‘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. And secondly, being a writer is different to being a human being. The human is there to get along in the … Continue reading Writing Bad
Tag: writing
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
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
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 Writing Group
It is said that you can’t teach writing. Maybe not. But writers, I believe, can sure help themselves. Since 2008 I’ve been lucky enough to be a member of Elwood Writers (EW), a group that meets fortnightly in Melbourne’s inner city. I read on one member’s blog that our group is one of the most … Continue reading The Writing Group
Showing Ten Good Stories
Memoirist Nick Flynn writes: “A memoir is not simply stringing together the five or ten good stories you’ve been telling about your wacky childhood for your whole life, … you need to ask yourself why you’ve been telling those particular stories, and not the millions of others you could tell.” That, says Flynn, is the … Continue reading Showing Ten Good Stories
