Endings are necessary

to make beginnings possible

…

I found some meaning

Writing when I couldn’t stop

Writing when I couldn’t focus

Writing as my way of coping

But also writing about achieving

That is the beginning of a poem I wrote more than a month ago during a class, entitled Meaning, which summarises some of the meanings that writing has for me.

Learning, overcoming difficulties, making new friends, enjoying not being competitive (at least not all the time!) and becoming more confident about my writing. Those are some of the things I have gained by joining a WEA course at Mind’s Open House. It’s been an intense 8-month experience!

I still remember the first time I arrived to this class, I was late only because I had being given the wrong start time. I remember Gerry saying “this is not a competition”, when I said I was feeling awkward about joining the group later than anybody else, to what I responded: “this is just me”. I guess part of that could have been about being competitive, which I can’t help, but I think it was more about being a keen student, maybe sometimes overly keen, therefore always being very punctual and not willing to miss anything from the class.

I would love to keep learning and attend other creative writing classes in the future, but right now I got other things coming up and also I am starting a Foundation at Goldsmiths in September, so this Thursday will be my last class at Open House. I feel mixed about that, I will miss it, but I know is the right thing to do.

But of course, I will be writing on my own time and I’m thinking about applying as a sub-editor, for Smiths, Goldsmiths’ student magazine, or joining a society at university. That wouldn’t be possible, or at least not healthy, if I didn’t leave this class now it’s the end of the term.