I feel almost like a real writer this week. I’ve been doing lots of writing for uni and for the magazine, Wordly, put out by Deakin Writers. Don’t get me wrong, I need to do lots of writing this trimester, there’s good reason there. Let me ramble for yet another Friday and talk about what I’m studying this time round.
First up is Love, Death and Poetry. You know what I think of love, poetry isn’t that far behind. I can read a little poetry and be alive the next day but it is a challenge. Having finished three weeks of it I feel I’ll be able to write the necessary essays and get through, but I’m going to skip attending the lectures. I will still watch them, thanks to the magic of the internet I’ll be able to watch them that night and there are bonuses to watching lectures online. One of the downsides is that I don’t get to see my lecturer but I do get to pause the recording to take notes or even to take a walk around the house and bring my mind back where it should be and not wandering around the world.
Next is Creative Non-fiction. It’s not entirely what I was hoping for. It’s the personal essay so this first assignment is looking at the personal, the ‘I’ and situations ‘I’ve’ been in. This bit is rather challenging as I’m not good at putting in the personal stuff, it may not show on my blog but it does show on social media as there’s very little about me. But there’s a big focus on helping your fellow student through the wonders of workshopping so I’ll get through there too.
The last subject is Creative Fiction. For this I have to write ‘mindfully’. What on earth does this mean? It means that every word must count and that I must be able to justify my choices within the arena of the story. If I set the story in a particular setting then there must be a reason for it. And what qualifications does my teacher have? Here’s her website, have a look for yourself.
Yesterday I attended my Writer’s Group, the one what I done start up last year. Yes, the focus is on writing but we do so much more than that. Today I worked on some background for the story I need to submit for critting for Creative Fiction. Critting? Critiquing, it’s where people pull your heart out by the guts and tell you where you’ve gone wrong. I look forward to it as I can’t tell if my writing is any good and this points out the holes.
I left there early as Deakin Writers were having a Write In to try and encourage people to write something for the next magazine. I already knew the theme and had something in mind. When I finally stopped being silly and sat down I put fingers to keyboard, almost 700 words later it’s just needing a polish or three then an edit by a talented friend before being ready for submission in less than three weeks. I did use one of their prompts to start something else incredibly silly. If there’s time I’ll polish that and submit both, giving them two ways to turn me down.
I’m finally doing what I’ve wanted for so, so long. Maybe I should write a piece about that.