Amra Pajalic

Finally school holidays have arrived and I’m having a break from work. Had a lovely weekend with the family. We went to the Royal Melbourne Show for the first time with Sofia and it was an absolute blast. Spent a lot of money, but that’s what made it such fun. We continued our weekend of retail therapy by buying some outdoor play equipment so our next few weekends will be occupied trying to put them together.

I’ve been taking some time to rest and that  includes reading. Read William Kostakis Loathing Lola and what a bloody fabulous read. His protagonist Courtney is such a smart-arse, which I just love, and the book really dealt with the whole reality tv phenomenon in a fresh way.

The urge to write is growing. I’ve printed off my draft so far and need to sit down and read it, refresh my memory about what I’ve got and then begin writing. Although what is it about the urge to write being chased by the urge to procrastinate. Suddenly I’m becoming really obsessed with house cleaning. I’ve been spring cleaning a room at a time. Was going to continue with my cleaning schedule but there’s something about today that makes me feel completely inert. It’s so dark and overcast that I feel heavy and unable to move.

The past few weeks I’ve been struggling to get through the day to day and cooking has completely fallen by the wayside. We’ve been getting a bit of takeaway and eating sandwiches so my next goal is to get back into a schedule of planning meals. Today I’m making lasagne so need to do a trip to the shops. That’s pretty much going to be my only goal. I figure if I give myself soft goals to achieve I’ll get my drive back before I know it.

I’m feeling a bit sick at the moment. My daughter Sofia has been sick and I’ve caught her germies. Hopefully it will be just a head cold. It was just a matter of time, but at least it thankfully happened this last week of Term.

I’ve just come back from my second job running writing workshops at Sunshine Technical College. I’m working with 6 students, 2 of them are Year 8 students and the rest are Year 9. The group is so lovely and committed and I’m loving working with them.

So far they’ve been working on developing a character sketch and are now plotting their stories. I had them work in teams and the two Year 8 students have already written up two pages which I am so wrapped about.

Had one negative thing happen that really got my blood boiling. We began the workshops and suddenly all these people appeared. Five student teachers descended on my classroom. One of the guys attached himself to the Year 8 students and read over one of the student’s work. When I approached the student said he’s correcting my writing. I quickly butted in with the student teacher and said, ‘no correcting.’

It’s so hard to get young people to write because they feel self conscious about their writing ability and spelling. Whenever I run writing workshops I don’t correct any of their writing until it’s been through a second draft and is typed up. Until then I focus on the ideas and developing the storyline.

The the student teacher made a joke about the boy not being able to spell properly. I was so angry. I could see this young boy clamming up. So I got blunt and politely told him that they needed quiet writing time by themselves. Even though at this point I was doing everything to establish the tone that I was running the workshops, it took me being that direct until he backed off and let the students actually do some work.

Once the student teachers were redirected to other classrooms things went back on track and I was able to float from group to group and talk. It’s so important to gives students space to write and I’m really wrapped with the what they’ve achieved so far. We’re going to have the two week break, but at least they’ve completed a bit of work so hopefully we won’t lose much momentum when we get back.

I’ve spent the past couple of months completely immersed in running writing workshops and not doing any writing myself. The great thing is that the urge is building and I’m getting images for my novel. The plan is to print off the draft I have and write up notes and plot the structure.

The other thing that I’ll be focussing on is the book profiling Muslim women that I haven’t had a chance to work on. Want to draft the profiles so I have something solid. At the moment I’m coordinating photography sessions of the women to be included in the book.

Right now all I want to do is nurse my cold and immerse myself in some escapism while I feel so awful. I think a trip to the library will be the next order of business.

Feeling so tired. Sofia is teething at the moment and had a few restless nights. I’m trying a new technique. After an hour of enduring her tossing and turning, and getting increasingly frustrated by it, I turned on the light and read her three books. Then we went to sleep and she was out within 10 minutes. Told my husband this morning and he thought it was a bad idea because it’s teaching her night-time wake ups are fun. We’ll see if I suffer for it.

Had a full on two days. Yesterday I did my workshop at St Albans Secondary College. I developed worksheets for the students to develop a character and then plot their story and they worked a treat. By the time they went through all the steps they had a fully developed idea to write a short story from. I was wrapped because this group have weaker literacy skills and I was nervous about how to take them through the workshops.

After that I went to Keilor Downs Secondary College where they held a ceremony for the students participating in the Premier’s Reading Challenge. They had an awesome participation rate with all of the Year 7s taking part and students from Year 8 onwards also getting in on the act. There were some students that read 100 books which was amazing. The ceremony was such a great celebration and the students were so enthusiastic to get recognition.

A student leader made a speech and spoke about the students embracing their real self and being nerds. She made the point that in a few years time when they got out in the workforce who was going to be looking better to prospective employers. It was amazing to see how this program is changing the culture at schools and that by getting so many students involved then it becomes cool to read.

I also met Hendre Roelik who is doing a writing residency at the college and he was so inspiring. He got up and had a chat with the students and presented them with their certificates. He was so full of energy and you could see that the minute he spoke he had the students with him. He runs workshops and he said ‘story is my life.’ And that’s the truth. Once you get students engaged with a story they’re interested.

We had a chat about boys and literature and how this view that boys are only interested in action books etc actually does them a disservice. Some of the stories the boys I’m working with are about love, friendship and they write from girls perspective. While yes, boys do read differently, we also might be inadvertently selling them short.

Today I began my first session at Sunshine Technical College where I’m running a 6 week workshop funded by the Smith Family. This is part of a program where Year 9 students get the opportunity to participate in different workshops so there’s Music, Comedy, Sport, Visual Arts and Creative Writing. I’m working with 6 students and they’re all keen and interested in writing. Today we were creating a character and there were some wonderful physical descriptions. The project culminates in a presentation night for students and family and we’re looking at collaborating together to develop a performance of the student’s work so it’s quite exciting.

All in all it’s been a full on and exciting week and I’m only on Tuesday.

If you weren’t able to attend my session and are curious about what was said head to Girl Friday and read all about it.

For the ten years that I was an aspiring novelist I made it a goal to attend at least one session at the MWF. Each year I’d sit in the audience and dream about the day when I was on a panel talking about my book. Well, yesterday my dream came true. I was on a panel called Family Matters with Robyn Bavati, author of Dancing in the Dark, and with moderator Ruby Murray as part of the schools program.

The panel was everything I’d imagined. The Festival organisers did a great job in matching me and Robyn together. Sabiha, the protagonist of my novel The Good Daughter, and Ditty the protagonist of Dancing in the Dark, have a lot in common. While the books are vastly different in their depiction of the subject matter at hand, they shared a lot of the same themes and it was a pleasure to be able to chat with Robyn.

When I first sat down in the auditorium while we were doing the sound check I was so excited I literally could not sit still. The sound guy put the headset on me and I broke out in Madonna’s Vogue moves. He didn’t look too impressed. I’m guessing it was a joke that got old fast.

I’d managed to dress to impress. These days it’s usually an achievement to leave the house with brushed hair but yesterday I took Sofia to childcare and then was able to get properly gussied up for my big debut. I managed to put on make up and have great hair. All in all I was feeling fabulous.

The session was so quick. One minute I was sitting there feeling nervous and wondering when all this was going to be over, the next I was chatting and getting a few laughs, and then Ruby was calling an end to the session. It was like being Cinderella and the ball was over. We went down to the bookshop and I had a few students gather around for a chat and was signing bookmarks for them.

My friend Jodi came with me and we made a day of it. I felt like a teenager who was sneaking away from Mum and doing naughty stuff. It’s been so long since I had a day to myself without the baby that I was giddy with excitement. We had a lovely lunch and then I bought some books. Among them Cath Crowley’s Graffiti Moon which I’m looking forward to reading.

I came home exhausted, but feeling so high with pleasure and joy. It was a wonderful and I’m so glad I was able to share it with someone. Jodi ended up being my photographer so I actually have some photos to share.