Assignments, Goodbye and Hello – Day 26 NaBloPoMo 2015

26 Nov 2015 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Creative Writing, Inspiration, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Hurrah! I submitted my last assignment for my current university unit this afternoon 😀

I nearly always find this part of units rather bittersweet – I’m a step closer to a Bachelor of Communication but I have to say goodbye to some wonderful people I’ve been studying with. Part of the deal with online study are the discussion boards, which act like a virtual tutorial group, and often these are assessed. In this unit, (Creative Writing, Forms and Structures) I’ve had the pleasure of exercising my brain cells with some really lovely people, and I will miss them.

On the other hand, next week I start a new unit, (Writing the Short Story) and I’ll be saying hello to a new group of people to discuss and share work with for the next 13 weeks. This unit will take me up to March next year, which is the start of Study Period One of the academic year. I decided on my units for 2016 a while ago and enrolled in them today – the last of my second year subjects.

I also realised this afternoon that I’ve been studying online continuously now for two years. It’s quite an achievement for me to stay that motivated and engaged, particularly without any campus interaction, but I’m interested in the work and the teaching through Griffith has been excellent. I’m majoring in Creative Writing and Screen Studies, two subjects close to my heart, but I wish there were more screen units – I really loved them with a passion!

And this is my 100th post on this blog – I’m astonished! As I’m coming to the end of the NaBloPoMo challenge and starting a new unit, I’ll be pulling back from blogging a little. My goal from December 1st is to post once a week rather than every day.

Meanwhile, I’m taking the evening off and chilling out – I’ve got a few days solid gardening to do before Study Period Four starts!

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Sleepy baby

The Blog Challenge – NaBloPoMo 2015

29 Oct 2015 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Composition, Inspiration, Inspiration, Writing Tags: , , , , , , ,

Hi everyone,

It’s coming towards the end of the year (where did the last twelve months go?) and that means we’re getting close to National Blog Posting Month – NaBloPoMo.

The challenge is to write a blog post every day for the month of November and it’s really quite challenging to keep it fresh and interesting – from a writing perspective as much as for the audience. I’ve done it once before, two years ago. I had no home internet connection and did the whole thing from my mobile phone. If I can do that, this year is going to be easy 😉

If you’re inclined to challenge yourself writing-wise, click on the badge in the sidebar and get involved. It’s really a lot of fun and I personally found it a great learning experience.

Take care wherever you are ❤

National Blog Posting Month – Let the Madness Begin!

04 Nov 2013 3 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Inspiration, Writing Tags: , , , , , , ,

NaBloPoMo!Boredom has never been one of my life’s travelling companions.

For that alone, I feel truly blessed. I think it’s partly because I’ve done so many different things in my life and had such a diverse range of interests, that I don’t find myself wondering what to do next. And, over the years I’ve developed the confidence to try new things and I love new challenges.

This year, I’ve found myself writing a lot more. Not just blogging, but songwriting, teaching and soon, learning. So, it seemed like a natural fit when I discovered NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) last night . As I understand it, NaBloPoMo came as a response to NaNoWriMo, where the idea is to write a novel through the month of November. I confess, I looked at this site a couple of weeks ago and thought there’s no way I could do that! But a blog everyday? Yeah, why not!

Now, those of you who follow my writing will be aware that I’m without a solid internet connection at the moment. What on earth was I thinking???

I was thinking solely about the discipline and challenge of writing a piece every day.

With everything that’s always going on in my life, I’ve been trying to convince myself lately to slow down a little and relax. Well, what better way to do it than through this? I find writing theraputic, cathartic and inspiring, and I know many of you do too. So in my daily schedule I am going to set aside just a little time everyday to reflect upon the things that matter (a series of pieces that I recently started and been meaning to re-visit).

Can I last the distance? Can I maintain my inspiration for the entire month? I honestly don’t know, but I intend to give it, in the Australian vernacular, “a red hot go” and see where it takes me.

Strap in, hang on, I think it’s going to be a fun ride!

Debra 😉

PS: It’s not too late to join in the madness – if you feel inspired sign up at BlogHer and start!