Studying with OU

The irony of working and studying.

2011-09-15T11:58:00.001+01:00

So as you know, my A230 Reading and Studying Literature course materials have arrived and when they did, I couldn't have been happier. I already have all the set books I need on my kindle and have read a few already. So I'm dying to actually get stuck in.

But now I have all that, I think I'm suffering from a bit of The Grass Is Greener Syndrome - all I can think is: "how the hell am I going to make time for this?"

Throughout the whole summer I kept thinking: "I wish I was studying. I can't wait to go back to uni. I can't wait to analyze books again." And now it seems like the hardest thing on earth.

My workload hasn't chained since the summer - it just somehow felt more manageable back then.

Does anyone else get this?

I didn't get it for my A215 Creative Writing course, but I think that's because I was so excited. All that writing was exactly what I wanted and truth be told - I find Creative Writing quite easy! Except poetry.

Anyway. I refuse to be beaten by what is clearly just a mental block. I must break down this wall and plough on ahead.

Ummm. How long has it been?

2011-09-08T21:59:00.002+01:00

Oh yes, that's right. About a bazillion days.

Apologies for disappearing like that. I was on A215 Creative Writing and was loving the course and then, lo and behold, I get a promotion at work. And what happens? A nightmare. Work gets intense. Busier and busier. Day after day. Until suddenly I think "Wait a second. My course is over. I need to enrol on a new one. And I haven't touched my blog in forever."

I know you're out there reading this, because I thankfully had the foresight a while ago to install Google Analytics (quite frankly one of the best free pieces of software out there - but I digress).

So I made a pledge to myself (and to you) that when my new OU books for my new course arrived. I would log on and tell you.

So here they are!

My new books for my new course - A230: Reading and Studying Literature. The Course website opens in just a few weeks (September 21st) and I am raring to go.

Anyway that's it for now. I'm still here. I'm still breathing. And I'm still studying.

one day left...

2010-06-01T15:10:00.000+01:00

Okay so tonight us my final night as an A215 Creative Writing student. Sadly I can't celebrate though as I have another 700 words to write plus my report.

This is all for my ECA and it's frustrating because I have to print it out and post it rather than e-mail it. This means that even though my deadline is Friday, I have to have it finished tonight to post in the morning.

Very vexing.

TMA04 result

2010-04-30T18:42:00.000+01:00

TMA04 result today.

Best result so far. Very happy with this one.

TMA03 result

2010-03-15T19:35:00.000Z

TMA03 result came in today. Now practically half way through the course.

Struggling with poetry

2010-01-25T11:40:00.000Z

Okay so the next section of the course is on poetry. And I am NOT enjoying it. I'm three weeks in an it's really really tough.

I'm still trying to get my head round some of this drafting crapola. But I have a night in scheduled for tonight so I'm going to just go for it.

Still loving my haikus though.

Drafting hurts my head
Notebook's full of useless notes
Poetry's too hard

Daily Haiku: Winter

2010-01-24T11:47:00.000Z

Winter falls on us
Nights as black as silk; no stars
Curled up with the fire

Got my TMA02 result

2010-01-14T11:56:00.000Z

Got my TMA02 result today! It's a much bigger improvement than the previous one.

Great quote

2009-12-18T21:56:00.000Z

Found this brilliant quote: "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." - Benjamin Franklin

Struggling with setting

2009-11-09T16:00:00.000Z

Meant to have moved onto setting this week but I'm having too much fun with character creation.

The setting exercises started out really easy but now they're all long and complicated.

I might try again tomorrow...

TMA01 Result

2009-11-05T12:55:00.002Z

I got my TMA01 result today - I got 56. Even though it's 14 marks above the pass mark, I'm pretty disappointed with it.

I know I should have focussed more on this one and I'm definitely going to do better in the next ones.

Daily Haiku: Focus

2009-11-01T16:51:00.000Z

Trying to focus
Can't keep my mind on my work
I need to do more

Chapter Five: Character creation

2009-10-31T09:46:00.000Z

Starting chapter five this week. I've been really looking forward to this one. I always like making up characters and stories around them. I've had a look ahead and there's loads of cool exercises like "write a character based on one of the following stereotypes" or "Create a new character using the checklist".

Looking forward to this one!

TMA 01 - All handed in!

2009-10-30T20:46:00.001Z

Took me ages to put it together and unfortunately I probably haven't done as well as I could do, but I'm glad I've got it sent off. Promise, I'll get it in before the deadline next time... (famous last words!)

Bought myself a new toy...

2009-10-28T20:36:00.000Z

A colour dictionary! It's better than it sounds I promise. There's thousands of different colours, different ways of saying 'yellow', 'blue' etc. and they're all organised really well. It's over 500 pages long, so you can't miss the colour you're looking for!

It's a complete fountain of interesting facts, discoveries and anomalies on colour. There is a listing of colour words and definitions where many many entries are just great reading. There is also a list of colour phrases and lists of every colour there is, and believe me there's an awful lot.

I read some reviews on it about why there weren't any swatches for each colour - are you kidding me? Can you imagine that? It would be ridiculous! If you wanna see an example, google it!

Stanislavsky's character development method

2009-10-27T22:11:00.000Z

Stanislavsky said that there are three stages to building a realistic and life-like character the reader can relate to. We covered this is our Day School earlier this month and it was really, really interesting. This is one of the things I love about writing - character development. The investigating of a person that may or may not exist and getting them down on paper, making them very real indeed.

The first stage is called The given circumstances. These re things such as age, sex, where they live, what job they do, their likes and dislikes, their marital status etc. This build up a character's facts - irrefutable information about the person. It may also cover the character's purpose before, during and after the story.

The second stage delves deeper into the character's thoughts and soul. This is called The Role On The Wall. This covers two areas: external and internal information. The external are the physical attributes of the character, like eye colour, hair, strength, clothing etc. The internal is much deeper. This includes thoughts, feelings, memories, hopes, dreams and motivations.

The final stage is called What If? This is a change in circumstances. This can be used to either test the character or to develop the plot. For example: what if my character up and left the city? What if my character won the lottery? What if my character was killed?

I find the whole process fascinating and over the next week I'm going to try and incorporate it into my writing time.

Daily Haiku: Autumn II

2009-10-26T13:25:00.000Z

Trees are looking bare
Things start to disappear
The landscape is changing

Haikus: Clocks going back

2009-10-25T18:03:00.000Z

The clocks have gone back
The nights are getting longer
Darkness falls early

Only half past five
First day of Greenwich Mean Time
Dark out already

Morning pages: Attempt two

2009-10-24T12:00:00.000+01:00

So other than my attempt earlier this week, I haven't managed to write anymore morning pages. I want to but I haven't been well recently and everytime I wake up I feel like death - and not in the mood to focus on a sheet of paper or a pen.

I need to get better, get my head in a better place in the mornings and have another stab at it.

Keeping a record of reading

2009-10-23T22:37:00.000+01:00

Sooooo.... My lovely big red book has another suggestion - to keep a record of my reading.

I think this is a really good idea. I kind of do this already. But recently I haven't read a lot of books. I did start The Host by Stephenie Meyer the other week an I was really enjoying it but I've barely picked it up since, It's bad really because it isn't my book. I borrowed it from my boss. It's okay though - she likes me.

Not that long ago I read The Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer. And like every other girl in the english-speaking world - I fell in love. I'd already seen the movie when I read the first book but it was still fabulous.

Other than that I've read hundreds of books over the years. My favourite have to include the Noughts and Crosses Trilogy by Malorie Blackman, The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien, The His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman, the Wicca series by Cate Tiernan and The Wind on Fire Trilogy by William Nicholson.

I do like other books and authors too. I love Tomorrow When The War Began by James Marsden and The Eight by Katherine Neville. I still enjoy Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl and the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz.

Going away...

2009-10-22T07:09:00.000+01:00

This month is mine and my boyfriend's two year anniversary so we are going to go to London for a very long weekend. See the sights. Go shopping. See a show and a gig. Be total tourists for four days. So I won't be back until the end of the week.

I will be taking my notebook with me but I won't be updating my blog until I come home.

Daily Haiku: Snuggled

2009-10-21T18:07:00.000+01:00

Hiding from the cold
Snuggled under a blanket
Watching X Factor

Daily Haiku: Coziness

2009-10-20T21:54:00.000+01:00

It's pitch black outside
The house encased in darkness
I feel safe and warm

Daily Haiku: Haiku

2009-10-19T09:04:00.000+01:00

Japanese Haiku
Unusual syllables
Five, seven then five

Childhood reading

2009-10-18T22:52:00.000+01:00

So the books I read as a child were quite varied. I read the Beatrix Potter books and loved the illustrations. I devoured anything by Jacqueline Wilson. The minute a new book came out I would collect my pocket money until I had enough to buy one.

I also had a great interest for a while in the Famous Five books. I used to save up for them too and buy them several at a time. I loved the adventures and excitement. The friendship between the five.

Over the years I've kept many of my childhood favourites, some of which are still favourites today: Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, The Wind Singer, Starseeker by Tim Bowler.

Daily Haiku: Autumn

2009-10-17T21:59:00.000+01:00

Colours changing
Green to orange then to red
Leaves starting to fall

Cluster troubles

2009-10-16T16:56:00.000+01:00

I hate clustering.

It is official. I can't connect to the word or the feelings you are meant to experience. It's very very difficult and I think I may try to stick to freewriting for the time being.

Recently I have written clusters on Ice, Earth, Heartache, Fudge and countless others and I haven't enjoyed any of them.

Daily Haiku: Evening sky II

2009-10-15T21:55:00.000+01:00

Blue, orange and grey
Sky a palette of colours
A magic canvas

Daily Haiku: Wintry anticipation

2009-10-15T20:42:00.000+01:00

Winter descends
Cold creeps over the country
It's getting icy

I know this haiku has only four syllables in the first line but it felt so much more comfortable than other combinations I tried.

Daily Haiku: Roses

2009-10-14T21:50:00.000+01:00

Roses in a vase
Beautiful to everyone
Gift from Dad to Mum

Daily Haiku: Evening sky

2009-10-13T21:45:00.000+01:00

There's a stark contrast
Dark grey creamy thunderclouds
'Gainst a cool blue sky

Morning pages: Attempt one

2009-10-13T18:51:00.000+01:00

Okay so my alarm went off at horrendous-o-clock this morning and I began to just write down anything I could. A real struggle since I was still extremely tired.

What I came up with was fascinating. I wrote a considerable amount about what I had just been dreaming. I had names, faces, places and events. Really interesting to read back but it was NOT easy at all.

Will have to wait and see where this progresses...

Bicuits In My Bag Haiku

2009-10-12T13:25:00.002+01:00

Bicuits in my bag
Out of sight and out of mind
Must not eat them yet

Morning pages

2009-10-11T22:07:00.002+01:00

Reached a part of my textbook today that talked about Morning Pages. And I gotta say: I'm intrigued.

The concept is that when you wake up in the morning, before you've got dressed, read the paper, put the radio on, anything - you write. And this will hopefully link up the subconscious with the conscious.

I'm interested to see the results. The book says that it may not work for a while, so you have to try it out for a few weeks.

So anyway my alarm is set for twenty minutes earlier than normal. We'll have to see how it goes!

Compressing skies Haiku

2009-10-11T11:05:00.001+01:00

Cold compressing skies
Wind rustles leaves round my feet
Winter's almost here

Quote of the day

2009-10-10T18:08:00.000+01:00

When ideas fail, words become very useful.
GOETHE

Freedom Haiku

2009-10-10T18:07:00.000+01:00

My sense of freedom
Still waters to horizon
Lacy touch of wind

Just returned from Day School

2009-10-10T16:41:00.002+01:00

Fascinating day - loads to do and I had a great time with my fellow students. The Day School was at University College Northampton. We covered all kinds of things, including the five senses, descriptive work, character creation, character development, dialogue and a little about the first TMA (due Oct 30).

It's definitely got my creative juices flowing. I'm dying to get stuck back into it. I'll post some of the work I did today up here in a bit. Right now I need to organise my thoughts and get myself set for some more writing...

Day School tomorrow!

2009-10-09T23:29:00.002+01:00

I'm really rather nervous. I'm excited though. This is definitely a good type of nervous.
I hope that I like the tutor and she likes me. I also hope the other students are interesting. Julia had some really funny things to say about some of her fellow students.

Anyway my notes for the class are ready. My bag is packed. My outfit is just about sorted, though I can't find my jeans. And I'm picking up a packed lunch on the way there.

Right off to bed now. It's far too late and I need my sleep!

Day School Haikus

2009-10-09T19:54:00.001+01:00

My notes are ready
I am extremely nervous
But so excited

So nervous: can't sleep
Excited about Day School
But I need to rest

Cold Haiku

2009-10-08T10:22:00.000+01:00

Sore and scratchy throat
All I want to do is sleep
Make it go away

Creative Writing Prompts

2009-10-07T21:57:00.000+01:00

Loving this new site I just found: http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

Basically a page with the numbers one to 329 and as you hover over each one, a prompt appears. Pretty good for instant inspiration.

Here's a few examples:

Prompt #48 - Do a five minute freewrite with the phrase "Anger suffers as grief withdraws" as a guide

Prompt #173 - Write in the voice of "A rope about to snap"

Prompt #301- Come up with 10 good reasons not to write your life story

Cold mornings Haiku

2009-10-06T13:21:00.000+01:00

The misty morning
Fog settles all around us
Snuggled up in bed

Restaurant Haiku

2009-10-05T19:15:00.000+01:00

Busy waitresses
Loads of stupid customers
Chef is on his phone

Bought a new notebook!

2009-10-04T16:58:00.002+01:00

So while I was in Oxford with my friend, I went into Borders - big mistake.

They had this gorgeous Paperchase section near the back just filled with notebooks and diaries and journals. Some were leather bound, which looked amazing but felt awful in your hand. There were also notebooks in A5, A4, A3, some in hardback, some in paperback. Some had amazing designs and some were very plain. There were some lovely ones with a lovely floral design but they didn't have any lines in.

Anyway after about half an hour we were about to leave when I spotted this completely wonderful notebook. I just HAD to have it. Now I'm writing as often as possible in my Red and Black one to try and fill it up so I can use this one.

A215 starts today!

2009-10-03T23:08:00.000+01:00

That's right. October 2. The Big Day. Everyone to the starting lines. Textbooks at the ready. And where was I today? Oxford. Staying at a friend's who has just started her third year at Oxford Brookes University.

In fact I'm still meant to be in Ox but Dan's not very well so I had to come home for fear of catching whatever she has myself.

So now it's very late and I'm rather glad the course has started. I feel very energised and motivated and ready to go!

iMac Haiku

2009-10-02T18:58:00.000+01:00

Shiny, Clean and White
Standing tall upon my Desk
A True work of Art

Autumn/Winter Haiku

2009-10-01T20:19:00.000+01:00

The days are drawing in
The winter sun's emerging
Nights are getting cold

Found an error in the A215 study guide

2009-09-30T16:43:00.000+01:00

Okay so I have found a pretty serious error in the A215 Study Guide we were sent.

The course has been designed in such a way that the number of the week correlates to the chapter you are studying. So for example in Week seven, you are studying chapter seven and in week nine you are studying chapter nine etc etc. Anyway we are to be handing in our first TMAs at the end of Week Four (30 Oct). Unfortunately the study guide says that Week Five is a writing week which will be spent preparing TMA01 for handing in at the end of the week (6 Nov).

Then a ridiculous and embarrassing thing happened. I tried to call my tutor, Rhian, but beforeI managed to speak to her, my phone signal dropped and I couldn't regain the connection. I then got a voicemail from her asking me to call her another time and it was all very embarrassing. Anyway I eventually managed to tell her and she in turn has alerted the rest of the group.

I was so disappointed when I found it. I had originally been so impressed with the tools and equipment the OU had sent me, it felt like a bit of a let down.

iHomework

2009-09-28T22:22:00.000+01:00

This sounds like a really boring version of the iPod but I promise you it's not. It's an application I bought from the iTunes App Store. And it's amazing.

I've put in all of my weekly and daily activities right up until Christmas and it gives me a little reminder whenever one's due!

So I've spent the whole evening doing this. And it's actually been really good fun. I love all of this getting organised stuff.

iTunes U

2009-09-27T21:52:00.000+01:00

Just a quick, sneaky update: I was transferring all my lovely new Creative Writing CDs to my iTunes account so I could put them on my iPod when I thought I'd check out the iTunes U section of the iTunes store.

It's brill - there's a whole section for the Open Uni and several interesting looking MP3s about Creative Writing and Fiction and stuff. I highly recommend it! Just go to the iTunes Store, look under Open University and then Arts and Humanities.

I miss you Haiku

2009-09-26T18:13:00.000+01:00

I miss my boyfriend
He's off on some stupid camp
God-damned ATC

Gathering my observations

2009-09-24T21:17:00.004+01:00

Loving this course so much and it hasn't even started properly yet!

I've well into Chapter Two already and I'm loving the section on Gathering. Basically, it tells you to just put anything into your notebook, almost as if it's your own private diary. I love this idea. Because the other day I was thinking about writing down something totally uncreative, that was just a rant, but I felt it didn't belong in my notebook. Which is really ridiculous because it's MY notebook.

Anyway I've now been writing about absolutely everything I can. I have to keep my notebook out of site at work in case it tempts me into writing instead of working!

New Jeans Haiku

2009-09-22T18:11:00.000+01:00

Lovely brand new jeans
So comfy and they look great
Light blue in colour

The Writer's Notebook

2009-09-21T20:24:00.000+01:00

Chapter Two: Keeping a Writer's Notebook

I read this today and I could hear "Hell, yeah" in my head. I've been doing this for years already and I love it. This one feels weird though because this is my Open University A215 Notebook. The rest of my notebooks are just notebooks! I think I need to feel a bit more relaxed about this notebook thing though. I keep panicking about putting the wrong thing in it.

My friend has joined the dark side...

2009-09-20T19:09:00.000+01:00

Yes, my dear friend Julia has joined the Open University. We do clash a little though because she's a science student, and will be specialising in Physics. And if you haven't yet managed to figure out I'm an arts student, you should be very ashamed.

So I went over to her's today because I got a very anxious phone call from her along the lines of: "Oh my god... All this stuff has arrived and I have no idea what to do with it all." So I went over to help her out. It was fun actually because she did have a lot of stuff - seven textbooks (!) some rock and fossil examples, other bits of science equipment and the bog standard TMA and ECA info packs.

I then helped her out with her course website, finding her tutor information (not online yet) and where to check for info on her tutorials/day schools (again, not online yet). By the time we'd finished, had a ginger biscuit and gossiped I had to rush back home to make it in time for dinner.

Interesting day though...

Clustering

2009-09-17T18:49:00.002+01:00

Okay so freewriting was a bit of a success really. Clustering however... I still can't decide.

I wrote out four so as to get a good gauge of what I might be doing right/wrong and I still didn't feel satisfied with what I had written. Very different to what I had felt about freewriting. I wrote clusters on water, fire, darkness and light. And yes it's true I did get some interesting images and words and phrases out of it but I still felt very unhappy with what I had created.

With regards to finding a spark of inspiration, I think that I will stick to freewriting for now. I'm very happy with that method.

Freewriting

2009-09-16T23:25:00.004+01:00

Just got to a new section of my A215 course book: Freewriting. And I have to say, I love it! All you do is take the beginning of a sentence or concept or idea and you just keep writing and writing and writing until you run out of thoughts.

I took four examples out of my book for tonight's writing and I came up with some weird little paragraphs. I'm not going to type them out now because they're not really for reading. It's just a freeing up your mind kind of exercise. Anyway the beginnings of sentences that I started with were The truth is..., I wish I had said..., I need proof..., and That smell reminds me of...

So I wrote them down as freely as I could into my new little A5 Red and Black notebook. Which I now carry around with me in case inspiration suddenly grabs me.

I might try and make this freewriting a daily exercise. Like a warm up before I try and write something properly.

The Blank Page

2009-09-15T21:35:00.002+01:00

Okay. So I'm getting stuck into my Creative Writing book after quite possibly one of the worst afternoons at work. Don't get me wrong - I love my job - but this afternoon the office was hot and stuffy, I had four HTML e-mails to design and format for sending, I had several meetings, all of which were cutting into the scarce time I have, as well as all the usual web editing stuff I had to do. And my head has been killing me since noon.

God I need a holiday. But I'm not getting one til Christmas, so I may as well keep schtum.

So as I was saying I was going through the opening chapter of my course book and there was a section about The Blank Page. Some writers feel afraid and find The Blank Page daunting whilst others are drawn to it. I thought long and hard about it and I came up with this conclusion: As long as I am comfortable, I find the concept of The Blank Page intriguing and compelling. As if there's something hidden in it.

For example, I tried to write during my lunch break at work but I was so caught up in everything I had to do that I couldn't squeeze a single intelligent or even vaguely coherent word or phrase. Everything was so jumbled. However, right now I am sitting in bed, perfectly content after a lovely warm bath, my headache subsiding and I relish the idea of a totally blank page.

Might go dig out my notebook actually...

Course materials arrived today!

2009-09-11T14:25:00.000+01:00

Oh I'm so excited! It's quite sad really.

Well the title says it all on this one. My new textbook for A215 arrived today along with a study guide, a study calendar, assessment booklet and Audio CDs. I haven't listened to the CDs yet but the textbook and study guide are fantastic.

The textbook is slit up into five sections: The creative process; Writing fiction; Writing poetry; Life writing; and Going public. Each chapter represents a week in the course. There are also three writing weeks and a break for christmas. I've already written all the relevant dates for TMAs (5) and ECAs (1) and their cut off dates. I really quite excited.

So... my course doesn't start until October 3rd but I can't help but get into it already.

We're taking my brother to Leeds this weekend to start a slightly more conventional university so I may not have time to write anything else. Will post again once I have delved further into the textbook.

AA100 result

2009-09-10T22:02:00.001+01:00

Last year, since I wasn't going to go to a conventional university, I decided to really sink my teeth into The Open University. I enrolled on a 60-point, level one course called AA100: The arts past and present.

It was...okay. i enjoyed parts of it. To be honest, I really enjoyed learning again, but I wasn't so keen on the content. But I had to do the course in order to get my BA in English Literature, so really I just wanted to pass. And in July I found out that yes, I had indeed passed. I was very happy because I had found the final assignment an absolute bugger. I was also pleasantly surprised because it was the second best score I had gotten all year!

Th course itself was very varied. We spent the first few months learning from Book One: Reputations about the lives and reputations of Cleopatra, Marlowe, Faraday, Stalin, The Dalai Lama and Plato, among others. After the Christmas break we moved onto Book Two: Tradition and Dissent. I think this was my favourite book because we got to study Shostakovich and Tradition and Dissent in music. Only six weeks later we were onto Book Three: Cultural Encounters, which is where we studied The art of Benin and looked at a series of Short stories by multiple authors.

The final book was called Book Four: Place and Leisure. I did quite enjoy learning from this book. We learnt about the purpose of life, leisure in the Roman villa and the meaning of a Sacred Space. Finally there was a massive chapter on The Seaside that I never actually managed to read about til after the course had finished.

Once again, for the record, here is my AA100 result for all to see:

A174 and A175 results

2009-09-09T19:34:00.001+01:00

So When I finished school in June 07, I really wanted to continue learning, so whilst I was working over my "Gap Year" I enrolled on two writing courses, one after the other.

The First course ran from October to January and was called A174: Start Writing Fiction. And it was fab. I loved it. Made me want to do more. So when I started A175: Start Writing Poetry in February I was really keen.

Since both the courses were 10 point, level one courses I could only pass or fail, but it still felt good to do it.

Anyway, for the record, here are my official results from A174 and A175:

Sooooo... Into 'Year Two'

2009-09-07T17:51:00.000+01:00

So I'm currently studying for a BA in Literature with the Open University. I already done one year studying AA100 - The arts past and present. Which sounds great. But I didn't really enjoy it.

There were aspects of the course I liked but there were far more parts I didn't. For example, Literature, Art History and Music I love to study. But History, Religion and Tradition - not a fan. It was certainly educational learning about Benin, Christianity, Irish Traditions etc but I found Tchaikovsky so much more entertaining and the design behind the construction of the Roman Villa more interesting.

Anyway it doesn't matter so much because I passed all my modules with enough to Pass the year. And now I'm due to start my next course in October. I'm going to be studying A215 Creative Writing, which is a level two course. Creative Writing's what I've wanted to do since I started studying with the Open University.

Anyway my materials get dispatched on the 11th and my course starts on the 3rd of October. So excited.

PS: Apologies for the name of the blog. Hardly the most inspiring or creative of titles...