Claire Waller

I love this, Bella. I wonder – if you’d been asked to write about that incident without doing it as an ‘I remember’, do you think it would have turned out differently in other ways than simply not starting each sentence with that phrase? I agree it’s like a poem, and I especially like the line about Glenn’s mum who also ‘remembered’.

This is wonderful! I remember kissing a photo of David Cassidy which my friend had stuck to the mirror in her bedroom. (Donny Osmond was hers.) And there’s nothing wrong with wearing a bra AND a vest now – but there would have been then!

Well. I’ve read the Le Guin and Burroway chapters and have had a strong emotional reaction. Not to the gorgeous passages. But to the prospect of this whole MA, to notebooks and journals and free-writing, and sharing with you lot and telling the stories that matter to me. I’m sixty years old and I’m sitting here crying! Don’t worry – I won’t use…[Read more]

Right! Write! Read! I have 2.5 hours this morning, so I’m diving in. Splash!

Noice. I like how the I remember sequence in this case tells the story – I’ve only ever used it as disjointed memories previously, all loosely connected to a theme. This puts a totally different spin on the exercise. I had a similar experience, but in my case it was tapioca… 😉

Blimey – you did well to get all that dialogue down, Raine! Loving the accent in it. And I remember is so poignant – some of what you’ve written seems so matter-of-fact, yet it is still so full of emotion. Like it.

Good idea to beautify something already written…it might be easier than trying to do it from scratch if it’s not the way you naturally write.

I’m going to have a go at ‘writing gorgeous’ but I thought I’d pick a passage I’d already written and try and ‘beautify’ it. Personally I think a little of some of the examples goes a long way. The Kipling and the Molly Gloss, I love, and I think that’s because the ‘gorgeousness’ doesn’t obstruct the sense but enhances it. The other two, I’m not…[Read more]

Started on an impromptu dialogue capture while Billy-no-mates in the pub prior to NIBS on Weds. Worst bit is trying to capture the dialogue (background noise, speed of dialogue) and not getting annoyed at people who like the sound of their own voice. 😉 But I now know a lot about CBD oil… and eating peas.

Oh, and does anyone understand what…[Read more]

Thank Jules and Bella. I have now booked a trip to the UK at the end of October (to visit family rather than purely to record people) and I’ll do some recording then.

Ooooh the Hadron Collider is a good one although I did watch a TV programme about it, I think, but still am none the wiser. Funnily enough this was the first exercise I tried. There is something about it that just made me start automatically. By the way, we are all posting in the wrong thread.

Feel like I’m going to fall at the first hurdle, as my diary over the next few weeks is chokka, and I’ve never been a very disciplined writer.

But – am going to try to get one definite session of at least a couple of hours under my belt every week, day to be flexible.

@janeshuff try going on Youtube and looking for News items. Pick somewhere English speakinh and aim for a local news report. I’ve found there’s lots of excerpts of dialogue in local interest stories that way.

Can I leap in early and say that I would really like to do the overheard dialogue exercise, but I’m in France without access to native English speakers other than my OH and he’s a man of few words. If anyone else does this exercise, might they be able to share the recordings with me? Or does anyone have any ideas where I can find real dialogue on…[Read more]

This is marvellous, WB. My books should arrive tomorrow!

Agree that posting on the main wall for each unit would be a good idea.

Just a thought, but should we make this a private group now. Not because I want to exclude anyone but it’s liable to clutter up the ‘all member’s activity wall’ once we all start contributing. What do you all (including those who don’t plan to do the MA) think?

Woolleybeans, I think we’re all queuing in the playground waiting for the classrooms to appear and have thankfully shoved the responsibility onto you to produce them!