I am sure it was Oscar Wilde who described a cynic as someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.  A couple of weeks ago, I was called a cynic and while I would normally be delighted to align myself with anything Oscar said, in this particular situation I fall under the umbrella of the Oxford Dictionary definition as a person who has little faith in human sincerity and integrity. I was having drinks with friends in their home and as huge X-Factor fans they were showing me some of the better and some of the … Continue reading Cynic or realist?

Today was the first teaching day of the course!  Hurray!  Is it sad that already I could do this every day and never find it boring? Our day is split into two modules: Theory and Innovation in the morning and Life Writing and Writing Practice in the afternoon. Our first T and I session with Sam Kelly looked at the T.S Eliot essay, “Tradtion and the Individual Talent’, apparently quite the be and end all to ‘New Criticism’. It was a very meaty essay with lots of gristle and personally I found it sometimes a little hard to swallow.  I liked bits … Continue reading Creative Writing Week Two: Theory and Innovation – T.S Eliot ‘Talent and the Individual’

Well it finally came! On Thursday I  joined 23 new colleagues on the newly created and very exciting MA Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University.  Although I have been waiting only a few weeks for this day, in reality it has been 23 years.  I keep pinching myself to remind me that I am no longer talking the talk but finally walking the walk…it’s a scary but rather nice sensation and I am excited all to hell and back about the big things just around the corner. True to form I turned up two days late for the first session … Continue reading Matriculation and the great ice-break

I should be working but am planning to stop at 21:00 to watch the wonderful Yellow Bird Swedish films adapted from Henning Mankell’s Wallander series, so am just flitting about youtube, Perez Hilton (I know, I know), Google’s Colour Junction, feeding the cats, changing light shades and eating toffee instead of working.  This is now wilful procrastination and I must be stopped! Continue reading Naughty, naughty