Back to school: a journey in to adult education

New posts from me have been woefully lacking this year.  Part of the reason for this, I must admit, is my addiction to the evil, easy, gratification of Instagram (read more about my guilty pleasure here).  Part is the result of real life: a full time job, study for professional exams and major house renovations have collectively sucked some significant sand from my hourglass.  And part is due to my new year’s resolution to write more.  What?  You ask.  How can a resolution to write more lead to less writing?  Well in a flurry of January exuberance I signed up for an adult education course at my local university, a course on creative non-fiction.  I hoped that some guided study with a professional writer would provide all the tools I needed to ease me away from amateur status towards the holy grail of publication.  Of course it is never that easy and, unbelievably, my big break still evades me, but I came away from the experience with some valuable insights none the less.  I met some interesting people of varied age and background, all with unique stories to tell and unique voices to tell them with.  I read work by writers I had never heard of, in styles that I had never come across.  And I produced a thing, a piece, some writing, in creative non-fiction form, something very different in content to my usual travel focused posts that appear here.  So dear reader, please indulge a small diversion in our journey.  The next post will be ‘The Piece’.  After that normal service will resume.