Tag Archives: literary frenzy

Wednesday, 19 November, 2014
2

Welcome to Wendy Lu Writes!

Welcome! Whether you’re a newcomer or one of the original readers of my previous blog, The Red Angel, I’m so excited to have you visiting my new writer website! Earlier this year, many of my friends started asking me, “I haven’t seen a post from you in forever. How come you stopped blogging?”

I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in May. During the last two years of college, I changed not only as a person but also as a writer. My writing style became more flexible, my dreams and goals shifted, even parts of my personality were different. With my mind focused on potential careers for myself and a network of people close to me who taught me to be more confident in my abilities, it felt like my identity was no longer in sync with my blog. I felt lost.

I started toying with the idea of re-creating my blog. It never occurred to me that I would get tired of the layout of my last blog, but I was. I wanted to start fresh, to re-brand my social media presence and really invest in my personal writing career. Finally, at the end of my college graduation, I decided it was time for me to take a leap of faith and believe in myself enough to create what you now see in front of your eyes.
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Thursday, 02 January, 2014
1

Embracing 2014: My New Years Resolutions

#DailyWings: “Nothing truly innovative, nothing that has advanced art, business, design, or humanity, was ever created in the face of genuine certainty or perfect information.” -Jonathan Fields

For what might possibly be the first time ever, I feel like it’s time for a new year. So much happened in 2013 that it seems only natural to “turn the page” and start a new chapter of this book that we call life. (Technically, “Chapter 2014” refers to the 2014th year of the Gregorian calendar rather than that of my personal life…I’m 21, not 2014, years old after all!) Note – this doesn’t necessarily mean I’m ready for 2014. On the contrary, my body experiences all sorts of physical reactions – my arms quiver, my heart palpitates at an alarming rate, my mind goes into panic mode – whenever I even think about life after college. There’s one more semester left. Graduation is in May. Anything beyond that is up in the air. 
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Friday, 07 December, 2012
5

50,000 Is Just a Number: NaNoWriMo Wks 3-4

#DailyWings: “The question should be, is it worth trying to do, not can it be done.”
-Allard Lowenstein

Whew! National Novel Writing Month is finally over, my fingers are about to fall off and I can go back to having a real life again. Wonderful. 

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions and dragging plotlines and flying  candy bars. First and foremost, I want to give a very big congratulations to all the NaNoers in Chapel Hill, N.C., and around the country who met their personal goals, whether they were to 5k or 50k or simply write every day. We did it.

For those of you who are curious, I made it to 43,705 words by the stroke of midnight. Unfortunately, I did not reach my goal of 50,000 words, but I was so close! On Nov. 30, the very last day, I wrote more than I ever have before — about 10k in one day. That is crazy.  (The words weren’t exactly fine contributions to the novel, but quantity > quality is the essence of NaNo.) This year’s writing challenge taught me so much about myself and my writing. For one whole month, I showed that I love writing enough to put it above all else, even school work and health — this is no exaggeration, as I was sick during the last week. Still, it was worth every hour spent groveling over word vomit.
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Saturday, 17 November, 2012
5

NaNoWriMo Owns My Soul: Weeks 1-2

#DailyWings: “Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end — if not always in the way we expect.” -Luna Lovegood

The Office of Letters & Light

I used to think seven hours of sleep was a necessity for my brain and body to function, but I have underestimated myself. This month of November, it’s a lucky night when I get five hours of sleep. Sometimes, I’ll pass out at 9 p.m. and then wake up, dizzy and bleary-eyed, at midnight to start working for the next four hours. All thanks to National Novel Writing Month.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. It’s NaNoWriMo, but it’s also my writing classes — including Reporting and Feature Writing — as well as the trillion organizations I’m involved with and The Great Internship Search. What is a college student to do? 

Even with lack of sleep, I’m still behind on my word count. Very, very behind. Like, 10,000 words-behind. We’re supposed to be past the halfway point right now, and here I am still stuck in the first 10k. It’s not that the copy editor in me is trying to take over — although the pesky adverbs and drawn-out descriptions make me shudder once in a while — or that I have writer’s block. In past years, that’s been the case. But this year, it’s something different.  It’s that I’m working on a novel I started four years ago; obviously, my writing style has changed since then.
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