The journey of writing Road Wench - Part Two

I’m glad that Craig Silvey didn’t adopt that approach. Jasper Jones wouldn’t have been as good if he hadn’t first written Rhubarb. That was the part I had missed, the problem with taking advice given as an aside to a third party, there was no conversation, no depth. What I missed in the meantime was working on the Craft of writing. The mundane, the practical, the ‘how to’ part. That came later, and was harder for having laid down tools so long. Michelangelo didn’t sculpt the David the first time he played with marble. It’s a long journey, to get better, to get it right, and to get it right for your personal style. The good news however is that you can start over. But I didn’t start again when I hit twenty five. What have I got to write about? Nothing yet, I thought. Then in 1999 I swapped my legal career for a two year working holiday visa starting in London. The time out had street cred; I would be able to reapply to firms upon my return, and they would see the break as a positive, a chance to broaden my horizons. It was a permitted time out. Little did I know, I wouldn’t return to law. Nor that my planned two year time out would stretch to six. I thought of Dahl’s advice, and for the first two and a half months I kept a diary. All my life I’d kept brief diaries, but for the first time this was more of a journal, with long details of places, people and shenangins. Then, abruptly, I stopped. I was too busy having fun to write down the fun I was having. The irony. For years I’d avoided getting into a writing routine because I had nothing to write about; then once I did have plenty to write about, I was having too much fun to care. I had no ingrained writing habit, I had developed no routine, and my best intentions fell away all too soon. I wrote a few long emails to people about all the things I was doing, and soon noticed how few replied. I hadn’t yet realised that noone wants to get detailed travel journal emails. That’s the beauty of postcards, at least the egocentric hyperbole is limited to one half of an A6 piece of card. I wrote letters home and nothing more. Then, in January 2000, Something Happened. At last, a pivotal moment, a life event that gave me something special to write about. I got a job with Contiki in Europe. Making it first through an interview process that was like an interrogation, then a tough six week training camp, I was sent out on a six week tour with another first time driver – and made lots of mistakes. On paper the tour went fine, we went to all the places listed in the itinerary, but by the end the group was in-fighting and everyone was happy for it to be over, me most of all. I hoped my second tour would enable me to prove myself. Even though it was another six weeker, this time in tents, and even though we had theft, bodily injury, bitchfights, nudity, and a hospital emergency, the difference was that this group gelled. We finished the tour ‘happily sad’ – sad it was over, because it had been so much fun. From there I had shorter tours, fun, and loved every minute of it, even the challenge of dealing with the things that went wrong. Most of all I loved the camaraderie that could develop within a group, and relished my role in developing the vibe. I was hooked on being a tour manager, and I was hooked on Europe as well. When I came back to Australia it took me over a month to become normal again. Getting some sleep, and avoiding alcohol and people, were godsends. When I finally started to socialise again, I regaled people with stories of dramas and disasters from tour. Unlike my emails which were ignored, the stories were a hit. Tell me more’, friends would say. Are you going to write this down?’ asked a friend Nicole, who knew I liked to write. 'I think I will.’ I sat down and typed for a month. I came up with fifty pages of single spaced lines. All the major events that had happened in that first year of touring were there, written down while still fresh in mind. I had a plan. I’d do this at the end of every season, then write it up in a book. It’s interesting to me that it is only now, years later, that I can see the flaw in my reasoning. I’d long told anyone who would listen that I was only doing Contiki for two years. I didn’t want to spend too long away from the career ladder, and two years on top of my year in London would mean a three year career gap. So how could I write at the end of ‘every season’ if I was only going to do it for one more year? My subconscious was telling me something that I couldn't yet admit - I wasn't going to return home anytime soon. I was hooked on touring. I had become - ahem - a Road Wench.

The journey of writing Road Wench - Part One

HOW I WROTE ROAD WENCH ‘Write what you know’. Good advice. As a writer, knowledge of a subject enables you to write with authority and thus believability. Research may well be required to ensure authenticity, but knowing your subject matter already gives you a heads up on the rest. I’d always wanted to write something. The only problem was – what? I loved writing at school, but like so many people writing for enjoyment dropped away as I headed to university, swamped with assignments and more inclined to use my free time for more sociable pursuits. I moved from university into law, and the available free time reduced considerably. It didn’t bother me, as I was waiting. Surely something interesting would happen? Something that would be worth writing about. I also had another piece of advice that I had latched onto. When my sister was in Grade 7, her class won the MS Readathon Challenge. Their prize was a daytrip from their country school to Perth, and they got to meet author Roald Dahl. I was beside myself in envy. ‘It’s not fair. I’m the one who wants to be a writer,’ I whined to my mother – who, I might add, got to accompany my sister and was immune to my pleas. My sister returned, somewhat underwhelmed. ‘How was he?’ I asked, full of anticipation. Okay I guess. He was a bit grumpy.’ That took the air out of my balloon. Somewhat deflated, I picked up when mum chimed in. ‘I told him my other daughter wanted to be a writer, and asked him for his advice.’ What did he say?’ I asked, once again transfixed. He said don’t bother writing anything until you’re 25.’ Mystified but grateful, I took that snippet of advice, and used it as my get-out clause. Sure, I wanted to be a writer, but it was okay, there was no point writing anything. Roald Dahl had said so. I have a tendency to over-analyse, so I pondered on the nugget of advice and its multitude of meanings. Surely he meant that you don’t know anything about life until a quarter of a century on the planet? I decided that was it. I proceeded to live my life without giving writing another thought. After all, I was doing one of the most important things – research.

Thank you Samuel Clemens

Over the past two years I have been beavering away at a creative writing thesis. It will be handed in next week and I will be free at last! One of the benefits of doing the course, with ECU Mount Lawley, has been to focus on different areas that can help develop my understanding and utilisation of devices within the craft of writing. Deadlines are both a curse and a blessing. The curse part is obvious, but the advantage has been to push me along and make me take serious note of some other writers in the field. Also, I have managed to make time to do regular writing, without which, my second book would never see the light of day. Right now I have completed 10,000 words towards book two, and I've seen how a number of writers I admire have used different techniques that may help my work as well. The best part of the entire course, however, has been that I have been introduced to the wit, talent and eviscerating tongue of one Samuel Clemens (AKA Mark Twain). Not only does he approach revered European sights with irreverence (such as becoming bored with yet another Michelangelo work proclaimed by his guide), his humour has a wonderful way of masking the fact that he manages to include a great deal of detailed description. Everyone should go out and get a copy of The Innocents Abroad and start reading it immediately! Another aspect I enjoyed was the introduction, when his big break is described. Sweating away on a typewriter to write a commissioned book about his European cruise, juggling potential litigation from the paper he originally wrote articles for (and which had paid for his berth), a visitor to his apartment described it as the depths of disorder and disarray. As I've been working on an essay that doesn't want to quit, I can relate to the household disorder that joins an intensive writing period. Somehow knowing that was how he operated has helped me get to the final stages of my own assignments. Next week it will be handed in, my house will no longer resemble an episode of Hoarders, but I will still have my memories of 'meeting' Mark Twain. Thank you Samuel Clemens, thank you.

Beaufort Street Books - Talk by Jon Doust

I really love the boutique bookstores that have sprung up in Perth over the last few years, defying the worldwide trend. Similarly to our emerging classy small bar scene, Perth is doing well in this regard. Beaufort Street Books has kept its clientele happy with monthly talks by authors, married with a talk on wine to get the evening started. There is wine to taste too, an essential ingredient, and then the guest author is interviewed. The crowd is intimate and the bookstore is exclusively open for the event and confirmed attendees. Contact Beaufort Street Books to get on their mailing list so you don't miss out. One of the best parts of being in a small group is that when the author is interviewed it feels like it is a conversation with each of us. Sometimes attendees forget that this is not the case, and unwittingly hijack the interviewer's role with questions of their own, before the main talk is done. Everyone gets a turn to ask a question at the end if they wish, and last night Jon Doust proved to be a consistently amenable and interesting storyteller. I was interested in his approach to the writing process. He recommended fresh fruit, exercise, goal setting (such as 30,000 words in 3 weeks), and intensity. For his recent book he worked in three sets of two hour blocks a day, interspersed with physical activity. For his first book, Boy on a Wire, he wrote sitting on a fitball. It was also good to see other local authors in the room, supporting a fellow WA author. I asked Amanda Curtin for hints about her process, and she referred me to Woolf's book about the psychology of writing. I think there's something in it - I never seem to have as clean a house as I do when I have an impending deadline! However the time spent procrastinating (and dusting) can be well spent if it allows your conscious mind to catch up with what has been permeating underneath. And now, having said that, I have an end of August deadline to work towards.

Festival of Perth

I've been looking forward to the Writers' Festival part of the Festival of Perth for ages and this weekend it's all happening. From workshops on developing character, how to translate memoirs, travel writing and linking up with readers online, it's jam packed. It's so much fun talking about writing, Jerome K Jerome would approve, I'm sure. Now I just have to remember not to sleep in...

Shannon Meadows

PS Details of the program are available at:

http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/Perth-Writers-Festival/

Quote of the week

At last, an inspiring quote from a writer whose attitude is one I admire:



“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”
― Jerome K. Jerome (Author of "Three Men in a Boat").


His most famous book "Three Men in a Boat" (about a fictional trip up the Thames) was released in the late nineteenth century yet is accessible and readable today - the language is fresh (though it was slated by the establishment at the time for being lowbrow), the humour is biting and the observations about the human nature show that some things don't change. Highly recommended!

More information is at www.jeromekjerome.com - worth a visit.

Special offer for NZ readers

I'm in New Zealand for a couple of days and while I'm here you can order a copy of Road Wench and get free postage (within NZ). Go to www.roadwench.com to order or email me on roadwench (at) hotmail (dot) com. Limited number of books available. Kia ora!