Hello everyone.
As this is the first post on a new blog, I'm going to begin by
telling you a little bit about me and what this blog is all about.
I am a novelist, writer, tutor, and workshop leader. I am
currently studying an MA in Creative Writing at The Manchester Metropolitan University, after receiving a First Class Honours in English Language
and Creative Writing with The Open University.
I'm a Scot by birth, but I now live in the West Midlands, England
and a 52 year-old grandmother of six (and feel much to young to admit this), so
I am a mature student, to say the least. But the reason that I decided to gain
my degrees so late in life is because I suffered a stroke in 1999. Well, at the
time, I was involved in the entertainment industry. I taught professional adult
acting for 20 years in Manchester, both for stage and screen. But, I also found
myself working in several other areas during my career (professional actor,
casting director, director, producer and screenwriter).
After my stroke, I found many of the activities I had been
involved in to be very physically demanding and had to have a major rethink
regarding my future career. Of course, writing had been something I had always
done. I'd written for competitions at school; I'd written several short (but
not too good) short stories during my lifetime for fun; I'd written stage plays
that were performed; and, I'd written both short and full length feature films
(commissioned, optioned and produced), and I'd even been a runner up in the
Sci-fi Channel's Sci-fi Short competition many years ago. I'd even written
business plans and CV's. Most of my writing, however, was either a means to an
end, a spare time hobby, an unexpected request or a necessity. I had never
really considered it as a full-time career.
As I enjoyed writing and had gained experience in many formats, and
because of my tutoring experience (which I enjoyed immensely), I decided that I
would side-track a little. Although I had written several screenplays (and
spent years critiquing screenplays for others), I wasn't really interested in a
full-time career as a screen writer. I may continue to write and critique them,
but I really wanted to begin writing novels - don't we all?
Of course, I didn't need a degree to begin writing books, and I
did write my first novella 'A
Bed of Thorns', which I adopted from my
screenplay (currently optioned by MCP Films),
whilst studying my BA. However, I did want to combine writing with teaching and
I had no formal qualifications other than my O-Levels. So I undertook my first
degree with the Open University.
My career aims are to combine my writing with teaching and
motivating and inspiring others. So, this blog is intended to be my first
window on the world where I hope to share samples of my own writing and short
stories, spotlight other new and exciting writers, but mostly, I want to share
thoughts and advice on the craft itself. I may also share some thoughts on
books that I read, particularly if I think they are brilliant.
If this blog helps just one reader or writer discover something
new and interesting, then I will have achieved my main goal.
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