A Letter to October - 2014

Dear October,

It seems that ever since I've been writing these letters, each month somehow manages to get more chaotic than the next! Then again, that could very well be because I started with writing a letter to July and then FanExpo and then school happened . . . that's probably a more realistic reason.

But anyway, October! You've been a month full of unexpected turns for me. Of course school has been a constant, as has my family and my friends, but it's been more the creative aspects of my life that have taken me by surprise. In a way a lot of this month has been spent preparing for the next month, and I hope that doesn't make you feel cheated. If anything it's just made you a month of transition, and there's nothing wrong with that. We've certainly shared some fun times together!

This past October marked the very first time that I have ever stayed in a hotel room by myself! Other hotel experiences have involved me staying with family members or with my friends in the case of going to a convention. On this trip, my sister-in-law's sister, Holly, was getting married in a hotel in Kitchener, and my sister-in-law was in the bridal party and had to be at the rehearsal dinner the night before, so my brother and I headed up to Kitchener on the Thursday. My mom was originally going to go, but her knee has been bothering her and she wasn't able to make it, so I got to stay in the room that was originally meant for the two of us. And when we arrived, there was an issue with the reservation, and I ended up getting an upgrade - to a king-size suite! It had a living room area and a little mini kitchenette (meaning a microwave and a mini-bar and a sink, but there were actual plates and glasses in the cupboards)! The bathroom was nice and I got a wicked closet all to myself and it was unbelievably awesome. I spent most of that first day playing music from my iPod (on the hotel room's iPod dock, I might add) and dancing around XD One nice thing about the big room was I had a lot of space to relax and get some homework done.

Here's a shot of me and my brother, both of us all dolled up for the wedding. My brother was an usher, walking grandparents mainly to their seats before the ceremony began, I didn't really have a job aside from sitting there and looking pretty XD And the wedding was of course amazing - people were happy, people cried, I didn't cry - but to be honest, the highlight was probably that hotel room XD

This building probably doesn't mean much to you, but this is one of a few identical buildings sitting on Humber's Lakeshore Campus on Toronto, which I stopped by the day before I left for the wedding in Kitchener. I had my very first college interview for the Creative Book Publishing Program. On the drive over (my mother graciously drove me to the Lakeshore Campus) I was a nervous wreck. I had to keep closing my eyes and taking deep breaths not to freak out over the fact that I'm applying for a very competitive program, or idea that I could fumble in my interview and mess up in some big way that could lose me my spot. Luckily we got to the campus with over an hour to spare, so I just focused on breathing and not freaking out for a little while, and then I made it over to the designated building.

As for the interview itself, I think it went pretty well. At first two of us were brought in, and that was so the director of the program could explain the program in detail without having to do so twice. I'm pretty sure between me and the other girl (who was also wearing a black blazer and red shirt btw - it's like the uniform for the interviewee XP) that I was the least nervous, because I ended up having good questions to ask when all three of us were there and I showed excitement towards the "Enterprise", which is the final leg of the program, a massive project that takes place throughout August. When it was just me and the director in the room for our separate interviews, the director seemed impressed by the fact that I've worked at a bookstore for over 6 years, and because of that I was able to provide a unique perspective on my essay. When she said that I just felt immense relief.

I had way more questions to ask than I originally thought I would, and overall I think I made a good impression. I'll be hearing about whether or not I've been accepted by the end of the month. The waiting will be torture, but at least my next month will be thoroughly occupied.

And of course I've already mentioned why my next month is going to be crazy as hell, but let's review anyway - I plan on attempting to write a 50,000 draft of a novel in just 30 days. Yes, I'm perfectly aware that I may have very well lost my mind.

November is already a crazy enough month as is, especially with Random Acts of Kindness happening in the first week, but I refuse to give up on the idea completely! I truly feel confident, and I hope that I am able to emerge victorious by the near-end of November 30th.

With regards to the blog, this past month, I have blogged almost every single day in October! It was my pen pal Diana that really made me aware of this. After learning at long last how beneficial scheduling my posts can be for a busy school schedule, I've still been able to provide my reading people with some new content. I've started with a few weekly traditions, such as showcasing the Geeks Run The World interviews on Tuesdays, starting with some Wednesday Wish Lists on, of course, Wednesdays, and for the Fridays of October I've been posting some 5 Fandom Friday posts, which are really fun and will continue throughout November. I think it'd be fun if we had some more for December as well, but that's up to The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick to decide.

There are some exciting things to come in the future, and I want to thank you, October, for kicking off so many of these things. I have a lot to look forward to because of you :)

Lots of Love,

Kacie