In my ongoing study on nature versus nurture in my own children I can report that the use of nail polish is not genetic. I do not like nail polish on my fingers, it seems to cloud my mental processes and make my fingers sluggish on the keyboard. But my eldest daughter (in so many ways the antithesis of a nail polish wearer) loves to paint her nails. Often. The brighter the colour the better. Glitter is good. My younger daughter includes nail care as part of her daily routine. What does it mean? It means, I guess, that my children will always be surprising me. It means that they are their own people. It means that I can learn new habits from my children. These are all good things. The study continues...
I have been considering going back to University this year. I want to write a lot more this year than I did last year. I want to finish a couple of things that need a jolly good finishing. But beyond that I do not know what 2009 promises for my writing career. In addition to the writing I need to pursue something over which I can exert more control about the results. I need to do something that moves me forward, and expands my skill set - skills that might benefit my writing and things related to it like teaching and reviewing. I've been considering the Diploma in Children's Literature run by Canterbury University. But the course is costly. In the grand scheme of things I suppose the cost is not greater than any other equivalent course at other tertiary institutions but it's still a lot of money. And is this just another way to avoid doing the hard yards of writing. Will my writing suffer? I already have a few qualifications. On the plus side I know I can do this course. I know I will benefit, and I enjoy learning. But have I exceeded my quota of being educated? I may just do The University of Auckland's continuing education history classes on domestic life in medieval times. Its a period in history that has always fascinated me and might provide good background for a novel (or two). I have until early February to make up my mind. Any advice on this topic would be much appreciated :)
2 comments:
I did an MA at the IIML at a time when we had no money or jobs having just come back from Britain and no idea what what we would be doing next. It was fantastic to immerse myself in a genre I knew nothing about (scriptwriting) and have a structure to write within. I wrote my second novel whist there as a holiday from my thesis and all I can say is it doesn't matter exactly what you study as long as you are having fun with it and it opens up new portals. So be it history or creative writing, you will fnd something to add to your writing experience and information store (that grey thing in your head!)the great thing about formalised study is that it makes you produce things within a set period of time- which is so hard to achieve when at the early stages of a writing career when all forces seem to be against you producing and publishing anything!It is a great investment.
x Fifi
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