Embracing 2014: My New Years Resolutions

#DailyWings: “Nothing truly innovative, nothing that has advanced art, business, design, or humanity, was ever created in the face of genuine certainty or perfect information.” -Jonathan Fields

For what might possibly be the first time ever, I feel like it's time for a new year. So much happened in 2013 that it seems only natural to "turn the page" and start a new chapter of this book that we call life. (Technically, "Chapter 2014" refers to the 2014th year of the Gregorian calendar rather than that of my personal life...I'm 21, not 2014, years old after all!) Note - this doesn't necessarily mean I'm ready for 2014. On the contrary, my body experiences all sorts of physical reactions - my arms quiver, my heart palpitates at an alarming rate, my mind goes into panic mode - whenever I even think about life after college. There's one more semester left. Graduation is in May. Anything beyond that is up in the air. 

As much as I consider myself a fan of spontaneity, the truth is that I'm much calmer when everything is planned out accordingly. Besides things like birthday surprises, I like to know what's going to take place in the future (except for movie and book spoilers...talk about party poopers). What I would like to happen may indeed be the total opposite of what actually happens. Thus, I hope to be flexible in 2014. To stay open-minded and not get discouraged if things go awry. 

I have been an adamant goal-setter since 2008 when I started making new years resolutions using an incentives system and Chris Guillbeau's annual review spreadsheet. If you're a planner like me, you might be interested in my guide: 5 Steps to a Resolution You'll Stick With. You can find out if I met my 2013 goals here. 

Once again, I've compiled a list of New Years resolutions and gleaned from it my top 10. Here they are: 

Ultimately, this year will be a transition period for me. For the past eight years, I've been focused on things like my education and social life and independence. The falls and springs have been marked with numbers - class grades, grade point averages, standardized test scores - that determined where I would go next. Summers were spent either in China or Chapel Hill for internships and extra classes. But not this summer. For once, I'm going to have time (!) to think about who I want to be and what comes next in my book. Not what should come next according to social expectations, but what I want to come next. 

The book of my life (all 21 chapters) has been continuously written for me - until now. Whether I like it or not, this is the year that everything changes. This is where the real writing begins.


Wendy Lu

What are your New Years resolutions? If you could give 2014 your own theme, what would it be?

Embracing 2014: My New Years Resolutions

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The Long Goodbye to 2013

#DailyWings: "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -George Eliot

It's really not going to be that long. Just give me two minutes. That's all I need to virtually hug my readers and say, "You're still here, then, after all this time?" Has it really been more than three months since my last published post? 

If my blog still makes it to your news feed and you're reading this, thank you for sticking with me. My queue has eight partially written drafts rotting away, forgotten and obsolete. Every time I sat down to write for myself (either on this blog or in my journal or as part of an unfinished piece of work) this semester, guilt weighed down in the pit of my stomach as I thought of all the "real writing" that needed to get done - feature stories for the newspaper, online articles and so forth. One of the most crucial lessons I have yet to learn is that writing for myself is just as important as writing for others. 

You'll read more about my new years resolutions (many of them are writing-related) tomorrow - I'm a big fan of themes, and thus 2014 has been dubbed the year of literary frenzy - but before that I need to give a proper recap of 2013. Here's my annual...

Year in Review

(see last year's review and resolutions here)

• Completed my first journalism internship at Chapel Hill's The WEEKLY
• Served as the arts and entertainment editor at Blue & White magazine; will be returning as managing editor in the spring
• Served as fall co-editor of The Durham VOICE
• Started dating Andrew and fell in love
• Learned how to drive at night and on the highway
• Joined DIY MFA, one of my favorite writing blogs, as an online columnist after a fantastic internship experience
• Found my inner poet and wrote several pieces of free verse
• Published travel and food feature articles in Carolina PASSPORT, Wander and Flourish magazines
• Survived the infamous Chapel Hill flood in June and lived for five months in practically a construction site of an apartment with no walls or proper flooring
• Shared my story as an individual living with a tracheostomy tube and spent 1.5 months alone for the first time (without a "parental guardian")

Other highlights: Interned at Personify, served (and still serving) as vice president of UNC CUSA, met Khaled Hosseini, started freelancing and received the Quincy Sharpe Mills Scholarship from the UNC j-school.

Indeed, what a year it has been! More than anything, this year made me realize that I can do anything I want with the right amount of determination, confidence and planning - no matter how many obstacles there are (even if one of them is a flooded home). I learned to believe in myself. Of course, my resolutions and years in review are often focused on my writing career, but there are other aspects of my life that also help me to make priorities. 

The theme for 2013 was "professionalism" because I wanted to gain more work experience - not just to boost my resume with internships, but to learn what it's like to thrive in a work environment with other colleagues. To get a taste for "the real world" before college is over and so that I know what to expect after graduation in May. 

The thing, though, is that 2014 is going to bring about so many changes and surprises that nothing will have prepared me for them. It's a little daunting to think about, but that is why this next year is geared toward writing. I can't help but feel like writing for myself is going to be more important this year than any other so far. I'll be entering the job market as a journalist. I will be leaving UNC-Chapel Hill, a place that is extremely dear to my heart and has helped to shape my identity over the past four years of my life. I will be separated from close friends and people who have stood beside me since the beginning of college and even high school - we'll embark on our own journeys, say farewell. I will need my journal close by to remind myself who I am without UNC and that everything is going to be okay. 

My new years resolutions for 2014 are coming up soon - and you can bet that blogging regularly is one of them. Check back tomorrow for my annual resolutions post and an extra surprise...something I've been working on for the past couple of weeks and cannot wait to share with you! Happy New Year!

Wendy Lu

The Long Goodbye to 2013

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Observations of an Editorial Intern: Here's to Punchy Ledes (& Other Farewell Stories)

#DailyWings: "We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless." 

-Vladimir Nabokov

This post is a part of my blog series, "Observations of an Editorial Intern" (as inspired by the CAFME Summer Intern Diaries). This series focuses on my experiences of interning as a journalism student for a news publication. Any viewpoints expressed on my blog are not reflective of the publication I work for. 

This semester, I completed an editorial internship at The WEEKLY, the town newspaper published by Chapel Hill Magazine.

Last Monday, I wrapped up my last few assignments for The WEEKLY and concluded the spring editorial internship. Walking out of that office for my last time this semester was bittersweet, as the end of most valuable experiences — ones that are both challenging and rewarding — tend to be. 

I like to think of the past — in this case, the "past" few months — as one huge timeline. Placing a finger at any point on the timeline, I remember where I was in the internship process at that point and how much there was still ahead of me. 

In January, I didn't know what were the important questions to ask in an interview. I didn't realize repeating my phone number twice in a voice message might increase my chances of getting a call back from the source. I didn't know "like" was better than "such as." 

I wrote my first newspaper article on a local poetry workshop; two weeks later, I covered Ackland Art Museum's "More Love" exhibit (my favorite assignment) and thought, hey, I could get used to this. 

Toward the end of February, the paper switched editors and I was scrambling to keep up with three stories a week (plus schoolwork). Somewhere along the way, I gained basic knowledge of property taxes, gentrification and "brain drain." 

By mid-March, I was learning how to write short, punchy lines for my ledes (still learning this, y'all) and how to deviate from the inverted pyramid without losing the "why" of a story.

I led our new "Student of the Week" feature for most of April, and discovered there's a story in every child that reminds us all to remain curious and passionate about everyday life. I also wrote a personal tribute to my dear friend Laura Rozo, who died about three weeks ago after being diagnosed with cancer in 2011. (You can find my second tribute for Laura in The Daily Tar Heel.)

As an editorial intern for The WEEKLY, I've gained experiences that I wouldn't have gotten anywhere else. That's how it is for any internship you do. Sure, technically you could intern at any publication and then leave with clips, a mastery of AP Style and maybe even a recommendation letter. But where you intern matters; after all, you're there for a whole semester. 

Starting out at any internship can be kind of nerve-wrecking, especially if it's your first one. But after a few months, you get to know the people — not just by their hair color or office location, but by their first and last names, department and Twitter handle. Soon, you become attached to the publication and its unique style. You learn how to use the kitchen microwave properly. You read the publication from cover to cover not because there are articles with your byline (though that's a plus), but because you're genuinely proud of the content that everyone in the office has worked hard to produce together. 

This summer will be different from all my other summers in between college years. I won't be going back to China like usual (which means zero media censorship and more blogging, hooray!). I will be interning at a consulting firm in Cary, N.C., and I couldn't be more excited to begin this new journey. Still, I'm going to miss journalism. I'm going to miss writing furiously against a deadline and I'm going to miss The WEEKLY. Good thing is, I'll be returning in the fall. In the meantime, I'll be picking up a copy of each new issue on Thursdays at Franklin Street. You should, too. 

Wendy Lu

Observations of an Editorial Intern: Here's to Punchy Ledes (& Other Farewell Stories)

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What Makes You a Writer

#DailyWings: "“We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive." 
-Thich Nhat Hanh

It's been a while. With newspaper articles, magazine stories, research papers and midterm exams swinging at me like cherry bombs every few days, I'm beginning to understand how a juggler must feel. These days, I'm averaging four hours of sleep and barely have time to eat or take a mental breather. Occasionally, I'll watch an episode of "My Mad Fat Diary" just to remind myself not to go, well, mad. 

I miss writing. To keep myself content, I have written some poetry. Short pieces, portholes for me to displace my strongest emotions. But I miss prose. I miss long-winded sentences that keep going and going until you aren't quite sure how you got from Point A to Point B but you know you're in a different place than you were before you started and it feels like a good thing. 

It's true that I crank out two to four stories every week for the town newspaper, and it's been an incredible training experience so far. But last night, I cracked open my journal for the first time in a month. One month! I couldn't believe that it had been that long since I actually sat down to write for myself without worrying about making the sentences perfect. I miss making mistakes and letting them be. I miss writing for the love of it. 

The thing is, when people find out I'm a writer, they always ask: "So, what exactly do you write? Why do you do it?" 

I tell them it's impossible for me to go one week without writing -- otherwise, I start to feel miserable and become a cranky person to be around. I tell them that going so long without writing makes me start to fall apart in every possible way. The lack of an expressive outlet, a canvas on which to put my thoughts, raw and dripping with intention and emotion, makes me feel like I'm trapped in a jar. 

Here's the awful part. Last night, I only opened my long-neglected journal because, finally, I could feel myself slipping. My ability to stay on top of things -- studying for school, reporting for stories, remembering to eat -- had reached its threshold and was going downhill. Fast. 

Let me say it again: I only began to write again because every other part of my life was beginning to crumble. Because I figured doing some journal work would allow me to focus on my "real" work -- the work that actually counts. Pathetic. 

That was the first time I wrote in a month, and for disgusting reasons. One whole month! I wondered, almost afraid of the answer, How can I call myself a writer when I don't even write consistently? Does this mean I've lied to the people who think I'm incapable of going a week without writing because I so obviously love and need it that much? 

As I pondered over these questions, a part of me felt like a total fraud. One of the most flawed tendencies a writer can have is to only write when it's convenient. When the "itch" is there and time allows. As it goes, I've easily fallen into that trap. 

Yet, something occurred to me. I'd labeled myself as an awful person for going on hiatus and practically abandoning my personal literary ventures. But then what made me return to my journal, and to this blog, again? The thing is, no matter how long it's been or for whatever reasons, I always come back. 

Even though I'm working nearly every day toward my dream journalism career, I've realized it's not enough. there is still this need to take the time to be creative in my own way. I've flirted with different pathways -- clinical psychology, medical school, freelance artistry, even archaeology, for God's sake! I could be doing anything else in the world, but the literary life just keeps popping up. 

I chose UNC-Chapel Hill instead of some hipster arts and communications college in Boston to keep my options open, but I still went into journalism. Even when midterms loom ahead, I get inspired for my next poem and make sure to write down a couple phrases for later. Even when I'm writing a 50k-word novel and it totally sucks, I keep going. Even when I hate myself for ignoring the words in my head that are just begging to be written, I jot them down anyway -- even if it is one month late. Maybe Albus Dumbledore was on to something when he said it's our choices that make us who we are. 

So when people ask what makes me a writer and why, I'll tell them it's not because my life depends on it; to a certain extent that may be true, but I like to think that I'm a writer because I choose to write. Maybe it's better this way. Now that I think about it, telling people I don't live to write, but that I write to live, seems like such an easy way out. The truth is, I chose to come back and start again. And if that wasn't for the love of writing, I don't know what is. 

It could be the black ink that just never rubs off the side of your middle finger. It could be that you stay up past midnight because the words are just flowing and, oh god, you don't know how long this high will last. It could be that your best friends all happen to come from stories -- yours, especially. What makes you a writer? 

Wendy Lu

What Makes You a Writer

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When Everything Good Happens

#DailyWings: "Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once." -Paulo Coelho

A person's mood is like the waves of an ocean, a cosine graph. It fluctuates in a gradual manner. We all have our bad days, brought forth by a spilled coffee or perhaps traffic. And then there are great days, when everything seems to be falling right into place and we can't help but smile at the good fortune this world has brought us. 

Lately I've been living on a high. Wonderful things have happened, left and right -- an editorial internship at Chapel Hill Magazine's THE WEEKLY, reunion with my closest friends, excellent fall semester grades, beautiful 70 degree weather, a position as Arts & Entertainment Editor for Blue & White magazine, inspiration for poetry, enjoyment of the masterpiece that is "The English Patient". I can't help but wonder how I have been able to deserve this good life. (Or rather the past two good months, at the very least!) 

After weeks of straight studying for exams that never seem to end and pitching stories and tackling writer's block, it's incredible to see what has come out of it all. I feel like I'm moving forward. Then again, it could be that typing this all down will lead to a jinx. *crosses fingers* 

To ponder over Paulo Coelho's words: Last semester, it seemed like nothing was happening. Every day was just about the same, with minor changes such as in pizza toppings or class seating; I didn't do much about it except keep going. Now that everything has happened all at once, what is next for me? 

There is so much to look forward to, so much to learn and do and experience. With opportunity comes a certain level of anxiety, of course, but it's the good kind. The kind that has you shaking with anticipation of what's to come. 

I know this high will, at some point, start to descend; nothing good can last forever, after all. Eventually, a bad day will come round. Inspiration will run out, exams will return and deadlines will creep up like shadows in the night. I am wary of the downward spiral that is bound to come sooner or later. 

Perhaps the best thing to do when everything good is happening is simply appreciate. Enjoy and give yourself credit. Do all that is possible to keep the ball rolling, but once it begins to slow -- and it will -- be resolved to tackle the imminent obstacles head-on. 

When was the last time you felt the most alive? What would you do if all your dreams came true? Conversely, when you're down in the dumps, how do you pick yourself back up again?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Crescent City Connection in New Orleans

As curriculum developer for Everyday Ambassador, I also wanted to take this chance to share an awesome opportunity with you all: Want to win more than $350,000 in prizes and launch your next big idea? Enter the Dell Social Innovation Challenge by Monday, Jan. 28, 2013! All semi-finalists will have help creating a fundraising platform and be eligible for a matching grant. 

The first place winner (of 45 award winners!) will receive $60,000. The Everyday Ambassador team will be posting a few guides to help you enter the challenge during the next two weeks. Also, be sure to enter EA on the referral/promo code field! 

This is a great way to get your ideas out into the world. What do you have to lose? You have a vision -- how far will it take you?

Wendy Lu

When Everything Good Happens

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Junior Year Jitters

#DailyWings: "Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual." -Ernet Hemingway

 Better late than never. That's what I have been telling myself lately with everything that I do. Apparently, I just finished my third week of junior year without really knowing it. It feels like a 5k race just started without me or something. But even though junior year has already kicked off and I am officially over halfway through college, I thought I'd take some time today to pat myself on the back for completing sophomore year. For maintaining a solid GPA, making some incredible new friends and building a stronger heart. I realize I am much stronger than I was a year ago. 

At the end of every year since the beginning of college, I have written a letter to my older self. After freshman year was over, I wrote a note to my sophomore self highlighting some guidelines for having a successful semester. Here are a just a few lines I scribbled down as reminders to myself: 

Know your priorities. You need to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. 

Don't be afraid to speak up. Raise your hand. Just do it. There's no better time than now. 

Say hello. The worst thing that could happen is you would have the exact same number of friends before you said hello. The best thing that could happen? You end up with one more friend than you did before.
 

Smile. No matter what’s going on, there is always a reason to smile. Find it, mull over it, smile about it. If anything—be grateful for what you have. 

Today, I wrote yet another letter to my junior graduate self. Yes, technically I am three weeks late but hey - better late than never, right? In truth, I've procrastinated writing the letter until now because I didn't want to confront all the things that were bugging me about myself. I've been needing a self-confidence booster because, honestly, I still don't know what the heck I want to do with my life. 

Going to one of the best universities in the country can be intimidating. There is so much passion and fervor. Incredible students creating, changing, organizing all the time. It's inspiring. But every once in a while, you can't help but wondering--what am I doing here? 

So the letter I wrote to my junior graduate self said: push yourself. It's never too late to change for the better. Past failures and mistakes don't matter; what counts is what you can do right now at this very moment. I told myself this: 

I can do great things, if only I let myself. I don't need anyone else's approval to do the things that make me happy. 

Maybe not knowing what I want to do after college is okay. Maybe it's better this way. It's certainly better than having my entire life mapped out in front of me, with no surprises or spontaneity. One thing I'm sure of is that the best parts about life usually come in packages that fall at our doorstep when we least expect them. Even though I don't know what I want to do with my life, that means the future is up in the air. Anything can happen. It's scary, but at the same time, there's something exciting about the unknown. I direct myself in the pathway I choose, never knowing what's around the corner. 

What mantras do you have to keep you motivated and focused on your goals? Do you like knowing what's ahead, or do you prefer taking chances as they come your way?

Wendy Lu

Junior Year Jitters

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"Flying High": The Roarin' Twenties Begins! (Blogfest + Giveaway)

#DailyWings: “Treat singlehood and your twenties as the time when you get to fall in love with yourself. If you look with loving eyes, you will find that your most loyal companion lies within you.” -TSM

When I stepped onto the airplane for my flight to Ohio yesterday, I thought this was going to be an uneventful quickie. I've been traveling for years, ever since I was a little girl, and the longest on-air trip (including a connecting flight) I have ever been on lasted for nearly 18 hours. I love it. I love flying. When I'm in the air, it feels like time has stopped and there's nothing but me in the clouds. It feels like a dream. Yesterday, I found yet another reason to love airplane flights, but it was nothing I could have expected or prepared myself for.

On most flights, I take a window seat or aisle seat and bury myself in a good book or my journal. I'll enjoy my plastic cup of cranapple juice and bag of salted peanuts, then perhaps take a few pictures of the clouds. This time on the connecting flight (to Atlanta first), I sat in the middle. Before I could whip out Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a middle-aged man wearing a dark-blue suit and carrying a business knapsack approached the seat to my left. Five minutes later, a short woman with curly brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses claimed the seat to my right.

I soon came to discover that the woman was going back home after a business meeting, and the man was a surgeon who was on a way to one. The woman told me she was eager to get home to her three beloved dogs and two cats, and I nodded knowingly. My friend is taking care of my turtles, I told her. Somehow we started talking about our love for animals, and the woman mentioned she had had to give up her own turtles a few years ago while undergoing chemotherapy.

Our conversation turned, and it occured to me how much this woman had been through. Yet, here she was as alive and energetic as ever, living her life with as much love and fervor as anybody. The surgeon, in turn, told me how he had come to develop a passion for medicine and healthcare. I listened, fascinated, to these two strangers who had become my friends in a matter of two hours. By the end of the flight, I hadn't even unzipped my backpack for Zen. I bid my newfound airplane buddies farewell, and the woman even patted me on the shoulder.

On the final plane to Ohio, I got the aisle seat on the Exit row. Finally - some peace and quiet! Not that I hadn't enjoyed my conversations with fellow surgeon and cat lady, but the night would be a busy one for me and I needed some rest.

But even as I sat down, I couldn't help but notice my left-side neighbor. An older man well into his 60s sat, tapping one giant sneaker against the rugged floor, with his head resting on one hand. I greeted him with a "Hi, how are you," and he shook his head.

"Not good," the man said. "Been up since 1 o'clock this morning."

"Oh no," I said. "Why were you up so late?"

The man told me his brother was in the hospital. He'd had a stroke. My neighbor had gotten the news while on vacation with his wife and grandkids.

"Oh no." I felt stupid for saying the same thing, but I was taken aback. Out of all the things I could have expected, this was last on the list. "Is he okay?"

The man shook his head.

I didn't know what to say. 'Sorry' seemed infinitesimally too small of a word, and a hug would be inappropriate in this situation. We sat together in what seemed like an uncomfortable silence for half an hour, and I debated whether to say anything else at all. Maybe I should just mind my own business, like usual. But the man just looked so sad.

He was the one to speak first.

"You from Ohio?"

"No, I'm visiting family for my birthday," I said. "How about you?"

"Yeah. You ever been to Rock and Roll House of Fame?" he asked.

The question surprised me. I said no I hadn't, but it was on my to-do list. The man said the term rock and roll had originated from Ohio from the very beginning. Alan Freed was the man who did it, he told me with a grin.

This seemed to take his mind off of current troubles, so I decided to keep on with the conversation.

"What's the best concert you've ever been to?" I asked, hoping that wasn't too random or weird.

"Oh, Elton John and Billy Joel's tour, hands down," he said. He began to list all the concerts he had ever been to and the biggest stars of the '60s - the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Elvis Presley. When he talked about music and 'the old days,' his eyes seemed to light up as if he were back in the Blossom Music Center. We chatted about famous landmarks in Ohio, rock and roll, and The Osbournes for the remaining of the flight. Twenty minutes turned into a couple of hours, and suddenly I was waving goodbye again at yet another new friend. I wished him and his family good luck, and told him I hoped his brother was all right.

As I walked into the Ohio airport, I spotted a female soldier clad in her camouflage military uniform. She crossed the hallway and approached a very old man--must have been in his nineties--with thinned blonde-white hair and large ear lobes. The soldier hugged the old man and whispered in his ear, thank you for your service. She squeezed his hand, and was gone.

I left the airport smiling.

Turning 20 has gotten me thinking deeply about what I want this upcoming decade to be about. Even though we are thrown unexpected surprises and crazy events every single day such that we feel powerless over our own lives, I think in the end we have a lot more control over our fate than we realize.

If there is anything that I learned from my day "in the air" (a day in the air out of many), it's that there is opportunity. Everywhere. The chance to make anything happen is right there in front of us, and it's our job to make sure we don't miss out. I think that's what I want my Roarin' Twenties to be about: taking chances and noticing opportunities. Being aware of my surroundings and the people around me. I never know who I will end up meeting on a chance encounter. Maybe next time I'm on an airplane, it'll be a cute guy with an Italian accent or something. Who knows? All I know is, never again will I bury myself in a book without first greeting my neighbor on an airplane flight.

Without further ado, here are my poems for the Roarin' Twenties Poetry Blogfest! Check out the rules here. The blogfest lasts until Sunday, so you can still sign up below!

A Set of Roarin' Limericks

Try #1:

There once was a girl named Wendy Lu,

Her popular nickname was Cindy Who.

Everyone thought she was thirteen, 

Which called for a post-teen scream,

All she wanted was some ice cream.

Ick......that was terrible! Let me try again.

Try #2:

There once was a girl named Wendy Lu,

Everyone called her Cindy Who.

Her friends said she looked young,

But really she was just full of fun,

Like them, she just turned twenty too!

Okay...that's better. One more try?

Try #3:

There once was a girl named Wendy Lu,

who ate her cake with a spoon.

She hung out at the speakeasy,

Even though alcohol made her queasy,

Never mind! This whole poem is full of poo!

Ack! I give up!

This blogfest is dedicated to all those writers who say they aren't 'good' at writing poetry. My 'literary forte' is with prose, but hey - ultimately there's a poet in all of us! I'm proof of that! :P

Thank you to all of the participants who signed up to celebrate my birthday with me! Much love to you all. Don't forget to check out the other entries!

The winner of the Chapter Critique Giveaway will be announced tomorrow after the blogfest and after I have entered everyone's points into the random generator! As they say in the movies, STAY TUNED.


Wendy Lu

P.S. I went from 184 followers to 194 followers in eight days! Y'all ROCK! Thank you so much!



"Flying High": The Roarin' Twenties Begins! (Blogfest + Giveaway)

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Bonding With My Blog: "Summer Cleaning"

QOTD: What books would you recommend for summer reading? I'm currently going through The Hunger Games trilogy!

Could...could it be? Is it summer 2012? I don't know why it's taken me a whole week to realize this, but here it is! SUMMER 2012! I feel compelled to break out into High School Musical's What Time Is It? but I'll spare y'all. 

One of the best things about summer, to me at least, is having more time on my hands than I need to do absolutely nothing but reflect. Three whole months to just tell life to s-l-o-w the heck down and think about where I am right now. And all those writing and health and personal goals I brushed aside during the school year in favor of studying? I just wait 'til summah, summahtime. Well, summahtime is here and everything I am thinking and feeling can be summed up in a single face: O_O

I mean, where do I even start? 

I spent a good while today catching up with my thoughts and scrolling through my blog dashboard. Lately, I feel like I've been scrambling for ideas of what to blog on, which is silly because there are endless things to talk about - what I've been cooking, which books I'm reading this summer, where I'll be traveling abroad, what I am writing and the like. I have a nice layout, helpful resources, social networks. I have 180 wonderful followers, and yet a part of me feels like I'm not giving The Red Angel blog my all. It seems as though there is something missing. 

I need to figure out what I want this blog to be about. 

It's funny how I've been keeping up with TRA for over two years and yet my blog is just now having an identity crisis. But I suppose all blogs have to go through a bit of mental "summer cleaning" (summer, since spring is already over). This is strange, but it feels like my blog doesn't quite reflect who I am as a person. It doesn't tell my story, and I don't record my adventures as consistently as I should. The posts don't really "weave" together as well as I'd like for them to. Despite the fact that The Red Angel blog is a very important part of my literary life, I don't use it to its fullest potential. I don't bond with my blog enough. 

I suppose now, summer 2012, would be a good time to "re-brand" my blog, so to speak. One big challenge for me is not being able to look at big pictures. Instead, I focus on minute details--which are important too, of course, but detailing without actually looking at where those details build up to isn't very productive. So I'm taking a step back and thinking about what sort of themes outline my values, my belief system, my character. 

Things That Matter to Me

• self-expression, writing, creativity, narrative worlds
• freedom, equality, cooperation, anti-poverty
• respect for religion, the marketplace of ideas
• meditation, self-reflection (obviously), open-mindedness, intuition, personal preference
• kindness, service, working toward the betterment of society
• language, communication, books, travel, culture
• symbolism, storytelling, identity
• personal happiness, goal-setting, checklists
• nature, natural power, time, music, emotion, spontaneity, things that cannot be seen with the naked eye
• inner-strength, family, mutual trust
• respect for those who are different, education, learning
• pretend play, childhood, conquering fears, courage

Whew. I feel a lot better already. There's nothing like a little bonding with your blog to get you reoriented for upcoming projects. Check back soon for updates on my blog, and if you want to chat, feel free to follow me: 

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Wendy Lu

Bonding With My Blog: "Summer Cleaning"

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Happy Bliggity Birthday: The Best of the Blog Year 2

QOTD: What is your favorite type of sinful cake, the cake that you only eat when you feel really wicked? (Mine is red velvet! Mm...yummy)

Happy Sunday, everybody! It is a very grey day here in North Carolina, but I am in a spirited mood and am so excited to say that it's TRA's Blog Birthday/Anniversary! Can't believe I've kept up this blog for two years already...I guess when you're having fun and loving what you write about, time flies. 

I've been sifting through this past year's blog posts and thought I'd share with you TRA's Top 10 highlights. 

Your Ultimate Journaling Guide Part #1 and Part #2

100 Followers Blogfest: "Inanimation" and Let's See That Inanimation!

Interview: An Evening with Writer Jordan-Marie Smith

Reflections on My First Year of College

The Secrets to a Hot Blog

"Why I Write YA" Blogfest

The Art of Sophomore Swag

"How Old Are You?" "Why Does It Matter?"

Reveal of the Red Angel + NaNoWriMo 2011 Begins!

My Experience As a Critique Partner

As promised, I have finally launched a new feature of the TRA blog site. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing: Double Check Editing Services! This is a sort of thank you to all of my friends, family members and blog friends for the constant support and encouragement I've received throughout the years. It is also a part of my commitment to helping others find their own writing style and literary success. Enjoy! 

Here's to another year full of blogfests, literary frenzies and adventures! Happy Birthday, TRA blog! 

Happy Bliggity Birthday: The Best of the Blog Year 2

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New Year's Resolutions 2012

QOTD: What is the longest amount of time you have spent writing a single blog post?

I hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend so far! First I wanted to start out with some news that is circulating around the blogosphere: 

Mia Hayson is requesting guest bloggers over at Literary Jam and Toast, one of the funniest and best writing blogs ever. This is a great way to meet some new bliggity friends, share your unique skills and knowledge with others, and meet the lovely Mia! Over at Confessions of a Bookaholic, there's a giveaway for all you To Kill a Mockingbird lovers! Finally, a good friend of mine has started her adventures as a journalist at The Constant Interview . Caitlin Byrd is an amazing writer and has always been an inspirational role model to me. Check it out--you will learn so much from her. 

In fact, I found this on her blog: 

Let's all try to keep this in mind as January gradually draws to a close and we start to embrace the second month of 2012. It's strange...I don't even feel like 2011 is over yet. I don't think it has hit me. Perhaps I'm still caught up in everything that happened last year--all the things that changed who I am and all the things I did or didn't do. 

Here's a look at what helped define 2011 for me: 

Year in Review

• Became a reporter for my college newspaper
• Became social media savvy (joined Twitter and tumblr!)
• Chose my career pathway (clinical psychology)
• Completed my first social media & marketing internship
• My turtles grew up into full-size (ish) adults! Yay!
• Got rid of acne with regular skincare
• Reached 160 blog followers, created TRA's Facebook fan page and hosted my first blogfest (and now there are email subscriptions! Look right.)
• Bought my very first Moleskine journal
• Became aware of current news and world events
• Grew more comfortable with speaking in crowds (aka: I no longer get weak or shaky)

Now that I am reflecting over my old New Year's resolutions, I think I did pretty well. I got a lot done. It was a good year for me. A lot changed, but so did I. A small part of me misses where I was (figuratively) at the beginning of 2011, but there is no doubt that I am where I should be right now. 

Do you feel like you accomplished the things you set out to do at the beginning of 2011? If not, are you planning to continue that journey this year, or are you starting fresh?

Speaking of goals and such things, these are my NEW aims for 2012:

I'm kind of a sucker for organization and planning tools, so I always love New Year's. There's something about the idea of starting a new year that makes one feel inspired all over again...as if this year is going to be "it." The big one when everything that's supposed to happen happens. There's promise and excitement and possibility. 

As I browse through this new list, I find myself nodding my head multiple times and thinking, Yes, this is what I want to accomplish in 2012. I've been adhering to most of these so far, though it's going slowly. I know some of these will be tough--especially #8 since I'm a slow reader--but even if I don't accomplish all of these goals at least I will have tried my best. That's what counts, right?

My favorite part of goal-planning is the actual process of completing them. It's fun and actually feels fulfilling. And once we've reached the finish line, we can begin a new race and start all over again. 

New Year's Resolutions 2012

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Rest In Peace, Steve Jobs.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies at 56

Every once in a while, an event as tragic as Steve Jobs' death compels us to stop what we're doing and be reminded of how fragile life is--but also how beautiful it can be. Thanks for everything, Steve Jobs. You will forever be remembered. 
 “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. 

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, or living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. Most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

— Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement 2005

iPod. iPhone. Apple. Mac. These are the types of innovations and corporations Steve Jobs helped found during his lifetime, which we use for our pleasure and take for granted every day. But his legacy is not just made up of these tangible materials. His creativity and genius has been a constant source of inspiration for not only technologists but people everywhere all over the globe. Less seriously, he proved to everybody that nerdy nerds can turn into great nerds, and then those great nerds turn into great men. 


And, by God, Steve Jobs was a great man. 

Rest In Peace, Steve Jobs. You were a truly remarkable human being, and your powerful technological contributions will never be forgotten. You changed the world. 

Rest In Peace, Steve Jobs.

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30-Day Challenge 24: "Why I Write YA" Blogfest

Question of the Day: Why do YOU write (or read) YA?

Day 24: What are five things you like about yourself?

1) I am extremely compassionate and empathetic towards people who are struggling through difficult situations, especially if they are health-related.

2) I like having a quirky obsession with Smallville, Superman, and comics in general; I actually don't know many girls who enjoy comics and superheroes.

3) My love for writing makes me feel happy and purposeful every single day; why wouldn't I like a trait that makes me happy?

4) I think that my ability to be extremely self-aware prevents me from going insane on a daily basis; I'm glad that I can keep up with my thoughts and feelings, compartmentalize them in my mind, and take control over them before they take over me

5) Family and the people I care about are number one. Because I have met some extremely appalling people in my life who don't really practice the good habit of putting themselves in others' shoes, the kind and genuine individuals whom have I had the good fortune to meet, befriend and now love are very important to me. I do and would do anything for them.

Today, Gabi at Iggi and Gabi is hosting a really neat blogfest as part of the YA Cafe Friday Specials. The reason I decided to participate is because YA literature is increasingly becoming prevalent in today's society and it's not a topic I have touched base with before on my blog. Also, despite the fact that YA is one of my favorite genres to read and write, when I first read the blogfest name my answer was blank, which really puzzled me since I would've thought it'd come to me immediately, being the YA lover I am.

So after pondering all day (hence, the reason why I am late in writing my entry--sorry about that! Better be fashionably late than never show up, eh?), I decided on my answer:

The reason I write Young Adult is because...

1) The age of adolescence/young adulthood is one of the most transforming stages in a lifetime. Think about it, a lot happens--the want and need for independence, struggle to maintain healthy relationships with significant others/friends/family, the search for one's place in a social setting as well as in the world, and the beginning of the search for one's identity. It's a time of trial and error. There are the most physical, mental and emotional changes in this period, which makes it so darn intriguing to write about.

2) Young adulthood is linked with so many experimental firsts, such as first love, first taste of rebellion, first change in physicality, and first brush with the bitter truths about responsibility and mistakes. All young adults go through these, but every young adult experiences these things differently. In observing adolescents that I interact with or pass by down the street, I see the way young adults react and the affects that certain situations have on them--and something about those observations compel me to create characters based on them. If I take these characters and put them in, say, a motorcycle accident (which was brought upon from that first taste of rebellion), how would they react? How would this affect every single aspect of their lives as young adults?

3) Young adulthood is controversial and paradoxical. As a young adult, you get to be risky and wild, but you also understand what it means to be serious and in what circumstances is it essential to behave seriously. You have the ability to appreciate even life's littlest things, but you also capture the big picture as well. You have enough intelligence to understand even the most complicated and abstract concepts, and yet you still have so, so much to learn. You are teeming with emotions and adrenaline (thanks, hormones!) and passion and overwhelming thoughts and experiences from a unique perspective. That makes for a zesty, identifiable character and one hell of a fascinating story.

Thanks Gabi for hosting such a great blogfest! Be sure to check out the rest of the entries here.

30-Day Challenge 24: "Why I Write YA" Blogfest

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Reflections On My First Year of College

As I try to think back to the person I was right before my freshman year of college began, it’s hard to remember. It’s not as cut-and-dry as I want it to be, and I can’t compare and contrast as if these two Wendys are totally distinct opposites. They’re not…I guess I’m just trying to distinguish between what changes I have gone through and what of me still remains the same.

These past eight months have been nothing but trial and error. As much as I want to think of myself as an adult, the truth is that I don’t know what I’m doing at all. I have made so many mistakes this year…things I wish I could take back and redo, things that seem totally and utterly stupid now when I reflect on them. When I think about those mistakes, those are the moments when I cringe at the memories, curl up like a clam and wish that I could dig a hole to bury myself in and simply forget. I have learned so much from being a college student—and the lessons don’t stop there. I still have three more years left to stumble over rocks and beat my head on the wall afterwards.

The one thing that has stood out to me this year and is something I have had to struggle with is the truth about forgiveness. I’ve listened to and read so many stories about how forgiveness is one of the most important lessons in life, but until now I never truly understood why. Over the past few months, there have been so many people, so many things, that I have had to let go of: people whom I care very deeply about, things that I have been used to all my life, experiences that I never wanted to end or that I wish had never happened. But no matter how hard I try to pretend that the regrets I have don’t exist or that certain things can last forever, in my heart I know better. Even now, I am still learning that sometimes all you can do is learn to admit things for the way they are, and instead of wishing things away, just accept and forgive yourself. Only when you know from the inside out that you are okay with what is can you move on. Only then can you be really, truly ready to say goodbye.

Lessons I’ve Learned This Year (some of them the hard way):

*Everything happens for a reason, and everything is somehow connected to each other. I used to struggle with this concept, but now I believe it.

*No matter how invincible you think you are, procrastination doesn’t work.

*You need to take care of yourself before you take care of others.

*Don’t try to be someone you’re not. Be yourself, and that should be enough for those who matter.

*You have your own thoughts and opinions, and you shouldn’t be afraid to share them.

*If you try hard enough, you can end up believing that anything can be possible and true (which, ironically, isn’t always a good thing).

*In order to move on from past mistakes, you must learn to forgive yourself first.

*Do the best you can, but that’s all you can do. Mistakes are a part of being human, and being human is beautiful.

*No matter how hard you wish for it to be so, time can’t be stopped.

*Tell the people you love the truth. You never know how much longer you have until you no longer have the chance.

*It is okay to believe in yourself and to believe in what you have to offer to the world.

Reflections On My First Year of College

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