Well, not sure what I can say right now. I have now submitted - and had returned my first assignment on this course, and to say that I am unimpressed with a) the feedback and b) the grade, is probably a HUGE understatement. I am not sure what to think about this course just yet. After getting my first assignment back with comments on it such as "Your vocabulary is obviously sophisticated" and "this writing promises much for the future" you would be excused for thinking that the grade would reflect this positive feedback, but then the comments segue into "Too polished" and "the piece could have been improved by some vivid imagery, metaphors and similes" and the grade definitely reflects the latter more than the former.
I did go back to the tutor - not for a re-grade, but more for a further and better clarification of the comments, which equalled just 165 words (pretty poor when you think about the fact that the assignment was over 1300) and none of them went any way to explain what was expected, merely what was missing.
I am trying very hard right now to calm my temper (even now, a week later). I have received very little in the way of better explanation from the tutor though I did ask for more, and I am starting to think that not only have I wasted my time in selecting this course, BUT I have managed to get lumbered with possibly the most patronising ass on the face of the planet who believes that all prose should be cornily purple and filled to the sickening brim with simile and metaphor. I know that he is a poet, but I have never been, nor do I ever wish to be like him - the day I get poetry published is the day I hand in my "I want to be a respected author that people ENJOY" badge and go for the "People will think I am a pretentious wanker who writes things people don't give a shit about and only read when they are forced to" banner (because if that fits on a badge it certainly won't be legible).
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Monday, 3 November 2008
TMA01
Well that was not the most fun that can be had on a Monday evening - especially after I spent much of my evening on the phone to cat rescue places and the local vets because I need, desperately, to rehouse my ageing cat - who is unable to acclimatise to being an indoor cat - and his rebellion is...messy (to say the least).
Due to a broken laptop (the replacement of which I am now using to write this blog), I am already 1 down on extensions for my course. I have, within the last 10 minutes, submitted an assignment that I, have to be honest about, feel is rather poor, but it was the best I could come up with. While I really love creative writing I am finding this course to be rather like having my nails pulled with a pair of pliers, mostly because the piece I wrote was close enough to painful memories that it upset me.
Anyway, now that's done I have three months until the next assignment is due and I am already itching to get started, a 2500 original fiction piece about anything I choose :) here's me smiling and happy...
Due to a broken laptop (the replacement of which I am now using to write this blog), I am already 1 down on extensions for my course. I have, within the last 10 minutes, submitted an assignment that I, have to be honest about, feel is rather poor, but it was the best I could come up with. While I really love creative writing I am finding this course to be rather like having my nails pulled with a pair of pliers, mostly because the piece I wrote was close enough to painful memories that it upset me.
Anyway, now that's done I have three months until the next assignment is due and I am already itching to get started, a 2500 original fiction piece about anything I choose :) here's me smiling and happy...
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Tutorial 1
I am home much earlier than I had expected to be. In the tutorial information (which we were only able to view this week) we were informed that our tutorial would be 5 hours long. Well, the tutorial started at 10.30 and I am already sitting at home; having been grocery shopping and made sure that my flat is warming up with the heating on before the tutorial was even due to finish. I turns out that sometimes the OU can't organise a piss up in a brewery, and today was just one of those occasions. The university - when they informed everyone where the tutorial would be - didn't actually bother to inform the college site who would require rooms and how long they would be required for. As it happens, the college caretaker had to be contacted and asked to give us a room to have the lesson in...he then informed us that he was going to be leaving at 12 (which was later extended to 1.30), which meant that our tutorial was cut short by 2 hours.
The tutorial didn't last as long as was originally planned but we still managed to get through a lot of material (a lot of it was unfortunately poetry - which I am sure I have mentioned several times I am not keen on at all).
The people in the group (that turned up to the tutorial) are a mixed bunch, but as the contact is (for the most part) online I don't think that we will get to know too much about each other...in some ways this is a bad thing because the course remains rather isolated (no one in a small group likes to contribute too much, and I felt as though I was talking more than perhaps I should - though it was all relevant). I can't help wondering, also, if contributions to our tutorial group online are going to be few because at present they are minimal and a lot of the people appear to not want to spend time online in the rooms...
Sometimes I actually miss the harder A300 purely because there was such a wonderful community feel about the rooms in which we had chat when the tutorials themselves weren't taking place.
The tutorial didn't last as long as was originally planned but we still managed to get through a lot of material (a lot of it was unfortunately poetry - which I am sure I have mentioned several times I am not keen on at all).
The people in the group (that turned up to the tutorial) are a mixed bunch, but as the contact is (for the most part) online I don't think that we will get to know too much about each other...in some ways this is a bad thing because the course remains rather isolated (no one in a small group likes to contribute too much, and I felt as though I was talking more than perhaps I should - though it was all relevant). I can't help wondering, also, if contributions to our tutorial group online are going to be few because at present they are minimal and a lot of the people appear to not want to spend time online in the rooms...
Sometimes I actually miss the harder A300 purely because there was such a wonderful community feel about the rooms in which we had chat when the tutorials themselves weren't taking place.
Sunday, 28 September 2008
College, Poetry, and Computers
The course officially started yesterday and already we have had a mini-assignment emailed to us by our tutor (a published poet). The course forums are already filled with eager beavers who have been posting haikus and freewrites as though they are going out of fashion, I have grown tired of trying to keep up and so now have taken to going in, flicking through the email titles and just marking all as read! My tutorial forum is much smaller and, therefore, much quieter, averaging about 10 posts a day.
The mini assignment we were given was to compose an acrostic poem using the letters that make up our names as the first letters of each line - so mine looks something like this:
R
A
C
H
E
L
Now, we are meant to post our 'first drafts' by Tuesday, but I am sorry, I am not spending a few days working on this. At the time I read the email containing the assignment I had just left some par-boiled potatoes in a warm dish with some olive oil, crushed garlic cloves and fresh rosemary (from the plant on my kitchen windowsill), so I used this and other smells in the kitchen as inspiration and wrote my 6 line, 36 word acrostic poem in about 30-45 minutes. That's it, done! I am hoping that just because our tutor is a poet all our assignments won't have some poetry relation - if they do then I am so going to ask about being given a different tutor. I did not choose to do this course because of the poetry, I chose to do this course in spite of the poetry.
That over and done with I need to talk about Draco. No, I am not writing a poorly chosen rip off of "We need to talk about Kevin" (I only managed to read a bit of that book before I took it back to the library and chose some chicklit), this is about my beloved 7-yr old laptop. Draco has been chugging along, rather well I think, for the last year. Despite all the chips and cracks in the casing he still works - albeit a little bit slowly - but of late I have noticed that the chugging noises are getting louder, the time it takes to carry out one single action (such as switch between my browser and my email software) is taking longer, and the cracks in the case are getting bigger. This means, I know, that Draco is due for replacement.
I decided to have a look at the Dell website (my old desktop - which is also slowly dying, and turned 5 this August - is a Dell and I never had any problems with it, but for the fact that they no longer even make parts to upgrade it and it too is struggling to work with the amount of software required to simply work view a website, check email and chat at the same time - let alone run the newer and far more reliable MS Office software) and saw that the newer machines have 2-3ghz processors, 3-4gb of ram and huge hard drives. I thought to myself, "hmm, wonder what Draco's processor is and how much Ram he has..." (no, with all the damage that he has suffered travelling to the States several times, to France and on various trips around the country in my backpack, there is no point thinking of simply upgrading his RAM and HD), I checked and had to giggle when I realised that he is a baby in comparison with these newer machines. He has a 1ghz processor and just 256mb of Ram...yes, you read that right, 256mb of Ram. It's no wonder every process is like dragging a donut away from a woman who has just been to her weigh in at Weight Watchers (and I can say this because that's me!). I get the feeling that once I get a new machine things will be less like pulling teeth, and more like pulling a freshly baked apple crumble from the oven - pure pleasure. Of course this new machine will have to have a name...and as I only very recently emailed to a friend...Draco is the baby death eater, this new machine will be the big daddy - so perhaps he should have the daddy-appropriate name, and be Lucius!
The mini assignment we were given was to compose an acrostic poem using the letters that make up our names as the first letters of each line - so mine looks something like this:
R
A
C
H
E
L
Now, we are meant to post our 'first drafts' by Tuesday, but I am sorry, I am not spending a few days working on this. At the time I read the email containing the assignment I had just left some par-boiled potatoes in a warm dish with some olive oil, crushed garlic cloves and fresh rosemary (from the plant on my kitchen windowsill), so I used this and other smells in the kitchen as inspiration and wrote my 6 line, 36 word acrostic poem in about 30-45 minutes. That's it, done! I am hoping that just because our tutor is a poet all our assignments won't have some poetry relation - if they do then I am so going to ask about being given a different tutor. I did not choose to do this course because of the poetry, I chose to do this course in spite of the poetry.
That over and done with I need to talk about Draco. No, I am not writing a poorly chosen rip off of "We need to talk about Kevin" (I only managed to read a bit of that book before I took it back to the library and chose some chicklit), this is about my beloved 7-yr old laptop. Draco has been chugging along, rather well I think, for the last year. Despite all the chips and cracks in the casing he still works - albeit a little bit slowly - but of late I have noticed that the chugging noises are getting louder, the time it takes to carry out one single action (such as switch between my browser and my email software) is taking longer, and the cracks in the case are getting bigger. This means, I know, that Draco is due for replacement.
I decided to have a look at the Dell website (my old desktop - which is also slowly dying, and turned 5 this August - is a Dell and I never had any problems with it, but for the fact that they no longer even make parts to upgrade it and it too is struggling to work with the amount of software required to simply work view a website, check email and chat at the same time - let alone run the newer and far more reliable MS Office software) and saw that the newer machines have 2-3ghz processors, 3-4gb of ram and huge hard drives. I thought to myself, "hmm, wonder what Draco's processor is and how much Ram he has..." (no, with all the damage that he has suffered travelling to the States several times, to France and on various trips around the country in my backpack, there is no point thinking of simply upgrading his RAM and HD), I checked and had to giggle when I realised that he is a baby in comparison with these newer machines. He has a 1ghz processor and just 256mb of Ram...yes, you read that right, 256mb of Ram. It's no wonder every process is like dragging a donut away from a woman who has just been to her weigh in at Weight Watchers (and I can say this because that's me!). I get the feeling that once I get a new machine things will be less like pulling teeth, and more like pulling a freshly baked apple crumble from the oven - pure pleasure. Of course this new machine will have to have a name...and as I only very recently emailed to a friend...Draco is the baby death eater, this new machine will be the big daddy - so perhaps he should have the daddy-appropriate name, and be Lucius!
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Time Flies
Not sure if it's only when you're having fun...think that being busy also makes time fly - so perhaps the saying should be "Time flies when you have way too much on your calendar".
A215 starts this weekend, and finally (after a mini disagreement with the OU and frustration with DHL) my books arrived. Luckily (or rather unluckily because it wasn't the best time), I was away from work with a bug that knocked me for six, when Ms Postie knocked on my front door and handed me the box with the books and cds inside. Of course I felt so drained by the time I got back upstairs to my sick bed that I didn't do anything more than prop the books up on the bookcase, but today (despite not feeling THAT much better), I will be looking through them to see what is expected of me.
I am terrified now; while all the other courses relied upon my being able to critique the work of others, this course depends upon my being able to accept the critique of others on work that is rather personal.
Next Saturday (4th October) I have 5 hour tutorial in Worthing, and part of me is looking forward to meeting everyone, while another part of me is scared (I am not good with new people as a rule). We'll soon see.
A215 starts this weekend, and finally (after a mini disagreement with the OU and frustration with DHL) my books arrived. Luckily (or rather unluckily because it wasn't the best time), I was away from work with a bug that knocked me for six, when Ms Postie knocked on my front door and handed me the box with the books and cds inside. Of course I felt so drained by the time I got back upstairs to my sick bed that I didn't do anything more than prop the books up on the bookcase, but today (despite not feeling THAT much better), I will be looking through them to see what is expected of me.
I am terrified now; while all the other courses relied upon my being able to critique the work of others, this course depends upon my being able to accept the critique of others on work that is rather personal.
Next Saturday (4th October) I have 5 hour tutorial in Worthing, and part of me is looking forward to meeting everyone, while another part of me is scared (I am not good with new people as a rule). We'll soon see.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Books and blogs and things
Still no sign of my books. I was hoping that – as they were apparently despatched on Friday – they would arrive in enough time for me to get acquainted with them before the course started proper. Yes, I am well aware that the course doesn’t begin for another 3 weeks, but I am away for most of next week (we are going to Center Parks in Wiltshire for a trio of days filled with sales conference talk and budget discussion YAY!!!) I wanted to have a chance to look at them, and perhaps take one with me to read while trying to get to sleep in an unfamiliar bed.
The weather here at the moment is horrible. I am contemplating designing a clock for my blog that shows the current British weather. It has just four settings, “okay”, “horrible”, “crap”, and “absolute shite”. At present it’s hovering between the last two, and I don’t predict it changing before the end of the year (well actually I do, I expect it to move to hover right over “absolute shite” and stay there). We were promised (rather recently in fact) a late Indian summer, but that has yet to come to light, and as September moves forward ever more swiftly I don’t think it will actually ever arrive.
Today I have made a move towards getting rid of my old life – well, my old online life anyway!
For the last five years I have kept a Livejournal. The journal contained (until the end of last year) every single detail of my life, every little thing that happened, how and why and where. In December last year I became very disinterested in the way things on the site were progressing – first there were mass journal deletions, then the owners sold out and started to change their policies towards the freedom of the written word. Slowly I started to realise that I no longer wished to be part of the community that the site had once been and never would be again. I had slowly moved away from the friends I had made before and during my time on the site and I became disenchanted with the idea of storing my every thought on a page that anyone could access given the right password. I have posted my final post on Livejournal, if it’s not read then it’s not read, but that doesn’t bother me (posting my comment is merely a polite gesture, I feel it only fair to give people a chance to get links to things and pictures that I have made/taken that are in my past posts before they are gone), and come Friday night everything that once was will never be again – except, of course, in some google cached archive somewhere! Strange as it may seem, this clean out is actually starting to feel rather therapeutic…off with the old, on with the new, and may the new offer me five years more.
The weather here at the moment is horrible. I am contemplating designing a clock for my blog that shows the current British weather. It has just four settings, “okay”, “horrible”, “crap”, and “absolute shite”. At present it’s hovering between the last two, and I don’t predict it changing before the end of the year (well actually I do, I expect it to move to hover right over “absolute shite” and stay there). We were promised (rather recently in fact) a late Indian summer, but that has yet to come to light, and as September moves forward ever more swiftly I don’t think it will actually ever arrive.
Today I have made a move towards getting rid of my old life – well, my old online life anyway!
For the last five years I have kept a Livejournal. The journal contained (until the end of last year) every single detail of my life, every little thing that happened, how and why and where. In December last year I became very disinterested in the way things on the site were progressing – first there were mass journal deletions, then the owners sold out and started to change their policies towards the freedom of the written word. Slowly I started to realise that I no longer wished to be part of the community that the site had once been and never would be again. I had slowly moved away from the friends I had made before and during my time on the site and I became disenchanted with the idea of storing my every thought on a page that anyone could access given the right password. I have posted my final post on Livejournal, if it’s not read then it’s not read, but that doesn’t bother me (posting my comment is merely a polite gesture, I feel it only fair to give people a chance to get links to things and pictures that I have made/taken that are in my past posts before they are gone), and come Friday night everything that once was will never be again – except, of course, in some google cached archive somewhere! Strange as it may seem, this clean out is actually starting to feel rather therapeutic…off with the old, on with the new, and may the new offer me five years more.
Thursday, 4 September 2008
And September brings with it wind and rain
You read it right. The advent of this month (only 4 days old and already desperate for it to be over) has already brought with it gale-force winds and rain. Cycling to the train station (a lovely distance of just under 2 miles) left me dripping like a piece of clothing fresh out of the washing machine and feeling like I needed to be wrung out. My clothes eventually dried, but not before they had been clinging to my skin for a good couple of hours. Well, we live and learn - and one thing I have learned is that waterproof clothing is fanatastic as long as the wind isn't blowing the rain up the back of the cape ;)
Nothing really has happened over the last few weeks. I went to see my niece perform in an Amateur Dramatics version of Annie which could have been so much better (had any of the actors been able to carry a tune), and I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the flat (okay, 3 hours on Saturday and 4 on Sunday - it gleamed for a few days but now looks like a bomb hit it again).
Happenings yet to occur:
1. College starts on the 29th September. At present I am unable to even access my OU mailbox as the site seems to resent me existing and has decided to delete me - I am sure this will resolve itself soon (it had better...).
2. My living room needs to be decorated. At present my living room (which is immense) looks as though it was originally decorated by an arguing couple. 2 walls are a burnt orange and the other two are this colour that is referred to as mushroom, but really just closely resembles a dirty light brown. I need to get this done soon as I want to hang curtains to keep in the heat over the winter. I was thinking cream and dark red - the room is big enough to carry it off, that's for sure.
3. My bathroom is still brown. Yep, whoever previously decorated this place needs to get glasses - after they have been hit around the head a few times for their dire taste. I have been thinking about decorating it since I moved in, but time sort of got away from me, and now -when I have the time - I don't have the money! I get a tax rebate, and my inheritance is due to come through really soon, so after I have painted the horrid living room, my bathroom will become a pale and calming butter cream.
4. I had intended (but then we know what happens to good intentions don't we) to do some writing over the four month break (between A300 finishing and A215 starting). Unfortunately it appears as though my muse decided to go on an extended vacation. I keep on opening up the files, but the characters are totally silent. It feels as though I have stepped into a vacuum whenever I think about writing something original.
5. I have an unfinished Harry Potter fanfiction that I started writing for a friend's birthday. I finished the first part and sent it to her in time for the big day (8th August), but somewhen between the 8th and now I lost the impetus to put fingers to keys and finishing it...I will get around to it - I have promised so I will get it done, but whether it fits the standards set by the first part I honestly have no idea.
6. Getting my cat to go for walks...Oh this has been a joke - though I wish it were actually a joke rather than something which will make people laugh while it is totally true. Mulder has been whinging for the last couple of months that he can't get outside. I finally gave in and spent money on buying him a leash, spent a week getting him accustomed to wearing the harness around the flat, put him on the leash and walked him around the flat (until he stopped dragging himself along the floor like a storm was crashing overhead) and then yesterday took him outside. You would have thought I was torturing him. He mewled like a stuck pig and cried until I gave in and took him back inside again. Oh well, back to the drawing board LOL.
Nothing really has happened over the last few weeks. I went to see my niece perform in an Amateur Dramatics version of Annie which could have been so much better (had any of the actors been able to carry a tune), and I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the flat (okay, 3 hours on Saturday and 4 on Sunday - it gleamed for a few days but now looks like a bomb hit it again).
Happenings yet to occur:
1. College starts on the 29th September. At present I am unable to even access my OU mailbox as the site seems to resent me existing and has decided to delete me - I am sure this will resolve itself soon (it had better...).
2. My living room needs to be decorated. At present my living room (which is immense) looks as though it was originally decorated by an arguing couple. 2 walls are a burnt orange and the other two are this colour that is referred to as mushroom, but really just closely resembles a dirty light brown. I need to get this done soon as I want to hang curtains to keep in the heat over the winter. I was thinking cream and dark red - the room is big enough to carry it off, that's for sure.
3. My bathroom is still brown. Yep, whoever previously decorated this place needs to get glasses - after they have been hit around the head a few times for their dire taste. I have been thinking about decorating it since I moved in, but time sort of got away from me, and now -when I have the time - I don't have the money! I get a tax rebate, and my inheritance is due to come through really soon, so after I have painted the horrid living room, my bathroom will become a pale and calming butter cream.
4. I had intended (but then we know what happens to good intentions don't we) to do some writing over the four month break (between A300 finishing and A215 starting). Unfortunately it appears as though my muse decided to go on an extended vacation. I keep on opening up the files, but the characters are totally silent. It feels as though I have stepped into a vacuum whenever I think about writing something original.
5. I have an unfinished Harry Potter fanfiction that I started writing for a friend's birthday. I finished the first part and sent it to her in time for the big day (8th August), but somewhen between the 8th and now I lost the impetus to put fingers to keys and finishing it...I will get around to it - I have promised so I will get it done, but whether it fits the standards set by the first part I honestly have no idea.
6. Getting my cat to go for walks...Oh this has been a joke - though I wish it were actually a joke rather than something which will make people laugh while it is totally true. Mulder has been whinging for the last couple of months that he can't get outside. I finally gave in and spent money on buying him a leash, spent a week getting him accustomed to wearing the harness around the flat, put him on the leash and walked him around the flat (until he stopped dragging himself along the floor like a storm was crashing overhead) and then yesterday took him outside. You would have thought I was torturing him. He mewled like a stuck pig and cried until I gave in and took him back inside again. Oh well, back to the drawing board LOL.
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Long time no see
It's been a long while since I have posted here - the beginning of the year in fact.
So much has happened since January that I don't even know where to start.
I have finished my third year of Open University and just last week found out that I passed the course though it was easily the most difficult I have taken, and I was expecting to hear that I would have to retake.
Okay, so in order of things that have gone wrong/right since January:
1: My grandmother - who was diagnosed in January 2007 with lung cancer - died in May
2: I was evicted from my grandmother's house (having lived there for 13 years) and forced to find - very quickly - alternative accommodation.
3: I managed to finish my course while looking for a new home, packing to move and arranging things for my grandmother's funeral.
4: I moved at the beginning of July (without removal men) and now live in a top floor flat by the sea
5: I found out that I had passed my third year and now have a Diploma in Literature.
Though really it's only five things, these five things have had an incredibly harsh impact on my life! I have found that while I love the freedom of living alone - not having to live by anyone's schedule but my own - it can be incredibly lonely. I can go days (especially over the weekends) not seeing anyone, and the only voice I hear unless the phone rings is my own.
Well, in just a few weeks year four begins, I am going to be taking A215 (Creative Writing), and while part of me is looking forward to it, another part of me is panicking about exposing my wirting to the criticism of professionals.
So much has happened since January that I don't even know where to start.
I have finished my third year of Open University and just last week found out that I passed the course though it was easily the most difficult I have taken, and I was expecting to hear that I would have to retake.
Okay, so in order of things that have gone wrong/right since January:
1: My grandmother - who was diagnosed in January 2007 with lung cancer - died in May
2: I was evicted from my grandmother's house (having lived there for 13 years) and forced to find - very quickly - alternative accommodation.
3: I managed to finish my course while looking for a new home, packing to move and arranging things for my grandmother's funeral.
4: I moved at the beginning of July (without removal men) and now live in a top floor flat by the sea
5: I found out that I had passed my third year and now have a Diploma in Literature.
Though really it's only five things, these five things have had an incredibly harsh impact on my life! I have found that while I love the freedom of living alone - not having to live by anyone's schedule but my own - it can be incredibly lonely. I can go days (especially over the weekends) not seeing anyone, and the only voice I hear unless the phone rings is my own.
Well, in just a few weeks year four begins, I am going to be taking A215 (Creative Writing), and while part of me is looking forward to it, another part of me is panicking about exposing my wirting to the criticism of professionals.
Friday, 4 January 2008
Holidays and Updates
I am so behind it's scary. For the last 8 weeks I have done nothing at all on the reading front, in fact, just before TMA 03 was submitted I realised that I hadn't even finished reading the book chapters relating to the work that I was doing, and I still haven't. While everyone is likely reading up on Brecht I am nowhere near that point, having not even started reading the chapters on Eliot. I just feel as though time is getting away from me and I can't seem to sum up the energy to do anything about it, I get so far in the determination to catch up and then start thinking about other things and do nothing at all.
On the good front I did actually get TMA03 submitted a day early (could have been 2 days had I submitted it when I actually finished it, but I wanted to give myself 12 hours perspective and submit after rereading with a fresh eye. I should be getting it back really soon.
Back to the worrying matter at hand, my lack of motivation and determination to get things done. I am so tired at the moment that all I really want to do is sleep, in fact I am currently sitting at my desk fighting the desire to close my eyes and doze for an hour or more – unfortunately I won't even get that luxury at lunch time as I have to go to the shops and buy my nephew a birthday card (his birthday is today though I won't be giving him a present until Monday).
I know that I have a serious problem, I am so far behind there is the possibility that I will NEVER catch up, but I have to do my best, work through my issues with the course (which strangely are many – starting with the fact that poetry seems to have such a high focus on every single blasted literary course I have done, and is worth 40% of the marks) and get on with it – I have until May to sort myself out…well I don't really, I have until the next TMA is due in February (4000 words on blasted Eliot and his crappy ditty Prufrock…how exactly I am meant to write 4000 words I will never know, I had enough problems writing 2000 words about 3 poems!).
Christmas was, as usual, a non-event that consisted of my sleeping in and reading every single regency and Scottish romance on my bookshelves (except for Crosstitch, a.k.a. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon, so many people like that book but I have never been able to read more than the first couple of chapters without putting the book down – I have never finished it and doubt I ever will). I am now reading the five Sherbrooke books by Catherine Coulter and then I am done with the regencies for another 2 years (perhaps more). I started with the Scottish books by Garwood and moved on from there. Since Christmas Day I have read:
Julie Garwood:
The Bride
The Wedding
The Secret
Ransom
The Prize
The Lion's Lady
Saving Grace
Judith McNaught
Something Wonderful
Almost Heaven
Always and Forever
Kingdom of Dreams
Whitney, My Love
Until You
Joanna Lindsay
Man of My Dreams
Love me Forever
Tender Rogue
Catherine Coulter
The Sherbrooke Bride
Still to be read before I stop reading and find my drive (I have no idea if this will work):
The Hellion Bride
The Rebel Bride (a.k.a. The Rebel Heiress)
The Scottish Bride
The Sherbrooke Twins
Yes, while I was meant to be studying I have managed to cut a swathe through regency and Scottish romance novels, reading 17 books in 10 days…not too bad going if I do say so myself.
Oh well, back to the grindstone (work is another issue I am 'working through'), though I would far rather be sinking into bed right now than delving into another blasted spreadsheet…wonder if my fruit/yogurt and soup diet could be the cause of my tiredness?
12.01pm ETA: I just got my TMA back – got 56%. 4% lower than my previous two TMAs, but hopefully not a sign of things to come. Being honest though I always think my TMAs are rubbish, I thought that this one met the grade, and ticked all the required boxes …obviously not! Oh well, better start thinking about putting notes together for the big TMA coming up in February – only a month and a bit and twice as much at stake.
On the good front I did actually get TMA03 submitted a day early (could have been 2 days had I submitted it when I actually finished it, but I wanted to give myself 12 hours perspective and submit after rereading with a fresh eye. I should be getting it back really soon.
Back to the worrying matter at hand, my lack of motivation and determination to get things done. I am so tired at the moment that all I really want to do is sleep, in fact I am currently sitting at my desk fighting the desire to close my eyes and doze for an hour or more – unfortunately I won't even get that luxury at lunch time as I have to go to the shops and buy my nephew a birthday card (his birthday is today though I won't be giving him a present until Monday).
I know that I have a serious problem, I am so far behind there is the possibility that I will NEVER catch up, but I have to do my best, work through my issues with the course (which strangely are many – starting with the fact that poetry seems to have such a high focus on every single blasted literary course I have done, and is worth 40% of the marks) and get on with it – I have until May to sort myself out…well I don't really, I have until the next TMA is due in February (4000 words on blasted Eliot and his crappy ditty Prufrock…how exactly I am meant to write 4000 words I will never know, I had enough problems writing 2000 words about 3 poems!).
Christmas was, as usual, a non-event that consisted of my sleeping in and reading every single regency and Scottish romance on my bookshelves (except for Crosstitch, a.k.a. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon, so many people like that book but I have never been able to read more than the first couple of chapters without putting the book down – I have never finished it and doubt I ever will). I am now reading the five Sherbrooke books by Catherine Coulter and then I am done with the regencies for another 2 years (perhaps more). I started with the Scottish books by Garwood and moved on from there. Since Christmas Day I have read:
Julie Garwood:
The Bride
The Wedding
The Secret
Ransom
The Prize
The Lion's Lady
Saving Grace
Judith McNaught
Something Wonderful
Almost Heaven
Always and Forever
Kingdom of Dreams
Whitney, My Love
Until You
Joanna Lindsay
Man of My Dreams
Love me Forever
Tender Rogue
Catherine Coulter
The Sherbrooke Bride
Still to be read before I stop reading and find my drive (I have no idea if this will work):
The Hellion Bride
The Rebel Bride (a.k.a. The Rebel Heiress)
The Scottish Bride
The Sherbrooke Twins
Yes, while I was meant to be studying I have managed to cut a swathe through regency and Scottish romance novels, reading 17 books in 10 days…not too bad going if I do say so myself.
Oh well, back to the grindstone (work is another issue I am 'working through'), though I would far rather be sinking into bed right now than delving into another blasted spreadsheet…wonder if my fruit/yogurt and soup diet could be the cause of my tiredness?
12.01pm ETA: I just got my TMA back – got 56%. 4% lower than my previous two TMAs, but hopefully not a sign of things to come. Being honest though I always think my TMAs are rubbish, I thought that this one met the grade, and ticked all the required boxes …obviously not! Oh well, better start thinking about putting notes together for the big TMA coming up in February – only a month and a bit and twice as much at stake.
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