write a book

So, I signed up to do an MA in Literature this Sept which was a something of a cop out as I really want to study writing but I still have hangups about whether creativity can be taught but at the same time I don’t think I actually talented enough to get onto a high level writing course.
The Literature course was withdrawn this week as too many people had dropped out at the last minute. So the university offered me the opportunity to apply for the Creative and Professional Writing course. Oh, the irony! I am waiting to hear if my late application, complete with 4000 word writing portfolio, will be accepted on the course that I was too chickensh*t to apply for in the first place!!

I always used to think that creativity couldn’t be taught so I resisted the idea of doing a writing course because in my mind that was only for losers who couldn’t right. However, seeing as I was getting nowhere with just myself and my God-given talent, I decided to enrol on the Ways into Creative Writing course at the City Lit. Next week is the last session and I am totally gutted. I’ve loved this course. It’s showed me so much about different forms of writing and it’s helped my to understand my writing voice. The tutor is fantastic – very encouraging but very firm about the homework!! Feedback from the group and the tutor has convinced me like nothing else could that I have something worthwhile to say through my writing and now I feel better equipped with the means to express that.
I want to take the next course Furthering your creative writing in September but I’d’ve started my MA by then and I think that working part-time, studying full-time and an evening course might be a bit much.

Though not book related, it is writing. I’ve posted the first post on my blog, The Cross I Bear, Yippee! Whether the blog leads to an epic following and a book deal or just a few comments from the web’s lunatic fringe, I don’t care! Now that my non-fiction has a platform, I can focus on the fiction.

As an Invigilator, I have on average four hours each day stuck in a room with nothing to do except watch people taking their exams. So I’ve taken advantage of this ‘empty’ time to start writing not one but two novels! I write a little bit every day, I’m not focussed on the end product or publishing just writing.