The ball is rolling...

Well, my first assessment for the graduate bachelor is done, marked and back, so to speak, and it is encouraging to note that I did what I would consider as quite well, really. This is a good start. I have felt quite nervous with the new uni and the new units, being unfamiliar with them to a certain degree, and this has been unsettling. This is not to say that I am feeling completely settled, oh no, no no. For example, a continuing source of "unsettlement" is that I start a five-and-a-half week student teaching round on Monday, which is wracking my nerves.

It is good to have a couple of short stories off and away, even though I am sure that they are not going to rock the world, so to speak. However, their process of development has begun, and first steps are not final steps and - hopefully - growth will happen.

To be honest, at this stage I am really looking forward to starting the MA in literature and professional writing. I just get the feeling that I'll go better once I've got that bit of pressure on me, and I am very interested in the area, to say the least.

At the moment I ave got quotes coming in from various places about new computers (for M. and I). This is both exciting and frustrating. This computer (not yours, dear reader, but mine) is really starting to crack up, and I am keen to get onto the new ones. However, we can't get the new ones until everything goes through with the sale of the other house - oh, hallelujah, I can't wait until everything has gone through with the other house, it has been a thorn in my side for years!!!! - and the funds have cleared. Anyways, these quotes are merely rubbing salt in the wounds that this computer occasionally gives me.

The last thing I'll think I'll note is that Catherine Bateson (for whom I designed a web-site) has just had her book Millie and the Night Heron short-listed for the CBCA 2006 Book of the Year - Younger Reader award, which she is obviously very excited about. You can find out more about it at her web-site, although please don't think nasty thoughts about the web-site design....

Regards.