It’s the evening Tuesday 23rd July and it’s my third day in Oxford. So much has been packed in, it feels like I’ve been here for weeks.
Sunday:
After settling into my room, I met a friend from Australia who is studying her Masters degree here. She took me to the Grand Café for a cream tea. The heavy, doughy scones and pot of tea were just perfect for a Sunday afternoon.
After a walk around the town, it was time for our welcome reception in the Fellows Garden. We all dressed up and were greeted with an obligatory glass of champagne.
Meeting fellow students and tutors in such a beautiful garden, surrounded by ancient buildings of learning, made us all feel a little misty-eyed.
Our welcome dinner was set in the Hall of Exeter College and was very formal. The academic staff trooped in, gowned in black and we rose to greet them. After a brief prayer we sat.
Sitting at long tables in a room surrounded by paintings of Masters past, with fellow writers was exciting.
I sat next to a woman from Kenya, who like me, was doing the course for her personal development. There were lots of people from Australian and US universities, including prestigious institutions such as Dartmouth and Princeton.
Monday:
Day One of class was a session with Nicholas McInerny who writes radio drama for the BBC and wrote many episodes of The Bill.
Our first Young Adult writing session with Julie Hearnhttp://www.juliehearn.co.uk
Saw us writing straight away and with the task of writing the beginning of a new novel for an assessment in two weeks.
The flow of the day is punctuated by meals in the Hall, not as formal as the opening reception. Each day I’ve met lovely people, many of them young students from Australia.
After dinner, my friend Nerida came and we had a walk through Christ Church College, where she studies and saw a bit more of the town. It doesn’t get really dark until about ten at night, walking around is pleasant.
Tuesday:
After breakfast, I tried to do some work on my Young Adult novel idea which is due tomorrow. It went off in a completely new direction and it’s starting to look a bit daunting-but exciting. Julie told us if we are not excited by the story, then no one else will be.
Our session this morning was run by David Finkling one of the UK’s most successful children’s editors, the man who brought readers His Dark Materials, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. He also works on Philip Pullman’s books.
His funny and eccentric Englishman persona belied a sharp observer and, obviously, a passionate publisher. He said, ‘Writing a book is like singing in public. Your book must sing before you take it to a publisher. The publisher/editing team just help you work on the performance before it goes on the stage.’
http://www.davidficklingbooks.com
After lunch, I had more time to work on my novel, inspired by the session in the morning.
This afternoon’s class on Fiction with Lorna Fergussenhttp://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk
It was a meander through reasons why we write and what we want to write. We all had to write on an impromptu topic and read our work. This is a hard thing to do. As David said this morning, it’s like singing in public-you’d better be good.
I get idea envy when I listen to everyone else read. There are so many gifted people here!
Tonight we had Open Mic where people could read their work. The writing was fantastic and the readers confident. We have another one next week, so I’ll have to see if I want to read anything!
Tomorrow we have more classes and more meals in the Hall interspersed with time to work on our writing. On that note, I’d better get some sleep!
So it’s goodnight from Oxford.
