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.

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!