have as much time to Blog, write fiction, Tweet, Tumblr. So... I don't think I have any actual followers yet. Certainly, Blogger tells me there aren't any subscribers. But just in case, here's notice that I'll probably cut my goal back to 1 post per week. If I'm able to post more, consider it a bonus.
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