A quick summation of me as a college student:

• Papers or workshop writing pieces sprinted out a day or two before they were due; usually good enough for a ‘B’
• Frequent all-nighters before mid-terms and finals since I didn’t study all semester; usually followed by mornings where I was so sleep deprived I’d have to ask my roommate where my shoes were… when they were already in my hands.
• And, as a senior, joy that I’d ‘never have homework again.’

…Let me repeat that.

I thought I’d never have homework again.

Basically, what I’m telling you is that, when I graduated from college, I didn’t understand what it was like to have enough passion for something that I would spend my free time working at it.

Because, for my day job, I don’t have homework. I switch off at 5 o’clock and don’t look at my e-mail outside of office hours. Don’t get me wrong– I’m happy to have the job that I have, but there’s no passion for it in me. I do what’s ‘good enough.’ I go for the ‘B.’

I’m glad that I have homework now. I’m glad that I’ve found this passion for YA fiction that means that a majority of my free time is spent ‘working.’ I’m glad that I’m either reading and reviewing or writing and revising.

I’m glad that I’ve found something that makes me want to work. And it’s something where I don’t want to stop at ‘good enough.’ I want an ‘A.’ I want to work at it and keep working at it until I know that it’s the best I can make it.

I’m 25 years old, 3 years out of college, but I still drown in homework. I still pull ‘all-nighters.’

And I’m just so glad.