Letters from Mike

My Writing Life

This essay was written in response to the topic Write a creative reflection on ‘My writing life.’ for a Professional Writing course at La Trobe University.

Writing has always had some sort of fascination for me. I’ve been a working adult for over 30 years now and I’ve always thought I wanted to “be a writer”. I’ve read countless books on writing, I’ve published blogs and social media, and I’ve persisted with fitful attempts to keep a journal. But while they’ve certainly involved all sorts of writing, my work and my hobbies have been centred on other things. I still want to be a writer.

Distancing and isolation

Sitting here in Melbourne on the 21st of March, while there’s not yet anything more draconian than a ban on “large gatherings” in place it’s looking pretty likely we’ll be in increasing states of “lock down” over the next few months. So like everyone else I’ve been thinking a bit about what that means for me and my family.

I’m lucky that a lot of the things I enjoy outside of work are more or less compatible with a pandemic lockdown. Walking my dogs in the park, riding my bike on country roads (and on Zwift, who I suspect will make out like bandits through all of this), mountain biking—these can probably all continue. I like reading, and doing nerd stuff on a computer (time to learn Rust!), which are ideal pass times for solitary confinement. And I can work on my journaling habit. ;-)

Yet Another List of Books

I was recently dragged into one of those infernal Facebook chain letter things where a “friend” entreats you to post some thing every day for seven days… and “tag a friend!”

Well I drew the line at inflicting this on other people, but it was a topic that tickled me:

I accepted a 7-day challenge to post the covers of books I love - no explanations, no reviews, just the covers. Let’s promote literacy and support for libraries and reading.
So why not?

Read more…

Today is the first day of the rest of my life

[Sorry.]

It was a nice neat bookend on Sunday with my last show for the year wrapping up, and a VDL award for Baskerville. Seems like as good a time as any for a sea-change. Or at least a break from stuff I’ve been doing lots of (theatre) and more time for things I haven’t.

So what’s next? Plans are worthless, as we know, but in the spirit of planning being everything, here’s what I see the next few years being like.

Growth mindset vs cold hard (wet) reality

The times you attempt something slightly beyond your current skill level can be the biggest opportunities for growth. You push yourself that little bit beyond your comfort zone, and surprise yourself with what you can do. You go home with increased confidence.

Other times, maybe the gap is just a bit too big, or maybe you’re just not in a “growth mindset” kind of mood. And you actually go backwards. Things that should be well within your grasp suddenly make you question yourself. You go home feeling like you shouldn’t even have tried.

Remembering mum

My childhood was a long time ago, and my memory isn’t that great. But a couple of notable events stand out.

I must have been 8 or 9, about the age that Dal is now, when I learned a few new words at school. I won’t repeat them here of course. But you’ve probably all heard the usual threat about bad language at home: “I’ll wash your mouth out with soap!” Apparently no one told mum it was meant to be a metaphor. So when I let one of these new words loose, she hauled me off to the bathroom and literally shoved soap in my mouth. I think she felt a bit embarrassed about it looking back. Somewhat later, in my early teens, mum somehow convinced me that she could read my mind. Not in the normal way of “oh it’s like she knows what I’m thinking”. For years I actually believed she had ESP. I put it down to me watching too much trashy television like In Search Of and Twilight Zone in the early 80s.

This week

Well I let that go a bit. To say quite a bit has happened since my last update would be taking understatement to ridiculous new extremes. So I’ll just start with now and maybe backfill some detail as I go, where it’s relevant.

I am currently unemployed! This is something I have not been for a very long time. My last experience with this state was back in January 2002. We had just returned from the USA, where I was working for IBM, but a transfer back to IBM Aust wasn’t on the cards and I had no immediate prospects. With a new family and a bunch of international relocation costs to cover, it was pretty stressful.

This week

This week

Well 3 Peaks came and went. I finished it, which was touch and go for a while, but not in the time I had hoped to. It’s frustrating, because I was managing the 10 hour target pace quite comfortably until my feet blew up after The Meg, and I had to soft pedal the Hotham false flat and basically stop after CRB Hill. In fact, I was strongly tempted to give up and jump on the bus at Dinner Plain… another eight hours of excruciating pain was not very appealing. But between the fact I would have been waiting for four hours and the Voltaren eventually taking the edge off it, I pushed on.

This week (and the one before)

Life

We took the opportunity of the Australia Day long weekend, and the dying days of the summer school holidays, to get away to Torquay for a bit of a change of scenery. I could quite easily live in Torquay. Well, apart from having to be in the city most days for work — I’m not that much of a fan of the long commute. Maybe when we retire…

The weather was absolutely perfect — sunny, calm and not too hot. Even the water didn’t seem as cold as it usually is. Did I mention I really like the Surf Coast?