A few months a discussion in a University of Iowa writing MOOC caught my attention. I didn’t contribute, because I was late to the exchange, and anyway, I felt a bit like an anthropologist, observing people around the world express their ideas about what they were learning. This particular discussion was about how cultures might … Continue reading What the hell am I doing here
Reading
Uses of enchantment
I have Bruno Bettelheim's book Uses of Enchantment, somewhere. Yet I'm less interested in Freudian readings of myth and fairy tales than other types of interpretation. But that's not the point of this. I was reading how selling is the art of story telling, (in a Medium piece here) but earlier I'd been looking for a … Continue reading Uses of enchantment
Patchwork heart
You won't be surprised if you learned I have a collector's tendency. A bit. Not in a massively life cramplingly problematic hoarding way, yet I do keep things. Maybe it's because stuff is comforting, like when I was a child. My room in one house was barely wider than my bed, in which was stuffed … Continue reading Patchwork heart
…don’t hurry the journey at all…
Beyond my family there are a few people who directly informed my life and who saw, or lit, the spark of promise in me. Special first off honour goes to Margaret Muller, my high school English teacher, for whom I strove to tame my wild run on sentences across essays and stories. Thank you for … Continue reading …don’t hurry the journey at all…
Review: The Paper House
A fragile thread Finally, I've finished reading The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan. It could be the newly diagnosed a-typical asthma, but this novel has winded me. I had to pause while reading it, sometimes for a week, because it was painful, but also because I wanted to dwell in it in a way I … Continue reading Review: The Paper House
Admiration x 3
I'm not into certain kinds of inspiration. I'm not on Pintrest for the words across artist landscapes or landscaped bodies encouraging me to be all I can be. I'm not a Just Do It person. In fact if you instruct me to Just Do It, I won't. Probably. I'm contrary and often, resistant. Sometimes I'm … Continue reading Admiration x 3
Entertaining traumas
Some stories remain big in my memory, because of the effect they had on me when I was young. I've written about the first story I ever read, The Little Match Girl, and yes, I'll never forget it. But there were others. I had recurring nightmares after seeing Lost in the Desert, also known as … Continue reading Entertaining traumas
Finding out what we lost
Humans are very good at destroying things. Just look at the stark bones of the Great Barrier Reef. Bleached, it could end up being the largest thing visible from space that was once alive. Yet, it's almost too large to comprehend, which is ironic, given it is made of microbes. Our human brains don't really … Continue reading Finding out what we lost
Stories/Literacy
This week a response to a video on reading. Kids with books are good, and I'm a big fan of books and always have been. I want to make that clear. Kate Forsyth is an interesting writer and she has much of value to say about writing practice but a recent video has put me … Continue reading Stories/Literacy
The Man From Snowy River does not come from Detroit
In response to Southerly: While I haven't written about a suburb in Sydney, I do commend this article from Southerly's blog. Specificity in writing is crucial. Part of the reason I set my fictions in certain real or historical places is because I'm somehow exploring what they mean to me. And if they mean something to me, … Continue reading The Man From Snowy River does not come from Detroit
Writing Bec 