TIPS TO BALANCE STUDIES & WRITING

Well, many of us are students, right? But we’re writers, too - doesn’t matter if we have a book published or not. If you’re here, you have an idea, and you love writing, then you’re a writer <3 and… a student.

I am, too! And I know it is difficult sometimes because you REALLY want to write that novel, but you want to graduate! Yeah, same.

So here are a few tips that might help you with that!

Disclaimer: this is about my personal experience, and just because it works for me doesn’t mean it will work for you. :)

Tips:

• Schedule all of your assignments!!!

“Omg, so obvious…” yes (and no). I often forget to write them down in a calendar. I have all the due dates written in a sheet, but not scheduled, which makes it hard to manage my time.

Scheduling will help you to have an easy overview of everything you have to do for school/college.

• Revise everyday

I’m sorry! But I find this SO important because this way you’re always up-to-date with your studies. It won’t be so hard when you have an exam or quiz approaching, AND it won’t take as much time as it would if you’re 100% lost.

• Prompts, prompts, prompts

Is it overwhelming to keep working on your novel after a long day? Okay, don’t worry, I got you. Search for a nice prompt and write about it. It doesn’t have to be a long story (sometimes less than 1k can work just fine!)

Why do this? So that you keep writing every day.

• Track your time

I knowww this is super boring for some of you, but please, this is life-changing!

I’ve been tracking my activities for more than a year now, and it really helps me to know how long I take to do a certain thing, and how much time I’ve spent on it (in a month, week, etc.)

I recommend an APP called TOGGL TRACK, and recently I’ve discovered ACTIE, which is almost the same, but it is more for you to work on your goals.

• Set goals

Don’t write down “finish a 60K word novel”!!! Such a hugeee mistake. I did that and guess what?! I started losing motivation because the goal was TOO BIG and was taking ages to achieve.

Instead, set goals & routines like these (for example):

- Write 500 words everyday of [novel name];

- Work for 40 minutes on [novel name];

- Finish writing [number] chapters of [novel name];

- Reach 5K words;

- Write [character]’s biography / backstory;

- etc.

I hope you found this helpful! If you have more tips, feel free to add them here.

Also, if you’re interested, check out my blog on WordPress, where I publish my poems and soon will bring more content, such as some tips, resources (pdf sheets, for example), and some other nice things!

thegenderbook:

thespookyprofessor:

Dear Professor [name],

My name is [Preferred name], and I will be attending your course [blank] on [days] at [time] this [term]. I am transgender and have not yet legally changed my name. On your roster is my legal name, [Legal name]. I would greatly appreciate it if you refer to me as [Preferred name] and use [pronouns] when referring to me. Thank you for your understanding, and I look forward to starting your course next week.

Sincerely,

~[Preferred name]

PS- go read the GENDER book if you have questions.

Hope this is helpful to our friends heading back to school!

I get a lot of questions from young people. They’ll say, “How can I create content that will cut through the noise?” And I tell them, “Be yourself.” Okay? Because the landscape is so competitive. There are so many people with so many different skills. The only thing you really have to offer at the end of the day is yourself, so offer yourself by being yourself. 

And if that doesn’t work, be somebody else, because you may suck. Who you are on a fundamental sort of unchangeable level may just be uninteresting, and unwatchable, and useless. So if you’re that, be somebody else for sure. And then if that doesn’t work, go like this:

enby-life:

enby-life:

enby-life:

Things about top surgery that I wasn’t aware of going in:

• They’ll probably put a breathing tube down your throat after you’re knocked out. You’ll wake up and your throat will hurt (sort of like strep) for a few days after
• You need to wear compression tights for a week or two after surgery, they’ll provide them. This is to prevent blood clots since you won’t be moving around a lot
• The IV goes in your hand??? They’ll probably numb you first, which is good. But as someone who’s incredibly uncomfortable with medical needles, seeing a needle in my hand was weird
• The surgeon will come in before the operation to draw on your chest. They’ll also ask what size you want your nipples to be. You need to tell the surgeon what size you want your nipples to be, don’t be afraid to be specific. These are your nipples.
• Anesthesia/surgery will make you EXHAUSTED afterwards. Like “falling asleep if you’re sitting down for more than a few minutes” exhausted
• The tightness of the bandage will probably cause most of the pain. Don’t mess with it, the nurse will fix it during the post-op
• You will be PARCHED afterwards. You’re going to be IMMENSELY thirsty, drink LOTS of water. I found that sprite is good too, but you’ll want so much water

Part two, recovery edition:

• The pain is going to come in waves. You’ll feel fine for hours then as soon as you move you’ll feel like you’ve been stabbed. It’s important to remember that the pain is temporary, but the relief is forever
• Trying to sleep comfortably will be weird, because you have to sit propped up
• No showers until at least your first week post-op, washing your hair in the sink or having someone to help wash it for you is your best bet
• The pain medicine WILL make you sleepy, almost 24/7. Don’t fight the sleep, take naps. Fighting the sleep isn’t fun, taking naps is cozy
• You won’t be able to move around much due to pain, so find a favorite show/movie/channel/literally anything you can watch or listen to while stationary
• Laying down flat is BAD. Sitting up is GOOD. Sitting in some kind of couch or recliner or bed (while propped up) is BEST
• Pick cozy pants that are loose fitting and easy to take off and put on, as well as a button up shirt that’s at LEAST a size or two too big. You’ll thank yourself
• Changing dressings will look weird, you need to remember you’re healing. It’s not going to look perfect BECAUSE you are healing, let them heal and they’ll look nice once they’ve finished
• Water and herbs are your friend. You HAVE to have a low sodium diet for a long while after, so spicing things up with herbs instead of salt is your best bet. Also water will continue to save you because thirst.
• Keep everything you’ll need within like… half a foot away from you. You shouldn’t be reaching for anything

• The bandages and tape will itch. It’ll suck. Taking Benadryl is supposed to help, try not to scratch at your bandages or it’ll mess with the scars
• The doctors say this a lot but I’ll say it too, stool softeners. Not laxatives, stool softeners. Apparently surgery can cause difficulties with digestion and using the restroom, so better safe than sorry
• DO NOT take ibuprofen or anything with ibuprofen in it!!! It can cause bleeding/complications, the doctors WILL give you prescription pain meds and you should take those as instructed. Worse case scenario, Tylenol is your friend.
• There will be times when it will hurt even if you’re doing everything right. Your body just had giant stab wounds in it that are now held together by stitches. There’s gonna be pain, it’s gonna suck, but you need to remember that the pain is temporary.
• Find a back scratcher. You’ll need the back scratcher. You’ll thank yourself for having the back scratcher.
• Do you like blankets? Do you like stuffed animals? Do you like any kind of specific thing that makes you feel cozy? Use it. Let yourself feel cozy, it’s so much easier to feel like you’re recovering when you’re cozy