Wednesday 3 February 2010

A step in the right direction?

I have signed up to do a creative writing course online with the aim of producing a novel. Eep! I must admit that I'm terrified.

What if everyone else is an incredible writer and I'm the loser of the bunch? What if I have spent all this money as an investment in me and a step towards giving up the PR job and I can't finish the assignments or my novel is a flop or the course is rubbish or they tell me my idea is stupid or...

These are some of the things going through my head at the moment. But I am trying to be wise and rational, so I'm telling myself that there's no reward without some risk and that no matter what happens I'm sure to learn something from the experience.

Then I go back to compulsively chewing my nails.

Oh well, it's too late to go back now. I have taken the plunge so I'll just have to get on with it. I get my first assignment on Mon. Will keep you posted.

10 comments:

Steve Hayes said...

Have you tried NaNoWriMo -- National Novel-Writing month -- run in November each year?

Janine / Being Brazen said...

That is awesome. I did a creative writing course a while back and it really helped. I plan to do another writing course later this year. I also dream of actually finishing a novel :)

GOOD LUCK x

Cam said...

Awesome Tam. Everyone's studying this year....its great.

Good Luck.

po said...

GO TAMARA!!!! We are in this together, because I am doing something similar. I am not doing the course you sent me the link to, although I would definitely consider it. I am doing a novel writing course at my local uni, you know all those other writing courses I have been doing. At the moment it is terrifying, everyone in my class brought these amazing ideas with them and I had none. The second class I wanted to run out of the room. But somehow I survived it. One of our teachers is a published horror writer, haha not quite my style, but he also did these courses back in the day.

If I can survive so can you, mkay!? Never give up :)

Louisa said...

How could you be anything but awesome?!

Bagman and Butler said...

Terrific! You audience is on the the edge of our seats, on pins and needles, overusing hack phrases, and waiting to see what you write with bated breath. Or is that baited breath?

Helen said...

Go Tamara! That's so exciting! Can we read your assignments? I'd love to see your creative writing...

You can do it!

I'm so not a blogger said...

make yourself a list with the heading:
My excuses why it wont work
then make yourself another list turning all those excuses into positive thoughts!
you can do it, I think its excellent what you are doing!

Tamara said...

Steve Hayes: Nope. Every year I seem to be manically busy in Nov. Also, I need some pointers. This course looks at stuff like how to write dialogue, the difference between story and plot etc. Sounds useful!

Brazen: Thanks for the encouragement ;-)

Cam: I have missed studying! You seem to be enjoying it. Hope my experience is also good!

Po: Thank you, Po. Glad we're in this together, albeit on different continents.

Louisa: You are an awesome friend.

Bagman and Butler: No pressure, hey ;-)

Helen: Hmmm... I'll consider it.

I'm so not a blogger: You should be a life coach!

AngelConradie said...

It sounds cool!

I have finally admitted to myself- and I have to do it repeatedly- that I may be a blogger, but I am not a writer.