Holidays are great, but returning to a task refreshed is the real benefit. I've prepared the first week's lessons, reread the first draft of "New World" and started the next draft, rearranging large blocks of the story and confining others to the cutting file to be discarded when the story is published.
It's a different world when you have the whole story in a physical form, even though I've hacked it about a lot, and this is another enjoyable stage. You know where you're going and exactly what you want to achieve. I have to force myself to take breaks and the seven week course is great because I have student assignments to drag me away.
Teaching is great fun, particulalry with motivated students who've paid money and given up their evenings to attend the course. It imposes a responsibility to ensure they get value for their money and use their time effectively, but there's always time for a laugh and lots of opportunities to learn a little more about the craft of writing. I can't think of a more effective way to learn a subject than to teach it.
Perhaps I should be paying them rather than vice versa?
David Andrews is an Australian Author with twenty six published books to his credit, nineteen written as Amy Gallow while he learned his craft as a writer. His 2012 novel "Coasting" is a finalist in the 2014 EPIC competition
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