In September of 2019, I embarked on a journey that I didn't think I could succeed at...after all, I was pursuing a masters in creative and critical writing with no BA. It was terrifying and I spent those months with my jaw clenched as I fought against the imposter syndrome that I shouldn't be in the "seat". Credentials wise, I simply had an honours diploma in early childhood education and a post-graduate certificate in creative writing, along with over a decade of freelance writing experience. The powers to be must have been laughing at this upstart thinking she could tackle a masters.

​

But I persevered and in May of 2020, as the world isolated through a major pandemic, I finished the final pages of my dissertation and hit submit to the University of Gloucestershire. My supervisor felt it would do very well, but I spent the next month waiting for the inevitable fail I was sure I would get. Instead, I found excellent feedback along with the distinction of earning my MA with merit in creative and critical writing from the University of Gloucestershire.

​

The MA in question was both the start of a fiction novel titled Sharp Edges and a critical analysis of the novel in relation to a critique of feminism titled The Fantasy of Feminism and its Failings within Capitalism.

​

This thesis is the first 12,000 words of a larger fictional work entitled Sharp Edges. It is a first-person narrative that focuses on person vs self and person vs society. It follows the journey of Emily as she takes a hard look at the expectations that have been placed on her by her family, her husband, her job and society at large. As she moves through the journey, she embraces her own anger and frustration with these expectations, and this spills out into world as a violent movement. Other women, also angry with the expectations they have felt, join the movement, which leads to all of them spiraling into chaos as they fight for a new world with the freedoms they desire.

This novel is accompanied with a critical analysis of feminism: the fantasy of feminism, its failure in capitalism and the societal norms, expectations and beauty myth that women are faced with while tying those themes into a reflection of the novel.​​