WAR AND CONSCIENCE

Yesterday, in Australia, we celebrated ANZAC Day. It was a public holiday. It began with diligent citizens gathering at memorial structures to commemorate and commiserate. We acknowledged those Australians and New Zealanders who fought for our land and our freedom; those who died and those who survived; those who were sacrificed and those who sacrificed themselves; those who lost loved ones and those whose lives were changed forever.

Grateful civilians and current armed force soldiers spent a minute thinking about the sacrifice and the benefits gained from war. We watched marches and honoured old soldiers with speeches.

I feel united with fellow Australians, no matter where they came from. Aboriginals, Irish, British, Italian, Maltese, Iranian, Indonesian, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese… whatever. In Australia, we’re a mix. We get along well.

I am a grateful civilian. In Australia, I feel safe.

Unfortunately, not everyone who doesn’t feel safe, who’s suffering in their country, can get in to this refuge, this paradise we call Australia. There’s an entrance fee to this party and being so exclusive, it’s high. Desperate people try to get in the back door. But they get caught and they pay. They must be invited and despite horrible need, the uninvited are rejected. Australia doesn’t want them unless there’s something in it for them.

Where they come from, there is war, there is famine, there is persecution and unrelenting hardship. The humane thing to do would be to let them in, give them a chance to start over, share what we have, share our good luck. For luck is all it is.

If we were born here, we hit the jack pot. If we were allowed to settle here, we won the lottery. Luck is what separates us. Our consciences should admit that.

But coming back to ANZAC Day: a war was fought so that we would remain lucky. It was won. With the eternal flame, Australians will be eternally grateful.

Grateful but conflicted. There is so much war in the world. People fight over land, over God, over who is the superior race. Huge numbers of people die. Soldiers, civilians, old people, innocent children. Governments spend a fortune protecting their piece of earth or attacking someone else’s. The lunacy is escalating.

In Australia this year, our government has spent about $50 billion strengthening our armed forces. Imagine what else could be done with that.

Imagine a world where the military funds were spent on restoring the planet’s health.

Imagine a world where humanity appreciated and respected others’ differences instead of divisively guarding similarities.

Imagine a world where people learned from one another, moving around as if the earth was one country, living where they liked, sharing resources. Imagine.

Imagine a world with no war.

Can it only be a dream? Sadly, for a long while, I think so. But dreams are there to be reached for. Dreams are goals, so make them for good.

It would be helpful to remember the ethical code of the ANZACs. No wounded comrade would be left behind on the battlefield if there was the smallest chance of saving them. They might have only known that person for a short while, but young men risked their lives to help. They had a conscience, a feeling of mateship, camaraderie, empathy. They could imagine themselves as the other.

That’s what we need to do. We need to imagine ourselves in the other’s shoes. We need to imagine we’re all mates. We need to imagine us all getting along and the earth being one. We need to imagine a planet where there was no need for war. We need to imagine a time where we could all be grateful.

Picture courtesy of ABC Australia 2021

Environmental Consciousness

As I sit in my room at a resort in Coron in the Philippines, I look out over low trees to the strip of sparkling blue water and the almost uninhabited green hills behind, and recall the last few days of diving in the waterways of Coron Bay.

 

It’s been a nice holiday. I’ve met some new people, been active and adventurous, explored a bit more of the world. Scuba diving is a wonderful sport for a keen traveller. Shipwrecks, the big draw card of Coron, are fun to float through. Their eerie, dark stillness is exciting and paradoxically calming at the same time. It’s surreal to see fish pass by port holes, to recognize ladders and engines under coral growth, to swim through holes in steel.

 

But I’ve been disappointed, too. From my balcony, the view looks pristine and the landscape, healthy. Closer to the real world, it’s not so good.

 

There is a great big gash in the side of a hill. Dirt has been dug and removed. Down by the water, in front of the mangroves, a mound of earth rises up a couple of meters over the water line. It stretches half a kilometer one way and a quarter the other. Apparently, this is where the dirt was transferred; an illegal land reclamation. A group of developers thought it would be a good idea to create a housing and holiday village while no-one was looking, through Covid times. The only problem was, it wasn’t government approved, and there is no infrastructure. One road in and out. No sewer or water. Nothing. And now it sits empty, the investors fined a few thousand dollars, the land a vacant lot. An intrusive wasteland.

 

Under the water, the natural reefs are sparsely populated. There is little colour and variation amongst the corals. There are few fish. The water isn’t clear. I don’t know if it’s silty because the sea floor is denuded of grass, or because it’s covered in organic waste, or if something has stirred it up. Some of my fellow divers heard a large boom, felt a reverberation: dynamite fishing. I inwardly shrink when I hear this. No wonder there is so little life. On top of run off from land degradation and warming temperatures, there is mass killing of sea creatures.

 

I looked it up. I read part of the government’s Resource Management Plan. Yes, Coron has a problem. There are too many people struggling to make a living. Forests are cut down. The sea is over-harvested. There isn’t enough infrastructure to support the population. But tourism, conversely, is necessary to steer the economy away from destructive practices towards environmentally friendly ones. It’s a difficult situation.

 

I will leave this place with happy memories of being active in nature. The waterways are still lovely, the wrecks interesting, the tropical climate conducive to fun.

 

But I am also sad. Perhaps the hard words I’ve written will reverberate somewhere where they can help. I don’t know how, but I do know that ignorance is not bliss. It causes more destruction and fear. When we know what the truth is, we can face it and try to fix it. We can find a way.

 

What Coron needs is empathy, generosity, and appreciation. Come to think of it, this is what the whole world needs now, too. Each and every one of us needs to engage with nature and do our own bit to preserve and repair it. Just appreciating it is a start. I hope I’ve helped.

Writing Well

This month’s blog is simply an expression of how I’m feeling about writing right now. Oh, the joy! It feels like my ten years of learning the craft in courses, workshops, and books, plus my six years of writing and re-writing my first novel, have all come together to form a passage through to the end of Draft Seven (a euphemism for Draft Gazillion), also referred to as the Submission Draft.

Finally, I feel like I know what I’m doing. My visualisations of signing a contract, of editing the final manuscript, of beholding a beautiful cover, of holding an actual paper book and seeing it in a bookstore, have all re-emerged. I see myself being interviewed, being introduced as an author, being congratulated on a message well-said. I’m loving it!

So, what has brought me to this point? Enthusiasm for writing, the wonderful people who write, a story that won’t go away, dedication, determination, and resilience. And a year that has so far brought three gifts:

  1. A workshop by Dani Abernathy on The Art of Emotionally Impactful Storytelling (found through the Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo podcast),
  2. the discovery of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, of which I used the summarised beat sheet, and
  3. Jennifer Marshall, a writing buddy turned book coach who has helped me plot a structure that will keep me on track for a strong character and story arc. Since engaging her services, my writing has taken off and so has my confidence.

Every author I’ve ever listened to has strongly advised having at least one writing buddy. Someone to bounce ideas off, check work with, be motivated by. Jen has understood my novel so intuitively, that it’s like she sees the gold vein in the rock walls. She’s able to extract the message of my story, and the good stuff from my sometimes-dense brain. With her reflecting what I say, problems are getting solved.

In all, I’m on track for submitting my novel to agents and publishers this year, hopefully in the first half. Writing my pitch, synopsis, and cover letter for submission might be my biggest challenge. But now I know I can do it. Light is shining from the end of the tunnel.

Here’s my practise pitch:

The Rest of Their Lives is a heart-warming, contemporary story about three friends facing the challenges common to women in middle-life. It’s about love and loss, hard choices, and self-discovery. Set in Australia, India, and Ireland over the course of a year, these three brave women re-write the next chapters of their lives.

And now, it’s back to work – the joy of writing well.

If any of my writing friends are reading this and thinking they could do with a hand, contact Jen through me. I can’t recommend her enough.

Aussies Celebrate Australia

All Aussies love Australia and feel blessed to be here. We feel like we’re lucky because the land is beautiful, the climate is good, the flora and fauna are wonderfully unique. We feel safe and educated and secure. In all, our great, southern, sunburnt land is the jackpot of all countries to be a citizen of, no matter which end of the lucky-spectrum we fall.

But some Aussies are unhappy about the date our government chose to call Australia Day. That date, the 26th of January, is the date Arthur Phillip put up a British flag and claimed the land uninhabited and Britain’s. Some Aussies mistakenly believe it is the date Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay. But do we care? Or do we just want to party and yell out to the world that this country is the greatest and we’re so happy to live here?

Mostly, we want to party. We want friends and family and the beach and the barbeque.

So, if the date offends a bunch of Aussies because of what it historically marks, why can’t we just change the date?

For the sake of peace, inclusion and Aussie mateship, is this really too hard?

India and My Soul

In November, I visited India for the fourth time. I’m drawn to the place like a magnet, like my energy is attracted to its, like my soul gets caught on the prevailing wind.

It is a land of fascinating human history, evidence of which can be seen in forts and palaces and temples. Its people are friendly and musical and resourceful. Of course, it has its problems, and like everywhere else in the world, they’re man-made, but sweeping the trash aside, India is a beautiful and exciting place.

Each time I’ve been, I’ve had a mission: the first was to visit the big sights of Rajasthan and South India; the second to do research for my novel-writing; the third to spend nine days in an ashram at a women’s festival focused on saving the planet (with my guru, Liz Gilbert); and this fourth time was twofold – to check out a residential school for disabled kids run by an incredible woman I met at the ashram, and the other, to join a group of writers in a tour aptly called Story Hunters.

The school turned out to be a treat, a happy place where kids were thriving. Kids who had suffered birth trauma, disease, or lack of pregnancy care, who would normally have no opportunity for happiness, were being educated, looking after themselves and each other in a positive environment, playing sport, laughing. I got to hang out with the girls in their common room, having my hands painted with henna, dancing.

The group of writers turned out to be an eclectic bunch of highly creative and deep-thinking women.

Story Hunters was the vision of a man who wanted to connect a bunch of curious, foreign writers with types of Indians who don’t often get to tell their stories.

Travelling with us was a young Indian woman with impressive qualifications who acted as facilitator, herder, and interpreter; a musician who played violin, guitar and wooden flute, who sang and wrote poetry; and an earnest, young videographer and documentary maker with the sweetest of hearts.

We got to meet with:

  • gypsies who live on the edge of the Thar desert, who perform dances, play instruments, and do tricks like pick up razor blades in their eyelids. Their pride and their personal stories of loss have affected me forever.
  • street-sweepers – a mother and daughter-in-law – who were accompanied by a male family member in order to be decorous.
  • a jeweller who broke away from his family’s traditional silver-smithing style to make highly imaginative artworks from metals and gems and fossils. He almost died from Covid, then a great light lifted from his chest, leaving him completely well.
  • a Naga sadhu in Benares (Varanasi) who was once a successful software developer who now devotes his life to attaining enlightenment.
  • a Sufi priest who explained that Sufism is about finding truth, liberation, reality, and love. He spoke eloquently, sang Kabir’s poetry, and played tambourine with dancing hands.
  • a tuk tuk driver in Delhi who turned his life around with the love and support of his wife – a love marriage between a Muslim and a Hindu that survived his drug addiction and imprisonment – becoming an honest business owner, able to put his sons through private school.
  • Hijras – people of the ‘third gender’ – whose personal stories of hardship, ostracism and desire for love broke my heart.

We spent days in India’s last living fort, Jaisalmer, and more by the great, holy Ganges in Varanasi. We visited ancient sites including a 350-year-old Mosque built with the remains of a Hindu temple and the remains of a city, reportedly abandoned 800 years ago. We learned about caste, religion, gurus, Hindu gods, and Diwali. We explored alleyways and danced on the river’s ghats, singing Hindi and Beatles songs with our very own troubadour.

My fourth trip to India turned out to be exceptional. I learned so much that it took weeks to process once I was home in the quiet, open space of Australia.

On reflection, I wonder if the gods play their part in returning me there, time and time again.

Vayu, the guardian of the northwest direction and the Lord of the Winds, may be my universal facilitator. No doubt, I will do this exhilarating journey again and like the much enjoyed roller-coaster of my childhood, I will find myself weeping with pain and blissful with joy. India burns in my heart and like the flame of the diya (the sacred oil lamp), it will remain the light of my soul.

REFERENCE

School for children with a physical disability – SKSN: https://sksn.org/

Story Hunters: https://www.blueswan.events/

Writer’s Journey – https://www.writersjourney.com.au/

A Plea from the Heart: The Referendum 2023

Tomorrow we’re being asked to vote in the Referendum. What a rare privilege we Australians have, being in a democracy where we all get to have a say in any changes to the Constitution (the rules for governing our nation).

What a shame that the original occupants of this land weren’t included like that back in 1901 when it was written. How different things would have been if they had. Mass stealing of children wouldn’t have happened, for one. Back then the aboriginal people weren’t seen as people so therefore, they weren’t relevant – which may be where the problems started.

Right now we’re being given the opportunity to correct the omission of First Nations people from the Constitution. We’re being offered a generous olive branch, a positive step forward. The body of representatives that is proposed to be included in the Parliament is the proposal put forward back in 2017 in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Eighty percent of all aboriginal people want this. They see it as a step forward, as progress, as a way to express their needs and make proposals as to how those needs might best be met.

It isn’t a threat to non-aboriginals. No one is going to take your house or your family’s farm.

The Voice to Parliament is an advisory body only. Which is why some people say it doesn’t go far enough. But the Voice to Parliament will be able to advise whichever government is in at the time, regardless of their politics. Isn’t that a grand thing? Doesn’t that feel right? And that advice will be proposed by First Nations people themselves, by the people who are talking to all the ‘grass roots’ communities and mobs over this wide land.

The Yes vote is a soft approach. People say it comes from the heart. It does. But even the head can discern that it’s a step towards getting better outcomes for the Aboriginal People. That’s if we don’t let the noise confuse us. The strong, negative language used by the No voters is designed to frighten and divide us. Don’t go there. If you feel afraid, go back to basics. What is the actual proposal? What are the actual words?

Please, if you still don’t know, do your due diligence today.

The following links are basic definitions: not Yes and not No hype.

Referendum 2023 – The Constitution (aec.gov.au)

The Australian Constitution (peo.gov.au)

Voice to Parliament – Reconciliation Australia

If you want to witness a two-sided discussion that’s fair and good, I recommend the latest ABC Q & A. Q+A Live From Adelaide – Q+A (abc.net.au)

I am voting Yes and I’m voting with my heart and my head. My decision comes from a place of love and hope, the very place that the Uluru Statement came from. If you haven’t read it or listened to it, I implore you to do so. It’s enlightening.

View The Statement – Uluru Statement from the Heart.

No means no progress.

Yes means acknowledgement, acceptance and inclusion. Yes means we’re listening. Yes means the Constitution will be complete. And I’m proud to be part of that.

Politics in the Referendum

It’s inevitable that politics would get mixed up in the Australian public’s decision whether to include the First Nations people in our Constitution.

I’m writing this blog post only a month after the other Voice-related one, because I want to respond to John Howard’s comments in The Australian newspaper on 26th July 2023.

I have a huge respect for John Howard, Australia’s Liberal Prime Minister 1996-2007. So, I take his comments seriously. I’m glad I was able to vote for him. I’m glad that, as a woman, I am allowed to vote at all. Just as I’m sure indigenous Australians are glad that their inclusion in the Constitution in 1967 – as Australians – has allowed them a vote.

John Howard is quoted in the article as saying: “Shouldn’t we just be sitting down talking to each other? Not about the voice, not about reparations, not about treaties, but just talking about how to lift up Aboriginal people, and put them in the mainstream of the community, finding out ways of doing it.”

Well, yes! That would be terrific. Talking about lifting the Aboriginal people up and including them in the mainstream is a great idea. And that would best be done with a group of Elders who have the most understanding of the issues. And for continuity, since governments come and go, the group should be a separate body assured of its place in Parliament.

Mr Howard is concerned that the Voice to Parliament will create conflict about how to help indigenous people. That’s possibly true because there will always be differing opinions (and we can’t stop media hype) but the point is for the body to provide advice based on close knowledge and understanding of the issues. So, therefore, there is a possibility that the advice will reduce conflict.

We would also be hopeful that good advice aligned with the specific issues would reduce money wasted on schemes that don’t help.

I believe it’s best to leave out of this discussion any future treaty and reparations. These bigger issues complicate the proposal at hand. They are distracting, more contentious and would take a long time to work out. Therefore, the Albanese government not talking about them makes sense. Mr Howard’s suggestion that there’s subterfuge in the exclusion, to me isn’t warranted. Although both sides of government do like to play that game.

Finally, there is the issue of inclusivity of Aboriginal people into the mainstream. Mr Howard says: “We are profoundly and absolutely part of Western civilisation. Part of our culture is the Aboriginal culture, but the mainstream culture of Australia is not very Aboriginal.”

I agree with him that the best solution is to encourage all Australians to be in this mainstream, to “remain one people, living in one nation under one law which applies with equal force to all of us.”

But that does not negate my belief that privileged white people and indigenous Australians, because of their life experience, think differently and need different things. Having a Voice to Parliament will provide Aboriginal people with a closer and clearer expression of themselves.

As a reminder, all we are being asked is: do we agree to the addition of the following?

Paraphrasing, the added lines are that a body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice can make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth (the High Court) on matters relating to themselves. The Parliament will have the power to make laws in relation to the body’s recommendations.

Whatever politics you follow, find out as much as you can from as many places and people that you can. If there are Aboriginal people you can talk to, ask them what they think. If we believe we should be one Australia, put the political arguments aside as much as possible. Sometimes in the end, when we’ve done all we can with our minds, we have to make a choice from the heart.

Useful links:

Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023 – Parliament of Australia (aph.gov.au)

Constitution alteration – Parliament of Australia (aph.gov.au)

Constitutional reform: FAQs – Benefits of reforming the Constitution | Australian Human Rights Commission

Between Draft Blues

In the last six weeks I have written nothing to do with my novel. I’m in Pause mode, in the space between drafts. It feels like limbo, like I’m adrift at sea in a dinghy, unsure that I’ll ever make it back to the main boat to which I’m usually tethered. I’ve been patiently waiting on an author-connection to assess, edit and hand back my manuscript.

An established author who is willing to wade through the muck that is a first-time writer’s work, who is willing to pay attention and use her authorly skills to give advice that will better that work, is, in my view, a fairy godmother. My expectation was that copious amounts of magical instruction would be sprinkled over me like fairy dust, acting like a salve that had the power to transform and transfigure my rather voluminous housedress of a fifth draft into a silken, fitted ballgown. With sparkly glass slippers.

Unfortunately, the wonderful author is human, and this is real life and stuff happened that has prevented her from wading through that muck.

And so, I’m drifting. Directionless. How will I fill in time while I wait for another generous, willing author, to make her way through my storyland, planting seeds and slashing weeds along the way?

The first thing I need to do is relax. Many authors advise to take time off between drafts. At least a month, say some. I’ll come back to it refreshed and see it through a new lens, right? But what if I forget what I was trying to say? What if my characters forget to inform me?

I need to distract myself and focus on all the things I think of doing while I’m trying to write. There are a million things I could do varying from reading to exercising, short courses to socialising, redecorating to cleaning grout. Procrastination comes so easily when the manuscript needs work, so why not now? After utilising the initial month’s break for a two week adventure-holiday, catching up with long lost friends, and listening to writerly podcasts – all very satisfying – I’ve found the extra time has not been so productive.

Perhaps then, I need to revert to a schedule. Get up early, do something writing-related for an hour and a half, like I’m used to (I’ve just enrolled in two online writing courses!), read, exercise, listen to podcasts, research something of interest… Am I mad? What human that lives by a schedule doesn’t crave a holiday from a schedule?

I guess the problem is, I just want to get back to writing my book. I miss it, miss my characters, and miss the progress now that completion is finally in sight. It’s been a long journey. I’m in my sixth year of writing. It’s been hard with lots of heartache and angst and deprivation. But it’s looking like a half decent story worthy of the three women characters who are so brave and loving and formidable.

Waiting has always been hard. Patience needs to be practised.

I know I won’t forget the book’s message and my characters are way too keen to have their journey to let me forget anything they need to do. So, I’ll take a deep breath, step back, and let my sub-conscious and the Universe do what they do best: test me, teach me and make magic.

At least I’ve got time to get back to writing my blog.

Australia’s Referendum on the Voice to Parliament

Later this year, all Australians are being asked to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a simple question that will add a few lines to our Constitution.

The question on the ballot paper will be:

“A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

When I first heard this proposal I had a bunch of questions: What does that even mean? Why is it necessary? Is it important to me? Doesn’t ‘special treatment’ add fuel to the Us and Them issue?

I admit my own ignorance and lack of enthusiasm when it comes to much politically associated news. I had heard snippets from the ‘Yes’ camp and the ‘No’. It seemed to me that even the First Peoples of Australia weren’t sure about it. I didn’t pay too much attention. Until now.

Much of what I have heard has been negative. The ‘No’ camp seems far more vocal. The media, which thrives on drama and bad news, and is not above misleading the public, is relishing the negative. I have discovered that there are many layers to the ‘No’ and all of them seem to be political and power oriented.

But this is not a political issue!

This is a Constitution issue. That is, it is an issue of the Australian public.

So, firstly: What is the Constitution?

The Constitution is a founding document (one of the most important steps in the process of Federation) that began on 1 January 1901 that sets out how Australia is governed. It overrides any other laws and can’t be changed by the Parliament of the day. The Constitution can only be changed through a vote by the people.

Interestingly, although it was put together by the six colonies and voted on by the people, not all people could vote. Most women and Indigenous Australians were not allowed to.

So, what are the proposed few lines? You can find them here: The Voice http://www.voice.gov.au

Briefly, the added lines are that a body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice can make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth (the High Court) on matters relating to themselves. The Parliament will have the power to make laws in relation to the body’s recommendations.

The body would be chosen by the Aboriginal and TSI communities and Elders.

Why have I become so interested in this and why has it become important? Because my instincts tell me that there is a scare campaign out there. I’m reminded of other minority groups seeking acceptance, and the fight of women for equality.

My gut says, of course there should be Aboriginal and TSI people representing themselves on matters that affect them, that if the Constitution was being written today, they would have a seat at the table and be contributing with their specific concerns in mind.

My conscience reminds me that I’m an educated white person born in this country, and therefore I have a privileged position. My own path has been easy. I don’t feel guilty about that, but I am aware that most, if not all, indigenous people have a much more difficult path. Their history, upbringing, health, isolation and education have all severely impacted their opportunities. In my position, I can barely imagine what their lives are like.

Many governments have tried to address these difficulties, and some have been reasonably successful. But each government prioritises differently, and programmes start and stop as parties come and go. There is instability and the programmes themselves are not necessarily designed by people who fully understand their suitability. Billions of dollars and many years have been wasted because Aboriginal and TSI people have not had input.

This is why the body, the Voice, needs to be made up of the Aboriginal and TSI people themselves. Their chosen representatives will understand their culture and the issues in their communities. It is why the body needs to be embedded within the Constitution.

The Voice is an advisory body, only. The intention is to direct government spending to achieve better outcomes. The Parliament will still have the power to take the advice or not.

The scare campaign reeks of politics; the ‘my policy is different from your policy’ and political party games undermine the simplicity and importance of the proposal.

Julian Leeser, an expert in Indigenous affairs who was the opposition’s Indigenous Australians spokesman until he resigned in order to campaign for the Yes vote, says:

‘The Voice will work on making remote communities safer, work to get children to school and keep them there, work to address the terrible infant mortality and renal failure in indigenous communities, and it will work to create local jobs and industry so we can break a culture of welfare dependency.

The Voice is not about two classes of Australians. It’s about eliminating the differences in economic and social outcomes that separate Indigenous Australians with other Australians.’

This sums up all the questions I had. I have also listened to discussions on whether the Voice goes far enough (in my opinion, it does) and whether treaties should come first (in my opinion, it would be a very long wait) but all that is too much to go into here.

I believe that giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders this recognition and chance to speak for themselves is fair and will ultimately make Australia even more democratic. I believe ‘Yes’ is the right choice.

Note: There are many good places to seek honest information. Be careful when reading from the media as there have been misrepresentations and lies.

https://voice.gov.au/

‘The Voice to Parliament: All the Detail You Need’ by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien. Recording of the interview at the Sydney Writers’ Festival https://omny.fm/shows/sydney-writers-festival/the-voice-to-parliament-all-the-detail-you-need

Tools to have conversations: https://yes23.com.au/

An Emerging Writer’s Spiel

When it comes up in conversation that I’m writing a novel, I’m usually asked what my book is about. I’ve always struggled with the answer to this, not because I don’t know what I’m writing but because I never know whether to tell the story or whether to reveal what it’s really about, it’s message.

If I was asked by a prospective publisher, I’d want to give my twenty second pitch. But even that befuddles me. There’s the advice that as an emerging (unpublished) author, a hook – something vibrant and catchy – is required. But that’s so subjective I can’t formulate one.

My genre is fairly clear, at least. It’s contemporary – probably women’s – fiction. But if a publisher put literary in that description, I’d be thrilled. Literary fiction is what I like to read. It’s what I admire.

So I’ve created an answer that merges story with message and I hope it sounds intriguing.

It’s about three friends who are dealing with the challenges common to women in middle life. It’s about their experience of love and loss, family and friendship, and the choices they make to rewrite future chapters of their lives. It’s set in Australia, India, and Ireland over the course of a year.

This draft will be finished by June – I’m going for positivity – and then I’ll have another look at that pitch and send off my manuscript to the highly selective world of agents and publishers. I’ll finally walk the talk and show all my commitment and perseverance.

If anyone has any advice for me, please post it here. Likewise, if you like my spiel, encourage me with a thumbs up.

Happy reading, dreaming, and writing, my word-loving friends.