Ballina/Byron U3A Creative Writers Group
After being head hunted in December 2011 by the President of Ballina/Byron U3A, I turned up at Fripp Sports Oval in Ballina, for the first class in February 2012. Armed with a wire bound scrapbook I faced a huge group of 16 members. The group had been in existence for about 12 years and there were 6 new members. Nobody brought anything to read so I started with individual introductions and outlined the guidelines for a free write about their Christmas activities.
Because of size, there was not enough time to hear all the results of the 20 minute free write. Actually for some it was only a 10 minute writing effort and I was concerned that two ladies could not even put pen to paper and went into the kitchen and made a cuppa; soon joined by the early finishers who muttered quietly until the rest put their pens down.
After the tea break I instructed them to take their writing home, edit it and rewrite it in approximately 500 words onto their computer. Do What???
A fortnight later 12 turned up, six read from their scrapbooks while the other half read from a typed version and had written at least 800 or so words about chaotic parties or equally gripping holidays that went wrong. Lots of laughter…we were off!
During that first year I introduced my writing guidelines (now 3 pages) to improve their expression and only occasionally a short free write. By the end of the year I realised it worked better to have them read their work and I would give them a subject, genre, tense and voice to kick off the writing for the next fortnight’s class.
Editing their stories caused massive resistance. How dare I cut their clichés, tautologies and passive descriptions sitting like icebergs blocking the flow? Many old hands decided editing was akin to tooth extraction and they were out —my class halved.
The New Year welcomed back six women and one man who were brave enough to accept my demands and 2013 saw several new members defected from other writing groups eager to see their words not only edited but published. Our anthology, Write Impressionswas published by Dragonwick Publishing and printed by Lismore Printery.
Ten authors submitted short stories of fiction, travel, family history, school, bio, poetry and romance. One of the best contributions came from Ann Neal who assisted the editing process. She wrote a gripping tale about Douglas Mawson. I wrote the Foreword.
We had a lot of dramas about financing the anthology after U3A refused to support our request for $1000. So we chipped in and bought our copies prior to printing and we all got our money back and went out to lunch for a Xmas party.
Ann Neal, a school teacher, has travelled the world and settled in Alaska for 10 years. She is often called upon to take the class if I am unavailable. I am also helped in this way by Mandy Waring who has a background in counselling. Nonie Kennedy has a degree in English literature. Gerda Lehave was born in a small town in Holland before the Second World War. As a schoolgirl her town was occupied by German soldiers and her tale of her father keeping a distillery in the attic and selling sly grog to the German officers is hilarious. Gerda is often overcome by emotion telling of her escape from the town she loved. We sit on the edge of our seats as the story unfolds and someone takes over the reading for her.
Several members in the group were teachers and nurses so we are an informed group who need this stimulation and social interaction. We all travel and read a lot and keep journals. We appreciate the challenge of the writing process and the sharing of personal, often quite harrowing life experiences. We trust the process of growth that ensues from participation, so important for our wellbeing. It stretches our imagination, gives our memories a good workout and we appreciate having each other and U3A (University of the 3rd Age) offering the venue and free tuition. Members pay an annual fee, all tutors volunteer their services.
I now do the editing anonymously with an end of term mini workshop. This way of teaching, also means we have a stash of edited stories ready to go into our next anthology.
Jan Gracie Mulcahy