This Saturday marks the first day of my last course. I can’t believe that I started working on this degree back in September 2005 and now, just four years later it is almost over. I haven’t exactly done a wide variety of courses, it is after all a degree in Literature, but along the way I have met a vast number of different tutor types, from the incredibly helpful to the total moronic numb-nuts who I could happily bash around the head with a crowbar (yes, SLOB, this is about you).
Saturday I start the new EA300 course, a course introduced by the Open University just this year (I am part of the first intake), a course all about Children’s Literature, covering a number of authors from Beatrix Potter and Louisa M Alcott to JK Rowling and Phillip Pullman. I am looking forward to this course, but I was looking forward to A215 and look where that anticipation got me.
As EA300 starts, AA306 is coming to a quick end. On 12th October I will be sitting in a (hopefully not stuffy) town hall with an exam paper all about Shakespeare. To say that my performance on this course has shocked me would be an understatement of epic proportions. I have always struggled with analysis but I don’t let that inadequacy get to me, and struggle though, and it seems that the struggle is always worth it. I am not getting distinctions, or As, but I am happy with the B- equivalents that I keep on coming away with, they are a pleasant surprise and I love them. I work really hard on the assignments (though I do admit they are always very much a case of last minute thing), and though I am aware they are not worthy of being framed and exhibited in a museum, they are pieces of work I am proud of.
EA300 is my last course, and with the first assignment all about Harry Potter I feel as though it could have been designed for me (until of course they start discussing the psychology behind the creation of literature for children and its purpose – then I start to panic).
They will be looking at a number of books I have never read, nor heard of (some are new and others have an incredibly long history, The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Little Women being just two examples).
I appreciate that they can’t cover everything, and do need to cover many aspects of the arena of children’s literature, but it is with trepidation I approach a book called Junk which, according to the blurb, is about young love, running away from home, and an addiction to heroin. It’s a disturbing topic and part of me wonders how something so dark and mired in chronic depression can be considered Children’s Literature – of course I am sure I will soon find out.
Roll on the last year, I await you with anticipation...now I can really start the countdown to the end of my degree and the moment I can stand up at the graduation ceremony and, holding a certificate in my hands, grin smugly at my mum and say “see, told you so!” (my mother unfortunately is not the most supportive of parents, and since I said I was starting this course she has shown little to no interest, going as far as to tell me that “I don’t want to hear about it until you’re about to get the certificate and have officially passed the course”). To say that her comments hurt, when she focused so intently on my sister’s long-since abandoned foray into academia, is an understatement, but knowing that it is so close now (9 months) I can taste it makes me realise that I am doing this FOR ME.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
S.A.D?
I have suffered from depression since I was 16 - so for the last 19 years of my life.
Since my original diagnosis (which has changed several times since the first time) I have had 2 breakdowns, seen two different psychiatrists (long-term), and moved NHS regions once (meaning that all therapy and medical notes took months to be transferred and caused a rather damaging break in treatment).
After my last breakdown I was prescribed Moclobemide (an outdated but well-proven MAOI medication prescribed only by mental health specialists), which I took without issue for 5 years. This was the only pill, after trying numerous others, that did anything anywhere near making me feel something resembling normal. Unfortunately, when I changed surgery practices (and localities) the new GP told me that he would not renew the prescription and that he wanted to learn more about my case. Since then he has tried me on two sleeping pills - I HATED them both, I dislike relinquishing control of my somewhat abnormal sleep pattern and after a few nights of bad tastes in my mouth and heavy heads determined that 4 hours of rubbish sleep was better than a whole night AND a 'hangover head' without the fun of having had an overindulgent alcoholic night before.
The last few weeks have been horrendous; mood swings, constant tearfulness, a general feeling of being inadequate, overwhelmed, and low, so I went back to the doctor with the hope of getting some help. After 20 minutes, and filling out one of those stupid questionnaire things on which my score was 22, I was told that he would refer me for therapy - the waiting list is (like most) 12-18 months. I hoped that he would give me some other offer of help...he suggested Citalopram and Prozac (the first anti-depressant I ever took which may as well have been a smartie for all the use it had). After telling him that I have already taken both of these and have found them to be no use he essentially told me that I would hear from the Local Community Mental Health Team in the next few weeks and then sent me on my way (even opening the door to let me out) without any further suggestions or offers of help. Like everyone else who suffers...what am I mant to do now? I can't cope with work, I go home and essentially curl up on the sofa and pretend I am not there and generally feel like so much useless space.
Since my original diagnosis (which has changed several times since the first time) I have had 2 breakdowns, seen two different psychiatrists (long-term), and moved NHS regions once (meaning that all therapy and medical notes took months to be transferred and caused a rather damaging break in treatment).
After my last breakdown I was prescribed Moclobemide (an outdated but well-proven MAOI medication prescribed only by mental health specialists), which I took without issue for 5 years. This was the only pill, after trying numerous others, that did anything anywhere near making me feel something resembling normal. Unfortunately, when I changed surgery practices (and localities) the new GP told me that he would not renew the prescription and that he wanted to learn more about my case. Since then he has tried me on two sleeping pills - I HATED them both, I dislike relinquishing control of my somewhat abnormal sleep pattern and after a few nights of bad tastes in my mouth and heavy heads determined that 4 hours of rubbish sleep was better than a whole night AND a 'hangover head' without the fun of having had an overindulgent alcoholic night before.
The last few weeks have been horrendous; mood swings, constant tearfulness, a general feeling of being inadequate, overwhelmed, and low, so I went back to the doctor with the hope of getting some help. After 20 minutes, and filling out one of those stupid questionnaire things on which my score was 22, I was told that he would refer me for therapy - the waiting list is (like most) 12-18 months. I hoped that he would give me some other offer of help...he suggested Citalopram and Prozac (the first anti-depressant I ever took which may as well have been a smartie for all the use it had). After telling him that I have already taken both of these and have found them to be no use he essentially told me that I would hear from the Local Community Mental Health Team in the next few weeks and then sent me on my way (even opening the door to let me out) without any further suggestions or offers of help. Like everyone else who suffers...what am I mant to do now? I can't cope with work, I go home and essentially curl up on the sofa and pretend I am not there and generally feel like so much useless space.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Creative Writing: And the Saga Continues...
I thought that the course would be over and that would be it, and then I got the grade back on my final piece of work. I swear (and this isn't me being paranoid OR over-inflating my writing abilities) that this particular tutor (now to be referred to as SLOB) has it in for me.
I got my final paper back and, along with comments that with a bit of work it would be publishable in a high-end writing magazine, was a grade that made me spit tacks (not literally but I am sure, had there been tacks in my mouth I would have spit them). A "C"! That jumped up little twat who thinks that his ideas are the only ideas, gave me a fricking "C". Of course, me being me, I couldn't lie down on this, I mean, it's creative writing, I am not the best at it, but I have a modicum of ability and therefore when I write something that has other people sighing (and apparently a few friends did, really identifying with the character - one person even asked me if they were real) I think it deserves more than a paltry "C".
I wrote a letter to the Regional Office, got fobbed off and told that despite the fact that I have made an official complaint about this tutor and he has been made aware of it (which of course wouldn't affect his marking at all!) I would still have to follow the original protocols of the course and contact him to request a re-grade. A few days later and I get a rather abrupt "Understand you're upset but no, I stick by the grade I gave you and that's that"...I am not letting that lie. In fact, just yesterday I sent a letter to the Complaints and Appeals department and I am now in the process of taking the request for a re-grade over the tosspot's head. I am not going to let this lie! Now I just have to wait and hear what the Regional Office - who I contacted originally and was told to go through proper procedure - the whole process is ridiculous, but I am going to follow it to the letter so that they have no comeback should they decide to question my reasoning.
I got my final paper back and, along with comments that with a bit of work it would be publishable in a high-end writing magazine, was a grade that made me spit tacks (not literally but I am sure, had there been tacks in my mouth I would have spit them). A "C"! That jumped up little twat who thinks that his ideas are the only ideas, gave me a fricking "C". Of course, me being me, I couldn't lie down on this, I mean, it's creative writing, I am not the best at it, but I have a modicum of ability and therefore when I write something that has other people sighing (and apparently a few friends did, really identifying with the character - one person even asked me if they were real) I think it deserves more than a paltry "C".
I wrote a letter to the Regional Office, got fobbed off and told that despite the fact that I have made an official complaint about this tutor and he has been made aware of it (which of course wouldn't affect his marking at all!) I would still have to follow the original protocols of the course and contact him to request a re-grade. A few days later and I get a rather abrupt "Understand you're upset but no, I stick by the grade I gave you and that's that"...I am not letting that lie. In fact, just yesterday I sent a letter to the Complaints and Appeals department and I am now in the process of taking the request for a re-grade over the tosspot's head. I am not going to let this lie! Now I just have to wait and hear what the Regional Office - who I contacted originally and was told to go through proper procedure - the whole process is ridiculous, but I am going to follow it to the letter so that they have no comeback should they decide to question my reasoning.
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
End of Course (Creative Writing)
Well, this course was definitely not what I was expecting when I signed up for it almost 6 months before it started. I have to admit that I feel let down. I was hoping to meet a lot of like-minded people that I could possibly create some kind of writing network with. What I unfortunately found - in my tutor group at least - was a bunch of technophobic mutes and a reunion with a tutor that I hadn't respected when I first met him, and continued to feel total apathy for at the reunion nearly 16 years later.
I am relieved that this course has come to an end though, of course, I still have to wait for the end of course grade (and, as it happens, the grade for the second to last piece of coursework because - true to type - the tutor is late returning it), but I feel secure in saying that I have passed.
To say that I am unhappy with how this turned out is a rather large understatement. I had blown this course up in my mind as something I would feel comfortable doing, would enjoy and bring home adequate (though hopefully better than adequate) grades. Instead what I discovered was that it is possible to make a life-long writer HATE her craft, introduce her to a series of methods that don't help in the slightest, and give her a huge textbook that is only really good for one thing - a rest for the laptop when she's typing in bed.
All in all, if you like writing, enjoy the day to day of coming up with original ideas and putting them down on paper, don't do this course thinking that it's going to be one which helps you polish your writing pen and produce masterpieces worth publication...Think about doing courses elsewhere where you can be sure that you won't get tutors who don't want to help, don't mark things and return them on time, and constantly make a point of telling you that they aren't paid to provide you with feedback which helps you to master the craft.
Rant ended...and, luckily enough, course ended!
I am relieved that this course has come to an end though, of course, I still have to wait for the end of course grade (and, as it happens, the grade for the second to last piece of coursework because - true to type - the tutor is late returning it), but I feel secure in saying that I have passed.
To say that I am unhappy with how this turned out is a rather large understatement. I had blown this course up in my mind as something I would feel comfortable doing, would enjoy and bring home adequate (though hopefully better than adequate) grades. Instead what I discovered was that it is possible to make a life-long writer HATE her craft, introduce her to a series of methods that don't help in the slightest, and give her a huge textbook that is only really good for one thing - a rest for the laptop when she's typing in bed.
All in all, if you like writing, enjoy the day to day of coming up with original ideas and putting them down on paper, don't do this course thinking that it's going to be one which helps you polish your writing pen and produce masterpieces worth publication...Think about doing courses elsewhere where you can be sure that you won't get tutors who don't want to help, don't mark things and return them on time, and constantly make a point of telling you that they aren't paid to provide you with feedback which helps you to master the craft.
Rant ended...and, luckily enough, course ended!
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
It's been a while
Where has all the time gone? One minute it’s March and I have damaged text books with milk, the next it’s the end of May and I am in the process of writing my last creative writing piece for the course that felt as though it was never going to end.
I can honestly say that the course was my idea of hell on earth (minus the fire and brimstone of course). SLOB has been the laziest tutor I have had while doing the OU degree (can you believe I only have another 13 months to go?), he marks things in a half-hearted manner that is difficult to adjust to, and there is something so backhanded about his comments when paired with his grades that half the time I am not sure what to think. Take the last piece for example, a ‘life writing’ piece which I ended up doing about the sickness and death of my dad. It’s the first piece I have written about the subject since I was 13 and though it’s not a recent memory anymore, the writing of it was a cathartic process which I did consider chucking in on several occasions. Sending that in I was sure that I had done a good job, I hadn’t made it too sentimental, I hadn’t gone all prosaic and pathetic, I felt I had reached the right balance. I had to contact the Regional Office to get it back because it appears as though deadlines and schedules mean nothing to Mr Wanker over there in his ivory tower in Worthing (yep, I am talking about SLOB), and when I did I have to admit I was confused. In one sentence he is saying that it was a moving piece that had made him cry, it was well-written and emotional without being over-sentimental, and then he gives me a B. Not a ‘high B’ like I received for the creative writing TMA02, but a full-out dead on the nose ‘B’ (as in 70%). I just don’t get it.
Well, the last TMA was due in just last Friday, and the next one – the final piece, the exam replacement piece – is due in on June 5th (clashing so wonderfully well with the Twelfth Night piece I have to submit for Shakespeare), but it will have to be posted beforehand as it has to be received by the Head Office of the OU in Milton Keynes by Friday 5th, and it has to be posted (yep, you read it here, the course that has been totally email and online has a hardcopy snail mail element to it).
I am in the process of writing a plan and ideas for the ECA, I am not going the route of some of the seeming sycophants in my tutorial group (who initially were all “I don’t like poetry” and when SLOB sent us some of his to review all of a sudden were “I love poetry and I am going to write a piece for every assignment”), I am going to write prose, it’s what I feel comfortable with, it’s what I feel confident writing and I think (for that really read ‘hope’) it will be the best piece I have submitted. I know that I don’t have a chance of getting an amazing grade for any of the pieces I have submitted because SLOB apparently doesn’t really like (or get) my writing style, but I have to get to the point where I am writing for me...sod what people like him think...in the scheme of things he has had one book published (poetry) by vanity press and that sort of person is not my target audience anyway.
Oh, and I am going to take up knitting.
I can honestly say that the course was my idea of hell on earth (minus the fire and brimstone of course). SLOB has been the laziest tutor I have had while doing the OU degree (can you believe I only have another 13 months to go?), he marks things in a half-hearted manner that is difficult to adjust to, and there is something so backhanded about his comments when paired with his grades that half the time I am not sure what to think. Take the last piece for example, a ‘life writing’ piece which I ended up doing about the sickness and death of my dad. It’s the first piece I have written about the subject since I was 13 and though it’s not a recent memory anymore, the writing of it was a cathartic process which I did consider chucking in on several occasions. Sending that in I was sure that I had done a good job, I hadn’t made it too sentimental, I hadn’t gone all prosaic and pathetic, I felt I had reached the right balance. I had to contact the Regional Office to get it back because it appears as though deadlines and schedules mean nothing to Mr Wanker over there in his ivory tower in Worthing (yep, I am talking about SLOB), and when I did I have to admit I was confused. In one sentence he is saying that it was a moving piece that had made him cry, it was well-written and emotional without being over-sentimental, and then he gives me a B. Not a ‘high B’ like I received for the creative writing TMA02, but a full-out dead on the nose ‘B’ (as in 70%). I just don’t get it.
Well, the last TMA was due in just last Friday, and the next one – the final piece, the exam replacement piece – is due in on June 5th (clashing so wonderfully well with the Twelfth Night piece I have to submit for Shakespeare), but it will have to be posted beforehand as it has to be received by the Head Office of the OU in Milton Keynes by Friday 5th, and it has to be posted (yep, you read it here, the course that has been totally email and online has a hardcopy snail mail element to it).
I am in the process of writing a plan and ideas for the ECA, I am not going the route of some of the seeming sycophants in my tutorial group (who initially were all “I don’t like poetry” and when SLOB sent us some of his to review all of a sudden were “I love poetry and I am going to write a piece for every assignment”), I am going to write prose, it’s what I feel comfortable with, it’s what I feel confident writing and I think (for that really read ‘hope’) it will be the best piece I have submitted. I know that I don’t have a chance of getting an amazing grade for any of the pieces I have submitted because SLOB apparently doesn’t really like (or get) my writing style, but I have to get to the point where I am writing for me...sod what people like him think...in the scheme of things he has had one book published (poetry) by vanity press and that sort of person is not my target audience anyway.
Oh, and I am going to take up knitting.
Monday, 23 March 2009
Milk damages books
Yep, you read it here first; milk damages books.
This may not be news to many of you, but last night I discovered just how much damage half a pint of milk can do to a set of books if spilled. I had just carried my nightly glass of milk upstairs to bed, leaned down and ended up spilling well over 2/3 of the glass onto the bed, it soaked through the duvet (which will now need an expensive wash this coming weekend) and seeped through the pages of two books on my bed. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had just soaked through one of them "Twilight" (which is now crusted with milk - I looked this morning), but the other book is a college text which is now all stuck together, every page is melted into another and unreadable.
I have just contacted the OU and they are sending me (thank goodness) a replacement book first class (which should mean it arrives tomorrow or Wednesday), and I will just have to be much more careful. What's irritating is that now I will have to reread the old chapters (revision purposes) in order that I am able to re-mark what I have marked previously - because that is also completely damaged.
This will definitely teach me to be more careful, that's for sure!
This may not be news to many of you, but last night I discovered just how much damage half a pint of milk can do to a set of books if spilled. I had just carried my nightly glass of milk upstairs to bed, leaned down and ended up spilling well over 2/3 of the glass onto the bed, it soaked through the duvet (which will now need an expensive wash this coming weekend) and seeped through the pages of two books on my bed. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had just soaked through one of them "Twilight" (which is now crusted with milk - I looked this morning), but the other book is a college text which is now all stuck together, every page is melted into another and unreadable.
I have just contacted the OU and they are sending me (thank goodness) a replacement book first class (which should mean it arrives tomorrow or Wednesday), and I will just have to be much more careful. What's irritating is that now I will have to reread the old chapters (revision purposes) in order that I am able to re-mark what I have marked previously - because that is also completely damaged.
This will definitely teach me to be more careful, that's for sure!
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
TMA Returns
Last Friday marked the return due date for both TMA03 of A215 and AA306. Needless to say, one didn't show up! I got 66% on the Shakespeare, which is much better than I had anticipated considering all the procrastinating and eventual issues I had with it, but I am both pleased and relieved and have already moved on to the next assignment (will be working on Polanski's take on the Scottish Play from Friday (I rented it from the library rather than spend money I don't have).
My A215 essay was another kettle of fish entirely. Having submitted it almost 3 weeks early because I was keen to get it off my desk, I discovered rather late that I had forgotten to title the blinking thing, though when the TMA was finally returned late yesterday afternoon (four days late, which is appalling when it was submitted 3 weeks early), that appeared to have made little difference to the end result. While I was happy with a 66 on the AA306 TMA, I am not happy with the 62 I managed on the A215 assignment. I hate poetry, and have made little bones of this immense dislike since I started the course, but still the tutor appears to be completely oblivious and continues to pour salt in the wound of my discontent. Rather than elucidate on the feedback I received, I have decided to post it here so everyone can see it...and how wonderfully 'improving' the critique is (all spelling mistakes originate at source, they are not mine):
The poetry has some high moments of keen intensity. It is also very ambitious, exploring, as it does existential themes of love, loss and death. I have indicated some areas where your poetry achives a fine specificity and coherence of imagery. I think that your language is very close to prose in many places and that you could have done more to weave metaphors and similes into the work. Also, beware of long lines - most effective poetry features judicious line breaks and tight concentrated lines. The trick with poetry is to continue to refine and pare down thye language until the imagery dazzles with a jewel-like quality. I feel tha your excellent drafts remain a little too abstract and unfocussed in places. Nevertheless, there is some great promise for you here as a poet whose work is emerging.
The commentary is a sound evaluation of your creative journey. I like the way that you are now commenting in some specific detail on the choices that you make and the way that the pieces develop.
While the critique itself is fine, it's the lack of constructive advice that I find irritating. Oh well, obviously will never be able to please this tutor. It does make me laugh when he mentions "your language is very close to prose in many places..." that's possibly because I write prose and think that poetry is rubbish? Just perhaps? I also love the evaluation of the Commentary...Apparently he likes that, it was all total fiction! I am not going to spend hours drafting and redrafting...be serious, please!
Anyway, onwards and upwards, this next assignment is "Life Writing" then we have the 'Targeted Prose" and then the final assignment and I never have to hear from this idiot again!
My A215 essay was another kettle of fish entirely. Having submitted it almost 3 weeks early because I was keen to get it off my desk, I discovered rather late that I had forgotten to title the blinking thing, though when the TMA was finally returned late yesterday afternoon (four days late, which is appalling when it was submitted 3 weeks early), that appeared to have made little difference to the end result. While I was happy with a 66 on the AA306 TMA, I am not happy with the 62 I managed on the A215 assignment. I hate poetry, and have made little bones of this immense dislike since I started the course, but still the tutor appears to be completely oblivious and continues to pour salt in the wound of my discontent. Rather than elucidate on the feedback I received, I have decided to post it here so everyone can see it...and how wonderfully 'improving' the critique is (all spelling mistakes originate at source, they are not mine):
The poetry has some high moments of keen intensity. It is also very ambitious, exploring, as it does existential themes of love, loss and death. I have indicated some areas where your poetry achives a fine specificity and coherence of imagery. I think that your language is very close to prose in many places and that you could have done more to weave metaphors and similes into the work. Also, beware of long lines - most effective poetry features judicious line breaks and tight concentrated lines. The trick with poetry is to continue to refine and pare down thye language until the imagery dazzles with a jewel-like quality. I feel tha your excellent drafts remain a little too abstract and unfocussed in places. Nevertheless, there is some great promise for you here as a poet whose work is emerging.
The commentary is a sound evaluation of your creative journey. I like the way that you are now commenting in some specific detail on the choices that you make and the way that the pieces develop.
While the critique itself is fine, it's the lack of constructive advice that I find irritating. Oh well, obviously will never be able to please this tutor. It does make me laugh when he mentions "your language is very close to prose in many places..." that's possibly because I write prose and think that poetry is rubbish? Just perhaps? I also love the evaluation of the Commentary...Apparently he likes that, it was all total fiction! I am not going to spend hours drafting and redrafting...be serious, please!
Anyway, onwards and upwards, this next assignment is "Life Writing" then we have the 'Targeted Prose" and then the final assignment and I never have to hear from this idiot again!
Saturday, 28 February 2009
AA306
OMG, now that was a close call. I don't know the last time I took it right down to the wire. I posted the first TMA of the Shakespeare course with just 4 minutes to spare. I think that the only thing that made my panic even worse was discovering when I first tried the site at 23.50 that it was down, the server wasn't working and the message was that "Http/1.1 Service Unavailable" if I could have panicked anymore than I did when my stomach decided to enter my throat and the indigestion that had been plaguing me since my rather unsatisfying supper of chicken nuggets (the only thing I actually had the time or energy to put in the oven after 5 hours of struggling with 1200 words of pure pap) increased it's assault on my pain receptors.
Needless to say I am now jumping a jig of joy (oooh, alliteration). Both the poetry (submitted on February 8th - a full 3 weeks early) and the Shakespeare (submitted on February 27th - a full 4 minutes early) are now in the hands of the tutors and as long as I get a pass grade of 40% (though obviously I would like higher if I have earned/deserved it) I am refusing to worry about either of them any longer.
Tomorrow I have every intention of giving myself a treat in the form of a long soak in a hot bubble bath, a glass of ice cold Pinot, or Grenache AND a book that is neither Shakespeare nor creative writing. I was hoping to get my hair cut this weekend, but those plans went up the swanny when both knowledgeable members of my family decided to ignore my texts and failed to give me (the person who goes to a stylist just once a year) information on any local and reasonably priced hairdressers.
Needless to say I am now jumping a jig of joy (oooh, alliteration). Both the poetry (submitted on February 8th - a full 3 weeks early) and the Shakespeare (submitted on February 27th - a full 4 minutes early) are now in the hands of the tutors and as long as I get a pass grade of 40% (though obviously I would like higher if I have earned/deserved it) I am refusing to worry about either of them any longer.
Tomorrow I have every intention of giving myself a treat in the form of a long soak in a hot bubble bath, a glass of ice cold Pinot, or Grenache AND a book that is neither Shakespeare nor creative writing. I was hoping to get my hair cut this weekend, but those plans went up the swanny when both knowledgeable members of my family decided to ignore my texts and failed to give me (the person who goes to a stylist just once a year) information on any local and reasonably priced hairdressers.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Reading
It has been a fortnight of much reading. I have picked up any and every book on the shelf that has appealed and taken them all (one, or two at a time) into work, for reading on the train, at lunch and when waiting at the station. Last week was one for reading (and that's no lie). Monday we were snowed in, yes, real proper snow, about 6 inches of it fell and settled along the South coast of the UK, and I ended up snowed in. The bad weather continued for a further few days, having an absolutely horrendous effect on public transport; trains were delayed or cancelled, buses were cancelled, the underground even found itself operating a skeleton service. This is apparently the worst weather in February for 18 years (not that I actually remember the winter from 18 years ago because I wasn't in the UK at that point). Anyway, needless to say, all the delays made for a considerable amount of reading time, so my list for the last two weeks is pretty impressive (even given that I have been devoting about 2-3 hours a night to Shakespeare which I am finding absolutely - honestly - fascinating).
Reading
MaryJanice Davidson
Undead and Unemployed (Betsy 2)
Undead and Unappreciated (Betsy 3)
Undead and Unreturnable (Betsy 4)
Undead and Unpopular (Betsy 5)
Undead and Uneasy (Betsy 6)
Undead and Unworthy (Betsy 7)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Fred 1)
Swimming without a Net (Fred 2)
Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice
Ben Elton
Chart Throb
Charlaine Harris
Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse 5)
Definitely Dead (Sookie Stackhouse 6)
Lynsay Sands
A Quick Bite (Argeneau 1)
Love Bites (Argeneau 2)
Single White Vampire (Argeneau 3)
Currently reading: Tall Dark and Hungry (Argeneau 4)
These 15 books takes my current total (for 12th February, so only really 33 days into the new year) to: 28 books. That means that with 10 and a half months of the year to go I am well over halfway to the total.
Reading
MaryJanice Davidson
Undead and Unemployed (Betsy 2)
Undead and Unappreciated (Betsy 3)
Undead and Unreturnable (Betsy 4)
Undead and Unpopular (Betsy 5)
Undead and Uneasy (Betsy 6)
Undead and Unworthy (Betsy 7)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Fred 1)
Swimming without a Net (Fred 2)
Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice
Ben Elton
Chart Throb
Charlaine Harris
Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse 5)
Definitely Dead (Sookie Stackhouse 6)
Lynsay Sands
A Quick Bite (Argeneau 1)
Love Bites (Argeneau 2)
Single White Vampire (Argeneau 3)
Currently reading: Tall Dark and Hungry (Argeneau 4)
These 15 books takes my current total (for 12th February, so only really 33 days into the new year) to: 28 books. That means that with 10 and a half months of the year to go I am well over halfway to the total.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Mini-Update
Just over a week ago I received my TMA02 back from my tutor marked with a grade I have to admit I wasn’t happy with then, and I still am not hugely happy with now. As is always the case when the subject you are studying is one that is close to your heart you tend to be more sensitive to the grades you receive, and possibly a little bit blind to the faults that went with what you see as an "amazing piece of prose” that couldn’t “get any better”. Unfortunately for me my tutor didn’t see the same potential in the piece as I did, and I can’t help wondering if he hadn’t purposefully found a few faults with just to say he found them (I know I am not perfect, but this lack of constructive criticism on my assignments is really starting to get to me). I don’t know what other people are getting or how they feel, in my tutorial group there may as well not be an online forum, they are so quiet, they don’t post anywhere other than in the specific ‘tutorial group forum’ but that is a rare occurrence and they are about as communicative as a pile of dead twigs. To say that this course is proving frustrating is a definite understatement.
The next assignment is the poetry (the one I have been whining about for the last month or more). I am still finding reading through the exercises about it a drag, and would rather do anything BUT write poetry-related paragraphs, sentences, pages; but needs must! I have currently written 31 lines, of what will make the 40 line whole, 3 poems that are about a range of depressing and draining emotions that I have felt while writing them. I am not sure what to think but as this classes as publication I am unable to actually post them until I have submitted and had the assignment marked. I have to be perfectly blunt and state here (for the record) that I believe our tutor will provide far more extensive feedback on this upcoming assignment than he has on anything thus far. I am going to go on record as stating that if this does prove to be the case then I am not going to be backward in making a comment (or two, or three) to someone higher up the OU ladder about how he is proving to be less than helpful when it comes to the elements of the course that are of less interest to him (such as prose). We’ll see what they have to say if he actually provides anyone with constructive criticism on this assignment when he has failed on the first two rather blatantly. I started this course for two reasons a) a treat to mark getting past the halfway point with the degree, and b) I wanted help to make my characters and story more rounded. I didn’t join this course to find out that ‘all writers have to like and use poetry’ and ‘poetry is more important than prose’ (mostly because I completely disagree).
The writer’s group I am setting up for work is moving along really well. We are meeting next Wednesday for the first time and the interest so far has been promising. I have set up a blog for the group and an email address that I will be using from now on. With any luck things will continue to progress and interest will continue to grow.
Reading
Holy Smokes (Aisling Grey 4) - Katie MacAlister (The final book in the Aisling Grey series finds Aisling and Drake on their way to a wedding that eventually happens after disaster visits them several times. To be honest this series lost something about halfway through book 2, had to finish it to finish the series, but I don’t think I will bother reading the spin off series about the other Wyverns).
The Corset Diaries - Katie MacAlister (A funny look at reality TV though not in the form of a straight forward expose, well written and a better modern chicklit without the supernatural elements better known by MacAlister)
A Hard Days Knight - Katie MacAlister (Another modern chicklit by MacAlister following the adventures of Pepper as she visits the ‘glamorous’ world of jousting tournaments in Canada, accompanied by a large cantankerous cat called Moth [short for Behemoth] and finds true love with a broken down and angry ex-jouster forced out of retirement)
Undead and Unwed (Betsy 1) - MaryJanice Davidson (The first in Davidson’s best known series, introducing us to Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Taylor and inviting her into her undead life, as she discovers on her 30th birthday that not only has she lost her job and turned 30, but life is about to get VERY interesting after getting run down by an Aztec [car] and discovering she is in fact the Queen of the Vampires, a responsibility she is as keen to take on as she is to take on her ‘consort by default’, Eric Sinclair).
The next assignment is the poetry (the one I have been whining about for the last month or more). I am still finding reading through the exercises about it a drag, and would rather do anything BUT write poetry-related paragraphs, sentences, pages; but needs must! I have currently written 31 lines, of what will make the 40 line whole, 3 poems that are about a range of depressing and draining emotions that I have felt while writing them. I am not sure what to think but as this classes as publication I am unable to actually post them until I have submitted and had the assignment marked. I have to be perfectly blunt and state here (for the record) that I believe our tutor will provide far more extensive feedback on this upcoming assignment than he has on anything thus far. I am going to go on record as stating that if this does prove to be the case then I am not going to be backward in making a comment (or two, or three) to someone higher up the OU ladder about how he is proving to be less than helpful when it comes to the elements of the course that are of less interest to him (such as prose). We’ll see what they have to say if he actually provides anyone with constructive criticism on this assignment when he has failed on the first two rather blatantly. I started this course for two reasons a) a treat to mark getting past the halfway point with the degree, and b) I wanted help to make my characters and story more rounded. I didn’t join this course to find out that ‘all writers have to like and use poetry’ and ‘poetry is more important than prose’ (mostly because I completely disagree).
The writer’s group I am setting up for work is moving along really well. We are meeting next Wednesday for the first time and the interest so far has been promising. I have set up a blog for the group and an email address that I will be using from now on. With any luck things will continue to progress and interest will continue to grow.
Reading
Holy Smokes (Aisling Grey 4) - Katie MacAlister (The final book in the Aisling Grey series finds Aisling and Drake on their way to a wedding that eventually happens after disaster visits them several times. To be honest this series lost something about halfway through book 2, had to finish it to finish the series, but I don’t think I will bother reading the spin off series about the other Wyverns).
The Corset Diaries - Katie MacAlister (A funny look at reality TV though not in the form of a straight forward expose, well written and a better modern chicklit without the supernatural elements better known by MacAlister)
A Hard Days Knight - Katie MacAlister (Another modern chicklit by MacAlister following the adventures of Pepper as she visits the ‘glamorous’ world of jousting tournaments in Canada, accompanied by a large cantankerous cat called Moth [short for Behemoth] and finds true love with a broken down and angry ex-jouster forced out of retirement)
Undead and Unwed (Betsy 1) - MaryJanice Davidson (The first in Davidson’s best known series, introducing us to Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Taylor and inviting her into her undead life, as she discovers on her 30th birthday that not only has she lost her job and turned 30, but life is about to get VERY interesting after getting run down by an Aztec [car] and discovering she is in fact the Queen of the Vampires, a responsibility she is as keen to take on as she is to take on her ‘consort by default’, Eric Sinclair).
Monday, 19 January 2009
TMA02 Returned
I finally got my assignment back today. I was really pleased with the assignment I had produced, but obviously it wasn't quite as good as I had mentally prepared myself to get a poor grade because I get the funny feeling my tutor isn't hugely keen on my writing. I managed to scrape a high B (79%) but for some reason I wanted more. Oh well, next up is the bloody poetry that nearly had me withdrawing from the course. I am guessing that I did myself no favours when I made my views on poetry known to my tutor - I think it's a colossal waste of my time. I know my writing style and, without sounding too cocky, I am not that bad at it, so being told by a 'published' poet that I need to know poetry in order to write (when I have managed fine without it for the last 26 years), really grated on my nerves. I am not very confident about most elements of my life, writing is not one of them. Part of me is wishing I hadn't taken this course - but looking at the number of courses I have left to take this was the last level 2 in the group so I didn't have a choice. Originally I thought it was a treat, I considered it to be my treat for getting past the halfway mark, now I think of it as a torturous nightmare that I have just 5 months left of...
Oh well, Shakespeare will be more challenging, and more academic AND even better than that, more motivating because it has to be.
Since starting this course I have felt far less drive, I haven't done all the reading - in fact I am about 10 weeks behind on the reading, yet I apparently managed a well-rounded character, a complete storyline and good editing...go figure - to think I could do all that without the benefit of reading the book.
Oh well, Shakespeare will be more challenging, and more academic AND even better than that, more motivating because it has to be.
Since starting this course I have felt far less drive, I haven't done all the reading - in fact I am about 10 weeks behind on the reading, yet I apparently managed a well-rounded character, a complete storyline and good editing...go figure - to think I could do all that without the benefit of reading the book.
Saturday, 17 January 2009
Whoa
Okay, the next 16 months are going to be an absolute nightmare, and REALLY hard work, but I have signed up for it now and most of me doesn't regret it, though I am terrified.
I can hear you asking "What the hell is she going on about" so I am going to tell you.
A few days ago I started to work out how long it was going to take me to graduate if I took the courses that I really want to take to finish my degree. My original schedule is as follows:
A207 October 2005 - June 2006 (From Enlightenment to Romanticism)
A210 October 2006 - June 2007 (Approaching Literature)
A300 October 2007 - June 2008 (20th Century Literature: Texts and Debates)
A215 October 2008 - June 2009 (Creative Writing)
AA316 October 2009 - June 2010 (The Nineteenth Century Novel)
AA306 February 2011 - October 2011 (Shakespeare: Text and Performance)
This is of course if I selected the courses I really wanted to do - From the beginning I really wanted to do Shakespeare, but the Feb-Oct schedule just mucks it all up. Going by this original schedule I wouldn't officially graduate until 2012 and wouldn't be able to get enrolled on the Teacher Training until September 2012, essentially adding another 4 years onto my degree.
For some reason I started thinking of this just as the following announcement went up on the OU website "Closed to enrollment unless you are a returning student". Giving it very little thought (as is my wont on matters of this nature), I sent an email to the finance department - wanting to find out if I would be able to get financial aid to pay for a second course in a year. I got a little anxious so I called them yesterday (Thursday), and then again today (Friday). They told me that I qualified for further aid and that I can start studying on the Shakespeare course this February.
Now, instead of being a Degree that finishes in 2012 (the year of the biggest waste of taxpayers' money ever in the UK) my schedule looks like this:
A207 October 2005 - June 2006 (From Enlightenment to Romanticism)
A210 October 2006 - June 2007 (Approaching Literature)
A300 October 2007 - June 2008 (20th Century Literature: Texts and Debates)
A215 October 2008 - June 2009 (Creative Writing)
AA306 February 2009 - October 2009 (Shakespeare: Text and Performance)
AA316 October 2009 - June 2010 (The Nineteenth Century Novel)
In just 18 months my degree will be finished and I will be able to enrol on teacher training - the final stage in my plan to get away from where I am and onto where I want to be.
Yes, it will be 16 straight months of hard work, with the Shakespeare course overlapping both A215 and AA316, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, I have been studying for longer than it takes most people (in full time education at least) to get this degree (this is my fourth year) but it's going to be done soon and I can't wait.
I can hear you asking "What the hell is she going on about" so I am going to tell you.
A few days ago I started to work out how long it was going to take me to graduate if I took the courses that I really want to take to finish my degree. My original schedule is as follows:
A207 October 2005 - June 2006 (From Enlightenment to Romanticism)
A210 October 2006 - June 2007 (Approaching Literature)
A300 October 2007 - June 2008 (20th Century Literature: Texts and Debates)
A215 October 2008 - June 2009 (Creative Writing)
AA316 October 2009 - June 2010 (The Nineteenth Century Novel)
AA306 February 2011 - October 2011 (Shakespeare: Text and Performance)
This is of course if I selected the courses I really wanted to do - From the beginning I really wanted to do Shakespeare, but the Feb-Oct schedule just mucks it all up. Going by this original schedule I wouldn't officially graduate until 2012 and wouldn't be able to get enrolled on the Teacher Training until September 2012, essentially adding another 4 years onto my degree.
For some reason I started thinking of this just as the following announcement went up on the OU website "Closed to enrollment unless you are a returning student". Giving it very little thought (as is my wont on matters of this nature), I sent an email to the finance department - wanting to find out if I would be able to get financial aid to pay for a second course in a year. I got a little anxious so I called them yesterday (Thursday), and then again today (Friday). They told me that I qualified for further aid and that I can start studying on the Shakespeare course this February.
Now, instead of being a Degree that finishes in 2012 (the year of the biggest waste of taxpayers' money ever in the UK) my schedule looks like this:
A207 October 2005 - June 2006 (From Enlightenment to Romanticism)
A210 October 2006 - June 2007 (Approaching Literature)
A300 October 2007 - June 2008 (20th Century Literature: Texts and Debates)
A215 October 2008 - June 2009 (Creative Writing)
AA306 February 2009 - October 2009 (Shakespeare: Text and Performance)
AA316 October 2009 - June 2010 (The Nineteenth Century Novel)
In just 18 months my degree will be finished and I will be able to enrol on teacher training - the final stage in my plan to get away from where I am and onto where I want to be.
Yes, it will be 16 straight months of hard work, with the Shakespeare course overlapping both A215 and AA316, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, I have been studying for longer than it takes most people (in full time education at least) to get this degree (this is my fourth year) but it's going to be done soon and I can't wait.
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Bored
For some reason that I am at a loss about completely, my brain is in 'friday' mode already. I know, I know, it's Tuesday, and there are still a good few days to go until we reach that elusive peak of the working week, namely the end; but that doesn't mean I stop wanting it more than anything.
I acknowledge that another year has started and already I am wishing it away, but I just can't seem to get enthused about the normal Monday-Friday routine of getting up at stupid-o'clock and leaving the house when it's still pitch black and only the insane pensioners who seem to never sleep are out getting their newspapers and a pint of milk.
I must be insane, and in desperate need of mental punishment though. I have just sent an email to the OU enquiring about the possibility of my late enrollment on the Shakespeare level 3 (aka AA306) course which starts in about 2 - perhaps 3 - weeks. I really want to do Shakespeare because I have long loved much of his work, but it unfortunately doesn't fit into my course schedule as it currently stands. If I decide to take it then I push back my graduation by another 6-12 months, meaning I won't qualify to join the teacher training course until 2012 (when I am 38) rather than being qualified to teach by that point if I follow the original schedule and forego the experience of Shakespeare for the 'wonder' of Level 3 Creative Writing or 19th Century Literature (yes, I have to take one of these whatever I decide, but right now I am prevaricating, part of me is saying "You love to write", the other part is saying "But it won't be as much use to you, or put you in such good standing as 19th Century literature"). The only reason I am even contemplating a course that starts in such a short period of time is that I have suddenly realised that if I am going to double up on the courses then I need to be able to miss out on something. The current course I am taking is only a Level 2, and there is no exam. Granted, the Level 3 creative writing also doesn't have an exam, but to do TWO Level 3 courses at the same time is likely asking for all manner of issues - not least to my sanity!
Nothing for it really; I have to wait and see what the OU financial advice unit suggests when they send me their response (I am not sure if I would have to fund the second course myself - a mission that is completely unrealistic as my funds are stretched to the extreme as it is). At the end of the day I just have to sit on my hands and hope that the answer I get is a positive one, and hope also that they can speed through the application process...if I am able to do it at all. In all likelihood I am too late and will end up doing my two Level 3 courses at the same time, or at least overlapping just a little.
I acknowledge that another year has started and already I am wishing it away, but I just can't seem to get enthused about the normal Monday-Friday routine of getting up at stupid-o'clock and leaving the house when it's still pitch black and only the insane pensioners who seem to never sleep are out getting their newspapers and a pint of milk.
I must be insane, and in desperate need of mental punishment though. I have just sent an email to the OU enquiring about the possibility of my late enrollment on the Shakespeare level 3 (aka AA306) course which starts in about 2 - perhaps 3 - weeks. I really want to do Shakespeare because I have long loved much of his work, but it unfortunately doesn't fit into my course schedule as it currently stands. If I decide to take it then I push back my graduation by another 6-12 months, meaning I won't qualify to join the teacher training course until 2012 (when I am 38) rather than being qualified to teach by that point if I follow the original schedule and forego the experience of Shakespeare for the 'wonder' of Level 3 Creative Writing or 19th Century Literature (yes, I have to take one of these whatever I decide, but right now I am prevaricating, part of me is saying "You love to write", the other part is saying "But it won't be as much use to you, or put you in such good standing as 19th Century literature"). The only reason I am even contemplating a course that starts in such a short period of time is that I have suddenly realised that if I am going to double up on the courses then I need to be able to miss out on something. The current course I am taking is only a Level 2, and there is no exam. Granted, the Level 3 creative writing also doesn't have an exam, but to do TWO Level 3 courses at the same time is likely asking for all manner of issues - not least to my sanity!
Nothing for it really; I have to wait and see what the OU financial advice unit suggests when they send me their response (I am not sure if I would have to fund the second course myself - a mission that is completely unrealistic as my funds are stretched to the extreme as it is). At the end of the day I just have to sit on my hands and hope that the answer I get is a positive one, and hope also that they can speed through the application process...if I am able to do it at all. In all likelihood I am too late and will end up doing my two Level 3 courses at the same time, or at least overlapping just a little.
Monday, 12 January 2009
My reading list progress
As a member of a mailing list all about books I have decided to participate in their annual "50 books in a year" thing. This year has started off a little more slowly than I would have liked, having different responsibilities than in previous years has led to my being a little slower...
Books I have read so far this year:
Dead until Dark – Charlaine Harris (I thought I would give Sookie Stackhouse another try as I found her rather unreadable, un-likeable and annoying the first time out of the box – she is far more readable the second time around, though I still think she should be with Sam, Bill is a twat!)
Living Dead in Dallas – Charlaine Harris (still don’t like Bill, think that she would be better off without him)
Club Dead - Charlaine Harris (why did she rescue him at all? He’s a pillock)
Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris (thank goodness she has seen sense, though I found myself wishing she would just write him off – and perhaps accidentally trip him so he fell on a stake!)
How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire – Kerrelyn Sparks (the first in a series by an author I only came across late last year)
Be Still my Vampire Heart – Kerrelyn Sparks (though I have book 2, for some reason I have never enjoyed reading it, so this time around I skipped)
You Slay Me (Aisling Grey 1) – Katie MacAlister (I enjoy this book, the first in the Aisling Grey series, I especially love Jim and his witty asides. Aisling initially comes across as rather strong if a little bit unusual, but then to suddenly have these powers that everyone recognises except for her is a little irritating…Drake is too perfect!)
Fire Me Up (Aisling Grey 2) – Katie MacAlister (the follow-up to “You Slay Me” finds Aisling in Budapest, the characters she meets are irritating and, at best, of very little importance, but far too much time is taken up with her worrying about her split responsibilities and she fails to remember that she is independent, easily and worryingly rather quickly, falling under Drake’s thumb, at least to my mind)
Secret Vampire (Night World 1) – LJ Smith (first in a wonderful – but currently unfinished – series of Young Adult novels based in the Night World – a world like ours but full of werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters and demons. In the original run of the series – though I hear this is to change – we are in the run-up to the millennium and a war that could lead to the destruction of mankind. Poppy and James are likeable if a little dull, the second book has always been the best, Ash Redfern is the ideal bad boy).
I don’t think that 9 books in 12 days is all that bad – though by this time last year I had procrastinated my way through about 30 (if I recall correctly I was trying desperately to avoid doing homework that was due, using the flu that I had managed to contract as a reasonable excuse, though if I am being honest, a severe case of reluctance was my main reason for avoiding homework like the plague)…
Monday, 5 January 2009
TMA02
The first real full week of 2009 and I am already done with the first assignment of the year (and the second of the course). I had expected the assignment to be easy - heck I have been writing stories since I was 8 years old - but for some reason inspiration completely eluded me until the Saturday after Christmas, though the inspired moment was brief and fleeting, just long enough for me to write the first 152 words and figure out who I was writing about.
Of course the deadline is in less than 3 hours, but I have managed and 2 hours ago I submitted the finished article, complete with the 500 word (well, 487 words if I am being accurate) commentary about how I came up with the idea and how it developed on the page.
Though I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the story and what I was writing, I eventually warmed to the plot and managed to develop it into something that I know would be better as a longer story but works as it is.
Being honest though, I am just relieved that I have managed to finish the 2200 word (well 2307 words really) story and (amazingly enough) submit it before the deadline.
Roll on the one after next - next up is poetry and I hate it, 40 lines of sheer hell...
Of course the deadline is in less than 3 hours, but I have managed and 2 hours ago I submitted the finished article, complete with the 500 word (well, 487 words if I am being accurate) commentary about how I came up with the idea and how it developed on the page.
Though I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the story and what I was writing, I eventually warmed to the plot and managed to develop it into something that I know would be better as a longer story but works as it is.
Being honest though, I am just relieved that I have managed to finish the 2200 word (well 2307 words really) story and (amazingly enough) submit it before the deadline.
Roll on the one after next - next up is poetry and I hate it, 40 lines of sheer hell...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
