Since the beginning of the semester, I've started to notice a shift in my behavior. Assignments have been piling up lately, and I'm writing non-stop. I'm writing essays, writing notes, writing summaries, writing discussion responses, and even writing short stories.

My academic writing is at an all-time high, but my creative and personal writing seem to have fallen short.

My creative writing hasn't stopped entirely. I still write weekly articles, and my creative writing class keeps me writing as well. However, all my personal projects have come to a halt.

I'm no longer writing poetry every day. I've stopped trying to force myself to be the girl who journals regularly. I haven't attended to my current work in progress in a few weeks. I don't even brainstorm ideas for future works I could possibly create.

This is a pattern I've fallen into every semester since the beginning of my freshman year. Over summer or winter break, I'll work ambitiously on my personal writing, but when the new semester comes around, I put that writing on hold.

I think a small part of this problem has to do with the amount of writing I'm doing in school. As a Writing Arts major, most of my academic career is focused entirely on writing. After writing all day for school, the last thing I want to do is write to relax when I get home at the end of the day.

The bigger part of this problem likely has more to do with my time management skills. I get all my academic writing and even my articles done because I schedule out the time I need for these things. My personal writing falls short because I constantly tell myself I'll do it when I have free time.

At the end of the day, if I want to have time to do the writing I love, I need to give myself that time. Far too often in college, we let the things we love to do fall off to the side because we believe we should sacrifice them for our studies.

In reality, we should be adding these things into our everyday schedules.