At our July café catchup Pat Treleaven described how the Wheeler Centre and the  Australian Writers' Centre inspire her to write, reading us her intriguing response to the Australian Writers’ Centre’s  ‘23 words’ Winter Solstice challenge to write a story using just 23 words, including the words winter, silhouette and writer!   
 
‘Advice’ – our topic for July – was presented at both our café catchup and regular sessions.  Advice such as ‘Courtesy costs you nothing’; ‘Don’t learn to milk the cow or it will be your task for life.  Leave that task for the boys’; ‘Coves what’s had the experience, they knows yer see’; ‘Our children survive in spite of us, not because of us’ and  ‘Don’t mix your drinks’,  provided fertile ground for reminiscing and story telling. 
 
The topic for our next session 'What happened in (eg) Vegas' (working title) has been set by ABC Open’s Shepparton producer, Will Kendrew, who is hoping to take part.  The brief – Spill the beans on something from one of your holidays, something that just doesn’t happen in every day life.  Look at photo albums, emails, letters, even Facebook, for reminders of holidays and the events that happened on them, then describe one of those holiday moments in detail. 
 
The ABC Open topic for August 'Experiences of the Unexplained' will be our alternative topic, or topic to share at the café catch up.  The brief - Have you ever had a brush with the spiritual world, a stay in a haunted house, a moment of psychic synergy? Make us shiver in our boots with your story of an otherworldly encounter. Tell us the story as it happened and how you see it now.  
Our next Café Catchup is Monday 1st August 2.30 to 3.30 pm or so by the fire at the Northo; regular session Monday 15th August  from  1.30 to 3.30 in W4.  
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Could you write a story using just 23 words?

Could you write this story and include the words, winter, silhouette and writer?
Here’s one to get you started:

She writes
In rooms of
Limited
Heat.
Outside,
Upturned umbrellas epitomise winter.
Every winter
This writer
Thinks,
Electricity bills should be paid!
 
Head over to Australian Writers’ Centre, www.writerscentre.com.au/ to read some more winter/equinox stories and story writing ideas.
 
23 words?

Pat Treleaven


Pat introduced the Australian Writers' Centre and read out some of the 23 words entries  at our Cafe meeting at the Northo, 4th July.  Pat also recommended The Wheeler Centre as a wonderful source of inspiration for writers.  

​At our June café catch up we welcomed Pat, who shared a beautifully written, moving story on the upcoming topic ‘Advice’; shared individual writing projects and brainstormed ideas on responding to June’s topic, ‘Faking It’, for class two weeks later.
 
Like another tricky topic ‘A Friendship Tested’, ‘Faking it’ resulted in a thought provoking session as we dissected the meaning of the phrase and speculated as to whether a degree of faking, or ‘fudging’, is necessary to smooth the workings of society, our working lives, family life and friendships.  We heard stories of faking it when listening to people at election time with different political values; of faking it to disguise emotional reactions during a nursing career; stories from two of our aviators of ‘fudging’ (if not faking) it related to flying an aircraft, and more. 
 
Our topic for July 18th 1.30 to 3.30 pm is ‘Advice’ - Tell us about one piece of advice that’s stuck with you.  It could be a famous quote or proverb, something your mum told you, or helpful words from a stranger.  Did you follow the advice, or wished you had?  Did it help or lead you astray? 
 
Our next café catch up, on Monday July 4th between 2.30 and 3.30 pm, will be at the Northo, as Somewhere has closed for a winter recess.