How do you eat an elephant?

...one bite at a time. My good friend Helen gave me this piece of (somewhat strange) advice many years ago and it's something I need to pay attention to right now.

Last Saturday I spent almost 5 hours in a lecture theatre listening to an information overload on research and thesis writing. Am I freaking out? Am I thinking I've bitten off more than I can chew? Am I ready to run for the hills?

Yes, yes and yes!

But I'm going to sit back for a minute, think of Helen's advice (which, of course, really has nothing to do with the rather perverse idea of eating one of our planet's most amazing animals) and work out which tiny bite I need to take first.

Any words of advice/encouragement will be gratefully accepted :)

Excited and petrified

Last night we had the first meeting of our Masters cohort in children's and youth writing. It looks like it's going to be a great year, but really bloody busy.

Although we're all writing for young adults (rather than children) everyone's project is different and exciting. I can see some great books resulting from this year - hopefully mine will be one of them!

The research work (exegesis - what does it mean anyway???) seems a bit daunting but I'm sure I'll get through it somehow (assuming I can find that magic fairy who I'm sure owes me a lot of favours).

The first meeting ended well with us all enjoying a well-deserved alcholic beverage at a local cafe, where the service was electic but nonetheless entertaining. It was my first time at an establishment where the wait staff asked one of the guests to explain the wine list to oher guests, but I'm always up for new experiences!

So the course is off to a great start. Now all I have to do is get writing...