Friends Who Write, by Margaret McCaffrey

As writing can be the place where we humans reveal the deepest part of ourselves … having a person or people we trust to witness our process along the way is a precious gift.
from ‘Friends Who Write’.

We’re quite surprised to realise that we haven’t published a blog post since December last year, and it’s already almost March! Where does the time go? We’ve all been busy with our own individual projects, but now that the fortnightly group meetings have begun again after the summer holidays, Elwood Writers is eager to get back into the blogging swing.

And so, without further ado, let’s go. And what better way to start than with a short reflective essay that Margaret has written on writing groups and friendships, published last year in Working Writer, a bi-monthly publication from the US. In the essay, Margaret talks about her personal experience as a member of Elwood Writers: what the group means to her, and how it’s impacted her work. It’s a terrific piece, and you can read it for yourself by clicking here. We hope you enjoy it.

Now that we’re off and running, there’ll be another blog post along soon. See you there.

A belated Happy New Year.

‘Friends Who Write’ is published in the Jul/Aug 2022 issue of Working Writer (Vol. 23 No. 4).

The Gift of Reading

It’s that time of the year again. How quickly it comes around. Maybe you’re on the lookout for some original festive gift ideas? For the reader in your life, might we suggest a copy of the Elwood Writers anthology Every Second Tuesday? We think there’s something in the book for everyone. But don’t just take our word for it:

The anthology Every Second Tuesday hangs together well. It covers periods from the First World War to the far-too-soon future, with a variety of poetry, memoir, fact and fiction. The evocation of place, from the 1916 trenches near Boulogne to Luna Park in St Kilda is marvellous. Each of the authors has their own distinct voice – the voices blend together like a great choir.
Tim McQueen | Producer and presenter of Cover to Cover, Vision Australia Radio

You can order the paperback from most online platforms. Book Depository offers free worldwide delivery, and they currently have 10% off their list price – find them at the link below:

Every Second Tuesday at Book Depository

If ebooks are preferred, Every Second Tuesday is available from all the major retailers, including the one below:

Every Second Tuesday Kindle Edition

Why not share the wonderful gift of reading this December? Books make great stocking fillers, and you’ll also be supporting Australian writing.

Happy December,

Best of Cover to Cover 2022 | Vision Australia Radio

We’re excited to learn that this year’s special Elwood Writers edition of Cover To Cover on Vision Australia Radio (VAR) has been selected for the Best Of Cover To Cover 2022, which will run on VAR between 26 December and 6 January. Our program’s theme is ‘Adelaide’, and it was first broadcast over the Easter weekend.

So if you missed our show the first time round, or if you would just welcome the chance to hear it again, tune in to hear us reading our own stories on-air. We don’t have specific timings yet, but we’ll provide more details as we get them.

Thanks as always to Tim McQueen and the team at Vision Australia Radio for their ongoing support of Elwood Writers and our work.

More soon. In the meantime, happy reading, writing and listening!

Something about Augusts

The online corridors of Elwood Writers have been unusually quiet over these past few weeks. In fact, we didn’t post any blog activity at all in August. Interestingly, the last time EW had a month of zero blogging was August 2020 – there must be something about Augusts. That’s something to ponder over our afternoon coffee and cookie.

Anyway, a lack of blogs doesn’t necessarily mean nothing’s been happening. Far from it. For example, Helen has been overseas, and Barry has just returned from a writing retreat in the Blue Mountains. We’ll look forward to hearing more about these and other adventures in the next meeting of the group, on Tuesday.

In the meantime, here are two recent blog posts from Margaret and Jennifer’s individual websites: Jennifer has written a review of Cow, a film directed by Andrea Arnold, while Margaret has posted her review of the classic novel Treasure Island.

Happy reading!

Hello to 2022

Happy New Year!

We thought we’d kick off the 2022 blogs with some recent activity from Elwood Writers members’ individual websites.

Click here for the latest post from Jennifer. You’ll find Margaret’s latest by clicking here. And for Barry’s, click here. And while she might not have an individual site (yet), click here for a recent EW post on Helen’s poetry.

If you do find time to visit any or all of those websites, why not linger and explore. You won’t be disappointed.

Coming soon, news about a forthcoming Elwood Writers radio project. Stay tuned. In the meantime, happy reading and writing.

A question of websites: Margaret answers

Writings and Musings of Margaret McCaffrey

Why I Write my Blog

I set up the Writings and Musings blog because I wanted to have an online presence without being tied to the imperatives of the more ‘instantaneous’ or immediate social media platforms.

The focus of my blog is primarily the craft of memoir. I am fascinated by how people write in general, whether it be fiction, poetry, screenwriting or song. My musings are personal reflections, such as ‘Putting the Me in Memoir’ or ‘The Interface between Memoir and Fiction’. I mix these thoughts with other items of interest. ‘Where do you Write?’, ‘Writing in Bed’, and ‘The Car Park’ all touch on where and how one writes (the latter being about working outdoors during an interminable Melbourne lockdown).

When my group Elwood Writers (EW) has a shared activity, such as a book launch, a soiree, or a radio presentation, I like to notify people of that.

The blog is intended for anyone who likes to write, and for people drawn to such themes as veterans of war, the relationship between fathers and daughters, and how to write about the ‘self’ – not always an easy task. Occasionally I have military folk visit my site. I am never sure if my point of view coincides with theirs. But no matter their views, I’d like to think that the posts are occasionally helpful to them.

More than anything, the blog is helpful to me. We are all surviving something, and writers are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to build worlds and stories from their experiences and imagination. Cunningly, as Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club) has it – this is especially true for the memoirist – ‘life never works except in retrospect’. For me, discussing ideas on writing allows discourse with the wider world – which in turn helps me collect my own thoughts as I go.

Besides, it’s fun.

Ice Cream Social

Who likes ice cream? We do! Who loves an ice-cream social? We certainly do! So imagine our delight when we heard that American Writers Review is throwing one on Saturday October 30. And to add to the joy, Helen and Barry will be among contributors reading a selection of their pieces from the latest issue of AWR, Turmoil and Recovery. There’ll also be readings from Art in the Time of COVID-19. Both books are published by San Fedele Press.

Our Ice Cream Social at Wilkes University was a delight. While we can’t hand out the ice cream this year, we can share some of the wonderful work of our latest two books with you virtually.
San Fedele Press

Now, because this event is being hosted from the Jersey Shore in the US, we have to adjust the time to our location here in Australia. And it turns out that we’ll be enjoying ice-cream over an early breakfast on the Sunday morning. Even die-hard ice-cream fans Jennifer and Barry would struggle to eat any at that hour. It’ll more likely be a strong-coffee-and-Danish-pastry social for us.

San Fedele Press say that this event is of particular interest to ‘those who are interested in writing for our publication, new writers, and seasoned writers’. If you’d like to learn more about the publications and the event, go here. You’ll find the Zoom link at the top of the page you land on.

We might see you there. With ice cream, Danish, or otherwise!

A question of websites

Elwood Writers is in a slightly introspective mood. Maybe it’s the change of season, or the gloomy weather, or the world news. Whatever the cause, our self-reflection has led us to wonder what makes the group tick. In particular, what makes us tick online. We have maintained a group website, the one you’re reading now, for quite some time. But three of our four members also have their own individual websites, and have for a number of years. Their sites contain active and fascinating blogs, each with a rich history, and each vastly different from the others. You can access Barry’s here, Jennifer’s here, and Margaret’s here.

So we’re throwing out a few questions to Barry, Jennifer, and Margaret:

What was your original intention when setting up your website? What are your reasons for maintaining a blog?
What audience are you trying to reach?
What do you hope to communicate through your website?

If we go alphabetically, then maybe Barry could start the ball rolling? It’s up to you how you approach this. You could choose just one question, or address them all if you want. There might be a bit of overlap between the questions, anyway. You could also say ‘no comment’ or ‘I’m too busy’, and we wouldn’t be offended. Though our curiosity would continue to nag.

We look forward to seeing the responses over the coming weeks. In the meantime, we’ll go back to gazing through the window, watching the rain, and wondering what it’s all about.

Elwood Writers

About ‘Down to the Sea’, by Margaret McCaffrey

In 2018, Tim McQueen from Vision Australia Radio commissioned Elwood Writers to create a series of pieces in celebration of the centenary of Armistice Day. They were to be read on his program Cover to Cover.

I scratched my head for a story.

‘I’ve got nothing to write,’ I told my partner. ‘I don’t know anything about World War I.’

‘Yes, you do,’ Tom replied. ‘Your two grandfathers were in that war, and your great uncle.’

To my surprise, I was reminded that my maternal grandfather, Dr John O’Brien, had been an army surgeon at Australia’s ill-fated campaign in Gallipoli. To me as a child his post-war life looked so prosperous and comfortable, I couldn’t imagine him ever having been at what became a godforsaken strip of Turkish beach.

With much research and a stretch of the imagination, I wrote ‘Down to the Sea’ as a mixture of fiction and memoir. It formed part of the group’s quadrilogy for the radio program, and is now included in our eclectic anthology, Every Second Tuesday.

The new Elwood Writers anthology to be launched 9 December 2020

If you haven’t already registered for a free, online ticket to the launch of Every Second Tuesday by Elwood Writers, you can do so at the following link:

https://www.readings.com.au/event/the-elwood-writers-in-conversation