This week has been another enigma. It was both frustrating and interesting, depressing and exciting. I feel like a person of contradictions, which I’m pretty sure is true.
Anyhow, before I start writing more about the crazy emotions I have, let’s dive into this week’s episode of “The World of Catherine Chen”.
![NaNo-2020-Virtual-Background-Compressed.jpg](https://mywebstrapi.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Na_No_2020_Virtual_Background_Compressed_c1c12d1658.jpg)
NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month
I think I’ve tried “participating” in NaNo two years before this, but I barely wrote any words either time.
This year, I’m trying again, but I’m already falling behind. ? I need to write about 12.5K words a week if I want to make the 50K mark by November 30th, but so far I have barely over 5K done.
As for my “novel”, it’s currently just random scenes and pieces. I am working on my characters and plot, since I feel neither is fleshed out well.
The story is centered around four characters I invented a few years ago. Each of them is a little like me, and a little bit not.
Here’s a short sneak preview of one of my scenes:
![FJSR-NaNo-Screenshot1-1536x687.jpg](https://mywebstrapi.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/FJSR_Na_No_Screenshot1_1536x687_324035b3bc.jpg)
I’m using Reedsy’s online book editor to write, and it’s been a great experience so far!
I would love to include more scene snippets in this post, but I’m saving them for 1) my story, and 2) future November 2020 weekly inspiration posts.
![cherry-blossoms.jpg](https://mywebstrapi.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/cherry_blossoms_c27fb30fec.jpg)
Japanese Poetry Contest
For my ENGL 271 class this week, my professor asked students to write a short, 4-8 line poem about “online learning in the age of COVID”. Enjoy mine below!
I brace myself against my desk,
Fingers flying over keyboard,
Eyes burning and squinting,
Staring tiredly at the endless screen.
I send off my homework,
Fall back onto my bed,
Screaming silently at the pain
For a career I never desired.
![Style-Guide.png](https://mywebstrapi.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Style_Guide_060657042a.png)
Pinguni UI Kit
I started working on a UI kit for Pinguni this week. I’m revamping the site (again, I know), but going back to good old Laravel this time. WordPress doesn’t quite give me the flexibility I want for the education backend (or frontend, to be honest), so I am going to take another shot at building it on my own.
Cons
Two things WordPress has that something I build could potentially lack are:
- easy SEO
- nice, clean content editing and categorizing
- plugins
I’ll be doing a lot of the above from scratch, but I think the flexibility is worth it. I am going to look at different Laravel packages for SEO and CMS-style things.
Will this choice be sustainable in the long term, though? We’ll have to see.
![Earth-Hour-Dribbble-1.png](https://mywebstrapi.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Earth_Hour_Dribbble_1_5ebaea830c.png)
Earth Hour Microsite
For one of my Design 101 assignments this week, I created a microsite for Earth Hour.
Read more about the design process in my portfolio post!
Summary
My Week in Ten Words: Interesting. Tiring. Depressing. Going off to Texas! Crazy. Busy. What?
Question of the Week: Where is the right place for me?
November 1 – 6, 2020