What I Did On My Holidays...

No beach for me!

Most people choose to go somewhere nice on holiday.  Somewhere sunny;  somewhere they  can lie around and do not much more than give themselves a healthy radiation dose.  I chose to go to school.

I’ve spent nearly three weeks here.   I have to say that it’s been one of the best couple of weeks I’ve spent being productive in my life.  I met amazing people and made new friends.  And it was only 5 minutes from my  door.  If you fancy doing a general  English course (with a Creative Writing element) then I recommend SUISS.   The lectures were generally good, the tutors excellent and I got to spend a lot of time doing cultural events (mostly the book festival).  In addition the evening events included visits from notable literary figures and the occasional party.

Highlights:

Student Reading; I was surprised at the general quality of the writing on display.  Just about everyone got up and read something.  I acquired a reputation for doing my own thing because I got up and just read out an entire short story instead of sticking to the billed 5 minutes each.  (Oops)

Leonitia Flynne.  Excellent Irish poet.  She’s also very funny and comes across as a genuine and approachable person.  She also gave a lecture on poetry that was quite interesting.

John Burnside.   Great Fife poet.  He read some poetry and an excerpt from one of his memoirs.  A very interesting man with a great sense of humour.

Michael Rosen; ex Childrens laureate.  I want him to be my dad.  He was supposed to do a masterclass in writing for children but we just wanted to hear him tell bedtime stories.

In addition to this I got to see Iain Banks, Carol Ann Duffy and Gary Younge at the book festival.

I miss everyone who I became friends with.  I miss the time I spent learning again.  I feel woken up and I am now looking at ways I can get published.

About these ads

---