Julia Hodson graduated from the MA Creative Writing at NTU in 2020. In this blog post, she discusses the lasting friendships she made on the course.
Apprehensive, anxious and terrified: three words that describe how a postgraduate Creative Writing student feels before workshopping a precious piece of writing for the first time, I think. Yet as you walk away from the graduation ceremony with your MA certificate furled in your hand and return to a world without workshops, I’m going to suggest that constructive critical feedback on your writing will be the thing that you miss the most.
As a member of the 2018/19 MA Creative Writing cohort, I was so lucky to connect with fellow writers from who wanted to continue to critique each other’s work after graduation. Covid restrictions on physical contact were easily surmounted and a group of us continued writing and critiquing via Zoom.
We had been that group that sat on the front table next to the lectern for the core module’s lectures. Admittedly my collective noun for us was the ‘misfits’, for we were a gloriously diverse group of students. I needed to be near the front so that I could hear and see everything; others had their own reasons, but I am glad we all sat together.
And to the outsider we continue to look like an interesting bunch when we sit in cafes clutching pieces of writing and waiting for feedback after coffee. The respect that we feel for each other makes sharing writing and participating in feedback not just a privilege but a joyous experience. If one of us is ‘stuck’ in our writing, we engage in ideas generation and generally – in fact, almost always – a solution or a better fix is found. We listen, we empathise, and we laugh. Appropriately, of course. The fear is gone, and the nerves have ceased to jangle whilst waiting for feedback; instead, there is a flutter of excitement about what opportunities for improvement will be stimulated.
We have supported each other through births and deaths, successes and failures, self-publishing and keeping on trying to publish, being unsuccessful in competitions, and having material performed in theatres. One of our dedicated cohort-from-a-cohort is about to submit a PhD thesis. Oh, and I have been collecting my state pension You’re never too old, nor too young, to write.
Together, we have travelled the road most frequently travelled by writers, that of self-doubt and procrastination. We challenge and support each other. We listen and encourage each other. We trust each other.
So, I have a message for anyone currently studying: go forth after your graduation and embrace that which you once feared. Seek out fellow students and become long-term friends that support one another – not just one another’s writing, but with all that life brings.
Words by Julia Hodson, with thanks to Tracy, Jennie, Sunita, Lauren and Riley.
Find Julia on insta @minersprog, and hear her on the podcast Specs Drugs and Sausage Rolls on Spotify.
Picture 1: Riley and Yashka
Picture 2: A Christmas lunch get together
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