Storytime

Writers are said to be solitary creatures. There is the age old image of the writer, alone, shivering and gaunt, scribbling away frantically while living in an attic. Frankly I don't know any writers who live in attics, or in fact many who lead the solitary life. Most are surrounded by people- in their daily lives, in their jobs, surrounded by family and friends. And really it is by being part of this social whirl where the majority of ideas come from. People as a species are so interesting, so volatile, so eager to say too much. All fodder for a poem or short story, a play, piece of non-fiction...or the seed for a novel. The novel I wrote for Nanowrimo last year was based on a line my father said. One simple phrase and I wondered 'what if...' and it went from there. The last short story I wrote was based on a mother I noticed at work and how she interacted with her children on one of the last scorching days. Let's just say the temperature wasn't the only thi...

This month I began with a burst of poetry. First of all I put my name down to do the Month of Poetry , which has been good fun. It hasn't always been easy thinking of something each day to write about. In fact at one stage I jotted down a few ideas for poems I could work on when or if the well of ideas dried up, but so far I haven't written about any of them. There are so many ideas out there. I've discovered that during the day I will see something, or hear something and out of that seed a poem will be created. Out of the 24 poems I've written so far, I'm happy with a few. Most are very raw, simply first drafts that have been captured and pinned down. They are still struggling to be free, but I will work on them. Some have great potential....good bones that I need to flesh. So not only am I writing poems, I also committed to writing small stones ..... Which interestingly enough I'm finding harder to do. These are small poems, almost haiku in length, that...

I've been steadily cleaning out my work area. Well when I say steadily I mean more like it's a WIP (work in progress). It's a haphazard approach that I'm taking. Begin with some boxes on the floor, then to some of the unidentifiable papers on the top shelf of the bookcase. I'm hoping to finish some time this year(preferably in the next month or so) ....I did say it's a WIP. Not that I want my work area to be sterile and totally uncluttered- that is so not me. But I would also like to begin the year without drowning in surplus papers. The hardest decision is what to keep, and what to throw out. Some of it was easy- and I suppose I was in the right frame of mind- so out when all the books and notes and assignments from the past ten years of schooling. This was the Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing- and then the Diploma of Information Studies (library). I did keep only a few pages from the writing course, and these were favourable teacher comments. ...

2012 is the National Year of Reading . Libraries and bookstores are working hard to create events that will inspire the nation to read. According to their site- "Nearly half the population struggles without the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work. There are 46% of Australians who can't read newspapers; follow a recipe; make sense of timetables, or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle." It's a scary percentage. And a lot of people will assume that this accounts for new arrivals to Australia, people who are struggling to learn English. This is not the case. Unfortunately there are so many cases where children have slipped through school without having this ability. Have grown into adults who 'get along'. Until they are forced to put together a resume, or fill out a form, or try to comprehend some basic instructions. We see them in the library all the time, hesitant to ask for help, but needing it. Which ...

There's something about the beginning of a new year. Fills us with inspiration, hopes and dreams. Lets us believe that anything is possible. That the year to come can be anything we want it to be. And it can. And of course there are resolutions...I'm still debating about what tack to take. Whether to focus on poetry or short story, the novel(s) that I wrote last year....hmmm too hard to think about just yet. I'll let it percolate, ponder on the pros and cons, on what I WANT to do, not what I SHOULD do. Personal resolutions are so much easier- I have plans on health and wellbeing, on the house, on the garden, on myself spiritually as well. The writing ones are so much harder. And of course there is knowing when to stop. There is no point in having a list a mile long ( I so used to do that)... totally unachievable and so daunting. So it's better to have a few solid ones on the list...ones that can be achieved within twelve months. And also goals that I have contr...