AvoleenWrites

First of all I would like to celebrate the fact that this is my 4th weekly snippet! Woohoo! I am proud of myself for the consistency. I have been finding joy in sharing bits and pieces of my life. 

Attending Networking Events

One of the things I told myself this year was that I wanted to expand my social and professional networks by attending networking events. So, I went to a networking event last week. I almost didn’t go that day but I am glad I did. I reminded myself that if I wanted to change things in my life I needed to get out of my usual routine. Do something different. More importantly, building community takes effort.

I had such an amazing experience at this event. It was good for me to work on my conversational skills. Ever since COVID, I feel as though I haven’t been that great at socializing anymore. Perhaps I am not the only one who feels like 2020 made them less inclined to getting to know new people and putting themselves out there.

At this event it was also nice to hear from other women’s experiences. One of the speakers talked about how we should look at pivoting as an act of courage. I resonated with that immensely. I am thinking about pivoting in my career and it’s quite scary to be honest. It almost feels as though I am starting over and I don’t know where to begin. 

One of the powerful things about networking events is that you never know who you are going to meet. There’s a wealth of knowledge and experiences that people have you are missing out on. If you find people who are willing to impart some wisdom, words of advice or even encouragement – that could lead to life-changing experiences. Sometimes the quickest way to learn something is to have someone else teach you. Personal experience might be a great teacher but sometimes learning from other people’s experiences will help you avoid mistakes and therefore save you time and unnecessary pain. 

Entering A Short Story Competition

Last week on social media, I stumbled upon a writing competition I had never heard of called the CBC Short Story Prize. The winner of this will receive $6 000, a two-week residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC books. When I first read that, my first thoughts were how life-changing this experience would be for the person who wins this. 

I have not written a short story in years. Despite all my doubts and fears about writing fiction again, I have decided to participate in this competition and write my own original short story. I have written down about 10 ideas so far. I didn’t know where to begin. After watching a few “How to write a short story” videos on Youtube, it seems like figuring out the overall theme I would want is the first step.

This week I plan on narrowing down those ideas to two or three and start drafting the story. I have less than 2 weeks to get this done, as this is due November 1st. Send help! But I am excited to see how this experience shapes and challenges me. I think it’s the perfect way for me to get back into fiction writing. Wish me luck!

Reading Three Books

I have a total of three books that I am currently reading. Don’t ask me how I do it lol. To be fair, I interchange the books daily so it’s not like I am reading all three books in the same day. I initially started The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune because of a book club I joined. The more I read it the more I actually enjoy it. I do like reading physical books but there was a long wait for the book at my local library. So I started reading it on my kindle. On Friday I got a notification from my local library that the book is now ready for me to pick up so I will be picking it up sometime this week. I am sure I will make more progress once I have the physical copy in my hands.

The other book I had started reading on my own is called There’s pumpkin about you by Athen Carstairs. Honestly, I saw this book in Walmart and it had the cutest cover. I took a picture of it and when I got home I bought it on Amazon for my kindle. I haven’t quite read too much of it lately so maybe I will pick it up again this week.

Then most recently I purchased the book Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan. It’s her most recent book and it’s the third book in the Skyland Series. I have read the first two books already, Before I Let Go and This Could Be Us. I think I might have copies of them actually. I absolutely loved both of the books. They are romance genres that give “grown and wholesome” vibes. I don’t know how to describe it but yeah, I am obsessed. So yeah, those are my current reads. Not sure which book I will finish first. Will see!

This week’s quote comes from George Eliot and it goes like this, “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

P.S. There will be no snippet for next week. My focus will be on writing my short story so I can  submit it on time. I will be back in two weeks!