I'm doing it. Don't ask what.

mercredi 4 mars 2026
[12:27]

Should it count if it’s not what I’m supposed to be writing about?

At the end of our two-Saturday Personal Essay and Writing Workshop, the instructor guided the class in setting out a calendar for what we will have accomplished within the next six months of our writing journey. She’d prepped us day one that this was what to come. I suppose the idea was to already have an idea. I didn’t. As each of my UCLA Extension classmates took his or her turn, giving exact goals an setting standing appointments with oneself, I began to understand.

dans 6 mois
- 6 solid chapters for memoir
- 3 submissions to publications

I write in my notebook.

(Note: I’m sure there’s another word that ought to be used to say “in 6 months” to be grammatically correct, not dans, mais that particular French lesson is escaping me at the moment)

This isn’t the most advantageous and the writing workshop instructor lets me know so.

We agree to dial it back a bit and I write the higher-likeliness-of-success goals in a different color ink below.

- 3 chapters of memoir
- 2 submissions to publications

The writing workshop instructor, Amy Friedman, also urges me for specificity.

Okay, that’s what I want done by August 28th, write three chapters of a memoir and submit writings to two publications, but how?

The good Christian folks down South have always warned “faith without works is dead.” Mais how *sha, they’d say, if we’re zooming in (even closer on the American South) to Louisiana.

How am I going to make the sort of progress in my writing journey that I’ve never made before?

That’s the kicker. I’ve never done any of this. Never have I ever written a chapter for a book. Never have I ever pitched to a publication, nor written a piece with pitching to a publication in mind. Now it’s even more clear that my first thought for this 6-month check-in was overly ambitious. Shoot, the more realistic version, courtesy of the writing workshop instructor, may very well still be quite the reach. We’ll see.

- 3 hours per week of writing
- 90 minutes per week of research

I continue in my notebook.

Not having any sort of real job or committments (“real” in the sense of set), I can’t say, “every Tuesday at eight-pee-em, I’ll pick up my pen and write ‘til quarter ‘til ten…” with a nod to self and continuing, “because that’s after my husband has gotten in and I’ve had dinner with him.” (This is a made-up example; no one was in class telling all her business. I’m only imagining how thought processing would go for a grown up grown-up [shoulder shrugs]). Since I can’t pre-determine an ongoing when, I made a chart in my notebook to track the what and how much.

[13:27]

Does this hour count?

Well, well, another day and not another dollar. Whew, I surely did spend some dollars that I don’t have this morning… I digress.

I’m glad you’ve come along for this often bumpy ride. Other writers have readers; on aroundwithTK, I consider you all riders. Thank you for being here and I hope you’ll stick AROUND!

Glossary

* sha = term of endearment in South Louisiana from Louisiana French Creole vernacular. short-form pronounciation of the French language’s chère (masculin), cherie (feminine)