The Year Ahead: What I Hope to Learn About Writing in 2017

by | January 4, 2017 | Blog, Creative Writing | 0 comments

Welcome to my first creative writing post of 2017! The great thing about January is that it brings the optimism of new beginnings and fresh goals to pursue (even if many of them fall by the wayside mid-year). Every year I make a fresh batch of resolutions for the most important aspects of my life, and my writing is definitely no exception!

So to start off this year on the right foot, here are a few resolutions I’m hoping to keep in 2017. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

To get published in a scientific journal

Now that I’ve finished my Master’s thesis, the next step is to be published in a scientific journal. A final requirement for attaining my degree is to submit the main chapter for publication within a year after completing the program, so I’ll need to finish the revisions with my coauthors and submit the paper before the year is up. It’ll probably feel like another mad dash, but if I survived my graduate program, I’m sure I’ll be able to meet my next goal in 2017!

To make a career out of my writing

Since I was a child, my dream has been to become a published fiction author. Now as a young adult, my horizons have been expanded to include blogging and scientific writing. Whatever I choose to write this year and the years to come, I hope to someday make a living out of my writing skills. I know that may be a tall order for just one year’s time, but I’m ready to at least take some major steps toward that goal in 2017!

To continue growing my blogging network

I know, I make this resolution every year, but it’s just as important now as it always was, if not more. I had fun networking with new writers last year, and I’d love to continue that momentum! It would be great to participate in more blogging events and even try a few guest post exchanges this year. Here’s hoping I’ll meet many more writers and readers in 2017!

What about you? Do you have any new resolutions for 2017? What are your plans for your writing?

Word of the Week: Surreal

by | January 2, 2017 | Blog, Word of the Week | 4 comments

Word: surreal

Pronunciation: sə-REE-əl

Part of Speech: adjective

Definition: having the qualities of surrealism; bizarre

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson

Happy New Year! It’s the first Word of the Week of 2017, and since I ended 2016’s vocabulary segment with Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year, I figured it would be fun to start this year with Merriam-Webster‘s. This word was chosen for having been looked up far more often in the last year than in previous years, especially after certain significant events, and I couldn’t agree more: 2016 was an incredibly “surreal” year!

“Surreal” refers to anything that displays the qualities of Surrealism, that is, what is bizarre and irrational in nature. The word arose in the 1930s as a back-formation of the noun “surrealism”, defined as “a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind”. This noun derives from the French noun surréalisme, which comprises two roots: the prefix sur- “over” and the Latin adjective realis “actual”.

For years, “surreal” has been a favorite adjective of mine for describing things I find unbelievable or particularly unusual. Merriam-Webster defines the word as “marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream”, a quality that defines the distinct style of the surrealist art movement. If the details in your stories tend to challenge the limits of reality, you may be set to create some interestingly “surreal” art in 2017!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?

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