I think these instructions are a waste of time now that you know what these monthly newsletters are about and I have nothing to say. Maybe it's better to delete them, what do you say? Should I keep them or throw them away?
The best season of all, imho…
September is, without a doubt, my favorite month of the year. I've lost count of how many of my novels begin in September (The Line Between Heartbeats, Rouge, A Fifteen-Year-Old Piano, and many others), not to mention that more than a few characters have September birthdays.
Why September? I have no idea. Maybe it's because it marks the beginning of my favorite season, or maybe because I like the way the word looks written, or the way it's pronounced in more than three languages. There could be a ton of reasons, and yet I think it's not just one of them, but the combination of them all that makes it special.
On the other hand, summer has never been one of my favorite seasons. Proof of this is that this is usually my mood about it:
So you can imagine my joy when the sun began to filter through the window, its rays smelling of autumn. Maybe I'm romanticizing autumn more than I should, but I-DON’T-CARE. Tis my favourite season and I’ll talk about however I want.
School and 3 things no one told me about being passionate about learning
Online school started on September 1st, although I had some minor technical issues accessing my institutional account, so I officially started on the 5th. The last first day of school, folks.
I knew the first semester wouldn't be easy—new schedules, a new system, adjustments to make—but I had no idea what challenges I'd face. Just as I didn't see coming that I would fall in love with learning all over again. I soon found myself devouring math and science books. I enjoy the other subjects too, but these two are the ones that fascinate me.
Here’s the proof, in case you need it:
On the other hand, as much as I love learning new things, sitting in front of a computer analyzing information, taking notes, and more, didn’t take long to start taking its toll. I soon discovered the pattern I was falling into. After hours of squeezing my mental energy from every corner, the last thing I wanted to do was socialize. I think it’s not news that I’m an introvert, and as the French version of Sound the Bugle says, “Je suis fatigué.” Once my mental energy is completely drained, only a long period of solitude and quiet can recharge me.
However, feeling connected to the people in my life is essential to me. The lack of connection began to affect me to such an extent that, as much as I enjoyed learning, I began to lose motivation. I started missing my family, even though we live under the same roof. Not to mention my friends, who all live far away.
Another thing that happened was that I organized my schedule in a rather incoherent way. I’ve heard a thousand and one times that the time our mind works best is in the morning, because you’re freshly awake and your mental energy is at its peak. And it makes sense. BUT I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON. It’s not that I don’t like mornings; it’s just that I like to spend mornings doing quiet or mechanical things, things that don’t require a high level of information processing. Like reading, cooking, or even writing short, cozy stories.
On the other hand, I’m a night owl.
That means my inspiration peaks at night.
In short, I was doing everything backwards because I organized my schedule so I did school in the morning and my hobbies in the afternoon. No, that didn’t work. Twas, basically, what led me to lose motivation in just a few days. So now I’ve been doing it the other way around. This allows me to have slow mornings, busy afternoons, and creative nights. I’m not saying everything is solved, but it definitely works better than my old schedule.
I’m still trying to find a place for each area of my life in my schedule, but don’t panic; I’m not known for giving up when the first strategy doesn’t work. There are a thousand and one ways to win the war; the question is which of them works for me…
September 15th: the holiday that no one knows about, and everyone thinks is on May 5th
It’s funny how most Americans think Mexico’s Independence Day is May 5th. But no, May 5th marks the Battle of Puebla, and it’s not really something we celebrate. It’s a pretty normal day, except for the fact that it’s remembered for a past event in Mexican history.
On the other hand, the authentic date of Independence Day is September 15th.
And we don’t celebrate just one day, but two days in a row. The celebration begins on the 15th and ends on the 16th. I wish I could tell you more about this day, but I’m afraid I don’t have time. So you’ll have to settle for the truth about this very important event. But before I go on, I’ll leave you with a classic song and the chorus translated.
Mexico, Mexico; I carry you in my heart.
With the joy of the mariachi, inspiration springs forth.
Mexico, Mexico; your heart is made of bronze.
There's nothing like sones jarochos sung with emotion.
— El viajero by Luis Miguel
What did I read
Reading? What’s reading? Is it some fruit?
I'm afraid I didn't have the mental energy to read this month. At least, not to read and finish. However, I did my best and read some chunks of:
Sense and Sensibility
It’s funny that, being a Jane Austen fan, this is one of two of her books I haven’t read. I started reading it about three times, but I’ve never been able to finish it. For some reason, it doesn’t capture me like the others did, even though the film is one of my favorite Austen movies. However, I decided to give it another chance because of a reading challenge someone started in early September.
The Book Thief (2nd reread)
I started reading it on September 11th, just one day after the Charlie Kirk incident and the very day of the commemoration of the Twin Towers. The funny thing is that on the first page of the first chapter, one of the first sentences is “HERE IS A SMALL FACT: You are going to die.”
Coincidence? I have no idea, but what I do understand is why I have such a dark sense of humor. I read The Book Thief a couple of years ago for the first time, and now, as I'm reading it for the second time, I've realized that my fondness for talking about death comes from this very book. It doesn't surprise me, really, given that the author chose a very intriguing narrator: Death itself.
Tis also my second favourite book of all Times Square.
Dead Poets Society
I may or may not have read the last chapter first, heh. A sacrilege according to the reading society, but what can I do? I like reading without rules, just like writing without them. Anyway, afterwards I went back to the first chapter and started reading from there. I saw the movie before reading the book; in fact, I started reading it because after seeing the movie I thought, “I HAVE to read the book.” Surprisingly, there are few differences between the two so far, but we’ll see. I’ll keep y’all posted!
The Count of Monte Cristo
Do I even need a reason to read Dumas other than the fact that it’s Alexandre Dumas we’re talking about? I think not.
Breaking news
This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.
Spotify's new function is unpacked!
Apparently, you can now send private messages through Spotify, and this, while exciting, could mean the end of the world. It turns out that when I went to check out this new feature, the first thing I thought was...
“Holy crispy creep!”1
The thing is, the Spotify chat had a record of all the songs some of my friends and I had exchanged OUTSIDE OF SPOTIFY. I'll just say one thing: the freaking creepy world has eyes, and they're not the ones you have. Just saying. Do with it what you will.
(Also, I’d highly recommend running for your life and hide deep in the woods. Maybe someone will want to commit homicide once they find out you're not a Taylor Swift fan.)
Writing updates
I... well... um...
As you can probably imagine, I haven’t made much progress on my writing. Starting with the fact that I broke my story-writing habit again due to the burden of school responsibilities.
As I’ve said before, writing non-fiction isn’t my thing. Not really because I’m bad at it, but because at the end of the day, what truly excites me and makes me feel useful is fiction. It will always be fiction until the sunset of my heartbeat.
Rouge?
Yeah, well, that poor thing refuses to increase its growth rate. It’s one of the books that has tested my patience the most. I’ve been trying to understand why I keep getting stuck on it, but I still don’t understand. I’ve been thinking maybe it’s because it’s a book that isn’t supposed to be planned, maybe it’s supposed to just flow, just like when writing the prologue. So, I think what I’ll do next is just wing it and forget about everything else. Maybe I’ll finally get around to knocking down the wall that the man with the briefcase has been building since September of last year.
Manhattan’s Fifth
The outline is almost complete, except for a few chapters. But, as I mentioned before, this is my planned NaNoWriMo project, so I won’t start writing it until November. Which is right around the corner, and that’s… terrifying. It’s been a while since I’ve written so much in such a short period of time, so not knowing if I’ll be able to pull it off has me on edge. But more than anything, I want to do it for the sake of the experience and to challenge myself a bit, so I don’t plan on backing down in the slightest.
Wait... a new project?
Technically, no. I started this project in April of last year, almost two years ago. But something just wasn’t right, so instead of pushing it, I let it go. Unexpectedly, a couple of days ago, while testing out a new writing app I’d discovered, a flash of inspiration struck, and I wrote the following line with the intention of summarizing that old project:
A group of boys and girls were gathered as usual on a Friday afternoon in November, trying to decide between harmless back-and-forth which film they would watch that evening of peaceful autumnal whispers.
But I realized it actually sounded more like the beginning of a chapter. So I decided I’d try my hand at reworking my old project, but this time from scratch, with new characters, new settings, and definitely a different narrative style. I think this new voice I’m giving it better expresses the story’s mood.
On the other hand, the original idea for this story had science fiction as its main genre, but now I’m not so sure that’s the right genre for this one. I don’t want to push it too hard, so for now I’ll just finish chapter one and see what happens. If this turns out to be something different than expected, well, it wouldn’t be the first time a son rebelled against his mother, would it?
Random extra content
I've noticed that random extra content isn't so random anymore, as ‘tis become customary to include playlists, top five songs, top three movies, memes, and polls. Be honest, am I getting boring?
Playlist of the month:
Top five songs of the month:
Can't Take My Eyes off You by Frankie Valli
Haven't Met You Yet by Michael Bublé
Diana by One Direction
Strani Amori by Laura Pausini
El viajero by Luis Miguel
Top three movies of the month:
Dead Poets Society (1995)
We Are Marshall (2006)
My Life With the Walter Boys - A Netflix series
Some beautiful random quotes I found:
Meme time:
It’s poll time!
Yes, I make up my own sayings. And I lost count a long time ago...
Fallllll!!!!!!
sorry. that's all. i just love fall XD
Yes! I love fall! I've already decked out my phone in all fall colors, including extra customization cuz i have add on apps for it hehe. And since my sister and some of her friends have been adding leaf emojis to their names I did the same hehe. I also love fall because somehow it's the most creative season, i can actually make and create and gave way more inspiration in this season. And yeah, Summer isn't that great. It's just that you can go outside without being all bundled up. As for your learning schedule, that makes much more sense to me to do it at night especially if thats when your brain is ready for it. But also, at night you don't have to worry about anything else going on, or having to do something next. I've also heard that learning right before bed helps you retain it better. And YES! i found out about the Spotify chat feature. Glori and I have been using lol. I sent you a song through it as well a little while ago, but i wasn't sure you knew about the feature. The only way it keeps track of what you send to your friends tho is if it was sent and received through Spotify. If they didn't follow the link, it isn't recorded as far as I know.