Tag: fiction

Life During COVID-19 (5/28/2020): Writing to Stay Sane

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I’m struggling. To stay positive, to keep it together.

I’m checking the news only twice a day now. Once, while I have breakfast and right before I go to bed. I think this practice has helped, and I’ve read about it frequently when it comes to managing stress levels about COVID-19.

But I don’t necessarily feel stressed out about COVID-19. Yes, I am concerned. I wear a mask when I go to public places like the grocery store, the only public place I’ve gone to besides Target since Mid-March. I am more worried about the next six months, the next year. I am concerned about how my life’s going to be by May 2021.

Every time I feel like I’m drowning in worry, in doubt, I have to stop and take a moment. I have to reaffirm to myself that I have to keep going, I’m not one to throw in the towel and give up. And I’m definitely not going to wallow in despair. My coping mechanism is to take action: do something. I have to. But right now, I don’t think I’m doing enough. And coming to terms that the illusion of control creates a false sense of security is my biggest problem. I am more aware now than ever that I have no control over anything, and the smartest thing I can do is keep going.

What does all this gibbering lead to? Writing

It’s all I have. It’s all I’m doing right now to stay sane. I have to write. I need to write. Writing is my anchor, keeping me right where I need to be, somewhere between my usual, level-headed, rational self and creative combustible artist.

I have regularly completed my daily goal of writing a minimum of 1,000 words a day. I recently took a crack at editing My First Novel, my first attempt over three months. I’ve been overwhelmed, let down by myself, putting my novel on the back burner. But now I have a renewed drive to finish my recent revision.

I am currently doing line-by-line edits. Revising to the structural core of my novel. Something I’ve found daunting the last year. I have tried to keep track, but I think this revision is number 6 or 7.

Completing my daily writing goal, writing half-baked poems here and there every day, and working on my novel has kept me grounded. And I’m tightly hanging on to my writing practices, the only thing that I find therapeutic and comforting during this strange time.

I don’t know what the future holds. I can’t waste time speculating. I have to take it one day at a time.

And every day, I am grateful. I think about how lucky I am to have a roof over my head, food in the kitchen, and my health. I am thankful that no one I know has died from the virus, chances are small, but it can still happen.

All I Can Do is Keep Writing

What have you been doing regularly during the COVID-19 Pandemic to keep you sane and grounded? Have you just started a new practice or hobby? I wanna know.

Besides writing, I’ve been baking like crazy, just like everyone else. I’ve revamped my Patreon page with content only patrons have access to. I’ve created a Facebook business page for my blog, started a Literary Internship for DLG Publishing Partners, and tried to make art and create music.

I want to know what you recommend. What you’ve found to be helpful. And I’d love to start a conversation with you. Feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly.

Stay safe and stay healthy, and to other writer’s out there, keep writing!

Cheers!
Alina

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I’m struggling. To stay positive, to keep it together.

I’m checking the news only twice a day now. Once, while I have breakfast and right before I go to bed. I think this practice has helped, and I’ve read about it frequently when it comes to managing stress levels about COVID-19.

But I don’t necessarily feel stressed out about COVID-19. Yes, I am concerned. I wear a mask when I go to public places like the grocery store, the only public place I’ve gone to besides Target since Mid-March. I am more worried about the next six months, the next year. I am concerned about how my life’s going to be by May 2021.

Every time I feel like I’m drowning in worry, in doubt, I have to stop and take a moment. I have to reaffirm to myself that I have to keep going, I’m not one to throw in the towel and give up. And I’m definitely not going to wallow in despair. My coping mechanism is to take action: do something. I have to. But right now, I don’t think I’m doing enough. And coming to terms that the illusion of control creates a false sense of security is my biggest problem. I am more aware now than ever that I have no control over anything, and the smartest thing I can do is keep going.

What does all this gibbering lead to? Writing

It’s all I have. It’s all I’m doing right now to stay sane. I have to write. I need to write. Writing is my anchor, keeping me right where I need to be, somewhere between my usual, level-headed, rational self and creative combustible artist.

I have regularly completed my daily goal of writing a minimum of 1,000 words a day. I recently took a crack at editing My First Novel, my first attempt over three months. I’ve been overwhelmed, let down by myself, putting my novel on the back burner. But now I have a renewed drive to finish my recent revision.

I am currently doing line-by-line edits. Revising to the structural core of my novel. Something I’ve found daunting the last year. I have tried to keep track, but I think this revision is number 6 or 7.

Completing my daily writing goal, writing half-baked poems here and there every day, and working on my novel has kept me grounded. And I’m tightly hanging on to my writing practices, the only thing that I find therapeutic and comforting during this strange time.

I don’t know what the future holds. I can’t waste time speculating. I have to take it one day at a time.

And every day, I am grateful. I think about how lucky I am to have a roof over my head, food in the kitchen, and my health. I am thankful that no one I know has died from the virus, chances are small, but it can still happen.

All I Can Do is Keep Writing

What have you been doing regularly during the COVID-19 Pandemic to keep you sane and grounded? Have you just started a new practice or hobby? I wanna know.

Besides writing, I’ve been baking like crazy, just like everyone else. I’ve revamped my Patreon page with content only patrons have access to. I’ve created a Facebook business page for my blog, started a Literary Internship for DLG Publishing Partners, and tried to make art and create music.

I want to know what you recommend. What you’ve found to be helpful. And I’d love to start a conversation with you. Feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly.

Stay safe and stay healthy, and to other writer’s out there, keep writing!

Cheers!
Alina

 

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Life During COVID-19 (5/21/2020): Novel Writing, My Birthday and Opinions

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

For the past couple of days, I have been working on my Novel. The one I have been telling my followers about for over a year now. This week I am focusing on doing developmental edits, something I have been doing for Freelance Clients and my Literary Internship. 

Recently, I’ve found myself obsessed with the structure of stories: plot, characters, dialogue. Even when I am reading, I find myself picking content apart, analyzing it from different viewpoints, and rereading. I never thought I’d become so obsessed.

The advantages of my obsession: I am more aware now than ever before when writing is working and when it’s not regardless of its form. Cons? At this point, I can’t just read. I analyze every piece of written content that comes across my path. 

Check out my blog posts about Writing My First Novel. 

My Birthday

This Sunday is my birthday, I will be 27, not that old but definitely not young. I keep forgetting about it. Since the entire world feels like it’s going through this surreal time with the COVID-19 Pandemic. For most of Utah, except for specific areas including Salt Lake City, we have phased to “Yellow/Low Risk”. It is bizarre to think that we’re already practically in June; half the year is gone. I’ve spent two months unemployed, applying to jobs, and staying home. 

When it comes to celebrating, My BF is planning a special dinner for me, and we might go for a quick drive to get out of the city. I am excited to relax this weekend, I need a break from it all, it’s been so stressful, and it’s been so long since life was the way it used to be. I don’t think things will ever be the same. If there is something we can do to celebrate my birthday like we’ve done in the past, to bring some kind of familiarity back into our lives, it will help.

COVID-19 in Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is still in the “Orange/Moderate Risk” phase, with select restrictions, rules, and procedures in place to try to slow the spread of COVID-19. Our death count as of today is 90.

What I’ve got my eye on, the Navajo Nation. Their death count is at 140. They are need of supplies, food, and testing. Donations have been set up to help. In my opinion, there is very little news coverage, or just barely some attention being given to the Navajo Nation during the Pandemic. This is unacceptable. One example, in my opinion, of how particular people’s stories are not being given the attention they deserve to spread the word that they need help and resources. 

Opinion: Trump and Voting in the 2020 Election

Another concern of mine: voting. Trump continues to try to hinder multiple states move to the mail-in ballot voting system. Luckily, Utah is one of the few states that have already been doing this for years. In my opinion, Trump’s obvious efforts to stop any kind of progress in making voting safer during this Pandemic, accessible, and easy for all is evidence that he is well aware he could lose by a landslide if more people can vote. 

There has always been obstacles in place to prevent people from voting. From having voting centers only open specific hours and days, when many full-time working people can’t take time off to go vote. Now, Trump pushes for more rules and regulations. His argument that mail-in ballots allow for fraud, and people voting multiple times, again like his other claims, are not backed up by any facts, data, or substantial evidence.

Unemployed: Searching and Applying for Jobs

I’m still looking for full-time work. But I have become increasingly open to having two part-time jobs. I think that this may be more likely since I am finding more part-time job postings for copywriting, content writers, and freelance writers online. Yesterday, I applied to ten jobs. This week I’ve done two interviews but have still to hear back from anyone. 

Freelancing

I have been doing more Freelance Writing the past two weeks. This has been fun but my friends think that I am employed because of this. It’s contract; on a case-by-case basis, and I’ve had to seek out clients. It’s not full-time regular, dependable employment or pay. Starting in March, I have been pitching story ideas to various online journals that pay. It is a laborious and grueling process, you have to stick with it. I am hoping to get the OK-Go on a couple articles from Editors soon. 

Staying Positive, Staying Strong and Not Giving Up

It has become increasingly hard for me to stay positive. Spending the last two months searching and applying to jobs with what feels like no progress is devastating. I am constantly reminded by my BF that these are weird times and it can take longer for me to find a job or two because of the Pandemic. The unemployment rate for the U.S. is skyrocketing still. An estimated 14.7% of the U.S. is unemployed. I can’t give up. I have to be persistent. There is no other choice. And I feel, now more than ever, that returning to work in a restaurant would be unwise. 

I’ve taken stock of what’s important to me, in my life, how I want to spend my time, and the growing awareness that all of us don’t know how much time we really have to live. No more BS, or messing around, I have to make changes in my life. 

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read about my life during COVID-19. My goal is to document my life, at least once a week, during this Pandemic. It is vital to archive what we’re going through during strange events like this one, so we need as much documentation as possible about our individual lives. I believe that this information will be crucial for future generations when they find themselves in similar situations. My message to you, to them; don’t give up, no matter what, DON’T. GIVE. UP. 

XOXO,

Alina

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Why I’m Not Celebrating Independence Day This Year (Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (6/6/2020): George Floyd Protests and My White Woman Privilege(Opens in a new browser tab)

Podcast Sesh #2 June 18, 2020: Writing, Freelancing and Coping with the George Floyd Protests(Opens in a new browser tab)

My Stories on Medium: Poetry, Writing and Freelancing(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (4/21/2020): Poetry, Sylvia Plath and My Novel

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

It’s disturbing how normal this is all starting to feel. Staying home, my routine, knowing what to expect at almost every hour of the day. It is becoming tiresome so I am trying to invigorate my days by switching my schedule around.

Normally, I get up read, write a little, have breakfast and then start my 3-4 hours of job searching and applying. I’ve changed this the last few days because I realized applying to jobs, checking my email, and getting no response or just responses that say “we are moving onto other candidates” or “this position is no longer open” was stressing me out. So now I spend my mornings reading as much as I can and then I start looking and applying to jobs around four or five in the afternoon.

Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

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Trade gift from a friend for a Poem

I finished The Bell Jar yesterday and it was amazing. I can’t believe I’m almost 27 (next month) and I haven’t read this. It was brutal, depressing, heart wrenching and woven with poetic language, I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of it. Now I am reading Plath’s The Collected Poems now; It was included with The Bell Jar copy I have. This was a trade gift for a poem that I wrote for one of my friends a couple of weeks ago and I completely love it!

Original Poem by Alina Happy Hansen (a Poem for $)

POETRY

My Poetry Workshop is coming to an end. I just finished submitting the last assignment on Sunday and now I am working on revising 3 poems and putting together my final portfolio for submission. This is hard, considering the 3 poems I have chosen to revise need A LOT of work and it will take up the rest of this week to even try to get these poems near “finished”.

I am sad that the Poetry Workshop is coming to an end and I have scrambled to find other classes. I ended up enrolling in four free courses through Harvard’s Free Online Courses.

I’ve enrolled in, Intro to Music Theory (I was going to take this class at SLCC but it would’ve costed me around $500), Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature, The Icelandic Sagas, and Writing for Social Media (starts on April 25th). Besides Writing for Social Media, the other courses are self-paced which will help me complete them all.

There is the option for all four to be “verified” so you can receive a certificate for completing the course but you have to pay. I don’t think it’s worth the money for three out of four of those but I am debating on getting a certificate for Writing for Social Media to put on my Linkedin profile, I don’t think hiring managers are going to care about a certificate when they want experience but I am still debating on it.

ART

I’ve been trying to sketch, paint, anything really to take my mind off of things. A couple things I’ve done or that I’m working on:

two works in progress, blue haired gal has been a work in progress for years now but I actually worked on her a couple days ago

STAYING SANE

April 20th, 2020 visit to the Salt Lake City Cemetery (practicing social distancing works great here so I can enjoy the weather and fantastic view)

Yesterday I ended up going to one of my favorite places, the Salt Lake City Cemetery in the Avenues. It has been a place I go to for over a decade now to get some peace and quiet so I can relax.

I think cemetery’s are beautiful and the memories, the tombstones, the act of remembering and respecting the dead is a wonderfully unique human habit that shows compassion and love for those that have come before us and reminds us to respect life and not waste it.

MY NOVEL

This is a first in a long time. I don’t think I’ve posted any updates about My First Novel in months. Finally because of COVID-19, being stuck at home has made me pull out my manuscript and start the final editing process which I should’ve-could’ve started back in January. One of my friends, who is a Grant Writer, actually read my entire manuscript and made notes, edited it for grammar and punctuation. I’m using her notes finally to work on it.

Yesterday I completed about five chapters. I have realized that my book jolts and jumps gears frequently after I completed another read through last week. So right now I am rewriting, rephrasing, mixing around the sentences for each chapter so it flows better. I know this means I will need to have it proofed again and most likely by a couple different people to get a more accurate estimate as to what needs to be fixed but this is just a necessary step in making my novel better, more coherent, and readable.

This is exciting for me and I finally feel like I’m making progress so this has relieved a little bit of stress and tension that I’ve been feeling lately.

Thank you for reading and being a part of my journey!

How has your Stay-at-Home time been for you? Are you reading or writing or doing both? Do you have any recommendations for keeping life interesting during these strange times? If so, please comment below!

–Alina

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Want to become one of my Patrons? Go to my page here and join a tier. All patrons regardless of Tier have access to all of my patron-only content right now! Tiers start at $3/month! 

If you enjoyed this post, check out these:

Life During COVID-19 (5/5/2020): Tutoring, Freelancing on Fiverr and Job Searching(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (5/30/2020): Reflection on George Floyd, Protests Turned Riots and Growing Tensions in the U.S.(Opens in a new browser tab)

My Stories on Medium: Poetry, Writing and Freelancing(Opens in a new browser tab)

January 2020 Update: Workshop, Writing, and Music

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Today is my first day in a Free Poetry Workshop! Last September I bought Windows and Doors: A Poet Read Literary Theory by Natasha Sajé. I read a few chapters and then looked up Natasha Sajé, I found out she is a professor at Westminster right here in Salt Lake City. Then I found out she was doing a free Poetry Workshop this Spring. To sum it up, I applied to the workshop and got in. Today is the start of this four-month workshop and I am so excited. I am hoping to get a lot out of this workshop and make progress with my poetry.

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Besides my poetry, I have been doing my daily writing routine, a mere 1,000 words a day required. I feel like I’ve been hitting a wall lately when it comes to my writing. On the backburner is My First Novel which I talked about regularly in my posts last year. At this point, I have only one tiny chapter to write and the book is done. After that I need to have it fully edited/proofed and then I want to start submitting it to Literary Agents for representation. I have very little left to do, maybe a couple rewrites here and there and some more polishing but I have put my book on the back burner since November and haven’t had the guts to break it open again.

(More about My First Novel)

Instead, I’ve been working on my music. I’ve been researching and learning Ableton (DAW), I’ve been practicing guitar, recording, and learning the ins and outs of my midi keyboard. I’ve also lately become interested in Modular Synthesizers, so I’ve been taking a course on the basics through lynda.com and messing around with a Cherry Audio Virtual Mod Synth I got with the purchase of Computer Music magazine (what a cool find!). It’s been a fun and time-consuming venture. Currently, I have about five songs in the works. A few of these songs will finish the playlist I started on my SoundCloud, taking inspiration from Dante’s circles of hell.

Image result for dante's circles of hell
Botticelli

That’s it for this update! I want to say THANK YOU to all my followers and those that read my poems regularly, I deeply appreciate your interest and readership.

-Alina

Liked this post? Check out these:

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!(Opens in a new browser tab)

Why I Write: Poetry #1(Opens in a new browser tab)

Currently Reading: Postmodernism, 1920s, and Fiction(Opens in a new browser tab)

https://www.alinahappyhansenwriter.com/portfolio-publications-events/

Failing NaNoWriMo 2019

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

November has flown by and I have failed NaNoWriMo this year. With only five days left of November, I have over twenty-five thousand words to write if I want to complete the challenge. My fiction piece ‘Jack’s Story’ is a baby, barely over seventeen-thousand words and full to the brim of unnecessary dialogue and weird scene cuts.

Alina’s NaNoWriMo Profile

Am I okay with failing NaNoWriMo this year? Does it matter that I am giving up with five days left? (Hey, if I wrote five thousand words every day until November 30th, I may actually be able to complete the challenge) The answer: Yes, I am okay with failing, and No, I will not give up on ‘Jack’s Story’. It’s good, I think, and turning into an interesting crime/mystery/thriller. I do love my thrillers. It’s got a different flavor from my current novel that I have finished and I am polishing up with the intention of submitting to literary agents starting in January.

Even though November is ending fast, I am planning on finishing ‘Jack’s Story’ whenever that is, ideally by the end of the year. I can juggle working on My First Novel and this one. While I am working on these projects I am having fun reading a selection of books, right now those are,

Face It by Debbie Harry (Memoir)

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Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

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Ulysses by James Joyce

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Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

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It’s been a crazy month, but I am reading some great stuff, and making progress with my writing. I can only hope that my proactivity increases next year with the start of the new decade.

Thank you for reading this update, and thank you to all my followers that continue to keep up with my journey.

-Alina

You can find me on INSTAGRAM