So long, November

The days are growing shorter when I really, really need them to be growing longer. I need 30-40 hour days.

It's the end of term and evverrrryytthhinnnngggg is due.

Do you see how big that everything is?

That's how much is due.

As such, I've taken to decorating my house for Christmas. I've printed out a Christmas tree, a Christmas village, and spent far too many hours cutting out paper snowflakes.

My priorities are nowhere near straight.

Anyway, my news for today: I didn't win NaNoWriMo this year, which sucks, but I needed time to write my essays and stories for class (and to spend hours cutting out paper snowflakes).

I'll do a NaNo 2.0 during the second half of December, when things have settled down.

I'll be back soon, but before I go, let me show you a cool video of my Great Uncle arresting Lee Harvey Oswald (It was Oswald's first arrest. The Disturbing the Peace arrest. Not the, you know, killing the leader of the free world arrest.) My aunt sent it to me earlier today. If you're interested, it's somewhere in this PBS special, which I cannot access in England.

I like to play Degrees of Separation.

For example, I know someone -> who knows someone -> who has monthly meetings with J.K. Rowling.

I know someone -> who knows someone -> who knows someone -> who knows someone -> who works for John Green.

This is probably my strangest DoS.

I know someone.

Who knew someone.

Who killed J.F.K.

Best,

Julia

And as winter approaches...

So this morning, I woke up at 3a.m. which might not seem like an accomplishment to you, but it has been the most human-like time I've woken up in the past few weeks. I might have gone slightly (completely) nocturnal, bu tI'm getting more in the swing of things, now. I've been keeping up with my NaNoWriMo word count. I've been almost keeping up with all of my coursework. And this morning, I even had enough time to write a few postcards for people back home.

I only sent out four postcards, in this batch, but I had a lot of birthdays to get through. I'll send out some more soon.

I won't rant about how much I love writing letters to you today.

But I love writing letters.

I.

Love.

Writing.

Letters.

In other news.

In the past week I've come upon the INSANE realisation that there are only a few weeks left in this term. But the trees are pointing me true. Most of their leaves are lying in brown heaps on the ground. Fall is coming to an end and winter will soon be at hand.

In about a month, I'll be heading back home for the holidays. (And all of my coursework will be due, including an essay I haven't 100% started yet). How strange is that?

It's been a wonderful term. I'll be pretty sad to see it come to a close.

And pretty stressed. (re: the essay).

This is only going to be a small update. I need to head to the post office before class, but I'll leave you some pictures I've taken recently before I go. Would you like some more pictures of Corsham? Of course you would. It's beautiful.

All my best,

Julia

So this is my school

Hello again! So this year, I'm doing an MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University--or as I'll be calling it from now on: my course at BSU.

I've been attending classes for about a month now, and I love everything about the course. I love the workshops, the tutors, my coursemates, and the work I've been doing on the course. In the very beginning of the year, I went to a talk hosted by some graduates of the program who are all now published, successful authors. I'm not sure anything has made me more excited about my future in my entire life. It's been a blast so far.

If I had any doubts about turning down jobs and flying halfway across the world for a degree that is unmarketable, they have all been positively obliterated.

And while this course would have been perfect for me even if the classes were taught in a basement in Detroit, the actual campus is a huge plus.

Welcome, my friends, to my school for the year:

This is Corsham Court. My classes are in the rooms just above my head. The library is in the wing to my right. Here's one of the library reading rooms:

A better view out of that window:

Corsham Court was reportable built on the site of the seat of an old Saxon king with the glamorous name of "Ethelred the Unready." The oldest parts of the current house were built in the late 1500s--and those stables remain untouched from that time. In the mid-1700s, they decided to expand the house and hired Capability Brown (given name: Lancelot Brown) to design the expansion and the park surrounding the house.

Capability Brown is probably THE most famous landscape artist of all time, and that's saying something, as there are a ton of big names in the world of landscape art.

Or maybe there aren't.

Anyway, the gardens around Corsham Court are amazing.

While I believe you can write anywhere, Corsham Court is definitely a place for writing. It's full of history and art, sham ruins, gardens, wooded paths to get lost on. It feels important and scholarly and unknown.

When I walk down the drive to class, it feels like I'm walking towards something truly great, a feeling that is amplified by--but not rooted in--the building.

Best,

Julia