To be a writer

It’s been eight months since our OU Advanced Creative Writing course finished. And I have to say that I really miss it. This is the first time in three years that I haven’t been taking a writing course, and although I love my Design Thinking course I miss writing.

I am writing nearly every day, but it’s writing non-fiction – writing that is attached to my editing/copywriting day job.

I thought that when the course finished I would be picking up my notebook and writing every day like a good writer should. But the reality has turned into a workfest that just hasn’t let up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for work, I need work to survive and I enjoy what I do … but.

There’s a school of thought that if you are a writer you will find time to write. That’s all well and good if there are enough hours in the day. At the moment even finding fifteen minutes free time is difficult.

So I’ve decided to take small steps back into creative writing. I’ll aim to write one short story a month. Not a story that’s done, dusted and edited, but one that’s finished in the rough stages. That way I won’t stress myself, but will get back into the swing of things.

The reason for this decision?

Today there’s a new anthology available on Amazon. It’s one that I’m actually quite proud of, as it’s the first time that my creative writing has been seen outside of my OU course. Well apart from a one-act playscript that I let a few of my Thurso Player’s family look at.

This is different. There are twenty short stories, written by students of the OU 2016 (October start) Advanced Creative Writing course, put together in an anthology. Available to anyone who fancies reading some great stories. I know they’re great, because we all supported each other through the course, and I helped put the anthology together. I didn’t do much, just helped sort out the submissions so they all kept to the same format, but I got to read them all. Gareth Coates has been very modest, as he’s the brains behind the operation and has done all the legwork.

There are poems, scripts and stories. Including one of mine.

I’m hoping it sells really well, as not only are the contents fabulous, but all proceeds are going to Macmillan Cancer Support.

If you fancy a good read why not have a look? This is the first step towards many of the participants becoming writers, and it’s for a good cause. Stories from Everywhere is available from Amazon.