CHAPTER ONE: Unblocking Creativity ｡𖦹°‧ by Panda Wong

Before we begin...

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This workshop was imagined, written and delivered on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin nation.

As a settler on this land sharing my knowledge about writing with you, I want to acknowledge the original storytellers of this land. Writing is about encountering the world in new ways, imagining new futures, disrupting the colonial and carceral logic of so-called Australia. Sovereignty was never ceded.

I cannot acknowledge Country today without recognising that across the world, Palestine and its people are currently resisting Israel's genocidal campaign. Please scan any of the below QR codes for mutual aid opportunities and boycott information, support protests and actions, and take action in any way you can. Use your bodies, use your time and use your voice.

Always was, always will be, from the river to the sea. May we never grow numb to injustice.

Gaza eSims

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Scan to access information and instructions about how to purchase and forward on eSims to Gazans so they can stay connected.

Mutual aid spreadsheet

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Scan to access a spreadsheet with mutual aid funds that require assistance. This will go directly to families who need money to survive, buy important supplies and anything they may need while under siege by Israel.

Disrupt Land Forces

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Scan to access information about the Disrupt Land Forces movement and the many events that are on. This is a movement to disrupt the 'Land Forces' convention, Australia's biggesy weapons expo (September 11–13th)

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1. Let's get to know each other...

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Thank you for being here on a Friday night, I'm excited to get to know you over this session.

Can you please share your name and pronouns?

& a current writing obsession (it can be something you love to write or read about)?

2. A quick writing prompt to get us started...

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Free-write for 5 minutes in response to the question: Why do you write?

This is me!

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A little introduction to my work as a writer...

3. What can writing do for us?

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I think the role of writing is to make us more legible to ourselves. It is the way we hang on to what’s true and the way we connect with what is human in ourselves and other people.

—Alexander Chee

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Poetry means taking control of the language of your life.

–June Jordan

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I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means.

—Joan Didion

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Poetry, at its best, can alleviate or converse with the loneliness of those on the margins... Poetry can also expand and queer our sense of what’s possible for our worlds and futures.

–Chen Chen

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As a writer, I wanted to think about the independence of our interconnected culture, and how necessary our independent thinking needed to be for our survival...

–Alexis Wright

Writing can...

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clarify

question

resist

heal

open up

imagine

manifest

persuade

connect

inspire

spark

ignite

expand

&....?

4. How to build a writing practice...

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Find a space to write that is only for writing (if you can!)
Pick a time to write (something realistic and convenient for you, with realistic expectations of how long you will write)
Use what works for you! Music? Snacks? Timers? Writing by hand?
Keep a journal or a notebook to jot ideas down, don't let them get away!
Write it in a place that’s convenient and that is always near you, like your phone, and write it in a place where you can see the text piling up.
Writing is an art of observation – your thoughts, feelings and perspective. Write things you notice, write to the end of any question, write all questions.
Read, read, read as much as possible. Take notes! Keep your favourite parts. Rewrite them.
As John Durham Peters says, 'Step outside of the empire of the English language regularly!'
Follow your obsessions, try to understand them (Google, Wikipedia, guides, encyclopedias)
Explore vocabulary from other fields.
Body double, find others to write with (we will cover this in a later workshop!)
Incorporate play, use prompts, writing games, look up writing methods from different schools of thought!

4. Writing exercise: Write a fictional writing routine.

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It can be your dream writing routine! It can be as absurd as you want, as dreamy as you want, as ridiculous, as surreal, as banal, as silly, as productive etc....

Let's do this for 10 minutes and share! Look at the examples round this :)

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I go to bed at six or seven in the evening, like the chickens; I’m waked at one o’clock in the morning, and I work until eight; at eight I sleep again for an hour and a half; then I take a little something, a cup of black coffee, and go back into my harness until four. I receive guests, I take a bath, and I go out, and after dinner I go to bed. I’ll have to lead this life for some months, not to let myself be snowed under by my debts. The days melt in my hands like ice in the sun … I’m not living, I’m wearing myself out in a horrible fashion – but whether I die of work or something else, it’s all the same … I am driven by the terrible demon of work, seeking words out of the silence, ideas out of the night.

– BALZAC

(Balzac drank up to 300 cups of coffee a day)

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Ursula. K Le Guin

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Kant rose at 5:00 A.M., after being woken by his longtime servant, a retired soldier under explicit orders not to let the master oversleep. Then he drank one or two cups of weak tea and smoked his pipe. According to Kuehn, “Kant had formulated the maxim for himself that he would smoke only one pipe, but it is reported that the bowls of his pipes increased considerably in size as the years went on.” After this period of meditation, Kant prepared his day’s lectures and did some writing. Lectures began at 7:00 A.M. and lasted until 11:00. His academic duties discharged, Kant would go to a restaurant or a pub for lunch, his only real meal of the day. Lunch might go until as late as 3:00, after which Kant took his famous walk and visited his closest friend, Joseph Green. They would converse until 7:00 on weekdays (9:00 on weekends, perhaps joined by another friend). Returning home, Kant would do some more work and read before going to bed precisely at 10:00.

Thanks so much for coming today, here are some extra resources <3

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Bernadette Mayer's writing prompts

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Chen Chen's Craft Chapbook

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More prompts to stimulate your writing!

Yanyi's The Reading

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One of Yanyi's Substack articles about returning to writing after a long time, the advice applies to new writers! An incredible Substack, I recommend reading as much of it as possible.

On Being Podcast about writing

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Naomi Shihab Nye says writing is “an act that helps you, preserves you, energizes you in the very doing of it.” She calls herself a “wandering poet,” and her words point to shining corners of beauty in the world we see every day.

For poets: 5 ways to practice poetry!

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By Ada Limon, some helpful tips <3

Free writing resources for children

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100 Story Building is an organisation for young writers in Footscray, Melbourne. They use storytelling as a tool to foster imagination, creativity and confidence in children and young people.

Writers Victoria - Courses

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Writing workshops and resources that may be be helpful.

Writers Victoria – Resources for young writers

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Resources and external links to writing orgs directed directly at young writers!

CHAPTER TWO – Creative Connections Padlet

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Click here for the content from the second workshop!

CHAPTER THREE – Where to from here?

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