I knew that this course would be different, that it would change the way I work or how I see the world. I was looking forward to i, another challenging course and learning curve.
So - first assignment back from Nina Milton, second chapter read and exercises done. Finished Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy and found it charming, exciting, funny and characterful. The truly great thing about this course so far is the very fact that a grown man has a reason - or should that be an excuse? - to dive into children’s books. Not that I have ever needed an excuse....
The first assignment didn't feel like an assignment in the sense that it was not about me writing anything creative.
The second assignment builds on the exercises and the idea was like a brake coming off of a car parked on a very steep hill; once I started rolling it was only a matter of steer and brake to keep me on the road. The act of writing was almost a relief, having been out of sorts with prose since doing the poetry course for the previous twelve months. It felt natural and for three consecutive evenings I settled in my office, with the house silent and cautiously steered my way down the narrative hill.
I had decided to control myself by writing one third of the story at each sitting, in this way I wouldn't overwrite - a problem I have experienced before - so at the point where the word count reached around 800 I would stop, add some notes in red underneath as prompts for the next session and, if the writing had come quickly, pick my way through what I had written to find mistakes or clarify some points.
I also set myself the task to "put aside" for three days/evenings. This is always the hardest part for me; I like to tinker and think and re-read.
Tonight is the last evening I am not allowing myself to work on it. It leaves me a full Sunday to pour over what I have written, so for now I am limiting myself to post-its on what I want to change or add if I begin to think too much. For the past three days I have concentrated on reading, thinking and daydreaming - oh and jotting things down on post-its.
I am oddly at peace about this setting aside. I am not troubled or anxious. If this is confidence I wouldn't know it for sure and I am almost concerned to describe it as such; but if this is what the course is going to be like I will find it rewarding and a turning point.
