Once again, I am a student

Tonight marked the first time I've been a student in a classroom in over six years. I started taking a class on creative writing that I'm hoping will help me tap into my creative impulse more. See, people have told me for years that I'm a good writer, and I like to think that I am... at non-fiction stuff. It's fiction that I've never been able to really master. Whatever you want to call it: writer's block, thoughts scattered all over the place, even a bit of fear... I've gotten it. I really want to be able to cross genres with my writing: nonfiction, fiction, screenwriting, heck maybe even a little poetry or songwriting.

So, for really the first time in my life, I'm examining what it really means to cultivate my creativity, and in the very first class tonight I learned a lot of things that are probably going to help me. One thing I'm gonna try sometime - even though this is gonna absolutely drive me crazy news junkie that I am - is spend a week in media deprivation: no television, books, or Internet. Will report on how that goes if/when I undertake that.

I'm quite impressed with the instructor we've got: on her website there's a picture of her wielding a rapier. She's only the second teacher I've had in my life who apparently possesses a personal arsenal of swords :-)