University of King’s College

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been accepted into the Master of Arts in Creative Nonfiction program at the University of King’s College. Going back to school is both exciting. I can’t wait to see what I’m going to learn, but also to meet amazing people. 

My goal with this degree is to finally write Going East, the book I’ve dreamed of for years. The challenge has always been figuring out how to weave my stories together into a cohesive narrative. That’s one of the many things I hope to learn through the program.

So, what exactly is creative nonfiction? When I say it, friends tell me it sounds like an oxymoron! Creative nonfiction is also known as narrative nonfiction. It’s a genre that uses storytelling techniques to bring real-life events to life in writing. Creative nonfiction spans many forms, but the one that captivates me most is memoir.

I’ve loved reading memoirs for as long as I can remember, and I’ve wanted to write my own ever since our bike trip in 2008-2009. But I struggled with how to turn a collection of blog posts into a compelling, unified story. 

Working on my PhD after my breast cancer diagnosis, I learned how to extract key themes from my blog through thematic analysis. I also explored emotional storytelling through evocative autoethnography, which resulted in my first memoir – Never knew I wanted to be a breast cancer survivor. But I have never formally studied the art of storytelling.

Only recently have I begun to focus intentionally on developing my writing craft. As I grow as a storyteller, I’ll be sharing my learning journey here on this blog, along with the stories I create on:

• Going East – for travel stories
• BC Becky – for reflections on breast cancer survivorship
• And here, for anything that doesn’t quite fit into my other blogs

If you’d like to follow along, consider subscribing—I’d love to have you on this journey with me!