Until recently, everything I have written in my blogs is truth. Some of it is allegory, concealing a kernel of truth in a story that few will recognise or understand.

A couple of weeks ago, I started an online course in writing fiction. I thought it would be great professional development as an English teacher to expand my horizons in writing techniques, crafting meaning, and creating and developing plot and characters.

So far, it has confirmed for me that my approach to teaching students about writing is effective and valuable. It has also confirmed for me that my classroom emphasis on drafting, editing and proof-reading is not misplaced.

Beyond that, I have really enjoyed the challenge of assignments that require me to respond to a prompt or to create something new.

Obviously, I draw on my own experiences and people I know for inspiration. I believe every writer does that. It’s near impossible to write about something you have not felt, experienced, or at least imagined in some detail. The stories that endure are those which relate strongly to common human experience.

If you read my pieces of fiction, you will probably recognise me in some of them. Others will see a glimpse of themselves, or a quality that they share with one of my characters.
Please don’t read anything into that. I am not commenting on real people, but rather taking an element of a character or situation that interests me, and doing something different with it.

It’s encouraging that professional development has also become personal development.

I don’t believe that anything I write will actually be published anywhere other than on my blog. I don’t aspire to that. I do enjoy writing, and I hope that you might enjoy some of my work if you take the time to read it.

You can find my writing at wordynerdbirdwrites.wordpress.com
Feel free to leave feedback if you would like to. Constructive comment is always appreciated.