That Dissertation Problem

I know it's been a while, but there's good reason. I swear.

The simplest explanation? 

I'm currently writing this post in my room overlooking the car park, listening to people walk by with their Australian twangs and making plans to go to the beach later on. 

I'm not, however, writing this post in my red-and-white bedroom in my Yorkshire home, listening to horse hooves clop down the street and my mother yelling for me to go hoover. 

Quite simply, my plans to return to the UK became redundant when I deferred my last year at University.

Which might seem that my dissertation is rather redundant too. This is simply not the case.

The main reason for taking a gap year (and staying in Australia) was because of my dissertation. I found a topic, and the best way to fully throw myself at it was to give myself the time to achieve.

My topic?

Becoming An Employable Writer.

Simple.

I found that I loved everything I did with writing - I couldn't decide between poetry and scripts, copy-writing or short stories, advertising or publishing. There was no distinction between loving the writing, and loving the work. 

Yet, my writing CV is ashamedly bare.

If I want to make a living out of my passion, shouldn't I have something to represent that?

Other than a course I applied for at the age of seventeen?

So meet my gap year.

Now, I may be a little down on myself here.

Sure, I've been published in two anthologies, been on three Arvon courses, attended numerous writing festivals, entered competitions and have this occasional blog.

But, really, it's not enough.

I shall go into detail in my next post of my plans, but my three goals are basic:

1) To gain actual work experience in a publishing house, agency, and writing studio.

2) To enter a writing competition every month, with new material and different genres.

3) To start writing my novel, with the intention to start sending it to agencies a year today.

My current writer's CV, SMART goals and a yearly plan will be covered soon.

Until then, bare with me.

It's going to get interesting.