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<\/a>\r\n\r\nIt was 192 pages in total and just over 58000 words long. It'd taken me seven months to complete, and I wrote it for a fourth year seminar course (VIC479Y1) called The Novel: A Masterclass. Throughout the year, we'd been writing\u00a02000 words per week -- but as the bulk of the mark is completion, most of what I wrote is garbage. That said, I still\u00a0felt a rare moment of pride when I stopped to consider what I'd accomplished.\r\n\r\nAs\u00a0is the case for\u00a0most students, this past week has been extraordinarily stressful. I've been churning out paper after paper and don't always feel like I have enough time to let the course material sink in as much as I'd like. Often, I find myself wondering\u00a0whether any of my schoolwork has a larger impact or significance.\u00a0But the novel was such a big project that, when I finished it, I gave myself a moment to take in what it meant, recognize how much I improved, and feel proud of my work -- a valuable reflection exercise\u00a0that we students don't do nearly enough in the midst of finals.\r\n\r\n![\"Open](\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/04\/DSC_5164.jpg\")
<\/a>\r\n\r\nI\u00a0remember the first time I sat down to write 2000 words at the start of the year. It took me eight hours to squeeze out just 300, and I laboured over the exercise all weekend. But by the end of the year, I\u00a0could write 1000 words a day with relatively little stress. The process felt more natural, and\u00a0my first drafts sounded less cringe-worthy. I'd also developed a community within the class -- and I don't often make friends in my classes, but I was genuinely sad to leave my amazing fellow writers. When I finally printed the manuscript out, I felt a sense of certainty that this was something I wanted to pursue in the future.\r\n\r\nThis moment of reflection reminded me of why I'm in university and the reasons why I love learning. Though it's often hard to recognize in the heat of exams, I do feel like I'm growing from these assignments, getting a chance to practice my skills, and discovering the work I love most.\u00a0I've found that it's particularly difficult as a humanities major to\u00a0understand where exactly my courses will lead me. This uncertainty has also been on my mind a fair bit in the face of my impending graduation in June and has caused as much anxiety as my coursework.\u00a0Even though I may not have a definite answer to\u00a0the \"what next?\" question, I was reminded\u00a0of how much I've gotten out of studying a subject I love, and that recognition made the late nights\u00a0worth it and helped me find the motivation to keep going.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"