Received feedback on assignment 1 already, thanks Liz, excellent service.
Generally I appear to have done quite well, my weakness being an inability to punctuate properly. this may be down to laziness on my part though.
According to the course notes, I am supposed to incorporate the feedback in my learning log (ie this blog). Not sure how this works practically, so for now I'll just save the comments with the original assignments and cross the bridge as and when I need to.
Want to start assignment 2 but concentration levels still at an all time low :(
Wednesday 30 December 2009
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Assignment 1
Submitted today. The dreaded swine flu is still lingering and has scuppered my concentration levels to such an extent I can barely string a sentence together, let alone think about study. I hope to begin looking at the second part of the course later this week.
Monday 21 December 2009
Merry Bloody Christmas
My wife and I are celebrating our twentieth Christmas together this year. It’s safe to say we are not the most fortunate of couples when it comes to this festive period. I cannot recall more than three or perhaps four christmasses which haven’t been blighted by one or the other of us being ill, either on the day itself, or during the frantic week leading up to it.
This year, presumably because a twentieth anniversary is a thing of rareity these days, the curse of Christmas has gone all in and screwed us both over at the same time. We have swine flu.
Well I suspect it’s swine flu, we have all the symptoms, sore throat, high temperatures alternating with spells of shivering, loss of appetite, at least in Sues’ case, whereas I am eating almost constantly.
As I write this, it is day five on the couch. A full nights sleep is a distant memory. Sue retires early each night with a lemsip to the marital bed, and I grab a pillow and a duvet, curl up with the multitude of remote controls for the TV, media streamer and DVD player, a book, snacks and a drink, turn on the TV and promptly drop off to sleep, only to wake gasping for breath ninety minutes later with a throat coated in razor blades and nostrils encrusted in primordial slime, through which it is impossible to draw enough oxygen to sustain life.
The next ten minutes are spent on running repairs to my respiratory system, which involves much snorting, moaning and groaning, before returning to the couch, heart beating excessively fast for so little exertion. This series of events repeats at regular intervals throughout the night, until daylight convinces me it is time to rise, unrefreshed.
But time and tide wait for no man, and neither does Christmas. Presents have to be bought, as does food and drink, cards written and posted. Its not a social experience though this year, its all via the internet. In this season of cheer, cameraderie and goodwill to all men, we are reduced to cowering behind the net curtains, reciting “swine flu, swine flu” in a grotesque parody of the unfortunate medieval lepers “unclean”, imploring delivery men to abandon their packages by the gate for their own safety, and painting a big cross on the front door whilst we await the plaintive cry “bring out your dead”.
Throughout all this, the one to suffer most has been our daughter. Not for her bright childhood memories of joyous christmasses, of parties and laughter, turkey and tinsel. Her memories are, sadly, more of lemsip and linctus. But this year, its even worse.
She has reached the age now where she and a group of friends are able to rent a holiday cottage for the new year. They will do the family thing at Christmas, then pack themselves, a few belongings and no doubt copious quantities of cheap booze into a couple of old bangers and beat a hasty retreat to the coast for an early taste of freedom.
She is doing her best to avoid contact with us during these times of contagion, nights spent at friends houses, days spent anywhere but at home. When she must meet us, she does so with a handkerchief clasped to her face and a look of terror in her eyes.
It will all be to no avail though, the curse will get her, it always wins.
This year, presumably because a twentieth anniversary is a thing of rareity these days, the curse of Christmas has gone all in and screwed us both over at the same time. We have swine flu.
Well I suspect it’s swine flu, we have all the symptoms, sore throat, high temperatures alternating with spells of shivering, loss of appetite, at least in Sues’ case, whereas I am eating almost constantly.
As I write this, it is day five on the couch. A full nights sleep is a distant memory. Sue retires early each night with a lemsip to the marital bed, and I grab a pillow and a duvet, curl up with the multitude of remote controls for the TV, media streamer and DVD player, a book, snacks and a drink, turn on the TV and promptly drop off to sleep, only to wake gasping for breath ninety minutes later with a throat coated in razor blades and nostrils encrusted in primordial slime, through which it is impossible to draw enough oxygen to sustain life.
The next ten minutes are spent on running repairs to my respiratory system, which involves much snorting, moaning and groaning, before returning to the couch, heart beating excessively fast for so little exertion. This series of events repeats at regular intervals throughout the night, until daylight convinces me it is time to rise, unrefreshed.
But time and tide wait for no man, and neither does Christmas. Presents have to be bought, as does food and drink, cards written and posted. Its not a social experience though this year, its all via the internet. In this season of cheer, cameraderie and goodwill to all men, we are reduced to cowering behind the net curtains, reciting “swine flu, swine flu” in a grotesque parody of the unfortunate medieval lepers “unclean”, imploring delivery men to abandon their packages by the gate for their own safety, and painting a big cross on the front door whilst we await the plaintive cry “bring out your dead”.
Throughout all this, the one to suffer most has been our daughter. Not for her bright childhood memories of joyous christmasses, of parties and laughter, turkey and tinsel. Her memories are, sadly, more of lemsip and linctus. But this year, its even worse.
She has reached the age now where she and a group of friends are able to rent a holiday cottage for the new year. They will do the family thing at Christmas, then pack themselves, a few belongings and no doubt copious quantities of cheap booze into a couple of old bangers and beat a hasty retreat to the coast for an early taste of freedom.
She is doing her best to avoid contact with us during these times of contagion, nights spent at friends houses, days spent anywhere but at home. When she must meet us, she does so with a handkerchief clasped to her face and a look of terror in her eyes.
It will all be to no avail though, the curse will get her, it always wins.
Sunday 13 December 2009
Finally .....
Project 5 is complete, the last exercise involved describing the movement of an animal through poetry, and recommended not using domestic pets. Not having access to a wild animal, I settled down with David Attenborough and his very thoughtful slow motion filming, made a few notes, learned a few things about bats and hummingbirds, and ended up with notes on the movement of elephants, penguins and the albatross.
In closing out the exercise I knocked up a quick 8 liner on the big bird which threatened to rhyme at one point, but faded at the last, which I am secretly pleased about. The elephant notes were poor to be frank, but the penguin ones have plenty of substance which may warrant a return visit at some point.
I dont believe I learned anything new in this final exercise, for me it was more about maintaining the development of the all seeing eye for detail. Or have I missed the point?
Looking over project 6, it appears to be a development of project 4 (introducing descriptive text by writing what is seen) this time bringing in the other four senses, so I expect I'll be walking around for the next week licking and touching things.
In closing out the exercise I knocked up a quick 8 liner on the big bird which threatened to rhyme at one point, but faded at the last, which I am secretly pleased about. The elephant notes were poor to be frank, but the penguin ones have plenty of substance which may warrant a return visit at some point.
I dont believe I learned anything new in this final exercise, for me it was more about maintaining the development of the all seeing eye for detail. Or have I missed the point?
Looking over project 6, it appears to be a development of project 4 (introducing descriptive text by writing what is seen) this time bringing in the other four senses, so I expect I'll be walking around for the next week licking and touching things.
Thursday 10 December 2009
Poetry Saga Continues
Project 5 is proving a challenge, poetry is most definitely not my forte. I've struggled through to exercise 5, so only one more to go before I get a little respite.
What have I learned? the strength of alliteration and assonance in providing both emphasis and rhythm to a piece, that poetry isn't just about getting moon to rhyme with June, that my own preference, if I have one, is for short sharp lines rather than wordy meanderings, and that even just getting moon to rhyme with June is remarkably difficult.
What have I learned? the strength of alliteration and assonance in providing both emphasis and rhythm to a piece, that poetry isn't just about getting moon to rhyme with June, that my own preference, if I have one, is for short sharp lines rather than wordy meanderings, and that even just getting moon to rhyme with June is remarkably difficult.
Monday 7 December 2009
Poetry Horrors
Exercise 5.1, spent half an hour on a piece of early freewriting about cornish holidays, and ended up with a 6 line poem of dubious quality absolutely flooded with alliteration, five examples and one example of assonance is perhaps a touch excessive.
On the plus side, I managed to keep away from rhyme, which I dislike, and still instilled a sense of rhythm into the piece, so overall I'm reasonably happy with this first attempt. I'm not however going to reveal it anytime soon.
Exercise 5.2 was a further development of the challenges set by exercise 5.1. This time I used as the base point the final draft of exercise 4.4, and worked for about 40 minutes wearing away the 400 or so words until I was left with just 23
Whilst alliteration and assonance again made their presence felt, their usage was of a more appropriate nature which did not completely overpower the draft.
Once again I avoided rhyme, and ended up with a piece with a very similar rhythm to that in the first exercise.
On the plus side, I managed to keep away from rhyme, which I dislike, and still instilled a sense of rhythm into the piece, so overall I'm reasonably happy with this first attempt. I'm not however going to reveal it anytime soon.
Exercise 5.2 was a further development of the challenges set by exercise 5.1. This time I used as the base point the final draft of exercise 4.4, and worked for about 40 minutes wearing away the 400 or so words until I was left with just 23
Whilst alliteration and assonance again made their presence felt, their usage was of a more appropriate nature which did not completely overpower the draft.
Once again I avoided rhyme, and ended up with a piece with a very similar rhythm to that in the first exercise.
Writing Style
Managed a good couple of hours tonight in one stretch, allowed me to complete project 4's exercises and start on project 5, the poetry one.
As I expected I made significant changes in exercise 4.5 to the writing from exercise 4.1, whilst the next three exercises have had little done to them.
One thing I've noticed I am doing at present is perhaps over elaborating on some of the descriptions, making the words more "flowery" than I am comfortable with, which means the overall passage becomes disjointed, and reads as though it is composed of paragraphs by two or more different people.
This is I suspect partly because of preconceptions I have about "creative" writing, and partly because I am trying to write specifically in response to the questions asked by the exercises and end up not writing in my own "voice" but in a manner I think the exercise is looking for.
I have put some of this right in the redrafts for exercise 4.5, but will probably revisit this section of works once it has had time to mature a little.
As I expected I made significant changes in exercise 4.5 to the writing from exercise 4.1, whilst the next three exercises have had little done to them.
One thing I've noticed I am doing at present is perhaps over elaborating on some of the descriptions, making the words more "flowery" than I am comfortable with, which means the overall passage becomes disjointed, and reads as though it is composed of paragraphs by two or more different people.
This is I suspect partly because of preconceptions I have about "creative" writing, and partly because I am trying to write specifically in response to the questions asked by the exercises and end up not writing in my own "voice" but in a manner I think the exercise is looking for.
I have put some of this right in the redrafts for exercise 4.5, but will probably revisit this section of works once it has had time to mature a little.
Sunday 6 December 2009
Descriptive Writing Exercises
I've finished the first 4 exercises in Project 4, life has conspired against me in a number of ways to ensure this took longer than anticipated.
The final exercise is to review and redraft the previous exercises, presumably improving them as I go along, time will tell on that one.
Re-reading the first exercise, as I noted in the last post, the work is of a technical nature, with little evidence of creativity, I believe that this has improved gradually over the four exercises, and if I'm correct, will mean that each one will need less work than the previous one.
Again, time will tell
So far with the content of this course, I have been able to see both the intent of the exercises and also the improvement in my own work as I go through them. This has made the work easy to stick with (I'm intrinsically lazy and struggle to motivate myself for what I see as pointless exercises) and of course beneficial. I'm a little concerned about the next project though as it concentrates on poetry. Apart from the odd smutty limerick, this branch of writing is completely outside my comfort zone, and if I'm honest, outside the scope of my interest too.
The final exercise is to review and redraft the previous exercises, presumably improving them as I go along, time will tell on that one.
Re-reading the first exercise, as I noted in the last post, the work is of a technical nature, with little evidence of creativity, I believe that this has improved gradually over the four exercises, and if I'm correct, will mean that each one will need less work than the previous one.
Again, time will tell
So far with the content of this course, I have been able to see both the intent of the exercises and also the improvement in my own work as I go through them. This has made the work easy to stick with (I'm intrinsically lazy and struggle to motivate myself for what I see as pointless exercises) and of course beneficial. I'm a little concerned about the next project though as it concentrates on poetry. Apart from the odd smutty limerick, this branch of writing is completely outside my comfort zone, and if I'm honest, outside the scope of my interest too.
Thursday 3 December 2009
Technical to Creative Writing
Again a busy day means I don't have the intellectual energy to write tonight. I have decided that when this situation arises, I'll spend some time re-reading previous exercises and posting here.
One thing which is immediately apparent in the first project 4 exercise is that the writing is of a technical nature rather than creative. Technical writing forms a major part of my day job, and as such is the instinctive route I take when describing anything. Something I'll have to watch.
I did (I believe) a better job on exercise 2, where I "got it" in terms of what I was trying to do creatively.
An illustration of what I mean would be
(ex 4.1) "In the centre there is a convex circular disc, again chrome, about one centimetre in diameter"
and
(ex4.2) "Both surcoat and shield are white, symbolising purity, and each is emblazoned with the blood red cross of St George"
The second example, whilst not literary genius, is I think a definite improvement on the first.
One thing which is immediately apparent in the first project 4 exercise is that the writing is of a technical nature rather than creative. Technical writing forms a major part of my day job, and as such is the instinctive route I take when describing anything. Something I'll have to watch.
I did (I believe) a better job on exercise 2, where I "got it" in terms of what I was trying to do creatively.
An illustration of what I mean would be
(ex 4.1) "In the centre there is a convex circular disc, again chrome, about one centimetre in diameter"
and
(ex4.2) "Both surcoat and shield are white, symbolising purity, and each is emblazoned with the blood red cross of St George"
The second example, whilst not literary genius, is I think a definite improvement on the first.
Wednesday 2 December 2009
Busy Day
Had too many things on today to devote much time to study. Managed one exercise from project 4, spent around 25 minutes describing a speaker. Already I am noticing an improvement in the amount of detail I see, but currently seeing in this manner requires concentration.
Real progress will be when that comes naturally
Real progress will be when that comes naturally
Tuesday 1 December 2009
Free Writing
An early project in this course is to engage in free writing. Never having heard this expression, I read the description carefully, and to be frank was very dubious about the usefulness of such an exercise.
Just shows what I know doesn't it. I have been amazed by the ease in which this apparent pointless rambling proves useful, both in throwing up interesting leads to follow, and also in opening my mind and easing the process of more structured, targetted writing.
An early lesson then in keeping an open mind when embarking on something new.
Just shows what I know doesn't it. I have been amazed by the ease in which this apparent pointless rambling proves useful, both in throwing up interesting leads to follow, and also in opening my mind and easing the process of more structured, targetted writing.
An early lesson then in keeping an open mind when embarking on something new.
In the Beginning
This is my first OCA course, and I am using this as a means to both prepare myself for further distance learning at levels 2 and 3, and to ensure that I have both the time and committment to progress to degree level.
My long term plan is to combine this level 1 course with two further level 1 courses through APEL exemption gained as a result of a long interest in photography. I then hope to complete a level 2 and 3 course in both subjects.
My long term plan is to combine this level 1 course with two further level 1 courses through APEL exemption gained as a result of a long interest in photography. I then hope to complete a level 2 and 3 course in both subjects.
Sunday 29 November 2009
Aimless Meandering
Well as the description under the title says (or said, I may change it) this blog will act as my "learning log" for my OCA creative writing course "Starting to Write".
When I figure out exactly what I should be posting here, I may add something.
Until then, lets just see if it works or not
When I figure out exactly what I should be posting here, I may add something.
Until then, lets just see if it works or not
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