Reimpression

The last day. The contradiction of return, I realised as we sailed on a paddle steamer down the docile Murray River, is that it’s never truly the act of coming back – it’s going forward, because even in a familiar setting it is a new time, and so there is an inevitable newness about everything.

That’s how I feel as this second round of Writers in Action comes to an end. In a sense this was a return to a subject I loved dearly the first time, but that is where the similarities ended. This year has had a new class of people, a new program of writers, a new venue for some of the events, and at the risk of sounding self-righteous, a new me, because I’m not the same person I was a year ago. It was really lovely to take this subject again and be swept up in an entirely fresh and exciting experience all over again.

Our last day as a class began back at La Trobe 29 Deakin and culminated in lunch at The Office. The time in between we spent on a paddle steamer, emptying ourselves of distracting mental matter and drifting into the world of words. I ended up liking only about two sentences of what I wrote but that wasn’t really the point – it was such a calming and productive exercise, tuning ourselves in to the sound of the water and the tranquillity of life along the river, and it’s something that I’ve never really managed to do before so I am happy to be able to carry this newfound skill with me into the future.

 

I think last year the most significant thing for me was simply being in the company of writers in this way that I’d never experienced before. This year I had that same sensation to a degree, but having already been to a writers festival and understanding how it works, I feel like this time I’ve been able to actively receive all of the wisdom and advice the writers imparted throughout the festival and can work to implement it in my own writing – and that, I think, is one of the greatest gifts an event like this can give.