Getting your poetry published is notoriously tough, but writer Caroline Davies (pictured) has made the breakthrough with a collection of poems about war. 
She says the OU’s Advanced creative writing course A363 got her off to a flying start.
“After completing A215 in 2006 I put off starting A363, in the mistaken belief that it would involve writing plays and screen plays.
“The start of my studies on the Level 3 course in 2010 coincided with my being inspired to write about my taid's (that’s Welsh for grandfather) experience on the Malta convoys in World War Two.
“The emphasis in A363 on doing research to generate material for poems was invaluable. All I knew about taid's war was family anecdotes, and so I did a lot of research into the convoys.
“I found A363 well-balanced in terms of developing writing skills and there was no shortage of opportunities to write poetry, which I did for four out of the six TMAs and for the EMA.
“I probably would have written about the Malta convoys even if I hadn't been studying with the OU, but it was great to do both at the same time, as the module provided a structure and deadlines.
“The only issue was knowing when to stop, as I had about 400 lines of poetry by the end of the module in May 2011 and the limit for the EMA is 160 lines! I can well remember my tutor reminding me that I needed to focus on one element for the EMA.
“This did give me a flying start when it came to developing the material into a full-length manuscript after I'd completed the module. And it was immensely encouraging to receive a Distinction for A363, which confirmed that I was on the right lines.”
Caroline’s sequence of narrative poems, called Convoy, was accepted for publication by Cinnamon Press in the autumn of 2011 and published in May 2013.
The poems document the brave men and dramatic events involved in the merchant navy convoys which supplied the besieged island of Malta.
Convoy is Caroline’s first collection of poems to be published, but not her first published work. She combines writing with a ‘day job’ working as a curriculum manager in the OU’s Faculty of Education and Languages Studies.
Her previous writing successes include having scripts accepted for the Story Makers series on children’s TV channel CBBC, she says.
“I have written for most of my life, my first publication was with Faber back in the 1980s. Although I've not yet found myself in the position of earning enough from writing to give up the day job.”
Convoy was published with a launch event on board the HQS Wellington on the Thames.
It is featured on the Guardian website and is being considered as a candidate for the tenth place for the Guardian First Book Award.
Caroline blogs at Advancing Poetry.
