One Down, Three to Go

Hey there,

A little over three months ago, I walked into my first creative writing workshop at Columbia University—bright-eyed, full of ideas, and just a tiny bit terrified. And now? Just like that, my first semester is done. Time really does fly when you’re juggling deadlines, readings, and life in New York City.

Admittedly, I didn’t get as much writing done as I’d hoped—the eternal lament of every writer ever. But looking back, I still think it was a productive semester. And because I’m German, and Germans love their statistics, here’s a breakdown of my first semester in numbers:

• Total Words Written: 27,000 words across all projects (These are just the words that survived editing—the hidden figure, including brainstorming, half-finished drafts, and deleted passages, is much larger.)
• Short Stories Completed: 2 fully polished stories (If there is such a thing as a fully polished story…)
• Readings Attended: 8
• Readings Given: 1 translation reading
• Publications: 1 translation piece published on New Books in German
• Books Read: 4 (Before you judge, two of them were extremely long—Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Madame Bovary, and Lord Jim. No, I do not necessarily have a thing for 19th-century literature, but apparently Columbia professors do.)
• Credits Completed: 18 (which is a nice buffer, considering I only need 15 to stay on track)

And some that are not writing related:

• 1 getaway trip to Niagara Falls
• 1 marathon completed in Chicago (or: 26.2 miles of questionable decision-making)
• 9 theater shows attended (yes, I’m making full use of Broadway)

All in all, it’s been a whirlwind semester. I’m curious to see if I can beat these statistics next term. More words, more readings, more… theater? (Definitely more theater.) But for now, I’m looking forward to a well-deserved break. I can’t wait to go home, spend time with my family, and eat my weight in Christmas cookies.

Wishing you all a great holiday season. I’ll see you in January, refreshed, recharged, and ready for the next round of writing projects.

Talk to you soon—

—Lara