Classes

Okay, so when I finished high school, I immediately went to University to study physics and maths. That didn't work out, and I quit halfway through. Cue a few years of working day jobs, and then I want to go back and study again.

So I go back, starting halfway through a science degree. But I don't remember the equations, and I don't remember correct protocol for lab write-ups, so I fail at that and quit again.

Then a couple of years later, bringing us to the start of 2010, I get told about this program run through an employment agency and Flinders Uni. It's an arts degree, but not the whole degree. It's run over 2 years, with 1 subject per semester, so 4 subjects total. They're all first-year subjects, so basically what you have after 2 years is a complete semester's worth of subjects for first year in an arts degree.

Well, I'm doing that, mostly because the first subject was Short Stories And Their Writers. I'm loving it so far, and next semester we have a social sciences subject. I don't know what it's called, or what we'll be studying next year.

There are 9 of us in the class, and most of those want to be teachers. Curiously, the only other guy in the class also, like me, wants to be a novelist.

So why am I telling you all this? Probably because it's on my mind, as I just wrote the second short story for class. 1313 words of pure alrightness. It's not my best work, but it's not my worst either. But it'll still be well-received in class, if my first story is anything to judge by.

These 2 shorts aren't for grades. They're just for class discussion, so we can learn a bit about editing and critiquing, and the basics of writing. For grades, we have an essay, a test, and a 2 thousand word short story to hand up.

Well, the essay was due last week. I came prepared in class, and my 2000 word essay was fairly good, if I say so myself. What I found when I got there, though, was that 3 people hadn't shown up, and the other 5 had all got extensions for over the holidays. So I was the only person to hand in my essay on time. That just bugs me a little.

Not that I was pressed for time, and not that extra time would've resulted in a better essay. It was about as good as it was going to get. But still - a deadline is a deadline.

I'm most surprised at the other guy in my class - the one who wants to be a novelist. Surely he must understand that authors have deadlines, so why is he getting an extension. Also, for the first short story we had to hand up for dissection and no grades, he hasn't finished it yet, and it was due 3 weeks ago! I'm just surprised, is all.

But enough about me. Do you come here often?