A LONELY LIFE...

One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever know… 

So sings that old crooner, that master of farewell concerts, Johnny Farnham. 

I know, it's showing my age calling him Johnny, not John Farnham or The Voice.

But for me he’ll always be the nice looking boy in the powder blue safari suit leaning against his red Monaro on the cover of that first single I ever bought with my own hard-earned pocket money – Sadie, The Cleaning Lady.

Of course, One is really a song about love and longing. But, when I hear it on that ‘old fart radio station’ that I tune into on those rare occasions I find myself in the car unaccompanied by my husband or my teenagers, it always strikes me as quite a fitting theme song for writers.

It symbolises that idea of being all alone, all day – just you and your computer.  Or maybe your lucky HB pencil with the chewed end, that clunky old typewriter you found in an op shop or perhaps an antique feathered nib and ink?

We're waging our own personal wars against the worlds. Brewing each cup of coffee with bullets of inspiration, then madly tapping away only to take a big gulp of that lukewarm bathwater at the end. Brainstorming an idea for 20 minutes as if you were devising a battle plan to invade Constantinople, till it dawns that this piece is heading completely off target.  Lighting candles, selecting the right music, and practising meditation.  Just about anything we can think of to kick-start those creative ideas.

But sooner or later a writer craves the company of other bookish types to fuel those passions, put it all into perspective and provide some purpose to the hours of solitary scribbling.

I’ve struggled for the longest time to find a group to lessen my weighty load.  And I’m not talking about Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. I’ve been looking for a writers group where I can feel accepted, respected or even just made welcome.

There have been a few disasters along the way and each new group has made me somehow stronger, bolder and more confident about what I should be getting out of it.  

I now know what I don’t need:

• ·      committee meetings complete with minutes and a treasurers report
• ·      shoulder patting exercises, complementing each other on every word
• ·      attacks on my personality or my lack of experience
• ·      butt kicking regimes that leave me racing for the exit
• ·      to read my work without any comment from others

What I do need is a small friendly group of intelligent, interesting people from varying backgrounds who will review my work and then be prepared to give me an honest opinion. Is this too much to ask?

In my mission to answer this vexing question, I’ve recently stumbled upon a small but diverse group of writers who are willing to do just that and more.  We met at a recent workshop, so we know we have similar interests but at the same time we all bring a slightly different viewpoint.

We’re all equals, starting out together and we’ve agreed on the following ground rules: 

• ·      To provide a chapter for review at least two weeks before the next meeting
• ·      To respond to the story first as a reader. Did it work for you?
• ·      To provide an honest critique of the writing, not the author
• ·      To try to see what the writer is trying to achieve, direct comments toward this
• ·      To provide a place for open discussion of each others ideas, thoughts, concepts
• ·      To take note of the points raised without the need for justification
• ·      To enjoy the chance to share this time in the company of other writers

   So, fingers crossed this is the group I've been looking for...

One Hundred Stories...

One Hundred Stories...

Okay, so maybe there's more than 100 stories climbing up and up the sides of this hallowed staircase but I just couldn't resist using this photo I took on a recent visit to Deakin Uni library.  Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I just love libraries and really enjoy spending time wandering around in them wherever I go. I find it combines both of my passions - creative design together with creative writing as they often hold intriguing displays, interesting reading and working spaces and loads of local favour providing a true sense of the community they serve.


Which leads me back to the title of this post. I recently attended a memoir workshop conducted by a writer I had admired for quite a long time now, Alice Pung http://alicepung.com/blog/. I find her work is so approachable as she writes about her family in clear but concise language with such humility and compassion that her readers feels as though we already know her well. It's a gift she's prepared to share and the day was both intriguing and exhilarating as the group shared fragments of our work.  By the time we left we had renewed enthusiasm for our own projects and had made some valuable new connections with talented writers. 

We also learnt a few of the biographers golden rules, such as this outstanding example from The Talmud, "We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are".

Alice is also an ambassador for that enterprising team of young writers down at 100 Story Building http://www.100storybuilding.org.au/ who are busily pushing over all sorts of barriers and stereotypes to create a whole new generation of young readers,writers, producer and directors through their amazing literacy programs in the working class suburbs of Western Melbourne. Check it out...