bird by bird
this morning was the inaugural meeting of the writers' group i've been wanting to get together for ages. we've decided to call the group bird by bird, after a book of the same name about writing. i'm excited. there were four of us: eleanor, myself, maddie and maddie's friend from the voiceworks editorial committee, sam. i wasn't sure whether sam would turn out to be male or female, because maddie and i had only ever talked about him over facebook message, and i don't think gender pronouns had been used. i am kind of sexist, so i was apprehensive about him being there to begin with, but i got over it quickly when he turned out to be nice. it's always the way.
we met at the acmi lounge, had food (a croissant with even more butter, and blueberry jam! yum) and drinks, and talked about life and writing. it occurred to me that i've never read a book on writing. maddie recommended the aforementioned bird by bird, and also stephen king's 'on writing'. i would really like to get in touch with my writing self again. i need to build writing into my daily routine.
we were meant to bring stuff in to workshop today, but i think it was more of a get-to-know-you thing. eleanor had brought something, but decided not to share it because she would have been the only one. i want to finish a first draft of my transspecies cat person story for the next meeting (in about a fortnight).
we have homework, which is we have to try sitting quietly for 15 minutes, without doing anything at all. we're not allowed to look at anything, lie down, read anything, watch anything, etc etc. this is supposed to connect you with your mind and your thoughts and allow ideas to surface. i realised recently that i am very rarely alone or silent, so this should be an interesting exercise.
if you're reading this, and you're in melbourne you are most welcome to come to the next meeting, it's open to everybody. only we're trying to keep it small, less than half a dozen people at a time.
after we parted ways, i walked eleanor to her car. she is an amazing creative type and talking to her and hearing her ideas and creative pursuits really helps me reconnect with that side of myself. i think it's important for me to surround myself with writers and artists, because i'm usually surrounded by naturopathy students and programmers. lovely people, but not bursting with the kind of creative energy i feed off. like an energy vampire.
we met at the acmi lounge, had food (a croissant with even more butter, and blueberry jam! yum) and drinks, and talked about life and writing. it occurred to me that i've never read a book on writing. maddie recommended the aforementioned bird by bird, and also stephen king's 'on writing'. i would really like to get in touch with my writing self again. i need to build writing into my daily routine.
we were meant to bring stuff in to workshop today, but i think it was more of a get-to-know-you thing. eleanor had brought something, but decided not to share it because she would have been the only one. i want to finish a first draft of my transspecies cat person story for the next meeting (in about a fortnight).
we have homework, which is we have to try sitting quietly for 15 minutes, without doing anything at all. we're not allowed to look at anything, lie down, read anything, watch anything, etc etc. this is supposed to connect you with your mind and your thoughts and allow ideas to surface. i realised recently that i am very rarely alone or silent, so this should be an interesting exercise.
if you're reading this, and you're in melbourne you are most welcome to come to the next meeting, it's open to everybody. only we're trying to keep it small, less than half a dozen people at a time.
after we parted ways, i walked eleanor to her car. she is an amazing creative type and talking to her and hearing her ideas and creative pursuits really helps me reconnect with that side of myself. i think it's important for me to surround myself with writers and artists, because i'm usually surrounded by naturopathy students and programmers. lovely people, but not bursting with the kind of creative energy i feed off. like an energy vampire.