Between the Lines 2020 Anthology

Christmas 2019. I was getting over a breakup, spending the holidays at my dad’s house and generally moping around. After nearly two weeks of lying on the couch feeling sorry for myself, I decided to do something for myself. I’d spent the past few years on someone else’s agenda, whether that was a partner’s or employers. So I thought about what I’d wanted to do that I hadn’t done. I loved writing as a child, and loved creative writing at school, but had stopped writing at some point as it wasn’t productive - it would never get me a job surely?

I’d been dabbling with bits of writing through most of 2019, but not really getting anywhere. It felt self-indulgent and embarrasing. I had no cues or prompts, and the things I really wanted to write about felt way too personal and were more suited to a therapy session.

So that Christmas, I somehow found myself booking onto a Creative Non Fiction writing short course at City Lit. I cannot praise it highly enough - the courses are afforable with different bursaries available for those who need them. The quality of teaching was great, and I loved being back in a learning environment for the first time since completing my A Levels. I met some amazing people of different ages, backgrounds, careers who were all there for different reasons. I had the chance to workshop my work with a supportive group which was amazing for my self confidence.

In the final two weeks of the course, the pandemic kicked in and we moved to online teaching. Through the pandemic, we formed a small writing group that continued after the course which was a lovely incentive to keep going with my writing in what was such a strange and difficult time for many of us. One of my poems ‘Isolation Solo’, that was written during that time was published in City Lit’s Between the Lines Anthology, alongside some brilliant work from that year’s creative writing students.