Isn't it a nice feeling, when you know what you're doing? I don't get it very often, so I'm sure you'll excuse me while I revel in it. Over the past couple of weeks, various people have offered me some very good advice. They may not have realised it was advice at the time, but that's how I've taken it, and it's been enormously helpful. Please bear with me while I explain how I've changed my mind about my studying yet again....Yes, yes, I know, sorry....
Because I'm just doing a degree to stop my brain atrophying, I've been having a problem choosing my next course. I've got two more courses to do (three, if I can work it without the OU rapping me over the knuckles for doing too many credits). I've been choosing courses because they look enjoyable, as I had no specific target in mind other than 'I like Humanities'. You will know from my blog address that I'm not the best person at making up my mind, so my attention has wandered from myths via literature to religion and back again. I really need to decide by March, when I can register and reserve a place on a course.
A colleague told me that I should do what I like doing - an obvious little piece of advice, really, but one that I rarely consider, as I feel selfish when I do things just for me (she added that life's too short not to, but I'm hoping I've got a few years left in me yet). I like writing. You know I'd like to try my hand at Na-No-Wri-Mo when I have a few spare minutes and I think that's where the next course choices will come from. So, I'm going to do one on English Grammar, then a linguistics course. Hopefully, those combined with the Creative Writing will turn me into a better writer, making less fewer mistakes. They'll help to give me knowledge I can use, rather than just enabling me to talk intelligently about picture books.
I know those particular courses are meant to be pretty difficult, but I don't mind if I can see a result from them. And I'm sure you'll be grateful to see some sort of sense coming into these blog entries.
So now I can look forward to a fun-packed two years. The first course, I've just discovered, will have to be linguistics, simply because it starts earliest. I'm being told that: 'In exploring creativity across a range of genres and social contexts, this course provides a lively introduction to stylistic, sociolinguistic and multimodal analysis. It draws on work in literature and performance studies as well as English language studies.' Should I be worried that I have to look some of those words up? I had wanted to do the grammar one first, thinking that would be useful and help with linguistics. But that doesn't start until next February. (I'm so sorry, this post is turning into a big ponder and is probably incredibly boring to read. I do apologise.) Shall I give myself 7 months off? I'm now eyeing the big pile of books that are waiting for my spare time. It's tempting. Damn it, I've worked hard enough. Grammar first, then linguistics.
Never have I made so many decisions in such a short space of time. Never have I put off so many readers. (And now I'm asking myself whether that should be 'as many'?). I'm sure someone will let me know....
(Enter Pavel Alanovic)
ReplyDeleteWell, forgetting the "as"/"so" issue (the issue is not grammatical, but semantic), the word 'than' should, of course, be 'that'. Curse those spell check tools which don't recognise correctly spelt words out of context !!
As you know, my degree was English Language and LINGUISTICS and I can honestly say that, if I had the opportunity to change anything in the past, I wouldn't change that. As a mutual friend would say, "It was fab !"
Thank you - I didn't notice the typo. Thank goodness it lets you edit. Actually, I didn't know about your degree, and you may regret telling me that.
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