Reading to Write

Wow, no posts since Mother’s Day….obviously it is more than a time crunch problem.  I think I’ve had a writer’s block kind of thing going on too.  Anyhow, the year is almost gone and it has been an eventful one.  Three new great-granddaughters have doubled that generational population.  Their siblings are growing up way too fast and I’m sure the new babies will do the same.  The fact that they are the topic of my first paragraph shows where my priorities have been this year.

I finished the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures course with an ‘A,’ but it was a bear with assignments every day.  I opted out of the second summer course.  I never took on campus summer courses because they required you to attend class daily.  Apparently, online courses are just as time consuming, so no more of those either. 

This past fall I took Islam, Western Civilization to 1648 (a history course), and added photojournalism to my agenda with an introductory course.  Finals are over and grades are posted: a ‘B’ in Islam, an ‘A’ in history, and a ‘C’ in the photography course.  I started out with a Religious Studies major and found the photojournalism program while looking for a minor.  I added it as a second major instead.  I really want to improve my photography skills, but it was difficult to find the time to concentrate on the assignments.  I’m giving it one more semester.  If my grade doesn’t improve, I may decide to drop it and look for a different minor.

In the spring, I’ll be taking the Christianity course I dropped last summer plus the Intro to Religious Studies course I had skipped over and Buddhism on the Religious Studies side along with Intro to Multimedia and Intro to Media Writing on the photojournalism side.  This will be my make or break semester.  If all goes well, I’ll continue the double major.  If not, I’ll be plotting a new path once again.

Somehow, I need to find a way to make room for my writing to interweave itself into babies and school.  That is still my main goal.  I hope the Religious Studies will provide stones for building the foundation of my writing.  The photography is more of a hobby, but an important one.  I think my problem with making it a priority this past semester was the fact that the assignments were topics that didn’t interest me.  I am never going to be an actual photojournalist.  Other than possible illustrations for freelance writing projects, my photographic interests lie mostly with landscape and nature photography.  The only people I would normally photograph intentionally would be my babies or other family members.  Otherwise, people just happen to inhabit the background I am focusing on.

As the year ends and I think about new resolutions, the first one must be to stick to them.  The second to set time aside, at least, once a week just for writing.