2022 WRITING GOALS

My goodness. I planned to blog regularly throughout 2021 and I only managed to publish one post for the whole year!

As I sat down to think about my writing goals for 2022, I began to wonder why I only wrote one blog post last year, and I think the answer is: way too much happened last year!

THE BOY FROM THE MISH was published in February. I had so many events and commitments in those first few months that blogging quickly became the last thing on my mind. It’s pretty amazing to think that my life changed so much, yet so little at the same time. I was on this amazing high for months, then by the end of June, the second NSW lockdown happened and I was stuck inside my apartment, with a 5km travel limit. I was unemployed and multitude of commitments were cancelled. My savings were drying up and I landed back on Centrelink. I found myself falling into this dark hopelessness.

I’d done Sydney Writer’s Festival, Brisbane Writer’s Festival, Headland Writer’s Festival and One Book One Community in my hometown of Bega, where in February, I also launched my book with a large group of family friends, and community members. And suddenly, I was stuck in my suburb and my apartment. The only people I interacted with during this time were my housemates. All my planned events were cancelled, and the worst thing of all, my creative well was all dried up. I fell into a deep writer’s block and I couldn’t write more than a few sentences at a time. I began work on three projects and only one of them was decent (and I plan on finishing it this year!).

I was struggling to come up with even slightly creative ideas and I was beginning to feel like a one-book-wonder. Maybe I only had one book in me. Maybe TBFTM was my peak. I was depressed and I knew it.

Like so many of us, I struggled hard during that second half of 2021, but I also came to the end of the year with a great burst of creativity, a great new job and, corniest of all, love. Looking back, I realise all that struggle was contained to three months, but it felt like years while living it.

I choose now to look at 2021 as a great year. I published my debut young adult novel and it exceeded any expectation I had in the bookstores. I achieved my dream I’d had since I was a child. Reflecting on 2021 came with this thought: What the hell do I do now? I’ve already achieved my dream.

I’ve realised now that you have to create a new dream, a new goal, once you’ve achieved one. I remember hearing somewhere once that you need to keep chasing, and when you’ve caught that thing, you need to create something new to chase. I have a feeling it was Matthew McConaughey who said that, or something similar, but it feels really true to me now as I set my writing goals for 2022.

1.       Promote ‘Ready When You Are’ in March.

TBFTM is being published in the U.S by Scholastic as ‘Ready When You Are’, in early March. I have a couple of events and interviews booked in already – the first being an in-conversation with none other than my own American publisher, author David Levithan. I honestly can’t wait to embrace the early mornings when I’ll need to be alert and in enthusiastic-energetic-excited-author mode. I’m so excited for Jackson’s story to reach American readers.

2.       Complete edits/revisions on book 2.

I’m thrilled to be publishing another young adult book with Allen & Unwin in 2023. I’m double-thrilled to be working with the same editor I worked with on my first book. I haven’t made an official announcement yet as the book only has a working title at the moment, but for now, I can say it’s another young adult story with an Aboriginal teen at its centre. It sounds so cliché to say, but this character walked into my life one day and told me to write his story. I resisted for a while, but he came in at a time when I was feeling very passionate and angry about a lot of things, and  writing his story really helped me understand how I felt about those things. It helped me understand what I wanted to say. I’m currently working on my revision, in the early stages of editing. I’m so excited to how this story is shaping and really can’t wait for it to get out in the world!

3.       Finish middle-grade fantasy.

I started work on a middle-grade fantasy in early 2021 and I was so excited by the story and having so much fun writing it until the Sydney Lockdown happened in June/July 2021. The story centres around a group of four Aboriginal kids and their stumbling into another world. I’ve come back to it a few times, added a few hundred words here and a few hundred words there, but the momentum has stopped for me for now. I am very excited by this story though. Normally, I would give up on a project when I find myself in this situation, but this story is so fun and adventurous and scary and personal at times, that I need to finish it once I’ve completed my revisions for my YA book. Whether it finds a home or not, I owe it to myself to finish the story that made me feel like I was a child experiencing the magic of writing for the first time all over again.

I might be stretching my ability a bit here, but I started writing another young adult manuscript just before I began revisions on my 2nd book. It’s only 5000 words at the moment, but it’s different and fun and I’m feeling very confident about the story. I don’t usually know how much I care about a project until I get to the 20000 word mark, so time will tell. That being said, I did write a 50000 word manuscript and then one day, say to myself, “this is shit”. It’s left unfinished and shitty in my laptop.

4.       Blog more.

I want to blog at least once a month. This is my January post. If I can at least get one in for February, I’ll have doubled my 2021 stats!

Here's to 2022.

Gary

photo by Angi High Photography

MY LAST TWO WEEKS!!!

Welcome to my first blog of 2021! As you might know, THE BOY FROM THE MISH was released into the world in February, so stay tuned for a blog about the rollercoaster that was release day/week/month!

My last two weeks have been hectic and overwhelming but at the same time, have left me feeling an enormous sense of gratitude.

with author Jeremy Lachlan at Parramatta Riverside Theatre

Over the first weekend of May, I was lucky enough to be involved in five events for Sydney Writer’s Festival, and this weekend just past, I flew to Brisbane to take part in the Brisbane Writer’s Festival’s Love YA day.

My Sydney Writer’s Festival experience began with the first of three Secondary School Days sessions, alongside MC and author Jeremy Lachlan, and other amazing authors such as Garth Nix, Leanne Hall, Michael Pryor and Zana Fraillon. What surprised me most about these sessions was just how engaged the students were during these sessions and the intelligence of the questions they asked. My highlight of the festival came from one of these School Days sessions (but more on that later!) and I had so much fun speaking to the students in three amazing theatres across Sydney.

With author Michael Pryor at The Concourse, Chatswood.

I was also thrilled to be able to share a stage with Benjamin Law at SWF, in a session where we discussed my book and the hard work that went into writing THE BOY FROM THE MISH.

As you might know, Benjamin provided an amazing quote for the front cover of the book and I was absolutely thrilled he was happy to do the event with me to a sold out crowd.

With Benjamin Law at Sydney Writer’s Festival.

Another major thrill for me was sharing the stage with a line-up of amazing YA authors for the SWF YA Gala, MC’d by author Will Kostakis. The idea for the session was that we would each share a story with the audience around characters we would protect at all costs. The character I spoke about was Holden Caulfield from THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. Luckily, I was the first to speak so I was able to sit back and enjoy the rest of the session with the audience.

Two of my favourite moments from that night were Jenna Guillaume taking us back to our childhood trauma by reading the death scene of Artax in THE NEVERENDING STORY and Michael Pryor’s hilarious story about an encounter with a ninja, which almost killed me!

At the SWF YA Gala with authors Garth Nix, Will Kostakis, Leanne Hall, Zana Fraillon, Michael Pryor & Jenna Guillaume.

The absolute highlight for me from Sydney Writer’s Festival came during the first Secondary School Days session I did. When it came to question time, heaps of students lined up at the microphones. I know Jeremy felt the same, that these kids were asking amazing questions - intelligent questions - and really engaged in our session. Then one student, before asking their question, thanked me and Jeremy for writing books with queer characters and the theatre erupted into applause. That moment absolutely warmed my heart and reminds me why I write young adult fiction, why I chose to write THE BOY FROM THE MISH in the first place. I write for those teens who need to read books like mine and I’m so pleased those readers are finding the book. Representation and diversity is so important in books, especially young adult books. Everyone deserves to see themselves reflected in the pages.

At Brisbane Writer’s Festival with authors Rhiannon Wilde, Frances Chapman, Anna Whately and Sophie Gonzales.

My last two weeks ended with a trip to Brisbane for Brisbane Writer’s Festival. It was the first time I’d been on a plane since before Covid and it was interesting being greeted by what seemed like the whole Brisbane police force at Brisbane airport.

It was a short and sweet trip, but it was awesome to be a part of an amazing panel of YA authors to talk about love in YA books. The session was hosted by Rhiannon Wilde, whose debut YA novel, HENRY HAMLET’S HEART, comes out in July 2021! It was a really fun conversation to be a part of, and you can find a link to the session in my media and interviews page.

I’ve absolutely enjoyed these last two weeks of my life and look forward to many more experiences like these ones! I’m definitely feeling an enormous sense of gratitude to be in the position I’m in, where I’m able to share my book with so many people. I must give a quick shoutout to Yvette Gilfillan, Anna McFarlane and Deb Savage from Allen & Unwin for making me feel so comfortable and supported during these festivals.

As for now, I’ll have a short break, then a trip south for the inaugural Headland Writer’s Festival, where I’ll be in-conversation with my mate and fellow author, Gabbie Stroud.

Gary

THREE THINGS I LEARNED AT VARUNA

23rd-30th November 2020: The best week of my writing life.

I packed my bags and made the hour-and-a-bit drive from Western Sydney to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains to take my residency at Varuna, the National Writer’s House. I’d won the Copyright Agency First Nations Fellowship shortly after landing my first book deal in what was a string of good fortune. Of course, then the bushfires happened and Covid happened and the residency was pushed back to November 2020. Somehow, this worked out positively for me in the end – I had more time to work on my next Young Adult manuscript and I was also able to get all the editing for ‘The Boy from the Mish’ out of the way, so when the time arrived, I could focus solely on the next project.

During my seven days, six nights at Varuna, I felt like I really matured as a writer – particularly as an Aboriginal writer. Here are three things I learnt during my time at Varuna:

1.       Writing is more than writing

 One of the great things about Varuna is that you have your own private space to write for the whole day until dinner time. I used to think that writing meant actually writing the words – putting words and sentences and paragraphs together – but at Varuna, I found that writing is more than that. Writing is also thinking, planning, surrounding yourself with nature, listening to the birds and the trees and watching the clouds as they roll over you. Writing is taking a walk and finding inspiration in the beauty of the world. Writing is the time you spend letting the ideas come to you, thinking them over and trying to make sense of the story that is forming in your mind. Writing is reading the works of others to find inspiration. Writing is getting to know your protagonist better – learning things about them and making notes. Writing is speaking to other writers about writing.

2.       Varuna is real magic

Arriving at Varuna on the Monday, I was late for the opening of the new accessible studio (which I stayed in). There were a whole pack of people in suits and dresses, who I figured were important in some way, but I was more keen to meet my fellow writers (who had gone to their rooms to unpack). When the visitors finally left, I only got half an hour of unpacking and settling in before meet-and-greet drinks with the other writers. I didn’t sleep well at all the first few nights, which I put down to sleeping in a new bed in a new place.

On Tuesday morning, I conquered Katoomba’s hill from hell when I went to the shops for a walk. There were moments when I considers using my hands as well as my legs to climb the steep hill and I was still catching my breath by the time I had filled my shopping basket.

I got a little bit of writing done over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but on Thursday night, we had a reading session after dinner. I count myself lucky to be able to listen to some really exciting writing and I shared the new opening scene from my next YA project. There was something about that session that really stirred the magic of Varuna. I got a good night’s sleep, woke up at 6:30am on Friday morning and was immediately in the zone. In my undies, I made my morning coffee and got to work. I got 2000 words down before I had breakfast at 9:00am, and the momentum only continued through the day and over the weekend. I really got to know my next protagonist and found the spirit of my next novel during my stay at Varuna. And I know that during that writing blitz, it really felt like magic. I finished with around 10000 words for my stay at Varuna and have since finished the next draft of my work-in-progress.

3.       The power of sharing a meal

While I’m so pleased with the amount of words I wrote and the progress I made on my novel at Varuna, the most powerful thing I experienced at Varuna was being able to share time with my fellow writers which included sharing dinner every night. Each dinner was cooked and served by the magnificent, absolutely incredible Sheila, who I believe has been cooking meals for writers at Varuna for over 20 years! The things I cherish most about my stay at Varuna are those dinners and the conversations that came with them. Whether we were talking about writing or Indigenous issues, whether I was just listening to the conversations or taking part in them, they were truly powerful and intelligent, and I think those conversations will have more of a lasting impact on me than anything else.

When it was over, it took me about three days to accept that I had to come back to the real world, where I have a job and need to do laundry and shopping. At Varuna, I had a conversation with a fellow writer, who is also very new to the publishing world. We both felt like we didn’t belong there, like we didn’t deserve the fellowship we had won. But I know I can confidently call myself a writer. Writing is one of the things I do. I’m a writer and I didn’t truly feel like one until I experienced the magic of Varuna. The staff were so welcoming and the writers were so amazing to be around, I can hardly find the words to explain. The environment is build on support and encouragement and the sharing of ideas, and that’s where I think the magic comes from. I’ll be hoping to stay at Varuna again soon.

Gary