Continuing Activities - Month Eight

[smallhobbit]

I've completed two more FutureLearn courses, which I've now finished for the year.  Naturally, though, I'm enrolled for a couple which begin part way through January.

The first was How to Make a Poem by Manchester Metropolitan University.  Although I would class myself as a beginner, in that I'm unpublished and don't take part in workshops etc, I found that, like in the fiction writing course, writing fanfic has taught me a lot.  I did learn some extra things, and peer reviewed a couple of great poems, but didn't feel it gave my poetry a great boost.  Which meant when we had to write our first 'proper' poem I decided to do one I was already planning to write for Sloth's Christmas Miscellany Advice from the Sloth.  To my surprise, I had a couple of great reviews, so I was happy.

The other course was Working Lives in the Factories & Mills: Textile History and Heritage by University of Strathclyde.  This was the third of the Working Lives courses, and just as good as the previous two.  I've found the whole twelve weeks fascinating, especially because not only do the courses look at the work people were doing, but also includes some of the songs and literature.  A couple of fun moments: at the beginning of the first week mill owners were discussed and North & South was mentioned as describing a fictional mill owner.  In the comments I mentioned I rather liked a certain portrayal of John Thornton (see icon) and a couple of others agreed with me :)  Then in the final week, we had the opportunity to create the synopsis of a novel about a mill lass, and I described how she met the owner's son when he fell off his horse.  The mentor commented that this type of meeting was a classic 'meet cute'!

This year I have completed 23 FutureLearn courses on a variety of different subjects.  Some have been better than others, but I've learnt all sorts of things, many of which I would never have learnt otherwise, and I'm truly delighted to have done so.  FutureLearn is free and available worldwide, so I would thoroughly recommend anyone having a look.

Apart from following courses, I am also continuing with my cross stitch:

 
That's one year's worth of stitching.

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

The cross stitch looks wonderful.!And I am glad you enjoyed the courses and got good reviews on your poems.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much!

[badly_knitted]

Look how your garden's grown! It looks wonderful =D

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. The garden's growing at about the same speed as a real plant!

[badly_knitted]

*grins* You'll get there! One day you'll put in the final stitch and it'll be in full bloom!

[magnetic_pole]

Interesting to hear about the FutureLearn courses! The social history courses especially sound good--I'm always interested in learning how folks live. M.

[smallhobbit]

It's been a fascinating year of learning. I know they're rerunning those courses sometime in the spring, starting in March I think.

[scfrankles]

...and I described how she met the owner's son when he fell off his horse. The mentor commented that this type of meeting was a classic 'meet cute'! I love that ^___^ And I love that even on a FutureLearn course you managed to connect with some Richard Armitage fans ^____^

And well done on the cross-stitch! That's a heck of a lot of effort and commitment, and it's really paying off.

[smallhobbit]

We get everywhere!

And thank you - I aim to do some every day, some days maybe 10-15 minutes other days it may be an hour.

[debriswoman]

Well done re cross stitch progress, and re poetry and reviews...I have never tried a course in this, sounds interesting. And mills...yep, can relate to that, too:-)

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. There was a fair amount of talk about mills in the Manchester area.

[coulditbemagic]

The cross stitch looks incredible! congrats on your work on it. And thank you for the recommendation of futurelearn, that's been bookmarked to poke at properly in the new year

[smallhobbit]

Thank you. I enjoy the cross stitch - I find it very relaxing (except when I make a mistake!).

Futurelearn is well worth looking at.

[margaret_r]

The cross stitching looks really lovely and well done with your poetry efforts:)

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much :)

[mafief]

Whelp, I can tell I’ve lost track of lots of time based on your cross stitching progress. Looks great! Will it be continuing past the fold at the top or is it almost done?

Hehe! Your mill lass novel plot is awesome.

[smallhobbit]

I did quite a lot in December. It will go past the fold, that's about 60 per cent.