Aussie Expats Update – Settling Back In Again

Hello everyone, and happy US Friday!

Well, not surprisingly, I’ve been a little off the grid lately. Between international travel, trying to stay on top of uni (and not doing a suuuuuper great job), spending time with my family, reading some great books (I finally got to books 2 and 3 in the Outlander series, thanks Granmda!), and just taking things as they come, this blog kind of fell off the priority list. But I’m back now and ready to return to posting some vaguely interesting things with some more regality.

As of Monday afternoon, I returned to the US, and I’m rapidly settling back into our regular life here in Lawton with my human… With some small tweaks. I’ve decided that while I only have one subject on for uni, I’m going to dedicate my Thursdays and Fridays to writing: whether it be drafting Grandad’s biography, putting together short stories, coming up with some more consistent blog posts, finally editing my damn novel, or anything in between, I’m excited to use this increased free time to actually achieve something. It’s so easy to let that reduced uni load translate into ‘doing nothing much of anything at all’ which, I’ll grant, it is very important to do sometimes… But too much of nothing tends to just make me feel more lethargic and uninspired, whereas I know that getting some writing/outlining/editing done will inevitably enthuse me about life.

There’s also a precious kind of freedom in choosing to devote every Thursday and Friday to writing: it allows me to, without guilt or worry, completely ignore my uni work for those two days in favour of writing, knowing that I’ve worked really hard on uni for Monday-Wednesday (and hopefully making me a little more organised and efficient in the process!). It also, in the effort of fitting things in, ensures that I finish the week feeling like I accomplished something… Which is always a nice feeling.

In the interests of keeping this short, I’m going to sign off! But I’m really looking forward to some interesting posts in the coming weeks: between uni (my subject at the moment is a politics one called ‘Sex, Crime and Corruption’—how could you not get anything good out of that?) and various writing projects, there seems to be plenty to talk about! Keep an eye out for my upcoming blog post about the Iraq War, finding (or failing to find!) my niche as a writer, and some thoughts about why on earth human beings are so incredibly obsessed with other people’s lives.

Have a great weekend everyone.

— Ana.