Today I am heading back to graduate school to begin another semester studying creative writing. Every time I start school anew, I feel my anxiety level rise tremendously as I worry my professors will not like me or my work, and the best way I have found for me to combat this is to look at the larger picture. This year I achieved one of my major life goals, to publish a novel, and for this year and the beginning of next year, I would like to publish the second book in the Ingenious Mechanical Devices series, The Winter Garden. I’m 73,000 words into it, so I hope to be done in a month or two since my writing slows down exponentially once the semester starts. Editing hopefully won’t take too long, so it is supposed to be out some time in March or so. Along with finishing book two, I plan on getting book three underway or working on my master’s thesis project (which is a novel also but not in the Ingenious Mechanical Devices series though it is still laced with fantasy). Maybe even both. I haven’t tried to tackle juggling two projects at once in a while, but hopefully, I’ll manage.
In the way of long-term goals, I only have a few. My ultimate career goal is to become an English professor, so I can hopefully inspire other college students to love books and study them the way I was by my professors. Academia is really all I have ever known, and along with writing, I feel it is the only thing I am really good at. If I couldn’t be a professor, I would hope to get a job in a museum. Basically it is the second world of academia. If I can’t study books, I will bring out my inner antiquarian and write about that instead.
As with all authors, I hope to be at least someone well-known. I don’t have delusions of grandeur. I am definitely not expecting or hoping for a movie deal (though that would be lovely). All I want is a decent following of loyal readers who will get excited when I announce a new project or the release of a new book. Nothing pleases me more than to have someone who honestly enjoys my work, and they are what keeps me writing when I am feeling down.
Well, for now, I shall focus on my school work and The Winter Garden. I hope to have it finished in the next month or two, and right now this is where I stand writing it:
Kara Jorgensen 