It’s with enormous anticipation that I begin my first blog as an MLitt Writing Practice and Study student but I can assure you it is nothing short of an utterly thrilling moment. I am Victoria, lover of words and the power they wield, and I have thrown myself into this challenging course with the purpose of compiling and refining a portfolio of my own writing to present, with confidence, to the publishing world claiming, ‘Ta-da! Here I am!’. Or something like that.
My home is Dundee where I stay with my husband, four children, two dogs, six fish and one hamster, and my interests are reading, writing, reading, writing, reading some more and a little bit more writing. The writing I love to read and explore is writing that plays with form and delves to emotional depths. So I’ll leave you guessing about my book collection for now! I do also have a little life outside of the written word where I run, hike, practise yoga, enjoy hockey and pretend I can play the guitar.
But in case you hadn’t guessed, my passion is writing and my style is yet to be defined. I’m a wannabe poet, short story writer, song writer, novelist and magazine features writer. Is it wrong to want it all? Perhaps not at this stage in my development when there are still so many writing routes to explore. So far on the course I’ve discovered that I’m permanently confused, easily distracted and prone to excitability- there’s much to get carried away by! But I certainly feel like I’m in the right place at the right time and to quote published writer Clare Hunter, who graduated with the MLitt several years ago, she felt she had, ‘died and gone to heaven’ when she began her studies. She beautifully articulated what I felt on my first day, although I do still feel like a rabbit in the headlights, particularly when put on the spot in tutorials!
So today heralds my arrival as anxious but putting-a-brave-face-on-it blogger! I shall endeavour not to waffle but rather to provide insight into life as an aspiring writer and how this exhilarating course is shaping my development and taking me off on all sorts of wonderful tangents! Watch this space.
