Have you ever thought about all the jobs you’ve had, whether paid for or as a volunteer? I have borrowed this idea from a book called Picture Perfect.
“Author, Blues harmonica player, Businessman, Co-counsellor, Consultant, Delivery driver, Editor, Filing clerk, Forklift truck driver, Head of Economics, Head of E-Education, Head of ICT & Computer, ICT Advisor, ICT Co-ordinator, Leader, Lecturer, Maintenance worker, Manager, Market trader, Masseur, Office boy, Principal Officer (ICT), Private tutor, Public speaker, Reflexologist, Salesman, Singer, Teacher, Teacher in further education, Teacher in prison, Teacher in school, Transcendental Meditation checker, Writer.”
Coming up with what I call a stem, like “I have been…”, or “I remember”, is a great way of stimulating the creative juices. This is one of the techniques I will be covering in my course called Writing Using Constraints in just under two weeks’ time. That is assuming it goes ahead. At the moment only one person is booked on it. Apparently bookings are down right across all the departments of the college, presumably because of finance. Anyway, we have to make a decision next Monday (16th June). If there are not at least five people signed up by then, the course will be cancelled, which would be such a shame. Every time I’ve run it we all learn loads and have a good laugh.
Here is what people said about the course last year:
Thanks for everything Terry, a truly enjoyable day
Terry, thank you for a learning experience which surpassed my already-high expectations! The course was superb: the atmosphere in the classroom was welcoming and friendly, the resources were excellent, and although in advance of the course I had felt nervous about the prospects of both working in collaboration with other students and sharing my own thoughts and work, these in fact proved to be the aspects of the course which I enjoyed the most! I felt supported throughout, and learned a great deal about writing with constraints. I'm looking forward to putting what I learned into practice in my own writing projects. I can't wait to take another course with you - thank you, Terry!
Friendly, knowledgeable
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