Getting started
I have enrolled onto a ten-week beginners creative writing course, which is hosted through one of the London University’s. It takes place weekly on Zoom and is a two hour session led by a published author called Emily.
I decided to enrol onto the course because I enjoy writing but have not formally studied the craft of writing before. So, I feel like I don’t have the tools I require to start writing and exploring my creativity. I hope that the course will give me the skills and knowledge that I need to get into the flow of writing and to take that next step.
I had the first session a week ago and really enjoyed it! There are around 20 people on the course who are from different walks of life, but who are inspired to write. Emily (our tutor) welcomed us and had some really good advice in terms of approaching creative writing. She explained that finding time to be creative is challenging, and we often have moments of creative inspiration which can easily escape from us if we don’t carve out the time to follow through with the inspiration.
She recommended working around our schedules and being flexible with finding small windows in time to feed our creativity. For example, you can write on the train to work or during your lunch break. These might be very small windows of time, but once you tap into your creativity it will become easier to find this headspace and to exercise it. Emily also said that these weekly classes are a special time each week where we can come together to feed our creativity as a group, which I thought was a lovely and empowering way to view the classes.
Emily said that she loves mentoring aspiring writers and seeing us flourish. She was very supportive and imparted the following wisdom onto us:
We all have something to offer - this was reassuring to hear, as it’s easy to compare ourselves to others and think that we might not be creative enough or good enough to write, but as Emily said, we all have something to offer and we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others.
Perfection is the enemy of creativity - I thought this was also very wise advice, as it’s easy to lose confidence and feel that what we have written isn’t good enough. As Emily explained, you just have to try and once you start writing, keep going and don’t worry about perfection.
I found the above advice really helpful and it has given me the confidence to believe in myself and not to worry about perfection, but to enjoy the process of being creative.
I also think the above advice is underpinned by the practical advice around setting aside windows of time to engage with writing, as time can slip away and before you know it, you find that you are caught up in the flow of life and creative pursuits are a distant fantasy.
I have created the following visual diagram as a reminder of what I have learnt during my first session in terms of approaching creative writing:
