Welcome to 2013

As we are nearing the end of yet another year (yep, there is the whooshing sound it makes as it flies by) it is time to reflect upon the wonderful adventures we had the last 365 days and to think/daydream about the new even amazing-er adventures we’ll experience the next 365 days. Who knows, it might be the year that toy stores will start selling jet packs. Or the year we can clone our pets. Or maybe women will start ruling the world (we kind of do already). I’m just saying, just because it has the number 13 in it, doesn’t mean it has to be a bad year. Even though we can’t know what will happen during 2013 we can at least see it as more time to get closer to our dreams, or enjoy more time living them if that’s the case.

For me the year 2012 was one of my most exciting adventures, where I got to go to England and got my MA in Creative Writing. I made wonderful friends, learned a lot, went on a date with a not-so-much English gentleman, kicked ass in pool and most importantly learned where to put my knife and fork after I had finished eating to indicate I’d indeed finished eating. Okay, that wasn’t that important, but knowing it made me feel British.

The year 2013 will be even more exciting, though. Before this I always had a plan of what I was going to study and where, but this is the first time I’m no longer a student and an official adult. If you hear a loud scream, then yes, that is me. And finding a job isn’t easy, I probably have more of a chance to discover the remains of a mummy in my own basement. Right now I’m finishing two novels so hopefully this will be the year that I get to publish my books and make some money. My Master’s diploma on my desk tells me I can do it. No pressure.

So now you know that my 2013 will be the year of dreams, what will it be for you? 

A New Year

Happy New Year!

I’m excited about this year, because it will be the most exciting one yet. I always have a plan of where to go to and what to do, but after I get my MA this year (fingers crossed) it’s out into the grown world. And even though I would love to write full time, I also need a job and I have no idea what it will be. I have faith it will all come together in time. I’m not someone who doesn’t have a plan or back-up plan when it comes to the important things, but still, it’s kind of exciting and scary.

For now I can just focus on my writing skills and I’ve enjoyed a long holiday, while working on my 16,000 words that I’ll have to hand in at the end of the week. It’s 8,000 words per module, but I can work on the same story for both modules. I’ve had good feedback but it will still be interesting to see what grade I’ll get. They’ll be my first grades. J

At the beginning of the course I wrote fantasy and I was told by my teacher that it was an easy genre and that she knew I could do better, so I was dragged out of my comfort zone and had to write literary fiction. I was flattered by the compliment but I didn’t like being thrown into the deep end. How was I supposed to write something that I couldn’t put my heart in? At least, that’s how I saw it.

Then one night when I was almost falling asleep, I was thinking about some ideas that I’d previously had about a detective story and another ‘normal’ story and these words just came to me. I wrote them down and those became the beginning of my story. “Never change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” Saul Bellow.

This story revolved more about the characters and I threw in a lot of humour, at least, it was humour to me, I wasn’t sure how my fellow students and teachers would feel about that. Since I was very passionate about this story I was willing to put it to the test and volunteered to read it out at one of my classes, something which most students had to do and I was relieved when they liked it and even laughed at my jokes.

So far this story and the voice had come quite natural to me, so I’d like to think that’s a good sign. Since I had a long holiday I had some trouble with not getting distracted, but I managed to reach the deadline by a week earlier so that means there’s plenty of time to revise.

I’m glad I listened to my teacher, because I can always write fantasy if I want to, but this study is about learning everything I can and see how far I can go. This has taught me that I can get out of my comfort zone and write literary fiction and make it my own. Who knows, this might be a story that will one day adorn bookshelves in bookstores. J