As the next newsletter goes to press we are all busy putting pens to paper on the topic set for August 27 - ‘On the Job’ -.  Our brief –‘We spend much of our lives working.  Our job, for better or worse, helps define us.  Write a first person story about a day at work you’ll never forget’.   

It is always fascinating listening to the many ways in which our 500 word topics are interpreted.  The topics set for our group often provide triggers to remember stories we’d forgotten about and the chance to reflect upon them again through wiser eyes.  

If you’d like to join our group, come along with a story of around 500 words on our topic to share with our very supportive and encouraging group (even if your story is in draft form). 

​The topic for our September 24th session is How we met   ‘Our best friends, neighbours, partners, lovers were all strangers once.  Tell us how you met a kindred spirit and what the relationship means to you’.
 
Bev Lee

The ABC's  '500 Words' projects ran for over three years as an online offering from the ABC, with the last topic 'Unfinished Business' formulated in late  2016.  It  left unfinished business, happening suddenly, possibly as a result of budget cuts.  Fortunately, online archives has continued to be available to us to dip into since then..

However this year, the idea of 500 words writing projects has reemerged, in a slightly different form.   The topic 'A Turning Point' has been offered for online voice submissions to 'Life Matters' since earlier this year.  "Was there a moment in your life which was a turning point—an event or time that has shaped the person you are today?"  

Find out more at http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/features/turning-point/​
The page includes links to a number of 'turning point' stories you can listen to, including 

'Leaving the Uniform' - George Koulakis
'Learning from my Daughter' - Roz Hall

The Garret Podcast -  Miles Franklin Award Winner - Michelle de Kretser for 'The Life to Come';  you can listen to an interview with Michelle on https://thegarretpodcast.com/michelle-de-kretser/ 

Guardian's Book Review of 'The Life to Come'...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/03/the-life-to-come-by-michelle-de-kretser-review    

Coming up on Wednesday at 5pm at the Library - Writers Corner - Just a quick reminder  that local Wangaratta author Thalia Kalkipsakis will be at the Benalla Library this Wednesday 29th August for Writer's Corner where she will talk about being an author, the Starlight Trilogy AND run some writing exercises at 5pm. 

In late June our Memoir Writing group shared stories about Family Rituals, ‘the weird and wonderful things that you do together that only your family understand’.  Most of us found it difficult to highlight a ‘standout’ family ritual, but as we shared stories found they often related to the preparing and sharing of meals, from the making of scones with grandchildren, to the meals prepared for Christmas (including memories of three pences and six pences in plum puddings), to the tradition of drinking a cup of tea with two milk arrowroot biscuits across the generations (not to be dunked in public of course!).
 
A number of our stories in late July about ‘A Scary Moment’ ‘Your heart pounds, your hair stands on end…  Tell us a story about a moment when you were truly terrified.’ related to memories of fear experienced as children living in the country. Stories were shared of being a child fearful of strange cows in a field on the way home from school which looked just like those seen in a dream the night before; being a child fearful that ‘foxes eat little girls’; being a child fearful of something which frightened them while they were collecting flowers in a druid like ring of rhododendron bushes, and more. 

Our next topic is ‘On the Job’ ‘We spend much of our lives working.  Our job, for better or worse, helps define us.  Write a first-person story about a day at work you’ll never forget’.  The theme for the Benalla Festival has been released –‘Our Back Yard – A Celebration of Spaces and Places’.  The brief for the Festival’s writing competition will be announced in the coming weeks and added as an additional topic to be shared in October or November. 
​
Bev Lee