Personal Blogs

So A215 is underway. Heading into the weekend I was 'meh', but now I'm excited. But that's always the case with anything when you've had a few months off. I'm now looking forward to improving my creative writing skills.

For a while now I've been trying to write poetry and fiction using pen and paper. This was after reading an article on The Guardian about how the pen is mightier than the keyboard. Apparently, we use a different part of our brain when using the pen. I, however, have found no difference in my quality of writing. And I've been less productive using pen and paper than I have been using a keyboard, so I've decided to return to thumping keys.

With fiction, anyway. With poetry, I think I'll continue to create with a pen. This is because I enjoy the process of counting stressed syllables and marking them on the page. There's something therapeutic to it.

Over the course of the year I plan to focus a lot more on literary theory too. I guess I want to be an all-rounder: novels, poetry, criticism, editing, the lot! Regarding literary criticism and theory, I think I'll find essays on JSTOR and study them.

I just couldn't settle on a new book. I went through my Kindle and made some false starts. I went to my wish list on Amazon to see if I had anything I fancied there. Nothing. I was getting frustrated. That was until I went through some of my old books that were stashed away in a box in my wardrobe. And what do you know? I found the book.

Or books, in this case, as I had spotted The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. I first read the books when I was 14 or 15, if memory serves me. I'd forgotten how good they were. I've reread The Hobbit plenty of times before, as I often rank this in my top 5 favourite books, but I'd completely forgotten about The Lord of the Rings. I think it's probably because I've watched the movies so much that the books sort of became lost in my mind.

But anyway, reading them again has reminded me of something. It's reminded me that when we're in the mood to read and we can't figure out what to read next, sometimes it's a good idea to look back at the books you've read before and to pick one out to remind you why you loved it in the first place. I'm a big believer that reading is never reading unless you reread the books you enjoyed most.

Yesterday, I received my first assignment back and I was very happy with the result. Although I didn't receive top marks, I was still proud of what I achieved (I hope this doesn't come across as too "braggy"; I don't mean it to be!). I'm going to get to working on it right away. Hopefully, I'll have it done for next week, as I want to be ahead of schedule and not be in a position where I'm rushing to get it done.

On a unrelated note, I submitted a piece of flash fiction I've been trying to get published to a website today. It's only about 800 words or so, and it's about an awkward kiss that occurs between two colleagues after their shift has ended. I'm not sure if it's that good a piece of writing, but I could always rewrite it if it keeps getting rejected.

I'm surprised flash fiction isn't more popular, actually. It's short and so can be read in no time at all. They're usually better written, too, as brevity important, so you don't get too many unnecessary words. But, unfortunately, I think some people just don't think they're worth their time. Let's hope that changes some day.

I've just finished reading the chapter on Paul Cézanne in Reputations. I found most of it interesting, especially the practical aspects of paintings and the brief history on still life. I always wondered why still life paintings were such a big deal and now I know. 

Take a painting of an apple. This could be an allegory for life: when we are ripe we're at our best and most beautiful but we eventually rot away and die. It could be a religious allusion to Adam and Eve. This mixes beautifully with the allegory of life and death: once Adam and Eve ate the apple and became aware of their nakedness, God ended their time in paradise and sent them into a world where they'd inevitably die. The apple representing life and death is also philosophical, with existentialism springing to mind.

I do appreciate Cézanne's work a little bit more than I did before. At first I didn't like it. I still prefer the 'conventional' paintings, though.

Next, I'll work through the online activities related to Cézanne's chapter and see how I get on.