One original bad boy of American literature, Thomas McGuane, (Ninety Two in the Shade, The Missouri Breaks) tells us that these days he writes in bed. He’s in his seventies now and as a successful novelist is past caring what anyone thinks about him. His admission raises the question: Where do we do … Continue reading Writing in Bed
Ten Good Sentences
Ernest Hemingway advises writers: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." We all know this is harder than it sounds. Secretly, of course, we are looking for more than one. So was he. But one good sentence is a place to start. A while back … Continue reading Ten Good Sentences
It’s Back to School for Elwood Writers
The Elwood Writers will feature on the ‘Back to School’ edition of Cover to Cover for Vision Australia Radio on Friday 26 January 2018. Our group has collaborated with producer and presenter, Tim McQueen, to compile a program comprising poetry, fiction and memoir on multifaceted notions of school. I look forward to sharing my two … Continue reading It’s Back to School for Elwood Writers
Plumbline
I was half way through my MA thesis, or so I thought, when my teacher asked: “Margaret, what is your plumbline?” I had no idea - a) what my plumbline was, or b) what a plumbline was. I knew I wanted to write about my torn relationship with my veteran father who’d died in 1976. … Continue reading Plumbline
The Good Mentor
It’s said that writing can’t be taught. But why not? Tobias Wolff taught George Saunders at Syracuse University, and look where that got George. All the way to the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2017. Saunders speaks admiringly of Tobias, who once warned him not to lose “the magic.” Early in his career, George’s … Continue reading The Good Mentor
Making a Scene
‘Keep the drama on the page,’ says Julia Cameron, author of The Artists Way. She means make your work dramatic, not your life. In drafts of my writing I see I have a series of themes and anecdotes, but not so much the stuff of drama. Take a recent story about my working on Dad’s … Continue reading Making a Scene
The Power of the Mic
In September Elwood Writers recorded our Fathers’ Day stories for Vision Radio Australia (VAR). I accompanied Barry to the studio for his reading of ‘Phase’, a story about a young man whose relationship with his father deepens and evolves as he explores his sexuality. While Barry read, presenter, Tim McQueen, edited on the other side … Continue reading The Power of the Mic
