Oh dear, what have I done?
I met some of the other MA students on Saturday 24th July – perfectly polite, normal people. Friendly actress Helen with her charmingly shy daughter, Mabel: Anita full of cat-like grace: Dana, so sophisticated yet warm; Olivia, elegant and outgoing, and quiet, thoughtful Davy.
Nothing to be frightened of there.
Ah, but now the emails have begun.
Beneath those pleasant exteriors are scarily clever people. They know what a nested story structure is, they are not scared by ‘achrony’ and ‘psycho narration’ and they write with ‘cogency and force‘.
Help.
I can barely remember anything about ‘On Chesil Beach‘ (though I know geographically it‘s where ‘Moonfleet’ takes place and I liked that much better) and I thought Sarah Water‘s ‘Night Watch‘ might be about Rembrandt. It isn’t.
The not very hidden hippy in me really rather likes” The Artist’s Way” but I suspect these urbane and erudite types are not impressed. In fact I know jolly well Helen sees it on a prop for resting actors to pretend they’re not unemployed. I‘ve swallowed it hook, line and sinker:gung ho and naive as per usual. Doing my morning pages, having an artist date, all that New Agey stuff.
I think ‘The Seven Basic Plots’ looks more like a thing you’d stand on to reach the top shelf than something you’d want to read. Crumbs.
I like the look of the ‘tec stores – nice and short. And Tanglewood Tales was written for children. Hoorah.
Oopsy – you need a dictionary just for that, I found.
Seems I haven’t done enough swotting to be teacher‘s pet, looks like I’ll have to be class clown instead.Someone has to be Alan Davies. 
I agree about the seven plots! Great use
It can also be used to hold doors open and to weight down the plate on top of Summer Pudding.
Thanks for commenting, Teri!
I felt really glum when I read the email, too, so yesterday was a delightful surprise. I can’t be doing with jargon: I think it usually screens the user’s inability to express him/self in such a way that the listener might understand and, God forbid, argue the point. I moaned to Greg that I couldn’t be doing with it and you’ll have seen that he suggests it’s like a foreign language. Tosh! I’m with John Lennon: “Avant garde is French for bullshit.” Mind you, he had an inferiority complex too…
Let’s say what we mean and mean what we say.
You can certainly hold your own Susie! Good to see you and wait for the next blog entry – do you Twitter?
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Blimey and to think I momentarily considered it!!!!! Good Luck!
It will be great! Despite all my worries it will do me a power of good.
Nice to hear from you, Anne.