My love of writing has never been this great! I am officially on vacation from my one and a half teaching jobs at Queens College and Hostos Community College. I say officially because I do no have to be on campus for anything. But the truth is I am not on vacation until I have reviewed term papers, tallied my students’ grades, and entered them into CUNYFirst, the platform all CUNY professors and instructors use for their grades. Still, I feel less weight on my shoulders; I am more relaxed, and I feel that I can use some of the time I currently have to revisit the numerous pieces I have written over the past several years, none of which has ever been finalized. Maybe I can even write new pieces. The point is to remain active both physically and intellectually. Consistence has always been my challenge. I tend to procrastinate sometimes, which is why none of the pieces produced over the past few years has not be finalized. But I sincerely vow to take things a little more seriously this time around. I do not have to return to work until the last week of January 2026. Besides, I have just renewed this WordPress account for two years! What can be more motivating than this?

As I gradually segue from work into my vacation, I want to believe that my commitment this time is not just wishful thinking, that it will actually lead to some kind of production. My post-doctoral journal now has 200 pages or more. Maybe something from it can trigger the desire to write a story, a chapter of a book, some research, whatever. This vacation should be different. I am sure I can produce something interesting if I set my mind to it. Will I be able to keep my word? How does one stop procrastinating? How dos one say, okay, this is all the time I have this academic break, and so I have to write diligently as if my entire life depended on it? How can turn my vacation into a productive experience?

Karate practice is another story since I don’t have to think twice before putting on my dogi; it hapens automatically every morning. I cannot function without my daily morning practice. Even when I wake up in a weird mood and don’t want to do anything, I know there is nobody to push me to don my dogi and begin sweating and going through the motions. On this front, I do not need any extrinsic motivation. Practicing Taekwondo from 1977 and Shotokan from 1980, I guess it has all become second nature. It is something that I just need to do, willy or nilly. And the good thing is when I push myself and begin my warm-up, things fall into place. I usually have a good workout, a nice and hot shower afterwards, and then the day feels much brighter than when I woke up in a poor mood.

But that’s karate! Writing should be the same, right? Probably easier said than done. For some reason, I have a difficult time keeping a daily writing schedule although I feel good when I start writing. Like this piece. I don’t feel like I am laboring through something too complicated. Yet, I hadn’t planned to write today, not not on this platform for that matter. I renewed my membership for two years to save a few bucks, and it occurred to me to review my website, and here I am, hitting on the keyboard, seemingly unable to stop. That is the kind of stamina I would like to have every day. I know that I can produce a substantial amount of writing whenever I am triggered. But I am not sure how to trigger myselft, so to speak. I need to think this through so I can write a little daily. I love to read a former professor, who wakes up early in the morning to write for several hours before beginning her daily activities with her husband and two young boys. I have read about Walter Mosley and Ernest J. Gaines and how they write for hours, take a walk or re-read what they had previously written before getting back in front of their laptop or desktop computers to write more. Why can’t I do the same thing? These are all people I look up to for their discipline and their written production. Yet, I keep procrastinating! Look what I have produced here in a short few minutes! And to think that English is not even my native language… and here I am, musing over a possible trigger to write daily. If not the money, at least I can be satisfied that I am usually satisfied and feel better whenever I devote some time to writing.

Tomorrow, I will review my students’ term papers, assign grades, tally their semester grades, and, hopefully, enter their semester graders. Maybe I can spend some time writing before or after I have completed this important task. I am a writing teacher. I may not be a creative writer, but I teach my students how to craft good essays, including research essays. I should be able to write more essays of my own beyond the doctoral coursework and dissertation. I should be able to motivate myself to delve into research mode, read up on writing and reading instruction and contribute to the extent literature in these two areas. Maybe I can write creatively as well. I took a poetry writing class as an undergraduate and completed the course with an A. I also took a memoir writing course, still as an undergraduate, and received a B+, a grade I hated, the reason why I did not take the practical component of the course the following semester. The second part of the course was focused essentially on completing the memoir or autobiography, but I was so pissed that I hadn’t received an A that I stayed away from the second part of the two-semester course, opting for other course. My over-100-page biographical piece has been in store since 2003 or 2004. Maybe I can revive it someday.

Well, this is it for today. I think I have been writing for a little over 30 minutes. Gotta keep my fingers cross for a similar inspiration tomorrow. It doesn’t matter if it is before or after completing the semester paperwork; I just want to make time for profuse writing. May the reading and writing gods be with me all along this 2025 holiday break!

I give you this piece, raw, without revisions, just musing!!!