January has been a busy month! I still haven’t gone into hospital (sigh), it’s a waiting game at the moment. I’ve found it hard to relax into the New Year knowing that just around the corner lies a hospital bed with my name on it, but I’m focused on trying to remain as upbeat as possible.

At the start of January I handed in my second piece of coursework for my Open University course, Creative Writing. We were asked to write a short story of 2,200 words, accompanied by a commentary detailing the techniques and processes we employed during our writing. I love writing, I wouldn’t have started blogging if I didn’t, but I haven’t written a story before.

I didn’t know where to begin. It seems that most people on my course have their minds filled with multiple stories buzzing away, and for them it’s just a case of finding the time to sit and write them out. I, on the other hand, do not have any plots or ideas outlined in my head – in fact it’s pretty blank on the writing front. I struggled with this for some time; as a student of Creative Writing I should be able to think of things to write – as a writer you are nothing without an idea. My confidence was therefore pretty low for this assignment.

To try and ‘trap’ some inspiration I started looking through our family encyclopaedia until I came across something which caught my eye – a fishing boat. My parents have had a boat in Devon since I was a child, so I had lots of memories to recall. For the next month I spent my time thinking about being on a fishing boat, researching, asking questions and, thankfully, writing.

I really enjoyed it! I was also able to submit it before the deadline, (a rare occurrence for me!), and four days later my work was returned. The comments my tutor had made were incredibly detailed – I don’t think I’ve ever learnt so much from feedback I’ve received. I was very impressed with both the speed and quality of the assessment process, so to my tutor – a big thank you!

I am now studying poetry (and finding it very difficult). I’ve never really understood poetry, but I’m working on it and drafting some poems for the next piece of coursework in at the end of February.

In other news, I had nine inches of hair cut off. I nearly fainted when I saw my locks on the floor, but I love my new do!

A new look for a new year. Perfect.