Playing with words

I love my Open University creative writing module. I really do. It doesn't feel like I'm studying for a degree, because I'm having so much fun. It's a shame we only get two face-to-face tutorials for this module, because my tutor is exactly what you want in someone whose job it is to bring out and help shape your creativity - as a performance poet, she's full of creativity herself, has the technical knowledge, and gives honest feedback. She doesn't sugar coat her comments, which is good, because sugar coating is the last thing you need when you're trying to learn how to become a better writer.

The best technique I've picked up from this course so far is freewriting. Before, it never would have occurred to me to write for fifteen minutes non-stop on the first things that came into my head, because I would have assumed it would all be crap. Turns out, there's often usable material within the crap, and one of my recent freewrites turned into a series of three freewrites, which then turned into a poem.

I wasn't looking forward to the poetry section of this module as much as the other sections. I haven't really written poetry since my angst-filled teenage years, and that stuff is kept at the bottom of a box somewhere, hopefully never to be seen again. But by using the freewriting technique, combined with form, metre and rhyme schemes, I'm beginning to discover a poetic side to myself that I didn't know existed. I've always thought that the short story, or possibly the novel, would be the main outlet for my creativity, but now that I've started exploring poetry, my thinking has shifted. I write because I love words, and poetry gives me a chance to play with words in a different way, and express myself more imaginatively and succinctly than with prose. I'm not saying my poetry is any good, but with practice, maybe it could be. I've bought 'The Ode Less Travelled' by Stephen Fry for my Kindle, and I'm doing his exercises alongside my course work. I've become a swotty nerd all over again, and it's great.

If I get good marks for my poetry assignment, I'll share my poems here. If I don't, they'll never see the light of day again. Fingers crossed!