Storytime

Last weekend I went to Tarra Warra Museum of Art  in Healesville to see the 2012 Archibald Prize. I had never been to the museum before and it was a lovely day spent in a very pretty part of Victoria. The museum itself is a modern building with views of the surrounding countryside and mountains in the distance. I will freely admit I don't know a lot about art. I enjoy looking at it and I marvel at the creativity involved. And this was no exception. I found myself asking questions such as 'why did the artist portray the person this way?' 'Why this art form?' 'Who is the influence behind this work?' (And some of the conversations you overhear are amazing but I digress) One painting that stopped me in my tracks was the self portait by Robin Eley  ( you can view it here). Not only was it arresting on so many levels but he had set the portrait in 13 shapes, deconstructed the whole into these smaller parts. Ten of these were books that he had custom bound f...

One of the first plays I ever saw was Chekhov's The Seagull . It was for year 12 Literature and I still remember the ending. The sound of the gunshot ringing through the theatre, then the announcement that Konstantin was dead. Over the years I have been to more plays. Some good, some not so good. Some very slick and some very amateur. But I have never thought about writing a play. Well a 'real' play. I have written a children's play that was published in a magazine and then shortlisted for a competition and came quite close to being performed. But that has been my one shot at being a playwright. Until recently. A few weeks ago I went to a local theatre with some friends. It was to be a night out, some fun. Nothing more.But as I sat there I began to edit. Yes, I will put my hand up and say I wasn't lost in the magic that was in front of me,  I watched and listened as a writer. And I began to edit, thinking to myself 'if they cut that there and re...

I must admit to a difficult time thinking of titles. Most of my work at the beginning has a very bland and often generic title, simply because the computer needs a title to save the work. I do have autumn 1, autumn 2 etc...not to mention many poems that simply have a date as a title. Perhaps it would be better to say these are working titles. 29/05/12 is such a catchy title isn't it? Makes you really want to read it.... But when I do send my work out, not only do I edit, re-read and work on the pieces to make them the best I can, I work very hard on the title. Because this is the first thing an editor/publisher/ reader sees. And we do want it to stand out from the crowd, to grab attention. Every time I open a short story collection or a book of poetry I read the contents page.  Looking for a title that grabs my attention, that makes me smile, makes me ponder, wonder what that is about.  I'm sorry but having a poem entitled UNTITLED is a bit of a cop out. I am left ...

Last weekend I went to the Word Tree , a local spoken word event held in Upwey. This was special for a variety of reasons. Guest performers were Susan Hawthorne, Patrick Boyle and Max Kulessa....there was a small but select open stage for performers.....but the event had just turned eleven. Yes eleven. This is huge. Enormous. And frankly deserves cake at least... Over the years there have been changes. Names....Red Room, Noises from the Basement, Talking in the Library, The Word Tree.... there have been a variety of hosts and MC's.... change of venues.....and some of the most wonderful poets have made their way up to the hills to perform. Poet Marian Spires  began this gig all those years ago....and I was there from the beginning.  With Marian's support and encouragement this is where I began to read and dare I say 'perform' my work. At that stage I only wrote short story and my first reading was...let's say interesting to say the least. I read my short sto...