On writing and writers

You know what?  I am completely loving being a mature age student.  The sort that reads all the lecture notes and the recommended reading as well as the required stuff.  The sort that sticks up their hand in lectures.

I love it.

I think it’s because I recognise this as a luxury.  This is something I saved up for – a chance to commit time and money to learning, reading and thinking.  A commitment to creating.

Part of me is scared it is all a waste of time.  Part of me doesn’t care.  This is living life with my priorities front and centre.  I can live with the background hum of ‘Gosh that’s selfish’.

One of the biggest luxuries in this course is being able to hear writers talk about their craft.  Today we heard from Anthony Eaton, who’s had 11 books published and is just finishing a twelfth.  He’s an honest-to-goodness Australian writer, who has been able to support himself through his writing.  That is a very encouraging thought.  He talked about getting his first novel published, and how he supports himself.  He also showed us some journals from his trip to Antarctica – that was amazing.

Anthony has a PhD, so he loves his research.  And his writing-journals had maps, paintings, sketches, time lines… and a chapter by chapter outline of the book he hadn’t started writing yet.  I thought the journals were works of art by themselves.  It was awesome to have a writer so generously show us the nuts and bolts of their craft.

Last week I mentioned Stephen King’s book On Writing.  In it, King outlines his method of creation, which imagining a situation, populating it with characters and then writing to see where it goes.  It sounded like the complete opposite of what Anthony tries to do.  But then, who said there was ever a correct way to create?

I’m taking away two things from this class.  The first is just to get the manuscript done – it doesn’t matter how rough, or overwritten or clumsy as long as it’s finished.  Once you’ve got a shitty first draft, you have something to work with.

The second is that a writer’s notebook can be many different things.  When I think of journals, I think of Anais Nin or someone like Helen Garner, who basically admitted writing about her friends from her diaries.  But Anthony’s journals were something else entirely.  More akin to an Artists diary, it was a document of the development of a creative idea.  Anthony said it took him nearly two years to find a way of journaling that worked for him.  That makes me feel quite a lot better about my own neglected journals.

Books are my friends.

I have always been the sort of person to hide away in a book.  When I need to retreat from the world, I re-read old favourites.  When I need inspiration, I go looking in books.

And on blogs.

At any one time, there’s probably four or five books I’m reading, and several more on my wish list.  So when Jamie asked what I wish to read, I was spoilt for choice.

I wish to read Momma Zen, because I still haven’t got my hands on it.

I wish to read Zen to Done because Leonie made such an awesome poster and now I’m curious.

I wish to read The Moonstone because a friend cannot recommend it highly enough.

I wish to re-read some Stephen King novels because I’ve just finished reading his book, On Writing, and it blew me away.

Oh, and mondo beyondo, I’d love to read my name in print.

What are you reading?  What would you wish to read?

Uh oh, now I’m accountable

Everybody left wonderful comments on my wish for an accountability group.  Jamie paid some beautiful compliments about my writing, and then she caught me:

An accountability group would be marvelous. *And* I also bet you have something right now that you could send. Make us your interim accountability group and take a first step. You can do it.

Uh oh!  Now I’m stuck!  You lovely readers have become my accountability group.  I talked the talk, so now I have to walk…

It didn’t stop there.  Carla offered tips, and Mother Henna and Hybrid J gave good advice.  Lisa told me about a friend ‘collecting’ 100 rejection slips, and I think that idea is going to stay with me.  Jamie kindly came back with a link to an awesome podcast about getting personal essays published.  And to top it all off, Pamela offered to be a beta reader.

I am amazed and excited by all this practical support.  You guys rock!  But I’m also kind of scared.  Because now I have no excuse not to start sending out submissions.

Thanking you kindly,

and wondering what I’ve started,

k

Bliss

Bliss is lying in bed to read, while the rest of the world goes off to work.

Bliss is a two hour tutorial on creativity and writing where nobody laughs when you say you want to be a writer.

Bliss is having finished all the required AND recommended reading, just because you like to read.

Bliss is writing in your cosy little garden flat, while a rosella crack seeds in the birdfeeder just outside the door. 

Bliss is four different journals and two different blogs and an un-vaccuumed floor.

Bliss is taking Tuesdays off to study something completely irrelevant to your career.

This day?  This Tuesday?  The sun on my back and the birdlife behind me?

This is bliss.

What I learn from the footpath

Robert at Middle Zone Musings has a group writing project called “What I learned from…” and this months’ theme is “What I learned from the sidewalk“. Here in Australia, we generally don’t use that word, but I’ve decided to take part anyway. Call it a gesture for cross-cultural understanding : )

I do a lot of walking. It’s my preferred mode of transport and my favourite form of meditation. When I’m troubled or having trouble sleeping I go for long walks in the evening, and it always helps. There’s something about movement that makes it hard to wallow. When I’m walking I can examine my problems with objectivity. It’s easier to separate out the emotions from the issues and look at all the paths I can take. At the same time, it’s almost impossible for me to spend the whole walk focused on the negative.

For example, I might start out thinking about an argument I had with my husband. Why can’t he get home from work earlier? Then I’ll start thinking through all the things I could do before he gets home. Or how I could make him come home earlier – but this seems futile. I’d like it so much better if he didn’t work so much. It would be awesome if we could take some time off and travel more. We could travel for a really long time if we bought a van and camped. I’d love to go up to the Daintree, and I know Ryan wants to go back to the NT. We could take our climbing gear and explore, and I could write articles for Wild Magazine…

See what I mean? Somehow thinking and walking lets my mind run free.

So walking shakes my thoughts loose. But it grounds me in space, as well. Working in a notebook or on the internet, you can get the impression that physical location doesn’t matter. But as humans, we exist in real space, not just cyber space. We are intimately connected with the ground we walk on, the people and places that surround us. When I walk, I can pass enormous diplomatic residences and neglected public housing. A little further and I can walk among the kangaroos on the hill. Or I can head downhill to the lake, and some of the most manicured gardens in Australia. I love this city, the diversity in such short distances and the immediacy of wide open spaces.

Walking connects me to my landscape and my community as well as my thoughts.  There’s always something new for me to learn or realise on the pavement.