Welcome, writers and readers, one and all. It’s been a while. It’s time I reintroduced you to The Cluttered Desk, which is the virtual home of all sorts of musings from my incredibly full head, and my very cluttered actual desk.
I have just raised my head from a two-year MA in Creative Writing with the Open University, which has been am immensely worthwhile developmental experience as a writer. With the results of that in the bag in December, so begins 2020 in the grown-up world of writing. With the training wheels off (note: the training wheels are never off, but that’s a discussion for another post), it seemed a good time to reengage with this blog and shape it into something new. “What shape is that?” is the inevitable question. Let me give you an idea of what to expect.
Apart from the inevitable voyage into the deeper reaches of my random psyche, (which much like an ill-functioning GPS, could well take you along a narrow country road and strand your carefully polished pride and joy in an overflowing ford that is deeper than you first allowed and impossible to extract yourself from), over the course of the next few months, I will be posting all sorts of things to do with the craft and practice of writing. There may be some tips and lessons learned from my MA. It is possible you’ll learn a bit first-hand about my successes and missteps in the writing world. I’ll be posting a variety of articles about not just the craft of writing, but also some of my approaches to the practice of turning a passion into a career. I’ll also be posting a lot about other people’s writing, especially the writing I like.
My mind, much like my desk, is cluttered though. Expect the unexpected, with a smattering of running, parenting and cats. Sometimes, I may forget to hop into a phone booth, twirl round twice and appear in my super-writing hero cape, and instead the scientist and educator that remains my alter ego by day will come by for a visit.
We live in interesting times - I can’t tell you if it’s a curse or a blessing. It’s likely I’ll write about it. Or will I write because of it? Either way, come and join me on the ride.