Building Community

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Last year I had the pleasure of being included in The Emerging Writer, produced by the Emerging Writers’ Festival as a compendium of advice and thoughts about the business of being a writer. I wrote a chapter on community; what that means, how you can find or build your own, why you should bother. It was nice to see my chapter crop up again, in this case being quoted by Justin Heazlewood in his book Funemployed. The book is a rumination on what life is like for artists and writers in Australia. It’s rather strange to see your words in someone else’s book, especially when re-reading them confirms for you that you’re on the right track. Somehow seeing those words again made me remember how glad I am to have my writing community around me.