Among other skills, US teacher Kaylie Jones runs memoir-writing workshops. At the first one I attended, she explained that the good memoirist uses the omniscient Eye to watch over the more personal ‘I’ of the narrator. In seconds flat, she was at the whiteboard drawing an eye in the sky that observed and informed the stick … Continue reading The Eye watching the ‘I’
Tag: writing
Finding that 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: “Don’t lose the magic.” Early in his career, George’s fiction … Continue reading Finding that Mentor
The Car Park
During our Melbourne lockdown, 2020, we were each allocated one hour of exercise per day. I drove to the local car park, which overlooks an oval surrounded by trees, and beyond that, a river. There I would just sit before my walk. This was a most splendid moment for me. It was winter, so I … Continue reading The Car Park
America
I have always loved America. The United States of America, that is. From the moment Huck Finn sailed down the Mississippi with the runaway slave, Jim, I was sold. I loved the English classics, but for me American novelists like Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald drove the story forward. Their novels – the one … Continue reading America
An Invitation to the Launch
As promised! Elwood Writers' anthology Every Second Tuesday is about to hit the shelves, and we'd love you to join us online as Lee Kofman launches the book with Readings on Wednesday 9 December at 6:30pm (AEST). This is a free event, though booking is required in order to receive the meeting link on the … Continue reading An Invitation to the Launch
Going Away to Write
Bob Dylan’s house in Malibu is sure to be gorgeous. Apparently it looks over the sea. But when a reporter asked him where he composes, he replied, ‘In a hotel room.’ Tom Wolfe (The Bonfire of the Vanities) was rumoured to have locked himself in a hotel at his editor’s insistence to finish The Kandy-Kolored-Flake Streamline … Continue reading Going Away to Write
Writing Bad
‘But Margaret, you seem so nice,’ a writing colleague said to me. ‘How do you come up with this stuff? Where does it come from?’ I shrugged. First of all, I’m not that nice. Secondly, being a writer is different to being a human being. The human is there to get along in the world, … Continue reading Writing Bad
Meet the Author
Barry Lee Thompson, member of Elwood Writers, has a guest interview in relation to his newly released book, Broken Rules and Other Stories. The interview features on the website, 'In Their Own Write'. Barry talks about his writing process. For him there is no such thing as writer's block. If he gets stuck, he works … Continue reading Meet the Author
Going Away to Write
Bob Dylan’s house in Malibu is sure to be gorgeous, apparently looking out over the sea. But when a reporter asked him where he composes his music, he replied, ‘In a hotel room.’ Tom Wolfe (The Bonfire of the Vanities) was rumoured to have locked himself in a hotel at his editor’s insistence to finish The … Continue reading Going Away to Write
Lily Campbell’s Secret, by Jennifer Bryce
Elwood Writers founding member, Jennifer Bryce, last year published her first novel Lily Campbell's Secret. This Australian story is set post World War One, at a time when Australians were putting their lives back together again after their men had fought in Gallipoli and on the Western Front. With war as a backdrop, newly married … Continue reading Lily Campbell’s Secret, by Jennifer Bryce
