Hello again from an oldie!

Hello! I haven't been around in a long time but I am back! I first signed up in 2004 when I was 17 and was very active, but dropped off eventually after several years as I got older and other parts of life took over. I have dropped in occasionally over the years but I'd like to stick around this time!

My name is Sam (she/her), and I live in England. I mostly write poetry and non-fiction. I've self-published a couple of memoirs about my illness experiences, I've got a Master's degree in creative writing, and I'm currently in the last year or so of my creative writing PhD. I have YWS to thank for giving me so much support and community and keeping my love for writing alive in my teenage and young adult years (and The Young Writers Club before that if others remember this!) So I hope everyone is doing okay and loves the site as much as I always have and that it continues to thrive.

Welcome back! It’s so good to meet you!

A PhD in creative writing is sooo cool!! What are your plans for that? Are you working on publishing a fictional book or book series?

hello!!

Welcome back! Not sure if I gave you a gift back in 2004, but this certainly merits a second gift.

Hello!!

Thanks all!

Iggy wrote:Welcome back! It’s so good to meet you!

A PhD in creative writing is sooo cool!! What are your plans for that? Are you working on publishing a fictional book or book series?

For my PhD I'm writing a poetry collection. It's exploring my feelings and experiences around cancer survivorship (I've had cancer three times due to a rare genetic condition that makes it more likely for me to get certain types of cancer). So it's about creative writing and wellbeing, researching how writing benefits me when thinking about my illness experiences. It's been fun challenging the usual language used around cancer and creating my own metaphors that better explain what it's been like for me!

Howdy!

Welcome back, Sam! I wasn’t around back in the day but I hope you enjoy your return. Your PHD project sounds awesome - do you think you’d share any of it here, or do you think you’ll publish it?

Is there anything you’re looking forward to, in being back?

soundofmind wrote:Welcome back, Sam! I wasn’t around back in the day but I hope you enjoy your return. Your PHD project sounds awesome - do you think you’d share any of it here, or do you think you’ll publish it?

Is there anything you’re looking forward to, in being back?

Thank you! I might share a bit about it here once it's done, and yes I definitely hope to publish it when the time comes!

I'm looking forward to seeing familiar names (and have already spotted some) and getting back into the community chatting about writing. Hopefully I may also be of some help in providing reviews with the things I've learned as well!

Welcome back!!

Welcome back! It's a pleasure to meet you!

Hi Sam! Welcome back to YWS!

I look forward to seeing more on your PHD poetry project!

Yay England friend! (We are vastly outnumbered, so it’s nice to have someone in the same time zone as me). Welcome back! I joined 14 years ago so I definitely saw you around, but I don’t think we crossed paths too much at the time.