A waffle about my degree and my writing.
I've just signed up for another creative writing course with the Open University. It's a level up from the one I did and passed earlier in the year. That course was a short 10 pointer, which I managed easily enough (although I did get struck down with writer's block just before the last assignment). This course is a little different, though. It's 60 points and that's a fuck of a lot of hard work.
For those of you that don't know, the Open University offers degrees on a points-based system. The amount of points needed varies from degree to degree, but you're generally looking at about 300 points upwards to obtain one. Courses are 10, 30 or 60 points each. I originally started towards a Natural Sciences Degree, and had my points linked to that, but I'm definitely drifting more towards Humanities now. Consequently, I've changed the qualification that my points are linked to and I'm now going for a BA/Bsc Open Degree, which basically means I can take whatever course I want, at the appropriate, stated levels, and I'll get either a BA or a Bsc depending on whether my degree is weighted more by the Sciences or the Humanities.
So far I've got 70 points from the sciences and just 10 from Humanities. I'm thinking I'll sway towards the Humanities, generally, as the 60 point science course I did nearly caused me to have a nervous breakdown. Chemistry and physics at degree level is no fucking joke. ~curses the Maths~
I was going to wait until next year to start this new course, firstly because it's such a lot of work and secondly because the course fee is huge, but then I discovered it only runs once a year and not twice as I'd expected. That would have meant waiting until next September. So I thought fuck it, why not? I'm not rolling in money now, but I might be even worse off in a year.
All I know is that I want to write, I want to learn and I want to make something of myself. I know I've got a long way to go. I still make stupid mistakes and newbie errors in my writing, but I am able to acknowledge that and take steps to improve. I have no idea even what I want to ultimately write! Romance? Horror? Comedy? Gay fiction? Fiction for children or teens? Ack, no clue! I just know that when I finally to put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard, I'll be ready to give it my best shot. My real name will be in print one day, I've promised myself that.
For those of you that don't know, the Open University offers degrees on a points-based system. The amount of points needed varies from degree to degree, but you're generally looking at about 300 points upwards to obtain one. Courses are 10, 30 or 60 points each. I originally started towards a Natural Sciences Degree, and had my points linked to that, but I'm definitely drifting more towards Humanities now. Consequently, I've changed the qualification that my points are linked to and I'm now going for a BA/Bsc Open Degree, which basically means I can take whatever course I want, at the appropriate, stated levels, and I'll get either a BA or a Bsc depending on whether my degree is weighted more by the Sciences or the Humanities.
So far I've got 70 points from the sciences and just 10 from Humanities. I'm thinking I'll sway towards the Humanities, generally, as the 60 point science course I did nearly caused me to have a nervous breakdown. Chemistry and physics at degree level is no fucking joke. ~curses the Maths~
I was going to wait until next year to start this new course, firstly because it's such a lot of work and secondly because the course fee is huge, but then I discovered it only runs once a year and not twice as I'd expected. That would have meant waiting until next September. So I thought fuck it, why not? I'm not rolling in money now, but I might be even worse off in a year.
All I know is that I want to write, I want to learn and I want to make something of myself. I know I've got a long way to go. I still make stupid mistakes and newbie errors in my writing, but I am able to acknowledge that and take steps to improve. I have no idea even what I want to ultimately write! Romance? Horror? Comedy? Gay fiction? Fiction for children or teens? Ack, no clue! I just know that when I finally to put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard, I'll be ready to give it my best shot. My real name will be in print one day, I've promised myself that.