ClancyBoy

I'm 34 and still waiting for that return.

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"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.

Mike C

Sounds like you already prioritised. You want to do all the above more than you want to write. Just give up writing.

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Ilasir Maroa

Lol, I think he wants to do all that as well as write. Stop being such a downer Mike, it's not really helping.

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Crap! Haven't posted it anywhere yet, darn!
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Hobbes

Agreed with Ilasir (stop being such a Debbie Downer), and ClancyBoy (that "paying off" thing is bunk). It's *far* more important to go to a school where you're happy than to go to a school you happen to get into due to high scores on standard achievement tests. AP exams mean very little unless you (A) attend a school that even looks at them, and (B) scored 3's, 4's, or 5's. The ACT/SAT can give you access to "higher" schools, but again, picking a school on these merits is no guarantee of success. Go where you'll be happy; go where the fin-aid won't leave you thousands of dollars in debt upon graduation. Forget the USNWR, and anyone who tells you these matter.

SilkFX

I have to disagree with Ilasir; as usual, MikeC gets right to the heart of the matter.

How badly do you need to write? (Note the use of "need" as opposed to "want"; you decide which applies to you.)

If you need it badly enough, you'll find the time to do it. If not, you won't. Either way is OKAY. Your life won't end if you're not writing right at this. very. MOMENT.

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you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write

CaptainFreedom

If I want to get some work done, I wake up really early (like 4:30). That way nobody can bug you, and you can drink coffee while you work. Just make sure you go to bed early enough for your brain to function the next day.

CF

Shawn

Of course, I was impressing the fact that you need to have the test scores to get somewhere where you will be comfortable.

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The most frightening part of leaving a parent's home, to me, is not knowing where one's own home is.

Ilasir Maroa

I wasn't saying that Mike's post was all wrong, but therre are nicer, more encouraging ways to put it. Just saying "Give up." is not the way to go about it.

__________________
My hopeful book:
Crap! Haven't posted it anywhere yet, darn!
"Only tyranny cloaks itself in shadows. The light of justice can not be hidden."
www.theoddvillepress.com

MEShammas

Yeah I am taking a buttload of AP classes cause I wanna go to Duke or UNC to major in law (and minor in creative writing). And you're right; I don't sacrifice study time for writing time, since I am in NO desperate need to write, but must keep my GPA high for the remainder of my high school years (and then I can write whenever I want!!!)

Getting into college is like getting into the publishing industry--hard to get in, but one your in its not so bad.

MEShammas

Of course I'm not going to give up writing, but I love guitar and music also, and sports.

I think I have some talent in writing, and I love to write--that simple. But I also love to play music, and play sports, and I need to study to get into the colleges I want to get into.

My manuscript IS steadily increasing, with about 5,000 or so more words a month (which are edited), so even though it is hard to find time I am still writing.

I love writing, but I also like other things too, like reading novels, for example. Thanks for the advice, but I won't give up writing--my situation isn't near that desperate, so I hope no one misunderstood me.

MEShammas

Good advice I think I'll try that I usually drink some coffee every morning anyway.

enron1982

It can actually be somewhat of an advantage. Have a question? Google it. That's what i like about it. I do see your point though. It's rather distracting sometimes.

Hobbes

LOL. The number of questions you answer while writing will be infinitely dwarfed by the number of hours you waste online while telling yourself you're writing.

Lost in Some Story

What? I'm writing right now. I'm writing posts.

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"The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior."
Henry David Thoreau

ClancyBoy

I spend 10 hours "googling" for every hour writing.

In fact, I should be writing now.

__________________
"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.