Yes, I’ve gone back to university this time to do a short course – part of an MA – in Creative and Critical Writing. The idea being to be a better writer but let’s wait on that one! Although not so much in the library as the image suggests but sometimes online, sometimes on campus in the evenings.

It’s about twenty years since I took the last go at being a student when I did a short course in London, two days a week, to obtain a Postgraduate qualification in journalism. That time it did me very well. On completing the course I became a freelance journalist for a couple of years for our local media company, Gloucestershire Media. Then when that ended, I took up writing for the Christian Herald newspaper (now sadly deceased) and then with the same editor, Russ Bravo, I went on to write regularly for Inspire magazine, alongside many other publications both local and national. I still write regularly for the online magazine, the Writers and Readers magazine and have just had an article in the Good News newspaper.

So what about this course. Having learnt to write plainly and concisely as a journalist, I can tell you that this course frightens me. I’m not that great at descriptive, flowery language and just three weeks into the course, the IT has almost floored me, never mind the course information. Perhaps it’s my age!

But it’s one step at a time. I’m only doing a short course and most of my modules are completed by mid January, then I just have one course which I take on until May. So you should see me emerge out of hibernation sometime in early February. Until then I’m not ignoring you, I’m just busy.