As I’ve sat thinking about what I want to say in this post, it’s occurred to me that this is the first year I’ve not involved the kids in the Emerging Writers’ Festival. Since 2008, the year I first involved with EWF as a speaker, they’ve attended the National Writers’ Conference weekend with me. Usually just a couple of sessions. During those early years, I’d have to take a seat by the door, ready to dash outside with a child if they got whiny or needed to go to the toilet. Even while I was working at the festival, they’d pop along to something.
I went alone this year. I was wondering if this was a mistake. Here’s why.
1) Reclamation
When I bought the ticket, the thought of buying a second or third didn’t even enter my mind. I love involving them and they – generally – loved being involved, but this year I wanted to go solo.
The truth: I missed them.
2) Concentration
Without needing to attend to anyone’s needs apart from my own, I promised myself I would take copious notes and really absorb the wisdom imparted from the speakers.
The truth: I wrote about five bullet points on my phone and sat through First Dog on the Moon‘s afternoon tea session laughing and wishing they were there because they would’ve enjoyed it too.
*
I should add – Keira went to her own literary event the day before the EWF Conference – Girls Write Up, a terrific day for 12-18-year-olds. I think it answers the question of whether there are too many literary festivals – it really depends on whether there’s going to be an audience. In this case, I think there was a resounding ‘yes’.
If such opportunities continue, they won’t need to come along with me for more adult-oriented events to hear similar content. (Sidebar: hopefully audience attendances don’t split and therefore be down as a consequence.) Our paths will diverge, but they’ll still be similar. I think that’s exciting.
*
I’ve embedded below the best bits of advice I heard over the weekend – either in person or from sessions that were running at the same time I was in another. At the bottom are a few tweets from Girls Write Up.
If you’re freelancing, take a third out for tax. When you’re invoicing for $1,000, think of it as $700 – @ahcayley#ewf16
— Sonia Nair (@son_nair) June 19, 2016
The best advice I got as a writer was: Get a job. You then don’t have to write for the money – @ahcayley#ewf16 — Sonia Nair (@son_nair) June 19, 2016
Backstory/world building can take time, but worth it even if it affects your daily word count. @misterkristoff aims for 3k per day. #ewf16 — Josh Melican (@jmmelican) June 19, 2016
Never presume that your reader knows everything about a genre – @heckelfonic #ewf16 — Sonia Nair (@son_nair) June 19, 2016
Even when you get a publishing deal the fear of failure never goes away – Kate Mildenhall. Oof. Writing is tough. #ewf16 — Emily Laidlaw (@emily_laidlaw) June 19, 2016
‘Read more. Have a good sense of what’s out there. Don’t expect publications to publish you if you haven’t read them’—@damonayoung #ewf16 — EmergingWritersFest (@EmergingWriters) June 19, 2016
‘There’s this theory that the first book you write is the book you’ve been writing all your life’—@EmmaViskic #ewf16 — EmergingWritersFest (@EmergingWriters) June 19, 2016
When asking for people’s stories “we ask about their senses—’what did it smell like?’—to bring out rich detail”—@andrehuydao #ewf16 — Addy McBoatface (@witmol) June 18, 2016
“Not all dialogue is A-B-A-B. Dialogue isn’t binary”—@HannieRayson #ewf16 — Addy McBoatface (@witmol) June 18, 2016
“Moments are fleeting in the mundane. Keep a notebook”—Chandani Lokuge #ewf16 — Addy McBoatface (@witmol) June 18, 2016
‘It took me to twenty years to write a book about Hole. That’s how long it took to distinguish my ideas from feelings’—Anwen Crawford #ewf16 — EmergingWritersFest (@EmergingWriters) June 18, 2016
Commercial pubs (like @HachetteAus ) make commercial decisions on books. Need to anticipate sales >2k, and run cost analysis. #ewf16 — Josh Melican (@jmmelican) June 18, 2016
‘I think people don’t play around enough with how the words look on the page.’ – @obmmusic #EWF16 #NWC — EmergingWritersFest (@EmergingWriters) June 18, 2016
Structures for your work really help; organising events into acts, scenes on post-it notes on the wall. @SusiFox1 #ewf16 #perfectday — EmergingWritersFest (@EmergingWriters) June 18, 2016
Be fearless; you will be criticised no matter what you do. @obmmusic #ewf16 — EmergingWritersFest (@EmergingWriters) June 18, 2016
‘Whatever point you’re at now as a writer, you’ll move light years ahead in 5 and 10 years time.’ @clementine_ford #GWUMelb — The Stella Prize (@TheStellaPrize) June 17, 2016
‘The law and poetry are both about power and wielding power’ – Alison Whittaker #GWUMelb — Stella Schools (@stellaschools) June 17, 2016
‘There is a soft bigotry of low expectations, where no one believes women can actually write.’ @AJ_Whittaker #GWUMelb — The Stella Prize (@TheStellaPrize) June 17, 2016
‘Attention-seeker is an insult that often gets thrown at women because they share their opinion about something.’ @clementine_ford #GWUMelb — The Stella Prize (@TheStellaPrize) June 16, 2016
‘I think of online trolls as being like Bogarts in Harry Potter – they disappear if you laugh at them.’ @clementine_ford #GWUMelb — The Stella Prize (@TheStellaPrize) June 16, 2016
