I love creative writing and had not done any since school, but a few years back when a friend and I were both 'convalescing' we started egging each other on to write novels and really enjoyed it. She put me on to Nanowrimo, where you aim to write, hell for leather, for the whole of November and only edit it afterwards. I even bought the tshirt when I managed to hit the target number of words.
Anyway, after a while, a friend of hers joined in and the three of us organised a few "Writing weekends" away where we would write, share, eat, drink and maybe go for a walk. Another friend of mine joined so we were a quartet, writing and sharing and trying to meet once a month or so, with me trying not to feel too in awe of the others.
I have attended some one-day courses in Bristol and in London, mostly on writing for screen or radio, as well as a four day "writing for games" course that was held in Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath's old house - check out Arvon Foundation for a list of what they offer if you really want a treat.
Now I have one sort-of-finished novel, several unfinished novels and scripts and a prototype of a computer game. I could probably do with a really good editor. Just recently I have been wanting to get back to writing the novel as it was such fun to do and I miss those first characters. I would lose track of time while immersed in writing and not get anything else done. One day I would like to have a published novel or a produced film...
In the meantime, the friend who I started writing can not write anymore and she has not long left with us, but she did get a book deal and co-authored Farewell Trip that she started before her current diagnosis.
The second friend has written Becoming Mary, a brilliant Austen sequel that I love.
The third friend is writing a screenplay as well as putting some of her funny short stories on Kindle, like Where's Bobo Gonna Go? that she wrote on one of our weekends away.
I will catch up with them, especially if I find a good editor to tell me what needs doing with the storyline, not the punctuation, but at the moment we don't meet up to write as it seems somehow wrong with only three of us able to. But I am sure we will.