Lonely Victories

Lonely Victories

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Lonely Victories
Lonely Victories
Back-to-School Energy for Writers

Back-to-School Energy for Writers

Embracing the season with a syllabus.

Hurley Winkler
Sep 08, 2023
∙ Paid
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Lonely Victories
Lonely Victories
Back-to-School Energy for Writers
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It’s that time of year again: I’m craving school. Watching my all-time favorite YouTuber, Ruby Granger, prepare for her master’s at Oxford this fall, I’ve felt nothing but envy.

But as I watched Ruby annotate The Faerie Queene, I asked myself: what is it I’m really craving about school? It’s certainly not the exams or academic papers.

But spending an afternoon in a dusty library sure sounds nice.

So does taking diligent notes.

I’d also love to pack a backpack (and, while I’m at it, a pencil case).

Believe me when I say that I’d give almost anything for that first-day-of-class moment when the professor forks over a fat stack of syllabi, saying, “Take one and pass it,” and the pages are still hot from the English department Xerox as they pass through the rows of desks. How I long for that sense of potential and possibility as I pore over the list of assigned readings!

Last week, I was talking to my friend Mara about back-to-school energy. The conversation was punctuated with many long and wistful sighs.

Mara said, “I’ve even been thinking about making my own syllabus for myself.”

Genius! And because I’m a gal who loves an accountability partner, I said, “Let’s make our fall syllabi and share them with each other in a couple of weeks.” We immediately got a date on the calendar.

Mara and I aren’t the only ones who’ve been jonesing for a syllabus. Last week, fellow Type-A Queen

Kara Cutruzzula
wrote about stealing the syllabus for Quartz. She argues for titling your “course,” giving it a clear objective, and even building in a midterm and a final.

(Which reminds me: Mara, if you’re reading, should we set up “midterm” and “final” check-ins with each other? I’ll bring the snacks!)

I made a dreamy Notion page for my syllabus because of course I did.

Working on my fall syllabus, I’m giving myself the semester of my dreams.

I’ve made a reading list filled with books I’ve been meaning to read, books that have felt a little too “heavy” for those summer beach days. They’re books I’m going to want to tote to the library (in the backpack I am most definitely going to pack for the occasion), posting up at a table with a fresh pack of sticky notes and my most astute-feeling pen.

And yes, there will be many, many cups of tea.


GO AHEAD: BUY NEW PENS AND A NOTEBOOK

Do it! I’m enabling you! If it’s going to get you stoked about writing this fall, why wouldn’t you? I don’t care that you already have a bunch of notebooks you only used halfway before shoving them in a drawer! Get a new one!!!

To enable you even more, here’s a roundup of my favorite writing supplies.

  • Post-It Flags in these pretty colors

  • Pilot G-2 0.7 pens (my ride-or-die)

  • Moleskine soft cover XXL notebook (the only one that works for me these days)

  • Zebra Sarasa pens in the vintage colors (my ~fun~ pens)

  • Mildliner highlighters in these unique neutrals


IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 💌

I’m giving away some of my writing books to paying subscribers who are interested!

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