Each time I start a new course I decide to keep a blog updated throughout. It never happens. I get swept along with the course material and life in general and never follow through. Not that it matters much even if people were interested but it is a failure to myself. So no promises this year. No commitments to writing a blog. I will, if I remember, and feel so inclined, post an update.
Now studying A215 Creative writing I suppose there is a greater motivation for me to pursue the blog with a bit more determination. We shall see.
I have done the other ritual start of the course stuff. Prepared my study and desk: filling the dustbin and 'books for the charity shop' box to the brim. Introduced myself to the course on the Course Forum and the Tutor Form (cheated and copied one to the other). Copied tutorial and TMA assignment dates to my personal diary. Started reading the books and looking at my first TMA prior to the course start date (this allows a little bit of leeway in the event of an attack of procrastination later on). Of course, I also wrote my Blog for the first time since the start of my last course.
I leave my course books out on my coffee table in the living room, not in the study. This is done for two reasons. One, it is a constant reminder when I come home to get on with it and two, it impresses visitors allowing me to wax lyrical about my secret artistic capaciousness (So secret I know nothing about it).
My first two weeks of "official" study as the course starts will be spent in my caravan in Cambridge where I will be working. This is great as there are far too many distractions at home and I need to build up my procrastination bank as much as possible. Although I did notice in the 'What's on in Cambridge' website a few things that I cannot miss after all it is not every week I can spend evenings and weekends in the city. Living in my town the highlight of the week is the Saturday bingo session in the Conservative Club and as a loud-mouthed Labour Party member, I am banned from there anyway.
The course, however, does demand daily note taking, Free Writing and doing a thing called 'Clusters' which is really just a brain-storm put onto a memory map. This discipline is probably the hardest thing for me. How can you procrastinate when it has to be done daily? Do I crush the last seven days work all into one day? I will keep you updated or should I say me updated as nobody else reads this rubbish anyway.