As I put the cap back on my special black inkie, zipped up my pencil case and gathered my scribblings together, I pondered.
I’m very good at pondering, but this was a very special occasion; I have reached the end of my Master’s course. Me!
The two years have flown by and my dissertation looms.
I started out wondering (pondering?) if I could write anything apart from a blog. I’m still not sure, but I’m going to give it my best shot.
I would love to say that I enjoyed every minute – but where would be the fun in that? I took this course to push me to my absolute limit. And it worked.
My MS brain was failing me big time and I wanted to do something that would/could wake it up. I like books. I like reading. MS started to chip away at that, so what better way to wreak revenge on this pesky illness than to do something completely contrary? MS reared it’s ugly head again last year (gah) and I had a third course of Campath in September to help combat it.
Then my relative became ill and real life took a dramatic turn, no need for improvisation. But, honestly, what kept me going was writing. I know it sounds strange, but telling it as it is was was a lifeline – in a strange way, it allowed me to distance myself from the emotional turmoil. I would fashion sentences in my head, such as, ‘she walked with trepidation towards the ward, room, blissfully unaware of what she would could face’. I was self-editing.
But back to the Master’s. The whole course has been an exhilarating journey through literature, a non-stop assault on the senses. I’ve been reading my whole life and now, suddenly, I find that those decades, those towers of books I have read, are coming in to good use.
I’m not a starving artist in a garret, much as I’d like to be. Instead, I’m a chocolate-addicted scribbler in a very small cottage. I don’t wear fingerless gloves and I’m not freezing, MS heat-intolerance has put paid to that. The Teenager doesn’t like baked beans much, sadly. Nor baked potatoes from the microwave.
Yet, galvanised by the last two years of lectures, tears, upsets and criticism (always constructive), I am tentatively calling myself ‘A Writer’.
Don’t laugh, lol.
congrats on getting to this point! 😀 Its def. not something to laugh at
Thank you so much!
x
Hey, I’m proud of you!! I’m interested in the topic of your dissertation. Any idea what it might be and would you like to share it?
Thank you!
My dissertation is a modern-day rewriting of the play, An Inspector Calls 🙂 I’ve always loved it and the message behind it!
x
Can’t wait for the movie of your great novel.
Your blog would make a great play as well.
Lol!
Funny you should mention that – my cousin runs a theatre company and is about to read my book …
x
Sincere congratulations. That is quite an amazing achievement. I’ve done a Masters and so know something of what’s involved but I did it when much younger and (more important) in my pre MS days. Even then it was bloody hard work. It must feel so great to have achieved so much in a subject you love…I look forward to reading the book when it’s finished and have a feeling we won’t have too long to wait. Very well done!! T.
Thank you!
I’ve got til January to submit, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll write the whole book rather than just the first 10,000 words!
x
I’ll call you a writer too, without hesitation. 🙂
Aw, thank you!
x
Congratulations and wonderful news. I knew you would do it despite the many hurdles.
I await now the first novel that will surely be dedicated to the Teenager!
Have a good day.
It sure will!
x
I’m impressed, in fact uber impressed. Does a PhD beckon?!?
Being serious I’ve kind of picked up tips from your blogs for my own and I’m sure mine have become better, easier to read and more literate (I think/hope)
Thank you – and your blog is fab too 🙂
Still toying with the idea of a PhD lol. You never know!
x
Congrats Writer. Good luck with dissertation. Just remember to keep blogging too. X
Thank you so much!
Will definitely still be blogging – you guys will probably keep me sane during the dissertation!!
x