Done toolkit and theories!

After much hassle and gently thumping my head against the desk a few times, I have completed all assignments from semester one for the MA. I've also started (but not yet finished) the critique for A363 and the end is in sight! 5 assignments, 18 thousand words. Phew. It seems strange, but I don't have any reading or writing to do (especially) so I will just potter on with the book. I think I need to get to the halfway mark to put it in for the dissertation but, ideally, I will submit the second half if I've got that far. I'm reading children's books on the reading list at the moment. I can recommend My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick especially.

It's a raw heroic tale of 1600's vampires (I know, not more vamps I hear you cry. Well, I cried, anyway) but it's refreshing and a very grown up supernatural thriller. I suppose the word I would use for it is clean, there's no unnecessary baggage, the characters have just enough words to make them vivid and the action is thrilling. Sedgwick has cut away unnecessary blather to leave a really big story in a small book, ideal for teenagers - and me. It's what I am trying to achieve with Borrowed Time so I shall be especially glad to hear him talk about his books on my course. The only downside is I had to buy the next book to see what happened, and I had an Amazon moment and bought several other books. Oops! We're going to need an extra Luton van at this point, to move back to Ilfracombe, just for the books...