Feet up with a glass of Merlot after the second evening of the Starting to Write a Novel course running in Nottingham.  The course has been set up by Writing East Midlands and is tutored by Niki Valentine, a local novellist and tutor at Nottingham University. A group of about twenty of us have been set various tasks and exercises,  all aimed at encouraging us to think about how we write and developing the skills we will need. So far I am enjoying the course and finding it very thought provoking.  I hope my writing will improve as a result, I think I am justified in feeling confident of that.