Challenging Myself

All Journeys Have to Begin:

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” E.E.Cummings

I ushered in the fifth decade of my life determined to challenge myself, at least once a year, either physically or mentally.

Essentially a procrastinator, I turned fifty with the distinct feeling that I was about to hit a deadline. All those dreams and aspirations that I kept putting aside were needing to be addressed. If I was going to do them the time was now or face years of regret later on.

Two big ones sprang to mind, one involved travel and the other involved writing. Both are ongoing journeys and both demand a certain amount of courage.

Compared to a lot of my friends, I was a late comer to the joys of travelling, only taking my first overseas trip when I was forty. The more you travel the more you wish to see and this is a theme I will come back to.

Why Writing?

Today however, I’m focusing on a much newer journey, the challenge I took on of developing myself as a creative writer. I have always loved to write and have found writing a powerful tool to communicate and clarify things.

As a teenager I kept a diary full of teenage hopes, dreams and angst. I filled journals with prose and poetry and spent hours copying bits of other people’s writing that struck me as beautiful.

As an adult I have kept journals of the trips I have been on, and in my professional capacity made up stories to help young children deal with the challenges of life. It goes without saying I love to read and I hope I instilled a love for reading in my sons. The number of books throughout our household would indicate I did.

Refining my Writing:

Loving something and being capable of achieving it, are two very different beasts. As much as I am dreamer, I am also a pragmatist.  I believe that it’s always best to get professional guidance from the outset. This took a lot of courage it had been awhile since I had studied anything formally.

A quick google search took me to various sites offering short term writing courses.

The institution you choose to learn from is always a personal matter, and there are lots out there SA Writers College ticked all the right boxes.

• Short courses
• Achievable goals
• Loads of professional support from your tutor along the way
• Challenging without being overwhelming
• Affordable

I started with a basic creative writing course and have completed two others since then. I’m currently on my fourth course. I’ve loved the challenge of each one and this blog site is part of that journey.

I’ve had some challenges along the way that have distracted me and delayed my personal progress including the upheaval of moving to the other side of the country, and death of two family members. Now I’m finding the more disciplined I am about writing the more motivated I am to write.

Whilst I have yet to decide what I am going to do with my writing, I am thoroughly enjoying the journey of discovering where it will take me.