Kate Young – Master of Arts or mid-life crisis?

I was a keen writer from an early age. My father was my favourite storyteller. He wasn’t well-educated, but he had lived an adventurous life with the Merchant Navy and had travelled to far-flung places. He had also written a poem which had been published in a proper anthology. I idolised that.

When I was 17, I had my first poem published. The following year I went to Middlesex University to do a three-year combined course with Harlow College. This resulted in an HND Journalism and a BA (Hons) in Writing and Publishing with Political Studies.

From there, I joined the Isle of Wight County Press newspaper, where I stayed for almost 27 years – and in that time I fulfilled just about every role I could, including being editor of the luxury magazine, Isle of Wight Living.

I left the County Press in 2022 to help East Cowes-based charity MAD-Aid during the Ukraine crisis. There, I rediscovered my love for creative writing – I started a community writer’s group (Island Scribblers), published a few poems, and saw my novella accepted for publication. My father’s passing in June last year made me rethink what I wanted next.

In practical terms, I am 50 and no longer have a mortgage, so if there was ever a time when I could take a cut in earnings and be a student again, it’s now!

Dad couldn’t invest much time in creative writing because he had to work hard to raise his family – and in later life he turned to other hobbies. I realised I had the chance to commit to 20 hours a week of study, to achieve my Master of Arts degree online, part-time over two years – but I knew I couldn’t do it while still working full time for MAD-Aid. So, I decided to leave MAD-Aid and pursue my creative writing dreams by joining MA Creative Writing (Online) at Arts University Bournemouth, which is an innovative new course.

Some people might be wary of being a guinea pig, but I am no stranger to being the ground breaker. My Bachelor of Arts degree 30 years ago was also a new course, and I have been a pathfinder in my working roles, so I am up for another challenge.

Lots of universities and colleges offer online creative writing courses, but what made the MA course at AUB stand out is the commitment to dealing with vitally important contemporary issues such as the climate crisis, and the use of artificial intelligence. One of the biggest challenges facing writers today is ensuring we cannot simply be replaced by AI. To have a chance of survival, writers need to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in the publishing industry, as well as ensuring our voices are truly unique, and worth listening to.

AUB specialises in creative industries and the course delves into a vast range of topics – from 21st Century publishing and author identity, to writing in the Anthropocene, eco poetry, transmedia storytelling and multimodal practice.

The course has a set of well-published tutors, including course leader, Dr Kevan Manwaring. The Industry Patron, Michelle Zeitlin, has connections to Hollywood. She runs the talent management agency, More Zap, which has a television/movie section and a literary department with top-selling authors and emerging voices in all genres.

A good course should give you a broad view, but it must also have support from industry professionals with far-reaching credentials, and AUB’s cutting-edge new course ticked all these boxes for me.

I started my course in September and so far, there has been a chance to submit to the British Fantasy Society’s journal, and an opportunity to assist with the organisation of the annual Writing the Earth programme, a week-long event centred around Earth Day in April. My cohort has also been invited to a writing weekend at a Dorset nature reserve in June.

I have been introduced to several new subgenres and even written one or two things in forms I had never considered before.

In starting my MA, I have accepted that I am going to expand my versatility as a writer, and I have committed to concentrating on developing my first full-length novel during the next two years.

I am juggling family life with a husband and teenage son, but right now I am doing a few copywriting jobs as a freelance writer – while still working on my creative dreams.

So, is my MA a euphemism for a mid-life crisis? Perhaps. But if stepping into the future of creative writing and pushing my boundaries is a crisis, I’ll take it – with pens poised and notebooks ready!