End of the road (for now)

I've just realised that it's been three months since I last posted on here. The time has flown by with too much to do, and too little time. As well as my studying, which I'll tell you about in a moment, I've also had to attend a 'Mandatory Work Placement'. I was fortunate to have had a placement in a local charity shop rather than a supermarket. The shop is one of several across West Yorkshire raising funds for The Forget Me Not Trust Children's Hospice, and as I feel it is such a good cause, I continued to volunteer part-time whilst I am still unemployed. I've also been distracted by some sporting things going on in London.

Right then, time to tell you where I've been on my study journey. Last time we met, I was just setting off to Benin in the jungles of West Africa, following the journey made by the Benin Bronzes as they were 'liberated' by those jolly nice Victorian gentlemen. Since then, I've travelled  all over the world via the Short Stories chapter. Destinations included South Africa, Cuba and Florida, Canada and France. So that was TMAs 5 and 6 out of the way.

TMA07 took me on an altogether different journey, into the deepest darkest recesses of... me! It was a reflective assignment, looking back at my progress through AA100; the highs and lows; the good and the bad; what I enjoyed and what I didn't; where will I go next? (You can find the answer to this in my next blog post!) 

My final travels through this first leg of my degree came in the form of Book 4 and my End of Module Assessment. I quickly skipped the sections on Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome and instead plumped for a staycation, remaining in the good old British Seaside. Although the deadline is still three weeks away, my AA100 journey has ended, having submitted my EMA last weekend.  

I hope you enjoyed the journey, please remember the AA100 terminates at this stop and all passengers will need to change if they wish to continue their journey. All aboard the A215 and the U214!

Go West (Africa)

As promised, I've reported back to you, immediately after finishing my assignment on Pugin; I just didn't intend for it to take so long. I've been having a tough time this past month, so found it hard to motivate myself to get the reading done; then once I had done the reading, the Job Centre decided to start me on a 'Mandatory Work Placement' which means I've not had time to do the writing. I eventually finished it this afternoon - it's a day late, but fortunately my tutor is on holiday.


I've decided I'm not even going to bother with the chapters about Ireland or Shostakovich. Instead, I'm moving straight on to Book 3 and the two chapters about Benin in West Africa, then TMA05.


Something I did manage to do, last weekend, was to set up my own website where I hope to make money from writing poems and short stories. Please visit my website and let me know what you think... in fact, better still - why not place an order?

Onwards and upwards

I've been a bit hit and miss with my writing over the past couple of weeks. Last weekend being Mother's Day followed by my Mum's birthday on Tuesday meant I wasn't really in the mood, although I did manage to do a few poems (link on the left).


I've also worked on an action plan for my jobseeking, however the biggest drain on my time has been my obsessive checking of the online TMA service, waiting for my assignment to be returned.


It was finally returned last night. I was very pleased with my result - a very respectable 82%. not quite a distinction but definitely good enough. I had some excellent comments from my tutor which actually made it harder to decide what to rework for my second assignment.


The doubt didn't last for too long though - I had my second assignment completed by midnight (I've always found it easier to work at night). I might leave it a week before going back to it, then if everything still looks fine I'll get it submitted.

Road Block

For almost a week now I've not been able to write anything, unless you count the umpteen Facebook statuses and replies to other people's posts. I've also managed to revise my CV, but that was more of a chore than a pleasure. I haven't written any poems, stories, or even this blog!

It isn't just writing either - I've hardly done any reading. I've attempted to start reading several books, but got no further than half a dozen pages in each. I do have one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels sat on the shelf, which I haven't read yet, so I'll have a go at that tonight and see how it goes.

I have managed to do a lot of 'not very much at all', as well as watching a lot of TV and films. I have managed to get out of the house a few times as well.


I really need to get back into the habit of reading and writing again, so that I can continue with my studies as I haven't managed anything since sending off my first assignment. OK then... here goes... Chapter 5: Stalin, here we come!

A trip to Leeds

I had a shock yesterday morning when I got home from the shops. My Internet wouldn't work! I phoned Virgin to find out why - a call that lasted almost half an hour and cost me the full £10 that I'd just topped up. Apparently, the £30 I'd paid off my bill hadn't gone through in time as I'd paid using PayPoint. Anyway, it meant that yesterday I had no internet... no email... no jobseeking... no Open University... and shock, horror, NO FACEBOOK!!!


It did mean that I could get on with a bit of reading and writing. I read a little more about Faraday but I'm still struggling to take in all the science bumph. As this reading isn't essential for the assignments, I may just skip it and move on to Stalin. I also finished reading 'Moon Over Soho' by Ben Aaronovitch, which is about a Detective Constable who is also an apprentice Wizard. Next up is 'The Windup Girl' by Paolo Bacigalupi.

As for the writing... I did a little tweaking of my Cleopatra/Faustus assignment. I edited some of the information in my CVs. I also wrote two poems about yesterday's ordeals with Virgin. The bulk of my time yesterday though, was taken up writing the first draft of the first chapter of a story I've been thinking about for years called 'The Leeds Witch'. Please DO read them, and as always, your comments and advice are gratefully received...

Change of Route

Yesterday evening, I was sat watching TV with my 'Stepdad' (he isn't really my Stepdad, but there is no word for 'the fiancé my Mum never got round to marrying before she passed away even though they'd been engaged for fifteen years' so until I finish my degree and submit new words to the OED, this will have to do).


We were watching the 1999 film 'The Mummy' starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah. When the Mummy first spoke, my Stepdad said to me, "I preferred it in the old days when the Ancient Egyptian Muumies in films all spoke in English. I can't keep up with all these subtitles!"


After a brief discussion about how EVERYONE should speak English ALL the time, he asked me to find out how many people actually DO speak English, and whether more people speak Mandarin. He also wanted to know when English as WE know it now was first widely spoken. I won't spoil it for you here - if YOU are interested, you'll have to do your own research!


After about an hour of searching and reading, I was hooked. I immediately went to the OU's Qualification Planner and changed my study route.  I am still concentrating on Creative Writing, but now instead of History I will be doing English Language.


I now have my next four years of study planned out: After I finish AA100, I will start A215 Creative Writing and U214 Worlds of English in October of this year. They will both finish in June 2013, giving me the Summer off. In October 2013 I will start my level 3 studies with E301 The Art of English. I will then have an overlap when I start E303 in February 2014. Iwill then finish my degree with A363 Advanced Creative Writing starting in October 2014, hopefully finishing in June 2015.


So, now all I need to do is find a job as a writer, proof reader, editor, librarian or any other job which will complement my studies...

 

My Mum and her log term Fiancé, Kevin - This is the last photo I have of her, taken three days before she passed away

Different Directions

As I have decided to take a short break from studying, I needed something else to keep my brain busy. After conversations on the A215 Creative Writing (October 2012) Facebook Page, I've decided to write the occasional short story. This is in addition to the poetry I'm already writing. To view my efforts, use the links to the left of this post, and please bookmark them so you can pop back later...

Pin in the Map

I had a day off studying yesterday, but it didn't stop my creativity. I managed to write two poems, although I needed a bit of inspiration from friends. I also plan on doing a few more over the next week using the ideas that I was given yesterday. You can view all of my poems on my Facebook Poetry Page.

 Another obsession over the past few days has been Pinterest. It gives you the opportunity to collect pictures and videos as you surf the Internet, and 'pin' them to boards. As well as boards for weird, beautiful and interesting things that I find whilst 'Stumbling' using StumbleUpon, I also have boards for films that I've watched and books that I've read (but only since 1st February), and also my favourite places that I've ever visited. What started as 'trying it out' has quickly turned into yet another addiction, adding to my procrastination.


Whilst Stumbling yesterday, I also came across a fantastic Open Source download called Storybook. It's a novel writing tool similar to the expensive Scrivener. When writing a story or novel, it lets you organise your story in scenes, rather than writing it from start to end as you would with a normal word-processor. You can also create separate profiles for every character and setting, and manage multiple plot-lines. I think I'll be playing with this quite a lot...

Far(aday) and Away

After writing last night's blog, I decided to have a go at writing some blank verse in 'Iambic Pentameter' and after a bit of trial and error, I managed to write a poem (click here). I've been a bit hit and miss with my poems since I started looking at the materials for this course, and I'm afraid it's going to stay that way.


Anyway, on to today. I've finally started on Chapter 4 - Fame and Faraday. So far so good. I'm enjoying reading about his life, and how he became a famous name through the 19th Century. However, upon scanning through the rest of the chapter, I've noticed there's quite a lot about his experiments. I realise that these contributed to his fame but I'm surprised to see them in an 'arts' course. Oh well, time to put my science head on...

King of the Castle

Well today I've managed to do hell of a lot of absolutely nothing. I haven't picked up any of my books, watched any of the films, listened to any of the CDs or wrote anything (except this of course). If it wasn't for the Facebook groups I'd have had no contact with my studies at all.

In my defence I have been busy doing other things. I received a letter this morning confirming a place on a residential weekend course at Northern College near Barnsley. I have been before (several years ago) but needed to try and work out how I will get there before I accept. Obviously if there are no buses to and from the college it would mean a long walk from  Barnsley. Fortunately there ARE buses.


The course I signed up for (about a month before I signed up for OU) is 'Introduction to Creative Writing', which considering my chosen study path is ideal. Not only will it give me a good grounding for my second module, but it will also be a weekend of free food and drink and none of my electricity and gas being used. Add to that the beautiful setting of Wentworth Castle and it's a win-win situation.

Distant Horizons

Although I haven't technically started studying yet. I have already committed myself to the second part of my degree. I have just been added to the A215 Creative Writing - Oct 2012 Starters Facebook group. I haven't found one yet for A200 History so I'm not actually committed to that one... YET!


While it's great that I will be able to chat with other people who will be sharing my future journey, it does mean there will be a lot more procrastinating to be done. I have noticed though, that several of the people doing A215 also happen to be currently doing AA100, so hopefully that will be where everyone's focus is for the time being.


So, what about all those extra tasks I need to do that I identified in my previous post? Well there's always tomorrow. After all, I have more Facebook posts to read...