oxygen6

Congratulations to Elwood Writer Margaret McCaffrey, whose piece ‘Waiting for Beckett’ is published in the latest issue of oxygen.

Poetry can be whatever we need it to be. It can be a place of peace. It can be a place for breathing in the oxygen of new ways of looking, new ways of feeling, new ways of understanding.
from oxygen website

It’s a wonderful piece, Margaret – great to see it in print.

To find our more about Margaret’s work, visit her website, here.

Have a safe and peaceful weekend, everyone.

Happy reading.

Margaret muses on writing friendship

We six friends shared our Melbourne convent days together, later taking a deep dive into the buzz of early seventies’ London.
‘Writing Friendship’

Earlier this year, The Human Writers published a story by Elwood Writer Margaret McCaffrey about her friend Jane – or, more particularly, about her friendship with Jane. A short time later, The Human Writers asked Margaret to record an audio of ‘For Jane’ to feature on their website.

Margaret then wrote a blog post about about how ‘For Jane’ came into being. The post, ‘Writing Friendship’, takes her relationship with Jane as a focus, reflects generally on the nature and peculiarities of friendship, and is rich in wonderful observations and references about writing and friendship. Here’s a quote from sculptor Louise Bourgeois that strikes a particular chord with us:

We either die of the past or we become an artist.
Louise Bourgeois

Maybe by sitting in our spaces, clicking away at our keyboards, drinking too much coffee and occasionally fretting about how the current book or story or essay or blog post or what-have-you is faring, we can take comfort in knowing that at the very least we’re staying alive. And perhaps we might be making a friend or two along the way. And maybe that’s really all that matters.

You can read ‘Writing Friendship’ below – be sure to check out Margaret’s story ‘For Jane’ while you’re there:

Writing Friendship

Happy reading, listening, and writing!

Soldiers and Poets

The casualties of war are my specialty. As the daughter of a World War II veteran, I wanted to develop a scene from my draft memoir so that it reads as a stand-alone piece.
Margaret McCaffrey

Margaret’s essay ‘One Sacred Day’ was developed in response to a callout on The Human Writers for work on the theme of Anzac Day in Australia. The publication of ‘One Sacred Day’ on 25 April prompted her to then reflect on the nature of the eternal relationship between conflict and literature for a blog post on 22 June. Both the original piece and the blog post are well worth your time.

Anzac Day for Writers

Thanks to Margaret for sharing her experiences and thoughts on this important theme.

Peaceful reading, everyone.

Margaret talks ‘procrastination’

Back in November, Margaret wrote a very interesting blog about procrastination on her website. It’s a fresh and alternative look at an issue which is said to dog many writers. But rather than being troubled by procrastination, Margaret suggests that we might take comfort in the words of an Irish poet, and embrace or reframe the phenomenon.

… David Whyte says that procrastination for writers is really about them finding a way through. ‘Before a book can be written,’ he says, ‘most of the way it cannot be written must be tried first … in our minds, on the blank screen, on the empty page … or staring at the bedroom ceiling at four in the morning.’
The Procrastination of Writers, Margaret McCaffrey

The post concludes that procrastination is fine, maybe even necessary, as long as the writer doesn’t lose sight of the original idea that drove them to the page in the first place.

It’s well worth reading Margaret’s post in full, and you’ll find it via the following link:

The Procrastination of Writers, by Margaret McCaffrey

Thanks for the reassuring words, Margaret. And happy reading to everyone!

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 to have an online presence without being tied to the imperatives of the more ‘instantaneous’ social media platforms.

The focus of the blog is primarily the craft of memoir. I’m 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 subjects. ‘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 Elwood Writers (EW) has a shared activity, such as a book launch, a soiree, or radio presentation, I like to notify people about it.

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’m never too 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 people.

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 experience 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 about life as she is lived.

Besides, it’s fun.