Being an English major had several effects on me that most people wouldn't expect. The first was that I stopped reading for pleasure almost entirely, with the exception of the Harry Potter books. Occasionally I would read something during the summer, but even that was rare. There was so much reading to be done for school that I had absolutely no desire to do any of it. The second was that my desire to write, which I'd had since I was very young, shriveled up and died. My writing skills became very well honed in the art of writing critical essays and academic papers, but my creativity dried up entirely because of the fear that develops when your course of study involves tearing other peoples work to shreads.

The good news is that now, a year and a half later, the effects are finally starting to wear off. So last night we went to borders and I got a great new journal. I couldn't find a suitable one without lines, unfortunately, but I got one with grid paper so that at least the lines aren't as limiting... I can still draw if I want to. Its got a leather cover, but its really flexible and it's not fancy, plus it's got tons of paper, so that I don't sit there and try to save room for "important" things. If I get a fancy journal I always do that and then end up not using it. I've already started jotting down a bunch of things, and it feels good to be starting something again.

I'm starting to get really bored... That's the nice thing about summer. By the time it's over, I'm usually ready and even excited about starting school again. At least now I have something going, something to do in the mean time.