Living Life Twice

  There is much appeal in short stories. They provide tiny windows into other worlds. It is important to expose student writers to their charm. It serves to add an extra dimension to their writing options. Story 1 On Hold 'I’m standing in a crowded shopping mall waiting to order my lunch from a sandwich bar/deli; the kind where they build your sandwich from an assortment of fillings. My order is taken and I stand back waiting for the sandwich to be completed. A man standing beside me begins to order his lunch from the person serving behind the counter keenly awaiting his order. As he begins to relay his order, his phone rings. He dives into his pocket and extracts his phone of choice and holds up a hand to the woman before uttering ‘Hang on a minute.’ She immediately stops sandwich construction duties, and stands as if in suspended animation for what seems an eternity. Her serving tongs are held like a torch in the air while phone man attends to his phone message. The woman says ...

In my home state of Victoria, Australia, we have returned to stage 3 lockdown conditions due to a resurgence of Covid cases in the last three weeks. I have been consciously using this home time productively as I continue my journey trawling through old notebooks.  After almost 40 years, I have a plentiful supply of notebooks from which to mine potential treasure and hidden gems. As most of us appreciate, conversation with family and friends remains important. More so right now. This prompted me to gather some conversations and dialogue captured across my notebooks. I am a practiced eavesdropper. I sit, I listen, I note.  Learning to capture authentic conversation is a most valuable thing for any writer to develop. So, this morning I went gathering some examples of authentic exchanges and words overheard . Hope you like what I unearthed. I present it here for your consideration. ‘It’s ridiculous! Jeans in January. I don’t associate jeans with January. What’s happening?’ Cool su...

Mixed feelings swirl around me when commencing a new writer's notebook.  The prospect of filling the fresh pages brings with it anticipation, presenting as a prospect to be enthusiastically embraced.  To see newly generated words spread out across previously unmarked pages delivers a buzz. The very act of capturing the raw stuff of my writing life, delivers order and a sense of accomplishment to my active mind. The harvesting of words and ideas adds to the energy for writing in this new place. I am like the farmer ploughing a new field. I make a conscious decision to choose a notebook with different dimensions and qualities to its predecessor. Some writers choose the same notebook each time a replacement is required. I embrace the notion of change along with the unique shape and form of the potential replacement notebook. I remain keen to shape this new notebook in a way that establishes its difference from previous notebooks. The contents will add furt...

In these times of social solitude, I  have been consciously delving back into books previously read. Pulling titles from the shelves and rediscovering treasure among the pages. It is proving a rich and rewarding experience. Stimulating thought, arousing curiosity and prompting action. Yesterday, it was Robert McFarlane’s ‘ Landmarks ’ published in 2016. A celebration of landscapes and language. McFarlane writes with fierce enthusiasm for the wonderful words residing in the natural world. He cites a 2012 national report concerning ‘Natural Childhood’ conducted in the UK concerning the lives of children between 1970 and 2010. The report noted that the area children were permitted to play unsupervised shrank by 90 % across that period. A dramatic downturn in free range play in untamed or wild places. Across successive generations the roaming radius of children has collapsed to mean just the house, the garden if one exists and the pavement in front of the house. Increasing...

On  weekends a magazine comes with the newspaper delivered to my front door. It frequently contains a variety of topical articles, some engaging, some merely page fillers.  At one time it also contained a regular feature entitled,  Your Time Starts Now. It involved a different person answering a series of predetermined questions each week. I always looked forward to reading their responses. I am naturally curious about other people's experiences in life. I often found myself wondering, how would I respond ? Would my answers differ or equate to those printed before me. So I have challenged myself to respond to the type of questions this feature posed: My earliest memory:  Watching my mother go to hospital in a taxi just prior to the birth of my sister and wondering if she would ever come back. I was quite distraught. Months earlier, my dog, Buster went to the  dog hospital  (as my parents put it) and never returned! My favourit...

I have been hearing a lot about writer's block and the challenge of the blank page in my recent discussions in schools and it set me to thinking... Writers, experienced and inexperienced all face the challenge of the blank page. So let's approach the writing we choose to do with a can-do attitude. The blank page is the very reason the rehearsal of our 'first' or opening words is so vitally important.  When we rehearse those initial words, we turn up to the party bearing gifts! We bring with us a string of words to launch our writing. Words ready to splash across the page. Words to get things going. These rehearsed words provide momentum.  I very much enjoy rehearsing my words. There exists in my head a rich world of words and ideas. They entertain me and prepare me for the writing that follows. This is pre-writing. This is the build up. I consider this a vital part of  the writing process; something to share with student writers, so they can prepare th...

'On every page, confidence fights with self-doubt.' David Morrell I continue to hear the term ‘reluctant writers’ when educators describe certain students. It’s a term that causes me a fair degree of discomfort.  When teachers talk of young writers in this manner, they pull up some way short of the mark. The question needs to be asked, why is this student behaving in a way that has them shying away from writing?  Asking ‘why?’ is a key to finding out more about that particular young writer and hopefully what is inhibiting their full participation in writing- their connection to writing. Invariably, what is impeding the writer from experiencing a stronger connection to the writing task is confidence- or rather a lack of it. And if we dig a little deeper it is frequently connected to a poor self-perception in relation to spelling. It may also be the challenge presented by the physical task of writing due to a lack of a fluent writing style. Sometimes it is related ...

  Sitting in the mid-morning light of day my thoughts land on the idea of enjoying a cup of tea. The sun is ever so slowly warming to its task. By mid-afternoon it may bring soothing warmth to my shoulders. Right now the air is still crisp after a rather cold night. Remnants of dew linger on the wooden deck and on the hydrangeas. This is the pattern of recent days. Cool nights followed by days of clear blue skies and a brief burst of mild sunshine.  My choice of tea is English Breakfast. I take my tea with no sugar and no milk. I like to share a cup of tea with someone. I rarely drink tea alone. I was trained by my parents to view drinking tea as a social occasion. To sit and ruminate is a simple pleasure. Action plans are streamlined. Review and reflection frequently occurs. Often speculation drops into a conversation. Dreams and plans can find a spark at this time too. Matters may be resolved. Tea helps a conversation flow it seems...

Memory of times gone by emerge from time to time prompted by words, images, thoughts and people. For my recent birthday I was given two pens, both of them special in their own way. One was a fountain pen, beautifully balanced with just the right feel in my hand. The other a finely shaped ball point pen, also possessed of subtle feel when held. I am enjoying having both of them to call upon when I write.  Upon receiving these gifts, I found myself pondering my life journey from a handwriting perspective. Much has changed across the years. The tools we use for writing have evolved, expanded and improved.  I began to think back to my early handwriting experiences as a left hander in a predominantly right handed world. My response takes the form of a poem. A poem titled appropriately 'Inkblot,' Inkblot I was born into a world of blotting paper Ink wells and fountain pens A left handed writer Living in a writing minefield Ink wells and fountain pens Held...