Why I took my first creative writing workshop at 32

If you work in content creation, it can be challenging to balance the demands of your professional creativity with personal projects outside your 9-5.

I have struggled to strike this balance for years. My personal writing projects have included journalling, this website and flirtations with fiction which never amounted to anything – let alone publication.

I also worried I'd 'missed the boat' with creative writing. People pick it up at all ages so this was foolish, but I couldn't shake the feeling I needed to have started working with fiction earlier in life to be any good at it.

So I recently decided to jolt myself into action, but also try something entirely new in the process: I signed up for the Creative Writing Workshop at the Unthank School here in my home city, Norwich, UK.

Along the way, I learned a lot about creative writing as a newbie, forged a consistent routine for the new project and wrote the first two chapters of my ‘work in progress’ (WIP). I found the experience incredibly rewarding and inspiring overall.

In this blog post and the next few, I’m diving into the experience because it helped me focus on my creative writing while juggling the demands of work. It also showed me the best time to start was yesterday, but the second best time is today.

I’d like to think if you’re considering taking a writing class or in a similar boat of balancing professional and personal creative effort, some of the insights might be useful.

Why I chose a creative writing workshop

Motivation

I publish content online for a living but I’ve always wondered if I could turn my imagination and writing towards being an Author with a capital A.

But as I embarked on researching creative writing classes in Norwich, I was abundantly aware of how difficult it is to get published as a fiction writer – so this was not my chief motivator.

Instead, I saw signing up to a creative writing class as an experiment, something to try playfully and see where it took me. I wanted to explore turning my hand to fiction as a creative endeavour, honing my writing not for my employer or to pay the bills, but for myself.

Nothing to lose

I believed it would be a win-win situation. If I tried creative writing and loved the process, I’d have a new outlet or hobby and might even publish something one day as an ‘Author’.

If it turned out it wasn’t for me, I’d focus on what I learned along the way and see how those lessons might be relevant in other aspects of my life. Plus if it didn’t pan out, I could put the pursuit to bed and focus on something else more fully. Disclaimer: it did pan out and I loved the process.

Concept  

Alongside my personal motivation, I had an embryonic idea for a novel I hadn’t been able to shake for over a year before I committed to the workshop.

I had a setting, main character, opening scene and loose plot trajectory stuck in my head. There were sketchpad drawings and even a raw chunk of a few hundred words in a document stashed away on my laptop. The concept had haunted me for almost two years by the time I started at the Unthank School in May 2024.

But why, at the start of 2024, did I make the jump and sign up for a creative writing workshop?

Accountability

Well, I know myself well enough to realise I commit to projects better when there’s an accountability mechanism in place.

For me, investing some money and having a weekly commitment would create that sense of purpose and direction I needed to engage with the process in a way I’d never tried before.

The same rule has applied to other parts of my life, like my exercise and fitness routine – my gym membership, online coach and treating myself to new workout gear have always helped me stay accountable.  

Selection

What set the Unthank School aside from the other fiction classes or writing workshops available online or in my local area?

As with any new venture, it helps to identify your expectations and set parameters accordingly.

I had certain criteria in mind while I researched the available options:

• In-person: I spend enough time online and in front of screens for work and in day-to-day life, so I knew I wanted an in-person experience. I felt the human interaction and direct input of a tutor would resonate with me more than a digital approach.
• Local: I wanted to attend something in my city, Norwich. If I was going to spend some of my spare time at these classes, I wanted them to be nearby for convenience.
• Price: Of course, there are free options out there – YouTube, social media, online resources, etc. But I knew there’d be a level of financial cost tied to the type of class or workshop I was looking for. I wanted something reasonably priced.

I chose the Unthank School because the Creative Writing Workshop ticked all these boxes: it was in-person, local and good value for me in my circumstances.

But I also felt convinced it was the right for me based on additional research into the Unthank School and diving into its website.

I found compelling testimonials from previous participants and an interesting blog section hosting insights from a diverse range of former students.

I also did a little digging into Ashley Stokes, the tutor for the event. Ash has published a novel, a collection and multiple short stories plus he had taught creative writing at the University of East Anglia before launching the Unthank School. The combination of meeting my criteria and Ashley’s multi-decade experience convinced me to commit to the Unthank School Creative Writing Workshop.

In the next post/s I'll dive into the structure of the workshop, the lessons I learned along the way, how the process helped me grow as a writer and what I'll take away from the experience.

Have you ever taken creative writing classes or workshops? What made you take the plunge?

I'd love to hear your perspective in the comments below.

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