A step in the right direction.

After an enjoyable two weeks beside the Black Sea it’s back to work and the daily routine, trying to find time to write at the same time.  I have lots of writing projects started and find myself flitting from one to the other as and when the mood takes me. The results for A125 will soon be back and as August arrives I will be anxiously watching the post. During A215 I discovered a great enjoyment in writing poetry and have built up quite a collection written during, and after the course. At the moment I try to split my writing time between poetry and prose.  A few hours writing a poem has  become my reward for hitting a self imposed prose writing target. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy writing prose, but long periods revising or editing do have their downsides.

 On return from my holiday I promised myself that I would seriously try and get something published. With that in mind I entered a short story for the ‘Frome Festival, Short Story Competition.’ Another I submitted to ‘The Peoples Friend,’ and another to the short story magazine ‘Delivered’.  The one entered for Frome Festival was not short listed. The one to The Peoples Friend, I am still waiting to hear about. But here’s the good news, the one submitted to ‘Delivered’ was accepted and will be used in a few issues time. I have to say I was delighted with this news. As for poetry, a poem submitted to  Dark Horizons magazine was rejected, four others to different publications I await news of.

So for now it’s back to the keyboard, or the notebook, I find I am using one much more now, and to enjoy the freedom of writing anything I feel like before A363 starts in October.

Where has time gone?

Eight months since my last post. So much for resolutions.  A 215 (Creative Writing) with OU is almost over, the final submission is sitting on the table now ready to be posted.  All my spare time since the last post has been taken up with this course either studying or writing up the various assignments.

Would I do it again? That’s easy, yes definitely. It’s a great course covering fiction, poetry and life writing. I have learnt a great deal from this course both from the course materials, the Tutor, (thanks Mike, you know who you are,) but most of all from the interaction with the other students in my tutor group on the group forum. Each tutor group runs its own forum and students are encouraged to post work for critique, and to give critique on others work. These activities although not compulsory are an integral part of finding the critic within you, helping the writer to see their own, as well as others work in a more objective way. In my group of 18 about seven of us actively participated throughout the  course. So to anyone thinking of doing the course this year, do join in with the forum activities and get the most out of your course, you won’t regret it.

So what do I do now? Make another resolution to post on this blog more often. Try and get a short story published, an adaptation of one written for A215, (another has already been entered for a competition.) and wait for it, I have just registered for OU course A363 (advanced creative writing) who’d a thought it? Course starts in October.  Meanwhile a holiday in Bulgaria awaits, I’m off to pack my notebook.

Almost There.

The start date for the OU A215 Creative Writing course is almost here. This week I have been allocated a Tutor and been informed that the first tutorial would be in Bristol on the 4^th October only one week after the official starting date. I found this a little surprising but am pleased to find that it is close to home and that I will be able to attend. This will be the first time I have attended a face-to-face tutorial, all the ones on A174 were online.

 

According to my OU student homepage the hardcopy of the course materials should have been despatched on the 5^th September but so far there is no sign of anything arriving. A look on the conference sites seems to confirm that everybody else is still waiting as well, so not to worry.

 

I know last post I said that I would not start the coursework early having managed to download the course materials in PDF form a few weeks ago. However the temptation has proved too great and I have to admit to starting to read through the first couple of sections. I am now chomping at the bit, ready to start in earnest.

 

So how do I feel my preparation has gone? I don’t feel I have met all my self-set targets, but I do feel that I am much better prepared than I was at the end of April when A174 concluded. I have written continuously between courses, a variety of fiction and non-fiction. I have even started to write poetry, though I fear I may never understand free verse, it is lost on the luddite that lurks inside of me.

 

I have not religiously kept up a notebook and although full of good intentions, I know that I probably won’t in the future either.  Perhaps the blogs that I write fulfil the same purpose but in a the last few months my writing has been more prolific than at any other time and ideas still keep coming, so I won’t tempt fate by changing my writing habits now.

 

I will keep up this blog through the course recording my reaction to the various components of it as it progresses, but first I’m off to Cornwall for a week to recharge the batteries prior to starting.

A215 Draws closer.

Another month is slipping away and my studies are as disorganised as ever. However a look at the OU A215 Conference last week alerted me to the fact that the course materials are now available on line in PDF form so I have downloaded them and started to have a look.

     Having looked at the ETMA and TMA requirements I’m glad to say that they don’t seem too daunting and I have in fact got a couple of ideas for two of them already, though no doubt I will change my mind as the various deadlines approach. It seems that we have more freedom than was the case on A174 which means I well may be able to use a couple of things I was intending to write anyway.

     I’m not intending to start early, as I want to be at the same stage as everyone else once things get going but it has taken some of the unknowns out of things, which is a comfort.

    I am still not having a problem with what to write, just with the ability to prioritise my writing so that I meet the targets I set myself, rather than keep starting new things. This month I have written the first chapter of a novel I have wanted to start for a while now and no, it is not the one that I referred to in the last post, so now of course I am itching to continue with that as well. So much to do, so little time, but for the next few hours I’m off chasing a press gang across Dorset with Daniel Walters.

   

     

Not Enough Time!

Progress is still being made both with prose and poetry. It has been surprise to find that I am enjoying writing poetry much more than I thought I would, though I still struggle to understand free verse sometimes. I think I feel more secure where there are strict rules to follow.

 

Daniel Walters has become my answer to writers block. For some reason I can always find motivation to continue his story and so I ration myself to the time spent with him. Making myself cover other areas of my studies first then returning to him as reward. Adding his blog to several fiction blog directories is bringing in the first few readers and comments, which is nice and tends to fire my enthusiasm for writing more.

 

A short piece I wrote recently has left me thinking it has the potential to be developed into a novel and feedback from writelink seems to agree with me. So now there is this niggling thought that I should make a start it. It’s historical fiction that will take a fair bit of research and with the OU’s,  A215  course starting at the end of next month I know I am biting off more than I  should but this itch to start just won’t go away there is just not enough time.

Finding My Voice.

Is blogging a form creative writing? It certainly seems an addictive type of writing and one that I am getting hooked on. This week I have spent quite a bit of enjoyable time creating a blog site for my business. The results of which, I am very pleased with.

 

Sometimes I think that these posts may be a distraction from my main purpose, but on the other hand they do serve to keep me focused. I set self-imposed targets to try and achieve before the next post. Then the very fact that I have published these targets, gives me the added resolve to achieve them, rather than to have to explain my short falls at the following one.

 

So far this system seems to be working well. On the last post I said I would spend time on poetry, which I had neglected. Here I claim partial success. I have indeed written another poem, but not followed my plan to study more of Mr Fry’s book.

 

The dilemma now is simply that I am finding that not only do I really enjoy writing poetry, but also that I enjoy writing it my way. I seem to be finding a voice of my own, poetically that is. I have ideas for poems in abundance, but I need to follow my own structure and rhyme, it has to sound right to me, the way I want it to sound.

 

Sometimes I think that in our struggle to follow all the conventions and golden rules associated with writing both prose and poetry we run the risk of loosing individuality and originality. The very qualities we should be seeking to achieve, the qualities we look for in a new and exiting author ourselves.

 

Daniel Walters continues his adventures in Dorset with another post and I am playing with another idea for my younger grandchildren, as well as working on another short story.

 

Aims for this week: 1. To keep up with the work in progress. 2. To return to Mr Fry with an open mind, but not necessarily the intention to change my style. (Yes I think I have one now.)

Do writers need a split personality?

 This week has been more productive, ideas seem easier to find, but as always even this provides problems. Another part of “The Adventures of Daniel Walters” has been posted and another almost finished. This is something I am really enjoying and so far, as I write one post, ideas for the next seem to form along the way making writing easy.

 At the same time I am working on a short story, as told by a murderer who has allowed someone else to be convicted in his place. OK so what’s the problem? Well it’s like this; I like to really get inside the head of my characters, to be able to write something that is convincing to me.

 Now one day I am a thirteen year old boy romping around Dorset 200 years ago in a tale that, as anyone can guess, will turn out OK in the end. The next day I am a middle aged murderer with lots of dark secrets, deep into a story where if there is any justice things will not turn out OK.

 I am finding that switching from one to the other is taking me time. Daniel needs regular posts so I do need to keep switching back to him, this is not a problem as his is a happy tale. My murderer however is sullen and much more sombre and the whole story dark, so the writer in me seems reluctant to take on his mantle. Any Ideas?

 I have also revived my “Writers Bureau” course and written a filler for assignment four after a break of over eighteen months. If I proceed at this pace I should finish in another six years! I was going to give up on it altogether but the masochist in me says keep going.

 Priority now must be to get back to Mr Fry and the poetry, which has been neglected this week.

Taking my own advice

  It seems that taking one’s own advice is not so easy to do. In my last post I said that the ideas come if you just keep writing and I still stand by that, however lately there always seems to be something more pressing to do. Even the things I have started with the express intention of furthering my writing seem to be conspiring against me.

 Take the blog sites for example, although pleased with them so far. I find that my novice status as a blogger is keeping me away from writing, as I spend more and more time looking at other peoples sites, looking for ideas, or surfing the net to find out just what that latest technical term I have stumbled across means.

 Then of course, having started the blogs, how do I get anyone to read them? More time wasted trying to find directories, following links that fizzle out or have a last entry in 2004. There seems nowhere to promote blog fiction; any suggestions on this would be most welcome. Is anyone else trying to serialise a story or novel on a blog?

 Oh dear this is turning into more of a rant than the post I intended writing, but hey isn’t that what blogging is about?

 On the other hand I have been writing a little web content, just blog entries, and personal comment on current events All for a pitiful fee, from an organisation that shall remain nameless. On one of my blog surfing expeditions I came across three pieces I had written and although of course they were not accredited to me, it was nice to see them used.

 For now though I am going to take a big dose of my own advise and stick at the keyboard.

 

 

Disorganised progress.

Why is it that the best laid plans seem the hardest to follow? It’s not that I have not been writing, far from it, but I always seem to be going off at a tangent, new ideas enter my head, or old ones resurface and suddenly seem more attractive than the work I have set myself for today.

An E-mail arrived from Writelink yesterday with a competition to write a 250 word alternative history using any event from the past, of course time was immediately spent on that. The good news is that the story, now submitted and on their arena, has already received a couple of good reviews.

Then I stumbled across an old idea I had to start a fiction blog. Although it had been discarded in the past, yesterday it seemed a most appealing idea and “The Adventures of Daniel Walters“ was born, not only taking up most of yesterday but committing me to another regular blog spot.

All this inspiration is a most welcome change from the dreaded writers block which came over me at the end of the A174 OU course. It seems that the most important thing is just to keep writing. If you are writing the ideas will come, they may not take you along the path you had planned to take, but that to me is one of the joys of writing. Perhaps it is prudent to have everything planned out in advance, but the times I start writing, not knowing where I will go, or where I will end, are the times I enjoy writing the most.

Another step forward

This is turning into a good week as regards writing, Steven Fry is beginning to make sense and I have even managed to write not one, but two poems of my own. I say poems, but who am I to judge? I am sure in weeks to come I will cringe when I re-read them, but for now I am proud of my new creations and they can be found on the poetry page.

 

Focus this week has been heavily on poetry but the other aspects of preparing for A215 have been neglected. So now I will spend time on The Open University’s Open Learn site where an element of the course “Write what you know” is available free and is well worth a look for anyone preparing for, or thinking of taking this course.

It can be found at: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2799

 

As with A174, A215 recommends keeping a journal or notebook and this I am doing, though I have to admit that the entries are very erratic. They tend to be in an unorganised mess some on computer and others in various notebooks scattered about the house. Gradually I will sift through them and transfer anything that I think may be of use to the computer, filed in some kind of folder system.