As of today I can safely say, nearly four years after I embarked on the course, that I’m a Masters of Arts in Creative Writing!<\/p>\n
It’s time to celebrate — in a suitably virtual way.<\/p>\n
Having received a letter a week or two ago informing me that the Manchester Metropolitan University’s examinations committee had approved the award of my postgraduate degree, I was invited to the English Department degree congregation ceremony in Bridgewater Hall, due to be held tonight. I’d really liked to have attended — to mark the end result of all that hard work over a keyboard — but for various reasons, mainly geographical and connected with the day job — meant that I decided to stay in keeping with the philosophy of an online course and decided to have a virtual graduation instead.<\/p>\n
So I got in touch with fellow graduates Anne and Kerry (who were also absentee ‘graduands’) and we decided to raise our glasses to each other this evening at the point where we’d have been on stage shaking hands with the vice-chancellor (or whoever).<\/p>\n
Actually, Kerry had even more of a reason to celebrate in her absence as she was awarded the Michael Schmidt prize for best portfolio on the Creative Writing MA course which I see as a great vindication of taking the course via the online route. Well done Kerry from your fellow online students — I’ve heard murmurings that the novel (The Black Country<\/em>) that won the portfolio prize may working its way through the publication labyrinth. I’ll post on the blog when the work that I saw emerge through the workshopping process might become commercially available.<\/p>\n Let’s hope it’s the first of many.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of today I can safely say, nearly four years after I embarked on the course, that I’m a Masters of Arts in Creative Writing! It’s time to celebrate — in a suitably virtual way. Having received a letter a week or two ago informing me that the Manchester Metropolitan University’s examinations committee had approved … <\/p>\n