The past two weeks have flashed by - a highlight was participating in the Newington College Literature Festival. I had the pleasure of working with senior Drama students and of addressing year 12 students on 'dramatic insights'. It was also wonderful to meet up with other writers, some of whom, like Susanne Gervay, Moya Simons and Jeni Mawter, are good friends, others are people I've only met through their words until now.
Perhaps the Newington experience was part of the reason I've decided to plan an event or two for this year's Manly Arts Festival in September. I'm doing these in conjuction with Sally Chilvers, who until recently owned one of the best bookshops in Sydney, here on The Corso in Manly.
I also finished the final draft of The Singing Stones - it's a fantasy story and I'm already dreaming up the next book in what could become a series. I can see why fantasy writers write trilogies - I don't want to say farewell to the characters yet - and there are still mysteries to explain in the story. So watch this space!
Writers conjure up characters, lives, whole worlds, and then have to close the door on them when the book, play or poem is finished. One reason I'm enjoying writing the monologues for Solo Dramas is that I'm revisiting some characters from plays I've written. I was able to 'road test' some of this work at Newington. Thank you, Sue Richer, for organising the Festival.
