Residency update Fellowship of Australian Writers WA

Well, I've started my writer's residence at the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA this week and have noticed a few things:

• My mind has settled - slowing down, minimising distractions is a great way to stimulate a creative mind set
• Dedicated writing time works
• Writing something that will be unusable in the final cut is better than writing nothing - sometimes you have to build a bridge to get over it
• Internet accessibility is reduced where I am, hence a growing addiction to going online has been curtailed. This means I am staying on task.
• It helps sometimes to work in a different physical environment
• Quiet time works - having other writers in the house to write quietly creates a nice sort of energy or feeling of productivity

Over the residency I will be available to read samples of other writers' work and provide an outside perspective on this. (As writers, we can tend to get so close to the writing that we find we can't 'see' it any more. Another perspective can sometimes be helpful.)

I will be running two workshops - the first on character development, and the second on dialogue. The second workshop will now be held on the afternoon of August 31, due to a clash with another workshop in the venue on the earlier date advertised. (For interested local readers of this blog, contact the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA for details and bookings - admin@fawwa.org.au )

My advice to budding writers - keep going!  You don't have to have the whole story to start with. You can write it into existence. You might be surprised at what eventuates.