Living Life Twice

  I understand, not every writer has a notebook in the traditional sense, but many do. I am one of the many. My relationship with writer’s notebooks winds all the way back to September, 1983. I am approaching the celebration of a 37 years partnership. Across the intervening years, my notebooks have been various. I have an extensive collections of notebooks. Notebooks documenting my journey as a writer across more than three decades provide a rich paper trail from which I am able to mine some writing wisdom. My notebooks have evolved over time with respect to shape, form, and content. However, there are elements of that notebook/writer relationship which have remained consistently unchanged. Each notebook has been sturdy in its design. All my notebooks have had strong spines and hardy covers. Most have had ruled lines, but occasionally I have consciously chosen a new notebook with totally blank pages. I enjoy the variety such decisions bring to my life as a writer. Spira...

 I have been away from these pages for some time. But I have not been lollygagging or malingering. I have in fact been hunting and gathering in far away places. I have recently been on what I called my 3 Island Tour. Over the course of almost 6 weeks, My wife Vicki and me had the good fortune to visit the island of Capri, Sicily and Salina. Each time I am given the privilege of embarking on a new adventure I am reminded of this quote by Ibn Battuta: 'Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.' Among the many special moments I captured in my notebook while away, there was one in particular that I wanted to share here. As I walked through the Boffe section of Anacapri on the Isla Capri, I passed high white washed walls of long standing, local residences. On the walls of many of these buildings, colourful ceramic tiles feature. They are often adorned with elaborate numbers on patterned backgrounds, many also feature the name of the residence...

Writing ideas swirl round in my head. I live with them for days and sometimes weeks before they emerge on the page. I frequently wake up thinking about the possible shape of my writing for that day. Most days I wake thinking about my writing for that day. Later in the morning over a welcome cappuccino, I might talk about it, do some associated reading and begin scratching out preliminary ideas. I willingly embrace the swirling and mingling, happening in my head. Further sorting out takes place. -All this is part of the rehearsal for the writing to follow. I understand rehearsal is critical to my writing. I embrace it as an integral part of writing. It assists me in clarifying my ideas; to find my direction.  Playing with words and ideas in one's head is such an important part of the writing process. Think of it like a tumble drier with thoughts and ideas rolling around and around until they are ready to be taken out and spread across the page. They emerge warm and ready ...

The childhood of my youth appears to have gone the way of tape recorders, cassette players, CD's and the like. At the very least such items are on an endangered list. When sharing childhood experiences with today’s generation of students, I realize that our respective childhood experiences are world's apart. My generation grew up in small houses with big backyards. The focus of our daily existence was the world outdoors. We had extraordinary freedom to explore our immediate world. The children I now work with, (and I’m talking in general terms here) live in bigger houses, with small backyards and the focus of their lives is frequently indoors. The growth of digital technology in its myriad forms calls after them like a siren. It urges them to remain under cover. X box, computer games, and a multitude of screens win out over an outdoor lifestyle. The digital revolution has swept over our lives like a metaphorical tsunami. Freedom appears to have diminished. It ...

Nothing influences a child’s attitude to writing more than the choice of topic. If the child is given control over topic choice and if the teacher displays genuine interest in that choice, then there’s usually no limit to the effort the young writer will make. Young writers who are given this power soon develop confidence in choosing appropriate topics for their writing. They are engaged in thinking and preparing for the writing that will later spill onto the page. Occasionally I hear teachers lament, ‘They’re (meaning inexperienced writers) not good at choosing something to write about.'  The logical response is, ‘What can you do to assist them to improve this aspect of their writing processes?' Actively teaching the inexperienced writer to make good choices, showing them how to identify a suitable focus for their writing, and harvesting ideas are excellent places to begin.  Topic choice is an inexact science. It takes time and practice to better understand wh...

I vividly recall Georgia,  a young writer, making a gem of a comment during a writing workshop session some time back. A comment that made my heart sing. I had asked students for feedback concerning the writing they had just concluded, and  Georgia  offered the comment, ‘ The more I wrote, the more I remembered .’ Not wishing to conceal my joy, I rushed to the whiteboard and wrote these special words in large letters; identifying  Georgia  as the person being quoted.  Georgia ’s words were a powerful reminder that given the right conditions the developing writer’s ideas take flight! Our little writing community had been focusing on developing greater writing stamina, going deeper into our writing if you like. In consultation with the teacher we had identified a lack of stamina in student writing and discussed the need for them to generate a greater volume of text and to do this we had to improve their ‘writing muscles, in the same way we had deve...

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...

The late Australian writer, Morris Lurie taught me how important it was to read my writing aloud. It was something he practiced and he shared this good advice most willingly. For many years I have been passing on to young writers I meet this same sage advice.  Another renowned  writer, Truman Capote said, ‘ To me the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the music the words make.’   This is why we must hear our words. We must ensure the music of our words is suitably melodic. Colum McCann in his wonderful book, ‘Letters to a Young Writer,’ suggests we should have a conversation with what we write. I totally agree.  As writers, we need to hear the sound our writing makes. We need to hear the repetition, the alliteration, the assonance and the onomatopoeia –all the wonderful notes. We must listen for the rise and fall. When you read your words aloud, you are able to hear them as a reader hears them. You get to hear the intent of the...