On Writing

“Writing is like prostitution.  First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.”  Moliere 1622 – 1673

I met up with my fellow writing group members yesterday. What an inspirational meeting it was. We each chatted about what we were working on, and then it was heads down for two very productive hours. The time flew like it was just a few minutes. Each of us travel in to the State Library to do this, knowing full well that we could just as easily stay at home and save two hours commuting. But something magical happens when people of like minds gather together, encourage each other, and the synergy of that meeting lets the muse of each respective person merge together to create the most surprising and awesome creativity.



Annette and Jo from our group both had short stories published in the current quarterly edition of Fast Fiction. How wonderful to sit in a room with such talent. We all want to be published and success has touched our group already. Several in the group have publishers looking closely at their novels, several have finished novels, some are editing.


Me? I’m just starting my novel. But the story is one I have wanted to tell all of my life. I am so happy to finally know that it will happen. But for the session with my writerly friends yesterday, I chose to do a quick fast fiction short story. In two hours I wrote an ok story of two thousand words. It is probably not going to be the best story ever written, but I might polish it up and send it away somewhere. Maybe I too can join the ranks of the published!


I feel a buzz inside me from yesterday’s session. Our group only meets once a month, but now we will meet up weekly online, to share and encourage each other. I can’t wait. And the bonus is, it is still six weeks to NaNoWriMo!


Happy writing everyone!

On Writing

The lead up to NaNoWriMo


Work commitments are playing havoc with my writing and preparation time. I have started jotting notes to myself whilst commuting on the train in the mornings. (Too tired in the afternoons). I am using an app in my iPhone called The Writing Spot and it allows me to brainstorm some ideas and then I can synch them with the web version plus email them to myself. Very handy. I find I am able to get about 500 words of notes in a single trip. This is exciting me, because it means I can then use the same app to do actual writing on my novel from 1st November, when NaNoWriMo starts.

From my dot points, I am doing research and organising all my details ready for writing. The only trouble with this is that I get so caught up in the research that I might be going into too much detail. I love research. You wouldn’t believe how much I have found out about the era I am going to write about (1914).

But the best part of research is that I am really, REALLY getting to know my characters well. I am lucky in that I am basing them on real people, but when I think about going inside their heads, I feel I really know them.

Anyway, let’s hope all this translates into a great book!!

Here is a map of the route that the two main characters, Darl and Annie, took on the steam ship Tasman. They left Brisbane on 20th June 1914 and stopped at Singapore, Hong Kong and then arrived in Shanghai. I just don’t know how long the voyage took. Can’t seem to find out. I am surmising about 4 weeks. If anyone out there can help me, please leave a comment below or email me at noelleclark@hotmail.com. Thanks.

I am also posting a picture of one of the KPM Line ships which is either the Tasman itself, or very similar. The Tasman had one funnel, buff in colour with a black stripe (the KPM Line colours). I had it in my mind that the Tasman was white, but it could have been black, just like the one in the picture below. But it looks about the right size, compared to the Niew Hollande which was white and three times the size (see picture in previous blog).

That’s all for now. Back to my research. Ciao.

These images courtesy Bjorn Larssen http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/index.htm