Author Archives: James - Page 88
Geek Poetry – New Poetry Genre?
So for TMA5 of A215 I've chosen the poetry option and written a three poem sequence provisionally titled 'Castles in the Cloud' which is some very geeky poetry about cyber security. This is fine and it works for me, even if the other folk on the course are pretty much English Lit folk who aren't geeks. That makes getting feedback hard, but not impossible. What I am struggling with is the other part of the assignment which is to research suitable publications that I could potentially submit the poetry too. There is a fair list of general poetry magazines at which is good enough for the purpose of the assignment. However I wanted to find the sort of place that would appreciate both the language and the underlying geekery of the work. My Google fu has deserted me on this,…
Radio Silence
I thought I'd just post a short note explaining why I've not written much over the last fortnight. Some of this is the fact that work has been very busy and I've been working longer than normal hours from the beginning of April. This used up the spare articles I've written as well as the time to write more. The writing time I have had has been used to write some poetry for TMA5 of A215 (Creative Writing). This is due next week, so is likely to continue to consume writing time. When that's done I have TMA1 for B120 (Intro to Business Studies) due a week later followed by the End of Module Assessment (EMA) for A215 which is worth 50% of the marks. So its likely to be early June before a normal three times a week service…
Join Stonewall’s #NoBystanders Campaign
Over the last couple of weeks Stonewall has started the No Bystanders Campaign to work to end homophobic bullying, watch this short video (it's 60 seconds and narrated by Sir Ian McKellen). The go over to and sign the pledge. The Pledge I will never be a bystander to bullying and teasing language. If I hear it, I will call it out and if I can, I will stop it. By adding my name I promise to stand up for fairness, kindness and never be a bystander. Comment I believe this is the least we can do as reasonable human beings, I signed up to this, and I think we all should, hence me devoting a blog post to this campaign. Go on, you know it makes sense, get on over to and sign up. Then stop being a bystander.…
A215 – TMA3 Poetry – Chaos Monkeys
This is one of two poems submitted as part of the poetry assignment for A215 Creative Writing. Chaos Monkeys No typewriters for these monkeys, pressing random buttons on keyboards and boxen. There goes the power, the server’s down. Chaos monkeys cannot read, instead they watch Netflix, that set them free in the darkness of the internet. Where did they lurk before? Did they hide in the telephone exchanges, or with gremlins somewhere mechanical and unloved? Down dusty corridors behind doors marked 'no entry to unauthorised personnel'. All they want is somewhere warm, with food. Perhaps they are refugees from a lab where they spent time solving puzzles for treats, until they finally opened the door. At night they wandered corridors, climbed ladders looking for more. Like Pavlov's dog, they explore for food. Pressed into service they explore the world wide…
A215 – Creative Writing Assignments so far
TMA4 for A215 Creative Writing is back. So all that remains is TMA5 and the end of module assessment (EMA). Both of these are a free choice from the three taught types of writing, short fiction, poetry and life writing. Before I started the course I had mostly written fiction, in the novelette to novel range for length, none of which you'd reasonably describe as short in OU terms (somewhere in the 2,000 word range). My first assignment for A215 ended up as life writing, I found it easier to write short bits about memories than to condense fiction down to the correct word count (and I'm very good at editing things down). The second assignment was short fiction, and I managed to write a half-decent story for it. Rounds is the beginning of a longer story that I still…