Tag archives for academic - Page 4
Still here
I've not been able to post much for the last couple of weeks, I had a bout of cellulitis in my left leg which knocked me out for a few days, followed by lots of antibiotics. On top of that I've been spending what time I have for writing on the end of module assessment (EMA) for the creative writing course. This time it is back to fiction rather than continuing with poetry, because fiction is what I want to write (the poetry has been fun and interesting and it takes lots of craft, but I find writing stories more interesting). So far I'm 5,000 words in to a 2,750 word short story. So there needs to be lots of editing done (which I'm sure will be fine, there is lots of detail and dialogue that I can pare down now…
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…
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…
A215 – Life Writing – Working in the Dark
From the two pieces I've already posted, Early Memories & Initiative at Night and another I drafted this piece as part of the life writing tutorial for A215 Creative Writing. It has summarised the original freewrites and linked them with a through-line. Working in the Dark “How many civil servants does it take to change a lightbulb?”“None, they prefer to work in the dark!”As a small child I play with lego by candlelight, a power cut. I sit beside the glass door to the balcony, the rest of the room is dark and impenetrable. The multicolour swirl pattern on the carpet is vivid. The thick green base tile and the red and white lego bricks forming into a house. In the dim Scottish winter night I can’t play for long before it is too dark. Almost twenty I spend a…