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ENDURANCE
Amy Andrews –K eeping Public while Staying
ISSUE 271 Private During a Pandemic
Dec 2020 – Feb 2021 Fiona Robertson – Sparks in the Dark
C_AD_2002_210×297_WQMagDec
WE SEE YOU
TAKING
YOUR TALENT
FURTHER
REFINE YOUR CREATIVE
WRITING SKILLS WITH
CQUNI’S MASTER
OF LETTERS
APPLY NOW TO START
ONLINE IN MARCH 2021
CRICOS: 00219C | RTO: 40939
PUBLISHED BY
ISSUE 271
Dec 2020 – Feb 2021
ISSN 1444-2922
Contents EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION
Editor
Sandra Makaresz
Associate Editor
3 Meet Kevin Gillespie QWC Chair 2011-2016 Callum McDonald
In conversation with Judy Gregory Guest Artist
Brenden Borellini
Design
4 Sparks in the Dark Green Fox Studio
By Fiona Robertson Printing
CPX Printing & Logistics
6
Keeping Public while Staying Private SUBMISSIONS
During a Pandemic Members can submit Milestones or
details of Events or Competitions and
By Amy Andrews Opportunities, or pitch articles for WQ,
by emailing us at editor@qldwriters.org.au
8 We’re All in This Together; Editing Anthologies QWC reserves the right to edit all
submissions with regard to content
By Edwina Shaw
and word length.
ADVERTISING
10 Aiming for the Moon Advertising rates, deadlines and dimensions
By Bianca Millroy and other information on how to advertise
in WQ is available at qldwriters.org.au/
advertise. For advertising enquiries please
12 Snags contact editor@qldwriters.org.au
By Helen Crampton QWC members enjoy a reduced advertising
rate. Before booking an advertisement
potential advertisers should read QWC’s
16 The Unbearable Brightness of Seeing Advertising Terms and Conditions at
By Sally Colin-James qldwriters.org.au/advertise
STAFF
19 Chasing The Wild Pineapple Chief Executive Officer
Carole Ferrier – Trailblazer by Lesley Synge Lori-Jay Ellis
Social Media Officer
Charlie Hester
20 A Zoom with a View Project Officers
By David Lowe Craig Cauchi
Callum McDonald
Aleisha Yu
22 Creating through COVID: Aimee Cheung
How do we write when our brains are aching? MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
By Dr Andrea Baldwin Chair
Kym Hausmann
24 Competitions & Opportunities Vice Chair
Ann Wilson
Treasurer
28 Publisher Update Mary McWeeney
Secretary
30 Events Judy Gregory
ORDINARY MEMBERS
32 Member Milestones Sandra Makaresz
Andrea Brosnan
Sarah Thornton
33 QWC Membership Benefits Angela Samut
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 1
PUBLISHED BY
ISSN 1444-2922
ISSUE 271
Editorial
Sandra Makaresz
Editor
GUEST ARTIST
Brenden Borellini
Cover Photograph:
“The Lone Tree”
Biography: In reading through the articles for this edition, it was so interesting to come
Brenden Borellini is the across ex-chair Kevin Gillespie’s description of the Writers Centre in the
Ambassador and Artist in aftermath of the floods in 2011. Kevin describes the State Library being
Residence at Crossroad Arts where closed due to flooding and the dynamism of the team in keeping the writing
he has been performing for close community together and innovating to create change.
to a decade. He has collaborated
Did anyone imagine that anything like that would ever happen again? Probably
on various projects as an actor,
not. Yet here we are in 2020, with an extended period of being locked out of
workshop facilitator, photographer
the building yet again. No flood waters to battle or clean up after this time. But
and researcher. As Crossroad
an even more difficult task to keep on going against an invisible challenge that
Arts’ Ambassador and Artist in
affects us all – and particularly affects our lives as writers.
Residence, he has also travelled
to Japan and the United States Many writers have lost income streams, and many have lost the ability to write
where he exhibited his 2D and 3D as their headspace battles against them. Writers whose income loss hasn’t
photographic works. been recognised by other or even felt yet. Others have found a reason to put
pen to paper and produced heartfelt stories that help capture this moment
Brenden was born profoundly
in history.
deaf and lost his sight at the age
of 9. He successfully pursued his The Writers Centre has once again stepped up to bring the writing community
education at the Special Education together. Having embraced technological change enabled a ready transition
Unit for visually impaired students to online workshops. Staff struggled to overcome the challenges of a team
at Cavendish Road High School in working from separate homes but were able to keep communication channels
Brisbane and he became the first open and the writing community together. And our magazine, WQ, still survives
deafblind student to integrate into when so many others have not.
the community.
We hope you continue to take strength from its stories and be inspired to keep
Read More on Page 30 writing even when things might not go to plan. As writers, we embrace the
theme of this edition – Endurance.
The Queensland Writers Centre, Management Committee and staff present WQ
in good faith and accept no responsibility for any misinformation or problems
arising from any misinformation. The views expressed by contributors or
advertisers (including advertising supplying inserts) are not necessarily those
of the Management Committee or staff.
2 WQ
Meet Kevin Gillespie
QWC Chair 2011–2016
It was my interest in writing that brought me to QWC, I think the main value of QWC is the support it provides
initially as a workshop participant. I had retired from the to writers. It’s a community of writers – a place where
air force, and was working for the state government in people can learn about writing, get help with their writing,
George Street. I wanted to do more writing, so I joined QWC and meet like-minded people. It’s a place of contact that
and enrolled in a few workshops. From there, I nominated introduces writers to other writers.
for the management committee, and eventually became
Secretary and finally Chair. I don’t think the physicality of writing has changed at all.
It’s the same now as it was in the time of Shakespeare.
One of the major highlights of my time as Chair was the Writers still need to do the same things and the basic work
outcome of the Brisbane floods in January 2011. The is the same. It’s still pen to paper or finger to keyboard.
floods themselves were a disaster, of course, but QWC But the transportation systems of writing have changed.
did some amazing work to support the local community. That’s leading to different ways of getting published and
perhaps to more writing of short pieces rather than
QWC’s offices had moved to the State Library by then, massive tomes.
and we were unable to get into the office for quite some
time (thankfully the water didn’t reach our offices but If I’m asked to give advice to new writers, I encourage
other parts of the library weren’t so fortunate). But being them to do the things that QWC offers – like training and
locked out of the offices didn’t stop the staff from making networking. Writers need to be trained. It’s not as simple
things happen. Not only did QWC staff continue to keep as sitting down and having the words pour out perfectly.
the Writers Centre operational, but the dynamic team of Even the best writers need support from other writers,
Kate Eltham (CEO), Julie Beveridge and Rebecca Sparrow and not just at the beginning of their careers. Most good
came up with an idea called Writers on Rafts, and raised writers seek feedback and advice from their network.
over $31,000 for flood support. In addition to organising
Another part of my advice to writers is to read, and read,
raffles for things like book packs and workshops, they held
the Ultimate Girls’ High Tea on Mothers’ Day at the Sofitel and then, when you think you’re ready to write, read some
Hotel. It was a terrific event – over 270 women and me, the more. I wonder sometimes whether new writers realise
only male in the room. Several well-known writers came that reading is an essential part of writing. You have to read
along, including Kate Morton, Anita Heiss, Jessica Rudd, more than you write, and you have to keep doing that.
Emily Jade O’Keefe, Frances Whiting and Kate Hunter.
I’m very proud to have been associated with QWC. The
QWC has always worked hard to support all Queensland staff and the volunteers are always so passionate about
writers, not just those living in Brisbane. Our regional what they do and ready to help other people to learn
focus was enormous, and we were fortunate to have a more about writing.
very active regional representative, Sandy Curtis, on the
management committee while I was Chair. We tried to
make sure that writers located at small regional centres
could access our services. We often sent staff to regional
towns to conduct workshops.
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 3
Sparks in
the Dark
By Fiona Robertson
What is it like to receive happy writing news in 2020? Exciting. online, along with university students
Unsettling. Bizarre. around the country.
As someone who started writing in
In this time of the COVID-19 the potential for cases to overwhelm
my forties, I’d also begun to wonder if
pandemic, with so much uncertainty the health system became clear. I was
afraid for those who would catch the I’d left this writing gig too late. On one
and loss, winning an award has felt
virus, afraid for friends in healthcare, of many lockdown walks, I told my son
weird, almost wrong. It’s also been a
and afraid for my husband, who would it could be my stories were really just
flare of joy.
be in direct contact with patients if we for him and his sister, a sort of written
I’ve been fortunate. I haven’t lost my had a big outbreak in Queensland. One inheritance. That my short story
job, and I have family at home. I haven’t of my children is in Year 12, and like so collection might never be published,
endured prolonged lockdowns, like many others, has had a disjointed final just passed on. I decided I’d have to be
those in Victoria. But as a doctor, the year of schooling which will culminate okay with that. But a light in this dark
evolving pandemic threw me for a in a graduation ceremony without year has been the kindness of others.
loop, especially earlier this year, when parents. My eldest does all her study Friends walked with me and we talked
4 WQ
through our concerns. Relatives So I selected twenty stories, and And I’m slowly realising what the
called, just to say hello. Windows polished them as best as I could. I award truly means. After years of
in our suburb and surrounds filled submitted to the Glendower Award juggling writing with kids, work and
with teddies, for children ‘going on a for an Emerging Writer, and then felt a chronic medical condition; years of
bear hunt’. sick. I was embarrassed to think of having stories rejected; years of not
the judges reading my submission; I knowing if the pieces I was scribbling
imagined them raising their eyebrows would ever be good enough, my
at my clumsy words. I wondered if I short story collection, If You’re Happy,
I called to my should have tried my luck another has found a home.
year, perhaps in 2043.
daughter, the only Receiving the Glendower Award has
been the highlight of my 2020. I’m
To my amazement, I was shortlisted.
one home: ‘Look at Then one innocent Wednesday in keen to work with the UQP team,
August, I received an email that to hone and refine the collection,
this!’ I pointed to my made me stand up from the table until I hold a smooth new book in
my hands. I hope If You’re Happy
laptop. My daughter in the dining room. I called to my
daughter, the only one home: ‘Look will brighten the days of its readers.
read the email and at this!’ I pointed to my laptop. My Stay safe everyone. Wishing you
daughter read the email and her
her eyes went as eyes went as round as mine. ‘You
much writing success in 2021.
round as mine. won?!’ I shook my head. ‘I know!
It’s crazy!’ In many ways, I’m still Fiona Robertson is a Brisbane writer.
‘You won?!’ shaking my head. The award doesn’t She was shortlisted for the Richell
Prize in 2018, and was awarded the
quite seem real, announced via an
I shook my head. online, pre-recorded ceremony,
Glendower Award for an Emerging
Writer at the 2020 Queensland Literary
with no celebration afterwards to
‘I know! It’s crazy!’ meet and chat with other writers,
Awards. Her collection of stories,
If You’re Happy, will be published by
publishers and sponsors. UQP in early 2022.
But I’m forever grateful for the
My writing group (the fabulous Dead warm messages from the writing
Darlings Society) kept meeting by community, the State Library of
Zoom, and their excellent work and Queensland, the QLAs, UQP and
critiques were inspiring. An author I sponsor Jenny Summerson, and for
admire encouraged me to enter the the enthusiastic congratulations from
Queensland Literary Awards. family and friends.
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 5
Keeping Public while
Staying Private
during a Pandemic
By Amy Andrews
It is a truth universally acknowledged – the television blaring out the editor. It was a timing thing, I knew,
that 2020 has been an absolute evolving crisis 24/7 is like locking the but writer’s egos are fragile and my
dumpster fire. People have done door to those worlds and throwing confidence was whammied again.
it hard all around the world. I feel away the key. And that overdue book got later still.
privileged to live in a regional area
where my community has been So, okay, there’s an easy solution, Did any of this creative uproar make
largely sheltered from the threat of right? Just turn off the TV. But, I it onto my social media? No. I made a
couldn’t. I just couldn’t. Maybe it’s decision upon my social media debut
illness. Sure, we’ve felt the ripples in
the ex-nurse in me, but I had to watch years ago that Amy Andrews Author
my neck of the woods, but compared
every update – every development. would be apolitical. Yes, people have
to other areas they were brief and
I’m usually someone who has to have and will criticise me for that decision,
didn’t threaten to swamp us.
total silence to write, but for those but that’s my stance. So, it was natural,
Essentially, for me, in many ways, first few months of the pandemic, the then, not to talk about the virus or the
not much has changed. Yes, I had to television stayed on all day leaving other machinations going on behind
suddenly worry about toilet paper me struggling to grasp the enormity the scenes of my writing career.
more than I ever thought I’d have to of the situation. I railed against
I decided that Facebook - my main
in my life, but the truth is – as many leaders who were too slow to shut
social media presence - was flooded
writers can likely attest – I live a largely things down. I watched the numbers
with enough posts to do with Covid
isolated existence anyway. Most obsessively. And I cried at the latest
and everything else that has ensued
weeks it’s rare for me to venture out pictures from Italy of all those coffins
this year. I wanted to be a place where
of the house more than two or three and eerily deserted streets. people could come and not have to
times. So, having to stay at home in think about the worries of the world
my PJs all day was something which I Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t settle my
for a little while. To be the shelter,
was absolutely match fit. brain to anything creative, even
not the storm. So, I posted pics of
though a deadline had come and
ocean views and booze, old holidays,
But what was harder was the mental gone. At the same time, I was told that
my kids and my dad, clouds, and
space. I know many people have my April book, which was supposed
food. And I shared excerpts and links
struggled with mental health issues to release in mass market paperback
to books on sale or new releases –
this year but what I’m referring to in the US, had been pulled from print
both mine and others. I asked advice
here is the process of creativity. Or, and would only come out digitally. It about names for characters, where I
rather, the process of accessing was a multifactorial decision, but my could buy a particular style of lamp,
creativity. When your job is to confidence still took a huge hit. This and what a certain plant in my garden
disappear into the worlds inside made it even harder to write and was called.
your head – to go into this strange made the overdue book even later.
and mystical place I’m not sure Then my beloved editor passed the On Instagram, I was so sick of
any creative ever fully understands digital-only manuscript on to another beautifully curated posts where
6 WQ
everything and everyone looked It’s not surprising that completing
absolutely perfect that I started a a project during a pandemic is the Amy Andrews is an Australian award-
winning, USA Today best-selling author
365daysof50 hashtag where I post a same as completing one when there’s
who has written eighty contemporary
pic of my face every day for my 50th not a pandemic – with consistent romance books across traditional and
year on the planet. Sometimes, if I’m daily word counts. I just found I had digital markets for several publishers.
going out somewhere, it’ll be glam but to be gentler with myself, accept Her debut novel was published in 2005
mostly it’s just the me who is often and she has gone on to sell in excess of 3
that consistency could be an elastic
still in PJs at three in the afternoon. million books and be translated into over a
beast, and that some days the
dozen languages. A member of Romance
words might not come. And that was Writers of Australia for over twenty years,
Eventually the coverage of the virus –
okay, because there were plenty of Amy spent six of those on the National
if not the virus itself – settled down
in Australia and I was able to locate other things I could do to support Executive and two as President. Amy is an
my career, including interacting on inaugural Capricorn Coast Writers Festival
that key and crack open the door to
committee member and is looking forward
my creativity. I finished that overdue social media. Some days, I learned,
to seeing the festival expand in 2021.
book and then I finished a couple it was okay just to be the shelter in
more. In fact, I wrote my 80th book the storm. And, if for nothing else,
in 2020. I thank 2020 for that.
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 7
We’re All in
This Together;
Editing Anthologies
By Edwina Shaw
It was never my intention to become an editor of were gaps, I searched out voices, and where someone had
story collections. But now I’ve done two in two years. an important story to tell but lacked writing experience, I
This is how it happened. worked closely with them to create a publishable piece. One
author requested anonymity, another used a pseudonym,
In October 2018, I approached local independent some requested placement in the second half of the
publisher, Matthew Wengert of AndAlso Books, about anthology. Some stories were created from transcripts of
doing an anthology about life in Queensland under Joh recorded interviews.
Bjelke-Petersen. I had so many stories of my own about life
on the wrong side of Joh’s politics, that I knew there must By the end of June 2019, the anthology was edited and
be more. For some time, I’d been trying to publish my story, sent to the printer for release in August. It was a hell
“Last Days on the Fifteenth Floor”, about Joh’s last days in of a lot of work, but it was worth every minute. I met
office told from the perspective of his cleaning lady, with no some exceptional lifelong activists who were shaped
luck. It seemed I had to create the book for it myself. Like by Joh’s repressive regime, including the late great
me, Matthew knew the era was ripe for picking. I’d found Sam Watson.
the perfect publishing partner for Bjelke Blues.
I had a few writer friends who I knew had tales to tell, so I
approached them first and asked for their stories. Then I
put the word out on Facebook and word-of-mouth started a
flood of interesting, sometimes disturbing, material flowing
into my inbox. My stories about Joh were all set in the 80s
so I was intrigued to learn about the earlier decade of
resistance that started just prior to the Springbok Rugby tour
of 1971, when Joh declared a state of emergency, brought
in masses of police and let them loose. I also learnt that
Queensland had a long and interesting history of activism.
So many fascinating stories arrived that I expanded
my initial scope of fifteen stories to include over 40.
It was the first time I’d found myself on the other
end of decision-making in publishing. I’ll admit, it
felt really good. I loved being able to accept stories.
I wasn’t so keen on rejecting them though; I knew how
much it hurt.
Matthew wanted to release the book in August, so
submissions closed in February 2019; although, I waited
a bit longer for some pieces I really wanted. Where there
8 WQIn March this year, Matthew approached me about co-
Having a wide diversity of stories, including different
editing a collection of stories in response to the COVID-19
perspectives – making sure we had under-represented
pandemic. I’d had a story published in All We Could Do, and frontline voices
AndAlso’s collection about the 1918/19 Influenza pandemic
and had read Matthew’s City in Masks outlining the history Ensuring some humour, light-and-shade
of that epidemic. So I was keen to be involved, but also
Getting the right mix of fiction, memoir, essays and poetry
more than a little terrified about what potentially lay ahead
of us. Having the best story to start, to ‘lure’ the reader in and on
Again, the deadline was tight. We needed stories collected, Setting the stories in more or less chronological order
edited and arranged by June 2020. Even with two other
Making sure we had a mix of shorter and longer pieces
prose editors, Carolyn Gardam and Louise Martin-
Chew, and one poetry editor, Nathan Shepherdson, it Finding the best story to finish the collection
was a mammoth task. Especially when, once again, we
had a tremendous response to our call out for stories. Working with a team of editors certainly lightened the
Matthew organised an odd, socially distanced meeting load and it was fun to share the experience. We decided
of the team outside the closed State Library to discuss on the title “Our Inside Voices – Reflections on COVID-19”
the project. together and voted for different cover options. The
result is a book we’re all proud of. Queensland has been
Once the deadline arrived, Carolyn made up charts and extremely fortunate during the pandemic and Our Inside
between the four of us, we rated each piece and thought Voices reflects Queenslanders’ experience during this
about how it would work in the anthology. If it didn’t fit, or challenging time with insight, compassion and humour.
we had too many similar stories, it had to go. This time, Editing these collections has been a wonderful and
I’d learnt to be tougher, but rejecting people’s work still empowering experience. And if I have to keep creating
wasn’t fun. We ended up with 50 stories, and, so we didn’t collections to find homes for my stories, I’ll do just that. I’m
end up with a brick-sized book, these were trimmed down looking forward to working on a new collection of stories
as much as possible. Those 50 pieces were divided among about mental illness in 2021.
us for editing, and again, some stories needed more help
than others to find their heart.
Then came the task of ordering the contributions. Order
matters. For Bjelke Blues I’d used coloured index cards Edwina Shaw is a Brisbane writer and editor of fiction,
memoir and screenplays. She is the author of A Guide
on my loungeroom floor to fiddle with the arrangement,
Through Grief, Thrill Seekers and over 40 published short
but this time we used one of Carolyn’s excel charts. With pieces. She is the editor of Bjelke Blues and a co-editor of
much toing and froing, it eventually came together. In Our Inside Voices. Edwina also runs Relax and Write Retreats.
structuring each collection, the following were considered: www.edwinashaw.com https://relaxandwriteretreats.blog/
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 9Aiming for
the Moon
By Bianca Millroy
meteorologist or a virologist, but I JUNE:
theorise there are silver linings to
be found. By the half-way mark, it was
time to re-assess: Was I on
Then I came across this: My New Year’s track with my writing goals?
Resolution: Make time for writing. How does one even keep track of
such a shapeshifting vocation?
That was it. No grand ambitions of
awards or publishers or six-figure The light-bulb moment came in July.
advances. Somehow, I knew 2020
was not a year to shoot for the stars. Writing has always been more than
a hobby; it is a business. I needed to
Here’s what happened: treat it like one.
MARCH: I started tracking each opportunity,
New Year’s Resolutions: Love them.
from competitions to grants and
Hate them. Make them. Regret I lost my job with less than a residencies to publishers and agent
them. Don’t see the point of them
week’s notice. Every foreseeable queries, and then to major literary
after 2020, maybe?
event (including a trip to America) awards and prizes. I made an Excel
Picture four friends together on was cancelled. spreadsheet (I said I meant business)
New Year’s 2019. Out come the with criteria, deadlines, and a column
APRIL:
boardgames. Of the selection, marked, “Results”.
Pandemic™ is the unanimous pick. An organisation I’d been volunteering
They play. They lose. Forget writer’s block; I used simple
for offered me part-time work. PHEW!
arithmetic: time + bum glue = words
(Turns out, it’s my dream job!) I was
Fast-forward eight weeks… well, need on the page. If you don’t complete the
also selected as the lead editor of
I elaborate? This is a true story, and first step, bum-on-seat, you will not
probably the biggest metaphor of the a new cross-genre, lighthouse-
pass go; you will not collect your six-
year to come. themed anthology.
figure advance or [insert writing goal
I opened my diary the other day for MAY: here]. Bum glue is the key adhesive
the first time since March and was of writing endurance. Once you have
With income covering essentials,
confronted by a wall of blank pages. your routine, glue your bum to that
I suddenly had three whole days
From 20 March onwards, pages seat, and stick to it!
a week to focus my creative
usually filled my daily antics fell away
energies. I had pinned down that There’s more: it takes a village to
into 80gsm oblivion.
elusive creature, TIME. And there write a book, and every author must
Did I miss the forecast? Cloudy with it was, the magic vein floweth… have a “Scribe Tribe”. Here’s how I
a chance of Coronavirus? I’m not a I began to write. found mine:
10 WQDuring a QWC workshop last year, So, 2020 was not a year to aim for the after all, “Lonely, but all worthwhile,”
we were urged to join a writing group stars. Instead, I aimed for the moon (a quote from my AustLit project on
or, simply, create one! Those who and I got… well, the moon. But the lighthouses in literature). I’m not
put their hands up, myself included, moon is still a pretty big deal! saying that all it takes is time alone,
swapped contact details. Simple marathon-endurance bum glue,
as that. A year on, the Window Bay So, what have I learned? Stars are spreadsheets, and no excuses.
Writers (named after our favourite overrated and playing Pandemic™ is
window bay at The Edge, SLQ) still one way to endure lock-down. I’m challenging you to re-think and
meet and write. Another tribe of this innovate on your writing resolution.
Most of all, I have learned that Tonight, go outside and look up at the
“village” are the Brisbane Literary
endurance is less about suffering stars going about their business in
Mafia: wonderful writerly friends I’ve
and more about making the best of spatially distanced solitude. Then, go
made through QWC and Avid Reader
(Brisbane writers championing every situation. Solidarity in writing about your business: Write. One foot
Brisbane writers). In fact, the is connecting with community but (one word) in front of the other. Left,
forthcoming anthology I’m part of also finding solace in solitude (bum then right, then… Endurance may not
came out of GenreCon! glue!). Words set in motion the win the race, (you win some, you lose
stories that we tell one another – the some), but if you achieve what you set
Voila, a village. Now, I needed some meaning-making mechanism that out to, isn’t that what matters?
tangible results to test the endurance will endure through this pandemic
of this resolution. pandemonium… Note: We regularly host games’ nights
with friends. Now, every time we play
August: It had only been three A reflection on solitude: I must Pandemic™ we strategise, find the
months, but already the spreadsheet emphasise the interconnectivity cure, and eradicate the virus. (Small
was 50 rows deep. Under “Results”
between endurance and the ability to wins, right?)
were four big “YES” outcomes,
dedicate time to writing alone. When
those being:
we spend time alone, left to our own
Bianca Millroy is an Australian writer of
1. My manuscript, ‘The Solitary Light’, thoughts and fears, we open a portal historical eco-fiction and magic realism.
was shortlisted for the 2020 QLD to our imagination. We can look at Based in Brisbane, her stories have been
Literary Awards “aloneness” in two ways: loneliness… published in anthologies such as Visible
or solitude. These are two very Ink, GreyMatter, Showcase and Within,
2. An excerpt is published in Without. In 2020, Bianca’s manuscript
different experiences: If we are alone,
LIGHTHOUSE – An Anthology, coming “The Solitary Light” was shortlisted for
do we have to feel “lonely”? At what
out 26 November the Qld Literary Awards category for an
point do we just ‘get on with it’? Emerging Writer.
3. The same manuscript is currently
Lighthouse Keepers a century ago
under consideration of two agents
wondered the same thing. Does this
4. I won the QWC’s Right Left Write isolation get “better” with time? As
competition for August with writing, Lighthouse-keeping is,
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 11Snags
By Helen Crampton
Another cyclist and I collided on the Esplanade in reminded myself. Trouble was I was flat out on a stretcher
March, just as COVID-19 locked down Queensland. and high on Methoxyflurane. I saw nothing.
Both of us blame the dog. An unleashed puppy. Yeah,
it was cute. We were checking out the quality pooch Michael and I lay two beds from each other in A&E,
on a shared pathway at dawn when we smashed shock set in and my pulse peaked and troughed. The
head on and took flight. Sluggish peddling does shakes arrived. Even so, I wish I hadn’t been wearing
have advantages. my grotty bike knicks that sagged to the thighs. If I had
to spend nine hours in A&E with a neck brace, X-Rays,
Michael, a stranger before the accident, slammed the back observations and a panoply of pills, I should have
of his head into the bitumen. If he hadn’t been wearing a eaten breakfast. A drink of water wouldn’t go amiss.
helmet he would have died – a crater hollowed out the
shell at the base of the skull. Simultaneously, I swooped
‘We’ve already got someone
like a fruit bat and skidded along my left shoulder and
head. My collarbone snapped and a ligament partied.
aboard,’ the paramedic yelled.
‘We’ll call another one.’
If I were like most of you, my writing arm would have been
intact. But I’m left-handed. It was the wrong side to need
The young orthopaedic surgeon, Prince, by name and
a partial shoulder reconstruction. The wrong arm to fold
stature, wanted to operate. My floating bone fragment
into a sling for six weeks and undergo rehabilitation for
could die, he said. I signed the paperwork but after
six months. 2020 was going to be the year I finished the
meeting his supervisor he about-turned. ‘We’ll let your
first draft of a novel. COVID-19 was going to allow time to
clavicle heal naturally,’ he said. ‘Come back in six weeks.’
write after a residency at Varuna had inspired me.
‘He’s been overruled,’ my husband whispered.
If I had to have an accident though, it was a great location:
100 metres from Cairns Base Hospital. We didn’t even have We were worried that the hospital was being emptied out
to call an ambulance. Both of us lay dazed on the grass for an onslaught of COVID-19 patients and my GP agreed.
while the dog walker leashed her puppy and skedaddled. You know you have a problem when your collarbone
A pensioner hailed a passing ambulance. starts to poke up like Walsh’s Pyramid at Gordonvale
and a raindrop feels like a boulder. We sought a second
‘We’ve already got someone aboard,’ the paramedic opinion, and the specialist squeezed me onto his
yelled. ‘We’ll call another one.’ When our ambulance surgery list, warning that severed nerves often result in
arrived a few minutes later I apologised to the permanent numbness.
paramedics for monopolising them during COVID-19.
‘Never been quieter,’ the ambo replied, poking my How soon can writers type after surgery? We can
shoulder to see if I yelped. ‘Everyone’s at home.’ tap with our unoperated arm almost immediately.
‘We could’ve walked,’ I added fancifully, between sucks on Well, as soon as the sliced nerves stop screaming
the green whistle. This was my first time in an ambulance – and anti-nausea drugs quell Oxycodone-
a ripper of a research opportunity. Check out everything, I induced vomiting. How soon can we handwrite? One or
12 WQtwo words in a crude scrawl within days. I was mid-way and I swim beetle-paced laps. I pedal rarely
through reading my friend Simon’s nonfiction narrative and reluctantly. The joy is yet to return. The risk
when I crashed. My feedback on the page became spidery. of surgery, recovery and rehabilitation could
The 2XL letters speak of an already forgotten pain. hog too much time. Fear and memory haunt.
In 2021, the surgeon, who gave me a new shoulder without
After a few weeks I could handwrite for minutes, and nerve damage, will operate again to remove a snazzy
gradually, frustratingly so, the intervals stretched to hours. titanium plate and three screws. Plus, unexpectedly,
More importantly, how soon can we think? When does the I’ll need to edit a drug-addled woolly-brained draft. I’m
fog fade? How does anaesthesia affect concentration and stoked, even if it is a dog of a manuscript.
the ability to analyse and reflect? What of our neurological
Dr Bryceson and the Dutch physiotherapist, Fred, said
ability to create? My concentration was shot for weeks, that confidence is a factor in recovery. Orla, the Irish-
everyday tasks devoured energy, and pain crippled lilted nurse, mentioned unpredictability. Expect setbacks,
creation. How precious are our minds. How irreplaceable. she said. They all spoke matter-of-factly as they outlined
Six months later, physio continues, the scar fades the normal stages of healing. It got me thinking. I mustn’t
forget a lack of confidence and snags are stages of the
creative process too. Writing first drafts and beyond
requires moving through fear, the strength to take risks,
and to endure, despite what life hurls at us. 2020 has
been overly generous in gifting us snags.
If we fall off our bikes, we can plonk our feet back
on the pedals and wobble along. Even if we cycle
like a lop-sided cricket, we can eventually reach the
corner shop for a bag of chocolate-dipped liquorice.
Hopefully, our technique becomes more streamlined
with each subsequent ride. Either way, klutzy or not,
we arrive. Speed and setbacks have nothing to do with
the outcome. Injury has reminded me that the best
moment to write is any time. Ten-minute spurts truly do
add up. There’s one caveat: beware of the dogs.
Helen has a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and
classics, and a Master’s degree in creative writing. Her writing has
been shortlisted in the manuscript category of the Queensland
Literary Awards and the Michael Gifkins Prize, and she won the
2019 Wild Writing Competition. Helen lives in Cairns where she
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 1314
27 February 2021
WQGenreCon is an Australia-wide celebration of all things genre writing. An initiative of
Queensland Writers Centre, the conference represents our ongoing commitment to
all forms of writing and all kinds of writers. At GenreCon, we know writers find their
writing tribe - connections that started at earlier conferences have blossomed into
friendships, and conversations that happened over lunches have transformed into
projects. Queensland Writers Centre is proud to support and uplift our genre writers with
a diverse, inclusive, and active conference like GenreCon.
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 15The Unbearable
Brightness of Seeing
How Norfolk Island shines its own
light on the process of writing
By Sally Colin-James
There’s something about the light and Burnt Pine Travel. And, like all What I have to do is get clear. It sounds
on Norfolk Island. A brightness, life-changing experiences, it is set to simple enough. But how, exactly, how
a clarity. An ever-present magic- challenge both myself and my work does a writer ‘get clear’?
hour that begs the attention of a with my day-one graveside revelation:
I recall the words said to me by
lens. And, as I sit beside Dr Colleen no amount of writing – even good
another fine Australian writer, Melissa
McCullough’s headstone, I am writing – can hide unclear thinking.
Lucashenko: you must be succinct
reminded of the words of another Colleen’s writing success is renowned. before you can be beautiful.
McCullough, American writer David But now, as I sit here in the cemetery
Gaub McCullough, who said, ‘Writing I write a list of my characters and,
beside a small headstone engraved
addressing them by name, ask them:
is thinking. To write well is to think with one of Australian cultural
What is the point of you? What value
clearly. That’s why it is so hard.’ history’s biggest names, I wonder
do you bring? How well do you earn
As I reflect on these words later, while what it felt like at the time to be a
your place? I map out the parallel
wandering the aisles of her personal best-selling, if not ground-breaking,
narrative arcs and actively seek out
female author with Colleen’s clout.
library within her Norfolk Island ‘Out boring bits, the decorative bits, the
But more so, I wonder if all that ‘clear
Yenna’ estate, I realise that this ability digressions that might (for all their
thinking’ meant she had no choice but
to ‘think clearly’ was the marvel of our presumed importance) waste a
to write. That it offered a way to ease
Australian McCullough, Colleen. That reader’s time. I write and re-write my
the unbearable brightness of seeing.
there could have been no generation- logline until that single sentence is an
That inevitable sharp definition. Both
sweeping ‘Thorn Birds’ or triumphantly- elegy to brevity.
the gift and burden for those with a
researched ‘Masters of Rome’ series
clear-thinking mind. During the residency, I write daily
¬– seven books with a total of around and abundantly. At the end of each
7,000 pages – without the skill of I snap a photo and check to see how
day, Chris and I meet and discuss
clear-thinking to manage each book’s clearly I’ve captured what I see here
and dissect and flesh out. But all the
vast terrains. And that this clarity by her graveside. A rainbow shaft of
time I am wondering when I will face
underscored her intellect, her wit and light streams from the clouds and
what seems unbearable. To summon
her acute sense of perception. strikes the writer’s grave. I study the
due confidence and step back from
image. Working through theories
I have come to Norfolk Island as the manuscript in order to take a
of technical lens flare or mystical
an awardee of the Historical Novel better look at, to really see, what is
intervention. It doesn’t matter the
Society of Australasia’s (HNSA) going on within it. I imagine Colleen,
answer, I decide. What matters is
inaugural Colleen McCullough not famous for being subtle, drawing
that the photo I’ve taken and the
Residency Award. The Residency, back hard on a cigarette and, while
moments leading up to it have begun
conceived to support one emerging exhaling, telling me to show some
to answer my niggling worry as to
writer (me) and one established guts and get on with the job.
why the current draft of my historical
writer (author Chris Bell) of historical fiction, ‘The Recipe for White’, is not To ride the wake of Colleen’s legacy
fiction, is the brainchild of the HNSA quite working. No amount of means to witness a writing life in
and sponsored by Baunti Escapes word-churning is going to fix it. full motion. And to cope with the
16 WQcomparisons-to-self that arise. She I am intrigued by what story might Society leather-bound books, books
was known to ‘pound out’ 15,000 lie behind the opal tables. I’ve been on ‘Cat Haikus’ and ‘Bad Popes’ and
word chunks at a time and evict party to Australia’s opal fields. I know the ‘When God was a Woman’ (note to
guests from the house late in the graft, the grit, the patience and sheer self: find this book and purchase).
evening in order to write through luck it takes to bring this kind of opal All of it telling the story of a woman
the night. As I wander around her up from the ground. I move on with predisposed to intensive fact-finding
guest house and home, I am struck reluctance to take in as much as I missions. A skill that the historical
by her curatorial eye. What some can of her home. There seems too fiction writer must master to satisfy
may view as ostentatious, to me, little time, too many extraordinary the reader’s demand for authenticity.
reveals a woman with a keen eye for objects with unique provenance to But not at the expense of story. As
pieces that, like her epic and globally absorb. I am stirred by the notion Colleen cautioned on the pitfalls
successful novels, endure. that all her pieces are dots in need of research: you have to know
of connection. And, if I only had when enough is enough.
A 1960’s Murano ceiling light
enough time, I could mark out the
composed of a myriad perfect I realise that in my current draft I have
lines that might begin to define the
pastel pink and green glass flowers, more than enough. But not enough
type of unfillable space left by a
Paradiso marble coffee tables, ornate to be clear. What contradiction!
creative spirit like Colleen.
azure-floral Broadhurst wallpaper At this, like Colleen was famous for,
and matching curtains, lemon-yellow In her library her methodical and I curse. Not under my breath.
velveteen armchairs, a Baccarat thorough approach to research is
Her library feels supportive,
crystal ball, an ancient Kokopelli apparent. As an avid researcher,
grounding, giving the sense of a
statue (a Native American figure of I can feel the time she has spent with
writer whose process was structured
fertility and prosperity rendered as these books. There are hundreds.
and yet expansive. And like every
a wandering minstrel with a bag full The layering of knowledge here
from the Harlequin romances (six element of her home it feels
of rainbows), French antique Jester
jam-packed shelves used for what, curated, decisive. From the Australia-
chairs and Charles Hollis Jones
I was told, Colleen felt were excellent shaped fly swat, to the 24 carat
Lucite-armed chairs from America,
location descriptions), to Cambridge gold-plated chandeliers that she
cut crystal ashtrays and faceted
History books (every period), Folio herself designed. Every last item my
crystal mirrors, paintings by Gleeson,
gaze falls upon in her home provokes
Dresden and Nolan, hardcover art
an imagined story. More than fitting,
books from Kandinsky to Klee. And
‘I saw them on of course, for a queen of storytelling.
then, and then! There are the Boulder
opal encrusted tables that I lean Norfolk,’ I reply. When I arrive back in Brisbane I walk
close to, not wanting to touch them ‘I wish I knew more.’ with my husband from our hotel
or mark them, peering at the set ‘Well, I tell you what along the Brisbane river. I am talking,
gems as if to divine something more I know,’ he is listening. And I try to explain
of the Colleen that chose these. Of the magnitude of the sights and my
all the glorious objects in this home, insights from the day-one graveyard
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 17rainbow to the Boulder opal tables. had yearned to, ‘the story’ behind the blinkers of fear or insecurity. And
We pass a small weekend market in those tables I’d studied inside your to write from this brightness. As did
the botanical gardens. A stall brimming home? Did you see me, for a single Colleen McCullough.
with opals catches my eye. I usher my imperceptible blink, shrink back from
husband over to it and pick up one this bright moment of coincidence? I would like to extend my immense
half-polished gem. ‘These are exactly The type of moment an author might gratitude for the warm-hearted
what Colleen has encrusted in two big view with suspicion. The dreaded support and tireless efficiency of
tables!’ I tell my husband. The owner of deus ex machina planted to wrap Elisabeth Storrs and Diane Murray
the stall is busy serving somebody else up a plot? And yet here I am inside from the Historical Novel Society of
but he pricks up his ears. such a story. Australasia (HNSA); the generous
folk at Baunti Escapes, Bart Murray,
‘Did I hear you mention a Boulder I smile to myself. Maybe this happy
Les Quintal, Sue-Ellen Quintal, Kerry
opal encrusted table?’ asks John ending is one to simply enjoy.
Christian and Debbie Randall; and
Doyle from Boulder Opal Mines
Perhaps I shy away from the kind of from Burnt Pine Travel, Juliette Grant.
Australia. The stall run by him and
clear thinking good writing demands. Winning The Colleen McCullough
his partner, Leanne Smedley. ‘I saw
The kind of thinking that may, at first, Residency Award has been a highlight
them on Norfolk,’ I reply. ‘I wish I knew
seem brutal. Not only ‘killing your of my writing life and I encourage all
more.’ ‘Well, I tell you what I know,’
darlings’ but tearing from the pages writers of historical fiction to get to
says John Doyle. ‘A bloke called Des
work and get clear and put forward
Burton, a chemist from Quilpie, was a those moments we hoped might
their work.
keen opal miner back in the seventies be tender or insightful or prove
and did well with his dozer. He was something of ourselves to the world.
known to have made only a few of the But what if I could, in every moment, Sally Colin-James has won the HNSA
tables. We know where a few of them set my sights on – first – being clear. Colleen McCullough Residency Award,
ended up. But the location of others To bear, without looking away, the Byron Writers Festival Mentorship Award
remains a bit of a mystery!’ primary judgment an author has and 2020 Varuna PIP Award. Her PhD
research in Europe inspired her to give
Were you laughing, dear Colleen, towards her work, thinking it not good a voice to the creative women forgotten
to see me slack-jawed before enough for being exactly what it must. by history. She writes from her rainforest
that market stall, finding out, as I To see what must be seen without home in northern NSW.
18 WQChasing the Wild Pineapple
Carole Ferrier – Trailblazer
by Lesley Synge
published some 2500 writers from Carole’s research ‘(re)discovered’
1975–present. Its Authors Index is a writers such as Jean Devanny, whose
veritable roll-call of some of Australia’s novel Sugar Heaven set in North
most creative thinkers and writers. Queensland is nationally significant.
https://hecate.communications-arts. Her biography of Devanny and
uq.edu.au/about other works are published by the
likes of Melbourne University Press,
To hear from two locals:
Cambridge University Press, UQP
‘Carole’s encouragement … gave and Vulgar Press.
me the confidence to keep writing
and believe that I had something to Australian women writers say,
contribute.’ Sue Bond Thank you!
Signora Bella, May 2019 Credit SLQ
‘My first academic article was
published in Hecate and my creative Lesley was born under the Tropic of
Socialist feminist academic, writer,
and critical writing consistently Capricorn. She writes in many genres,
editor and publisher, Carole Ferrier, always with a passion to connect and
focuses on female writers, characters,
born in England’s north, came to share insights into the human condition.
or women’s concerns. Carole’s
Brisbane by way of London, Auckland She welcomes invitations to give author
feminism and support for Aboriginal talks, to mentor individual writers, and
and Sydney. Already involved in
women writers strongly impressed to teach writing across the community.
Women’s Liberation and Indigenous itself on me, and continues to shape
Justice, she hit the ground running my reading.’ Jessica White Lesley holds teaching and writing
when appointed to the University qualifications from University of
of Queensland’s English Department Carole’s formidable skills as an editor Queensland (BA, Dip Ed, MA). She has
expanded to Australian Women’s Book also studied writing for stage, film & TV.
in 1972.
Review (available free on the Hecate
Carole was among the feminist website) which Hecate took over QWC apologises for the omission of
academics involved in the first in 1999. Like Hecate, AWBR has Lesley Synge’s bio and by-line in the
Australian Women’s Studies course assisted in the recognition – nationally previous issue.
and would later become the Major’s and internationally – of writers
long-time convenor. from Queensland.
In 1975 Carole became the editor
of Hecate: An Interdisciplinary Journal
of Women’s Liberation. Its primary
orientation was scholarly critique, but
Hecate also opened up opportunities
to generation after generation
of creative writers. Amongst the
marginalised voices she championed
were writers like Vivienne Cleven
Socialist feminist academic, writer, editor and publisher, Carole Ferrier.
of Kamilaroi Nation. Hecate has
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 19A Zoom
with a View
By David Lowe
Writers. We’re generally brilliant at enduring whatever in 2020 because several of my projects happened to be
life throws at us: manuscripts being rejected, bad playscripts. I, in a typically spectacular piece of timing,
reviews, global pandemics. was launching a new career as a playwright at exactly
the worst time in human history to become a playwright.
If there has been an upside for writers in 2020, it’s that
As Alan Aykbourn put it, “People may have gone back
most of us were already world-class social-distancers.
to the theatres quickly after plagues and diseases
We’ve been doing it for years. Because when we’re knee-
since the Middle Ages, but they didn’t have Netflix then,
deep in a project, no matter how many people we live
did they?” That being said, my new play ‘Goldilocks’,
with, we may as well be living in a remote lighthouse, or
a twisted-fairytale-for-the-whole-family, is scheduled
on the moon.
to premiere in January at Brisbane Arts Theatre with
And so, seeing how the 1.5 metre rule doesn’t apply to diminished, Covid-safe seating capacity. We’re hoping
fictional characters, it’s been pretty much ‘business as that the audience will be neither too big nor too small,
usual’ for me this year – in the writing bit of my life, at least. but just right.
At this point, I’d like to share a brilliant piece of advice
I received from a dramaturg (yes, I had to google the Anyway, following the dramaturg’s advice, when Covid hit,
meaning of ‘dramaturg’ too). She suggested always having I already had several non-theatre projects on the go – two
five projects on the go because, as she said, “at least three middle-grade novels and an upcoming episode of the TV
or four of them are likely to crash and burn”. This is wise show, “Bluey”, since you’re asking. So, like I say, my writing
at the best of times, but it has become especially handy life this year has been relatively normal.
20 WQBut, for most full-time children’s authors, writing alone books and making up stories (or if they fail to achieve
isn’t nearly enough to pay the bills. their number one dream of becoming an astronaut, an
acrobat, or a quantity surveyor).
As I see it, there are three ways of making a proper living
as a children’s author: More than that though, a key part of any school visit is
the face-to-face interaction. Together, we develop a main
1) Sell squillions of books;
character and come up with a plot. I ask them questions
2) Be already famous for something (see also, 1.); and, and they ask me questions like, why do you look much
younger in my website photo? And I know that, in more
3) Sell tens of thousands of books, do lots of school skillful hands than mine, all this could be achieved over
visits, and – ideally – be married to someone whose the internet. But when you’re talking to multiple classes,
job pays them superannuation. (My wife, on occasion, each in their own rooms, and the students are largely
calls herself a ‘patron of the arts’.) muted by the teacher who is controlling the laptop, you’re
never quite sure if the kids are laughing and engaged or if
The problem for us ‘category three’ authors in the first
they’re doodling something inappropriate on the sly.
half of 2020, was that a lot of those school visits were
cancelled, postponed, or moved online. And finally, while we’re weighing up the pros and cons
of in-person visits, there’s this: schools often provide
Obviously, there are many tech-savvy writers who are
sensational morning teas. If there’s one thing that
brilliant at virtual visits, and there are real upsides: 1. It’s
writers love, it’s a free sandwich and some homemade
completely Covid-safe; 2. You can reach schools in remote
caramel slice. In addition to their other superpowers,
areas; and 3. You don’t even have to leave the house (or
many teacher-librarians seem to be expert bakers.
worry too much about personal hygiene). But, for me, as
Look, if we have another lockdown, I’ll definitely be available
an only-competent user of technology, online visits are
for Zoom visits – I’ll even ask my 12-year-old daughter to
just not quite the same. For a start, one massive benefit
help me brush up on my computer skills beforehand. But
of in-person visits is that the students get to see an actual
the very best part of my job, better even than the actual
writer in the wild. They get to see that you, the writer, are
writing and the not-regularly-shaving, is standing in front
not some remote exotic creature with a pipe and slippers
and a shelf crammed with leather-bound dictionaries, but of hundreds of restless, wide-eyed kids and (hopefully)
instead a regular person with a bad haircut and worse getting them wildly enthused about the magical world of
jokes, standing right in front of them. reading and writing. And I really don’t want that to change.
The kids get to see (in real life, and not on a screen) that
Dave Lowe is a Brisbane-based author of 11 middle-grade
you’re someone who lives among them, someone just
novels (published in the UK and Australia and in 6 translations)
like their mum or Uncle Trevor or Sarah from two doors and three plays, including an adaptation of Andy Grifffiths’
down. In other words, they see how writing is a job that “The Day My Bum Went Psycho”. Dave’s latest series is the award-
they could do themselves, as long as they keep reading winning “The Incredible Dadventure”.
WWW.QLDWRITERS.ORG.AU.MAGAZINE 21Creating through COVID:
How do we write when our
brains are aching?
By Dr Andrea Baldwin
one’s house except to shop, work or Our jobs changed every day – if we
exercise. were lucky enough to still have one.
Navigating daily life, balancing our
There was shock, fear, anxiety.
personal levels of risk tolerance with
Loss touched some of us more closely
external restrictions, was mentally
than others, but we grieved on behalf
and emotionally wearing. And it went
of others, and for friends lost to other
on and on.
causes whose funerals we couldn’t
attend. Shortages of rice, pasta and Then there was the time factor.
eggs were new to my generation – not With three other adults to support,
to mention the notorious toilet paper only one of whom eventually got
heist, and the run on Ventolin by Jobkeeper, I had no choice but to
non-asthmatics that left my daughter return to working full-time, plus the
Early in the pandemic, with most of without a puffer. There was anger. extra hours it took to help my team
Australia in some level of lockdown, (buzzword alert) ‘pivot’. Constant
Creative responses can help people social media suggestions about how
a singing friend confided that she’d
process strong emotions. But usually to fill my newfound spare time made
expected to use the extra time
we need to deal with the practical me want to scream.
on her hands for making music.
demands of a crisis first. We need
‘But I haven’t done anything,’ she But I did write. My work team
a little distance and time to reflect,
said, dismayed. ‘I just don’t feel produces the ‘Birdie’ books, to help
before we can transform challenging
like singing.’ young children cope with natural
experiences into art.
I heard the same story from many disasters and disruptive events.
It’s hard to create in the thick of In seven weeks between March
creatives around that time. It felt like
emotional turmoil. It’s impossible and April we wrote and published
the wellspring of our creativity had
to create without cognitive energy. a new book, “Birdie and the Virus”.
dried up. As a psychologist as well as
We were exhausted from thinking. By September we’d released a
a writer, I was curious to understand
In normal life, people rely on habits mindfulness and movement routine,
the subterranean currents producing
and routines. We do many tasks on “Relaxing with Birdie”. Throughout
this drought.
autopilot, saving our mental energy for August I toured remote primary
Here in Queensland, infection rates other tasks that need concentration. schools, helping students create their
stayed relatively low (I’m touching But during the early days and weeks own stories modelled on the Birdie
my wooden desk as I speak). of COVID, every decision demanded books. For me, the creative energy
Restrictions in Brisbane have been second thoughts. We couldn’t just to do these things came from other
minimal compared with Melbourne. pop out and get groceries: store people: members of my work team,
But I remember my gut lurching when hours had shifted, with dedicated our illustrator and book designer, our
it was first pronounced illegal to leave times for specific groups of shoppers. printer, partners in the remote towns,
22 WQYou can also read
