It was a quiet affair. We met in the Linen Room at the Abbotsford Convent. It's a place I know well, after years of manning writer's festivals, running the sound boards, driving writers around and doing all sorts of dogsbody jobs as a volunteer, it was great to go to a function which I had a bit of input to.
The convent is a rather imposing place. The history is a bit maudlin. It used to be a home for girls and young women, many pregnant, many forced into labour at the laundries which operated out of the complex. It's now a wonderful art space. The bakery onsite is fantastic, Lentil as Anything is brilliant, as are the markets which are held regularly and the gardens are wonderful.
Initially I was a bit reticent to go there. The last time I was there was in the chapel for the funeral of a well loved friend. I felt her there as I walked round the corner after parking the car in a side street.
Due to COVID restrictions we weren't able to bring our friends and family along, it was just the Melbourne novel writing classes - the other class, taught by Sophie Cunningham and Emily Bitto (swoon), and our class, taught by Carrie Tiffany (bigger swoon), Kristina Olsson (still swooning) and Paddy O'Reilly (who left us mid-year, but she's the most incredible writing teacher I've ever had.)
My writing group is an amazing mob. We all are writing different things, but we all egg each other on. I've made some great friends out of all this. Just seeing everybody in the flesh was great.
And best of all, our anthology was launched last night. It has a sample of work from all of the classes - not only the novel writing crew, but the memoir and non-fiction writers. These anthologies are sent out to publishers around the world. A number of old students have picked up contracts and agents from being in this anothology over the years.
Being in this anthology was part of the reason I took on this course. I wasn't expecting to learn so much while I was on the course. It kept me sane last years. And I never expected to make such good friends over the year.
And the thrill of seeing your name on the cover of a book never gets old.
1 comment:
Congratulations!
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