I am sad. My university experience is all but over. Classes are finished. I have two assignments to finalise this week and that’s it. Finito.

Part of me is excited at the prospect of putting all I have learned to good use. I want to write and write and write. Ideas keep popping into my head – more than I can use. So many things keep popping into my head that I find it hard to concentrate on any one idea at a time.

Another part of me is incredibly sad that this amazing experience is finished. My learning will not cease – I now have a better idea of what sort of things I need to ask myself, what I need to work on. I am now merely more educated in what I need to work on. However I am going to miss the people I have been working with the past nine months so very much. As I walked out of the Communication Learning Resource Centre for the last time as a student, I was so close to tears it wasn’t funny.

I have to make mention of some of the wonderful people there. I spent a lot of my time the Communication Learning Resource Centre, a facility available to all those students in communication programs. It is staffed by student employees under supervision of a couple of staff. What a wonderful group. It made going there most days an absolute pleasure.

The University of Canberra hasn’t seen the last of me. Now that I know the people and the resources, I see it as a good research centre, along with the other wonderful facilities available to me here in Canberra. Plus I need somewhere to boast when I start winning Bookers and Oscars!

Inspiration can occur from the littlest things. A snippet of an article in a free local weekly gave me an idea for a new story. However this time, unlike most of my other ideas, I am seeing this one as a script from the outset. This reflects more of my learning this past academic year, and perhaps my growing maturity as a storyteller. I have yet to flesh the idea out properly as I have other, more urgent immediate priorities. I suspect that I may need to work with someone else on this, at least during the development phase. I have somebody in mind and will be hitting them up with the idea at some point in the future. I also have nearby experts on hand who can assist. Just one more project, one more story to tell.

I read once that Bryce Courtenay says he has more stories to tell than time to tell them. Right now I know what he means.

With my uni studies all but complete, time to think seriously about the future. I am working part-time to help keep a roof over my head and food on the table. Beyond that, I have many projects and ideas that I want to tackle. Over the next few days I will be putting together an action list, prioritising these for the immediate future. I want to divide my writing time between non-fiction projects that will expand the portfolio and turn a dollar, and fiction pieces to continue sharpening my authorial sword, to misquote Stephen Covey. If I want to be a pro then I need to work like one – sticking to my time at the desk on my designated writing days.