And the quest goes on - I DO want to write part two

I now try to get to the Harrogate Crime Writers Festival every year. It’s a great place, a place where ordinary people like me can mingle with wonderful crime writers, such as Mel Sherratt, Mark Billingham, Val McDermid, Elizabeth Haynes, and Harlan Corben.

One of the people I met at my first Creative Thursday (yes, I’ve done more than one!), was Jackie. We both sat nervously, waiting for the first session, and started to talk to each other. Jackie has become a great friend, was later instrumental in helping me to further my pursuit.

In May 2012 I saw an advert for a one day creative writing workshop, intriguingly called A man comes into the room with a gun... Crime writer Zoe Sharpe was running the workshop. I downloaded one of her books, found that she was a really good author, I also found a great heroine in Charlie Fox. (If anything, my quest to become a writer is opening my eyes to some fabulous new, (to me), authors). I immediately signed myself up.

Through Zoe I learnt about the importance of a great first line, and techniques to keep my readers reading. It was a very full, but fun day. I left exhausted, but even more sure that I wanted to write, and more sure that I wanted to be a crime writer.

Meanwhile, my job situation was becoming unstable. I had worked for thirteen years for one of the largest housing providers in Nottingham, but the chances of my job being cut was becoming more and more evident. I needed to think about the future. I started to look at University courses, was I to old to start a new career? could I hack a university course after so many years out of school?

Alex Davis was running a six week evening course From Idea to Publication, if I could handle this, University would be a breeze, wouldn’t it?

Have you even taken any writing courses, what did you think of them?