Making Time to Write

If you've been checking this blog and wondering why it suddenly came to an end, I can finally tell you.

There's no big secret. I didn't win the lottery and jack it all in for a life of luxury in the Bahamas. I didn't meet a sugar daddy who whisked me off to Monte Carlo for some retail therapy. (I expect my husband's quite glad about that - though he might have been happy for me to win the lottery!) I didn't see the light and decide to spend the rest of my life meditating in a cave in the Himalayas.

No, I'm afraid my excuse for not writing is probably fairly similar to yours. I've just been too busy! Too many classes to prepare, too much work to mark, too many books to read for my PGCE. Throw in a touch of flu, give it all a good stir, and you end up with the perfect mix for sabotaging writing.

I must admit, I didn't realise I'd neglected my blogs for quite so long. I was shocked to log on today and realise that my last blog was posted on 7th October. I certainly didn't realise I'd been away for so long, and I'm suitably chastened by this discovery. I need to take myself in hand. Not so much a matter of 'Physician, heal thyself!' as 'Creative writing teacher - set a better example!'

So what have been the highlights of the last couple of months, writing-wise? I'd have to say the best thing about this time has been getting to know my new students and being very pleasantly surprised at the progress they've made in such a short time. I've been amazed at the fantastic work I have seen, even from students who claim they've never done any writing before. It's quite a humbling experience to come face to face with so much talent, and quite a privilege to be asked to nurture it.

The University of Huddersfield has been running a competition called 'Grist', and several of my students have entered it, from all three of my classes. It's been very exciting to see them polishing up their short stories, presenting them so beautifully, then sending them off - a bit like seeing your child go off to school for the first time, I expect. Good luck to everyone who has entered. All I can say is that I'm glad I don't have to judge the competition, as it will be a tough job to have to choose from so many excellent entries.

If you've missed the deadline for this one, don't worry - there will be plenty more competitions to enter in the New Year.

Strong Writing - Choose Powerful Verbs!

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it's the adjectives you choose, the words that describe things, that makes your writing vivid. But sometimes you can make your writing a lot stronger by choosing verbs that are powerful and descriptive.

Take these two sentences for example:

The cheerful man walked down the street.

The man sauntered down the street.

Which sentence do you think is stronger? Although the second sentence doesn't even have an adjective and it's one word longer than the first, it's much more effective. Not only does the word sauntered describe the way in which the man walked - it also suggests something about his mood.

Compare these two:

The man walked home unsteadily.

The man stumbled home.

The second version is more economical. It expresses the same idea as the first sentence but in more neatly, without having to use the adverb unsteadily. (Remember, an adverb is a word that describes a verb.)

So when you next sit down to write, make your writing strong - choose powerful verbs!

Expect the Unexpected!

First of all, to those readers who have been logging on this past week expecting to see my daily blog, an apology! I've had a really busy week with PGCE tests, my new writing classes beginning, and a job interview, all in the same three days! By the time it came to write my blog, I was either still preparing lessons or absolutely exhausted.

But things are now back on an even keel, I hope. I've met and settled in my new students and welcomed back my existing ones, so the classes are starting to gel and I'm getting back into the swing of teaching. I should know by the end of the week how numbers are shaping up and how many students I am going to have in each class.

We've already had some very enjoyable lessons and it's been interesting for me to put some of the new ideas from my teacher training into practice, like an icebreaker exercise that my tutor used with us. I've adapted it to suit creative writing students and made it lead into another activity in which my learners assess where they are so far in their quest to learn to write and where they would like to get to in the course of the year.

I really like my PGCE tutor, Fran Valentine, and she has already been very supportive to me when I was preparing for my job interview. My referee, Gabriele, who used to teach me German, has also been a great help. I also feel much more at home in the college now, and not so much the new girl on the block.

Other than that two things happened this week that were unexpected. The first was the arrival on my mat of a crime writing magazine, Crimewave. I had subscribed to it quite some time ago, received one or two editions and then nothing for ages. I resigned myself to the fact that it must have gone bust, as that is not unusual in the world of specialist publications.

But it has returned, even glossier than ever. I shall look forward to reading it and I am especially pleased because the very first story in it is an extremely short one that I can use with all my students.

The second surprise came today. We'd had a family trip to Holmfirth to enjoy the sunshine and have a latte in our favourite cafe there. Browsing in one of the charity shops, I found a very solid-looking mahogany CD rack, which seemed the perfect solution to our storage needs. My husband thought we didn't have enough room to fit it in, but I assured him that we would.

I was right. There was the perfect spot for it in our living room, between the fireplace and the existing, overstuffed and rather rickety CD rack. I proudly manouevred it into position and prepared to load it up with CDs only to find that they wouldn't fit on. It was actually a cassette rack! A very handsome cassette rack, but no good for CDs or DVDs.

So if you live in the Huddersfield area and you need a cassette rack, e-mail me on gale.barker@tesco.net and you can pick up a bargain. Otherwise, it will be going to another charity shop next weekend.

Confessions of a Creative Writing Teacher - Why I Love Marking

A lot of teachers regard marking as a necessary evil, something that goes with the job but which encroaches on their precious free time. But I love it!

Marking my students' writing is one of the best things about the job. Being with them at their classes and teaching them face-to-face is pretty terrific too, but as I can't teach seven days a week, marking is the next best thing.

I think creative writing must be one of the very best subjects to mark as every piece of work is unique and every student has their own unique set of strengths and weaknesses and their own unpredicable learning curve.

Even if I set everyone the same task with the same stimulus material, I end up with stories that are totally different from one another and all fascinating in their own right.

Of course, you get to know people through their writing, more than you would through their maths or their IT homework. You get to know their interests, their preoccupations, their attitudes to life, their past. And it's all fascinating.

I used to wonder how my friend used to always remember the names of all her creative writing class members, because when I'd been a member of a class or group I might still not know everybody's name even though I'd known them for years! But once you've read and marked a student's writing, you not only remember their name, but you build up your own unique understanding of them as a person.

That's why, when I begin teaching again next week, I can't wait to get on with some marking. Bring it on!

Writing for Profit or Writing for its own Sake?

Having begun to publish on the internet has made me focus on the financial rewards of writing. Of course, everyone needs to earn a living and the workman is worthy of his hire, but that isn't the only reason why I write.

In fact, it isn't even the reason why I've been so delighted at having my work accepted by Triond this past week.

I've been enjoying the buzz of writing what I feel like writing and seeing it accepted and put out into the ether for everyone to read. It makes me feel as if I have a sense of purpose. I'm doing what I love to do and there is a prospect of being paid for it too. How lucky is that!

That's more important than any amount of money, as far as I'm concerned. There are lots of jobs I could do that would guarantee more money in the short term, but enjoying what you do and feeling passionate about it is priceless.

This week I've had the satisfaction of seeing my work in print . I've also had the thrill of seeing my writing class reach the end of their certificate course, to great acclaim. Teaching them to write isn't just my bread and butter - it's my soul food. Verily my cup runneth over.

Yes, it's been a great week.

I hope you are as happy in your vocation as I am in mine.

By the way, if you would like to read my latest article, you can find it on www.telewatcher.com/Reality/Big-Brother/Why-I-No-Longer-Watch-Big-Brother.150309

Demob Happy!

Today's been a bit of a pottering-around-and-catching-up day. It's been the first day that I haven't had to do any marking or lesson preparation for my teaching job.

My creative writing class met on 5th June for the last time this academic year. Since then, I've been extremely busy marking their second assignments and portfolios for their qualification, ready for Internal Verification by my boss this week and moderation by someone from the Examining Board next week.

Given that my students are extremely keen and prolific writers, going through their massive portfolios has been time-consuming, exhausting and eye-boggling - at one point I was actually starting to see double!

But at the same time, it has been an entertaining, fascinating and exhilerating process. It's been a real joy to see how much my students have progressed since they started studying with me in September. And the quality of their work and the amount of time, thought, and effort they have put into getting their portfolios just right is astonishing!

Today I've enjoyed having the time to save some podcasts (Hay House Radio - their Listen Again archive is a treasure trove of programmes about self-development and spirituality), e-mail friends, and even wash the bath mat! There are still lots of things on my to-do list for the week - music practice, yoga, swimming, belly dancing, hairdresser, dentist, to name but a few.

And tomorrow I go along to the college clutching my own certificates in my sweaty hands. This time, I'm the one who'll be the student, as it's the induction morning for my two-year in-service PGCE course. I'm looking forward to studying again and finding out all the things I should have been doing this year! Perhaps I'll learn how to use the projector without having to rely on two of my technically-minded students!

So I definitely won't be bored over the next couple of months. I'll be glad to have a break and a bit of a rest. But there's part of me that will be thinking, 'Wouldn't be nice to have some writing to mark?' I think I may be having withdrawal symptoms by the time the summer vacation is over.

But, you never know, perhaps I'll get a few e-mails in my inbox before then saying, 'Gale, I've written another story - I wonder if you'd mind just having a look at it for me...'

There's hope for me yet!

You've got to start somewhere...

I wasn't intending to start writing a blog today - in fact, I was intending to begin reading one! But due to the vagaries of the blogspot website, here I am! I had to create a google account first, and got a bit carried away.... But, hey! I'm a writer, so it won't do me any harm to write...

What I was really trying to do was to access my friend's new blogspot. Her name is Lindsay Townsend and she writes romantic novels: romantic thrillers and historical romances. I created a website for her and am in the process of updating it by adding two new pages and extra links to publicise a new novel that she has had accepted for publication. I got an e-mail from her today telling me that she now has a blog and asking me to put a link to it from the website. I thought I'd better check out her blog reference first, but couldn't access it, so I ended up going onto a blogging website and creating a google account so I could find the blog.

And I ended up creating this too!

Well, I was intending to start writing a blog some time, so why not?

So who am I apart from the person who created Lindsay's website?

Well, I'm a professional writer and creative writing lecturer, Scottish by birth and upbringing, but for the past thirty-odd years I have lived in England.

I started off my career as a BBC television researcher working on a television series for The Open University. That led me into more projects, writing and producing educational materials for The Open College and writing dramatisations for more Open University programmes. I began writing fiction and non-fiction too, and had two biographies published by Harper Collins. One of them was about Cliff Richard and I sold a lot of copies to members of his fan club.

Now, after a while out of writing to do the whole "mum" thing and bring up my thirteen-year old son, I'm back writing again, but I've found that what I really love to do is teaching adults. Since September, I have been teaching an adult education class in creative writing.

I love my class. I love the mixture of personalities and ages and abilities. I love all the different sorts of writing they like to do. I love seeing their enthusiasm when they try something new and it works, or when they read aloud something they have written and their fellow students tell them that it's really good.

I love the coffee break as we have such interesting discussions about writers and books and often people end up going home with the name of a new author they want to go and read.

I love seeing my students grow and develop both as writers and as readers. Let's not forget that if you want to become a really good writer, you have to read voraciously - or if you want to write for TV, watch lots of TV drama, but critically.

That's another thing I really enjoy about teaching my class - it's not just about telling them technical stuff, it's about getting them to think like writers, to look at life like writers.

So do writers look at life differently? If you want to find out, come back again and you'll be able to make up your own mind.

Meanwhile, why not check out the website that I built for Lindsay? You'll be able to read about her novel, A Knight's Vow, which is set in medieval England. When I finish the new pages, you'll also be able to read about her latest book, Flavia's Secret, which is set in Roman times.

Her website is http://www.lindsaytownsend.co.uk/. If you like her books, send her an e-mail, and if you like the website, let me know.

But do look in on my blogs again, and we can chat a bit more about writing and reading and teaching.