Thursday 21 November 2019

A little bit of what you fancy...

I did such a long post last month, I thought it might be a relief for everyone if I did a short post today!

Once a fortnight I go for a day to study Theology in a beautiful place. I started travelling there, taking an easy train journey, but since then I met someone on the course who lives near me and she very kindly gives me a lift, and we have a lovely chat and catchup there and back. My lovely vicar checks in on my dogs a couple of times when I am away, and another kind person has offered to help if my vicar is busy.

So recently I have been working on the last book of my 'Magical Kingdom of Birds' series, which involves fascinating research about birds. The last one involved me learning lots  about Flamingos, and sorting out a storyline involving fairies and magic, and I loved being in that world. Then I went straight on to writing an academic essay on the Book of Psalms. Suddenly I have been learning about the Ancient Near East, the  Book of Baal, Egyptian hymns and Ugaritic myths, and parallelism and all sorts of other things in  ancient Hebrew verse, and LOADS of new things, and I am LOVING learning and writing about  that, too. I love researching the subject and I love meeting interesting people and I love the place where the teaching takes place. Writing the essay in an academic register and making it EXACTLY 2,500 words, and formatting it with footnotes and doing a proper academic bibliography and submitting it electronically was a new challenge, but today, the day after submitting it, I feel so glad!

So, what little bit of what you fancy is waiting for you? I have been wanting to academically study Theology for years. I love learning to do this different type of writing. What is your secret extra yearning, writing- related or not? It doesn't have to be worthy! You just need to love it!

5 comments:

Penny Dolan said...

Delightful to hear the enjoyment in your description of the course and everything about it - even the essay writing, it seems.

Anne Booth said...

Thank you!

Penny Dolan said...

Is it at the place where the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once lived?

Anne Booth said...

No, that is St Beuno's in Wales. That's where I have been on retreats.https://www.pathwaystogod.org/org/st-beunos That is a lovely place. The place where I am studying is here.https://staugustinescollege.ac.uk

Joan Lennon said...

My little bit of what I fancy is/are 26 projects - I love the challenges and working to a 62 word limit! (26 is a writers' collective with a passion for imaginative writing projects - to find out more, visit https://www.26.org.uk/) (And if you like trees, maybe have a look at the current one, in association with the Woodland Trust: https://26project.org.uk/26trees/)