Faber – Introduction Session 1

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Those of you who are on FaceBook will know what an awful time I’ve been having (and I’m still having) with my phone network since last Friday 😦 So the idea of travelling up to London with no phone and no map was not really a prospect I was looking forward to 😦 I jokingly say to people that if its going to happen, it’ll happen to me, and it usually does! Proven by the fact that hubby’s phone which is on the same network, same phone, same number apart from 1 different digit, is working fine!

I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked then when the moment i left the house it started to rain and when I got to the station i discovered that my train had been cancelled and that there wasn’t another one for an hour (I ended up taking a different route which cost me more money).

So I finally arrived in Bloomsbury, hungry, tired (I fell asleep on the train) and with frizzy hair! Lol

After a quick stop in Costa I made my way over to The British Museum, managing a trip to the loo and a peek at their wonderful jewellery collection in their shop, before being turfed out at closing time.

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I then made my way over to the London Review Bookshop where I have a 10% discount card for being a Faber student. Yes, ok, I did buy a book alright 😉

Then it was time to ring that buzzer *queue dramatic intro music* The Faber building is stunning! From the outside a row of elegant Georgian town houses, but inside, modern, slick, and very very white. Our class is in the attic, on the 4th floor. I’m sure the view from the windows is stunning, but I was too engrossed in everything else to check. The class filled up quickly and there was lots of chair shuffling when Tim, our tutor arrived (we hadn’t left a seat for him lol).

I won’t bore you too much with the lesson, needless to say we had to go round introducing ourselves and saying what we wanted from the course. I said about my 2 novels and that I needed to be more focused. When he asked if I would be working on ‘But Not Forgotten’ I was a little bit chuffed, and couldn’t help wonder what he actually thought of it. I told him I wanted to start something new and he seemed to approve 😉 He went on to say, to all of us, that we were there for a reason. That he had read every single submission, and that we had been chosen because he saw something promising in every one of our pieces. That was good to know 😉

The rest of the lesson was taken up with writing exercises (I’ll share them at some stage), reading recommendations (books about writing) and a pep talk about sacrifice and commitment to being a writer. I think we all secretly squealed inside when he told us that a 3rd of the class from last year now had agents!

Homework for next weeks session is to read up about “planning” (a print out Tim gave us) and to read the other notes we were given. There will be a “peer critique” every week, where one students work is analysed *gulp* so I guess I better start working on my first piece. It has to be under 5,000 words so I’ll probably get cracking on the new novel…..exciting….and more about that tomorrow!

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Right, I spose I better get some sleep, but I’m buzzing! A great night! Can’t wait till next week now 🙂

ps….I went for the red top 😉

31 thoughts on “Faber – Introduction Session 1”

    • Oh it was CB 🙂

      I was getting worried that there was something trying to stop me going, but I’m so glad I battled on and actually got there lol

      It’s a lovely place isn’t it. Shame the course wasn’t in the summer what with Russell Square and Bloomsbury Square right there on the doorstep 😦

      Xx

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  6. Hey! Wow, and well done you! I’ve forwarded to my blog. Hope that’s okay? It’s in draft so if you’d rather I didn’t I won’t publish. Sweetheart, blow the wind (excuse the pun) and the rain and the phone and the train… You are there! xxx

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  11. Well done, Vikki, I’m so proud of you! I bet it was really exciting – how did you get on with the introducing yourself bits, were you nervous? Can’t wait to hear about the new novel you’re starting, and about the writing exercises. Well done again x

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