Creative Writing

Getting it Down on Paper

During the first lockdown I enrolled in a virtual creative writing course run by the University of Bristol. Up until that point all my writing had been just me writing without any formal instruction since I studied English at school. It is true I have always loved English literature & love a good book. Writing one might be another thing all together.

It was great to listen to the tutor describe the various methods that you could use to write a story. I had not realised that such exercises existed & it was interesting to see how a group of people approached the same task. 

Coffee is a great way to fire up the brain when sitting down to write I have discovered. it certainly seemed to help keep the fingers tapping on the keyboard during the long lockdown hours. I must admit I felt a little intimidated by the others on the course as they all seemed to be far more accomplished writers. 

Arguably the story of my life really as I never feel a little intimidated in new groups. Still they turned out to be really nice people & I found I did learn quite a lot from them.

Surprisingly I have had two short stories published in the past. The first  as runner up in a newspaper competition and the second in a national women’s magazine.  I won first prize in their competition. 

The submission was a 600 word piece and I chose to use one of the exercises which involved writing about inanimate objects as part of the course as a starting point. The following was what emerged having given free reign to my pen as it were.