The worst thing about being a writer still in school is that you have to balance interesting things (i.e. writing) with terrible, awful, tedious things (i.e. homework). As summer draws to a close and I prepare to enter my senior year, it would seem I'm inundated by summer work. Yes, all of it seems pointless. And to most students, it is. But to a writer, it's all inspiration, technique, and extreme amounts of getting out of your writing box. You get the opportunity to turn all of it from a waste of time into a progression of your skills. Here are some things to consider: 1. It makes you pick up a pencil every once in awhile. With the exception of essays, a lot of my work has to be done by hand. I actually kind of love it. All my artwork for my studio classes is so much better when handmade. My vocabulary flashcards for English look so much prettier than any computer could do. Math looks kind of cool when you do it all out. I’m not saying you should write y