When Things Go Write

I was in Sydney a few weeks ago for the launch of The Anthology: Non-Fiction Faber Writing Academy at Allen & Unwin. That’s a mouthful. The Faber Writing Academy, which I attended earlier this year, publishes an anthology of students work, to send to publishers and agents in the UK and Australia. As contributors we were invited to the launch.

Five other students from the course and I have maintained a monthly writing group since the course finished in June. Only one was unable to make the launch night. We have all watched each others projects from conception, to wherever we all are now. It’s been a fantastic experience and is exciting to have a piece of everyone’s work in a lovely book. I received three copies to bring home.

Our piece for submission to the anthology was a maximum of 1500 words, and we had the chance to work with Faber’s in-house editor, Ellen. I submitted a part of a chapter of my book about the Oxfam Trail Walker, the 100km walk I conquered in 2014. The anthology includes a bio, a photo, a synopsis, and a piece, for each participant in our course. We were twelve people, and there were three other non-fiction courses offered in Australia.

The evening was held in the Allen & Unwin offices in Crow’s Nest. Our wonderful teacher, Deborah Robertson, was there, and after a short presentation, a video montage of everyone’s synopsis was played. There was champagne, and photos, and our writing group and friends went out for dinner after the event. It was exciting to see my story printed in a book. It has definitely made me want more. I’m looking forward to all the words in the book being mine.

During the same week, in early December, I found out I had been shortlisted for the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing. A competition presented in partnership with Writers Victoria. I entered the Open Memoir section, with a chapter from my book called ‘Despair.’ A 2,500 word piece about Cooper, my baby who died in 2004. This piece was one of the first I wrote, and still makes me weep when I read it. Writing it was a glimpse into how the process of sitting in my memories was going to change everything this year.

These two achievements were an amazing way to finish my year. In fact, I enjoyed the year so much, I intend to continue writing next year, and into the future.

Read more here about the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing. And about the Faber Writing Academy here.