Hello and Welcome

Hello!! and welcome to The Secret Writer's Blog. First a bit about why we are doing this. Last year I started doing an open university course, Creative Writing. I had always been good at writing (well I hope I am) so thought why not. After the course had finished I felt a bit lost and disappointed, I both Mom and I wanted to have somewhere where we could get ideas from, share them and share each others work within a safe place. I have this with a few friends and of course my Mom (Margaret's Ramblings) that helped me with that but then both Mom and I thought there must be others out there that felt like we did.

Moms brief history with writing.

Mom has written for many years, poems, short stories etc, but nothing really come about, amazing writing but just kept to herself, but still had a passion to be published and live the life of a writer. In my fifth form year at collage (age 15) a new class started for the six form students. Journalism. Looking back I can now imagine just how scary that would have been for Mom. My Mother really is brave. While I was moaning that I couldn't take the class Mom had decided to do it herself. Know to a lot this don't really seem that hard. But going back to school where 100 percent of the people are aged between 13 to 18 (except for the teachers of course), now that is one scary situation. But Mom did it, she stayed the whole year doing amazing, loving every minute of it too. Then finally at the end of the year she wrote her first story about a couple who played and sang folk music around New Zealand. It took Mom a lot of guts to post that to the local paper, don't think Mom been so scared in her life and mom has had breast cancer!

But guess what!! the editor rang her up and was so impressed he hired her on the SPOT! Oh if you could bottle that feeling ah? We be rich! For many years after that Mom wrote for the Rodney Times in New Zealand and then onto the Leader paper which she was the main writer for, only stopping to move over to England in 1995. Since then Mom really hasn't done much at all. Oh did I mention that Mills and Boons always wanted her to write for them? Yea I know I boosting, but she is my Mom LOL.

But with the writing course I did (did I mention I did a humanities course too? and passed? Oh yea I got the feeling) it really brought both of our love of writing to fold. Mom would help me and do the exercises together. I found I really needed this as I had so many problems with school as a child due to been dyslexic (they just thought I was dumb!). But it also brought back Moms love of writing. Writing for herself too, not just worrying about the bills etc. So that is a brief history of how we come about to starting up this blog.

I have and am including a piece on Buddy's Friday which Mom (Margaret's Ramblings) runs ,on the other reasons we are doing this.

Buddy's Friday
When all else fails
Do it yourself!

This is rather a strange one for Buddy's but with all that has gone on over the last year and getting today's results I thought why not. So I will start at the beginning and hopefully you will get the idea at the end. So here goes.

Last September I started an Open University course in Creative Writing, I can tell you I never been so scared, nerves and excited all in the one! I mean me, writing, it was laughable I can tell you. But I did it and over the time of the course I did really well except for one thing, the tutor I had didn't help or give advice at all and well, lets say I had an opinion about this since the course cost over £700 pounds!!!! I asked her if she would comment on our work for example, is the commas and that ok, is the voice working, are the sentences to long, is it boring, should we start again, things like that. My answer, sorry no I don't do that I will only give feedback on the five tutorials and the TMA's that you send in. Well, this was rather shocking, but I did find out from other students that other tutors were the same but some tutors were very good and gave loads and really helped out. I'm sorry but this really bugged me, I mean come on they get paid a good wage to teach us but they don't, I just got told to go the work book!!

Today I got my grade back for this course, I got a bare pass. I was not happy at all and rather felt like a failure etc. To get a bare pass I was told, you basically didn't do any of the work. What got me about this was that all my other work throughout the year was, well I must say BLOODY GREAT,

Scores as follows
TMA 01 80%
TMA 02 96%
TMA 03 80%
TMA 04 56%
TMA 05 61%
ECA 42%

I was also told that we would get an average of all our scores and that would give our grade, well that wasn't true it was on the last and with the last and after a long phone call to my tutor giving me advice (won't go into that one!!!) I got only a 42%. So with all this and feeling rather let down and wasted over 700 pounds Mom (Margaret's Ramblings), and I have decided and come up with a better way of learning and sharing how to write with positive feedback as well.

Why not start up our own writer's group. One that doesn't cost anything, where everyone can feel safe and get good feedback and advice as well. The advice from reading others work to getting your own read and others commenting. To others putting up their experiences and passing on good books, cd's, books, web sites and videos they have found over the years and it wont cost so much money!!!

I found today really hard, I had thoughts of going back to work in Asda stacking shelves for the rest of my life, when I really want to do more than that, make enough money for us to buy our very own home and to me this was a way.

So my piece for Buddy's Friday is to share and cut cost of education and start up our very own writer's group. I would love to know what you all think and will (when the Writer's Blog is up and running hopefully next week) be putting up the stories I did for the creative writing course I did. If anyone is interested in joining a writer's co operative please leave a comment so we can all get together.

As with most things in our lives,
If you want something done, do it yourself.

It's going to take me a bit to sort out a few things but please leave a comment on anything at all, if you want to join or just commenting.
Many thanks Fiona and Margaret.