So I received information today about my dissertation for next year, third year discussion already? Wow! University really does fly on by… The good thing about being on a creative course is that I can do a creative piece for my final dissertation. YES! We are given options to either do a large collection of poetry, collection of short stories amounting to 6,000 words or the first two chapters of a novel also amounting to 6,000 words. The easier option for me would be the collection of short stories but I want to be a novelist so I think it would make sense to do that.
I keep running away from the word ‘novel’ and I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s because the amount of writing is so daunting. The typical novel is 80,000 words and the thought of it terrifies me. I am more comfortable with shorter pieces but I really want to write a novel. I think if I had the dedication and no distractions I could write a novel, but there are too many of them for me. The internet is the worst one. I find myself browsing the internet, watching Facebook and hoping for something to arrive on my news feed that actually interests me. I find myself watching countless TV shows online and I wonder if I added up all the time wasted doing that I probably could have written half a novel by now. I think being an author in the modern world is difficult because technology takes up a lot of our time.
After hearing that for my dissertation I can write two chapters of a novel the ideas have been buzzing around my head like electrical impulses and I didn’t waste any time as I wrote them all down. I look at it this way – I have five months once I finish this academic year and then I am starting my third year. In that time I can easily write the first draft of my dissertation. It’s not like I’m going to have anything else to do… I need a job. That is my main priority in the summer but writing my dissertation draft is a close second. I think my struggle is I don’t know what kind of writer I am yet.
I know what I like to write and I can see myself being a novelist but genre wise I’m not sure. I have tried several different genres. And hopefully fantasy is my next experiment. I have an idea for a modern day fantasy – lets see where I go with that. I know that I have the dedication to be a novelist but with distractions it is definitely harder to write. I complain about not having enough time but I need to make time. If I am serious about being a writer I need to write. Makes sense really.
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