Morning preparation

Jan Cornall has now lead three retreats at Daku; she’s just come back from the latest and has sent me a brief account of the week:

I love the moments on our Fiji  writer’s retreat when the breakthroughs start to happen.  You would hope for it on a course called Breakthrough Writing but it’s not going to happen straight away, unless simply getting off the plane in Savusavu Bay and slowing down to the pace of the locals, relaxes you so much you just can’t help yourself. Sometimes it’s when we get out the coloured pens and make our first story maps that things start to fall into place, or when you slip into a voice you know is so right for your story you want to shout – hallelujah! It could be that you discover your favorite three chapters have to get the chop (and you are ready to let them go) or you’ve worked out how to cut 10,000 words down to 1,000. It might be that giving yourself a week to concentrate just on your writing; no cooking, shopping, worrying about all the small details of life, turns on your creative tap and you wonder how on earth you will ever stop it. It certainly has something to do with devoting time to working on your craft, receiving positive encouragement and daily feedback and becoming involved in the development each others stories; as if through the daily activity of sharing our stories and the processes of writing we draw the strength and courage to finally inhabit the uniqueness of our own writers’ voice. The same voice that at the beginning of the week we were so unsure about. I can’t wait to do it all again next year.

And here’s a few words from a couple of the writers:

Reading out the day's work in the evening

BIFF WARD: Jan was everything that was promised and more. She really can work with people writing in any genre and at any stage of its development – even if they haven’t actually started! She had us all writing new stuff, re-working bits and, most importantly, reading to each other and giving useful feedback. It was a rich, rewarding, expanding, inspiring process. It seemed to me that everyone went away with clarity about where to go next with their project and the focus and energy required to keep going.  Even with people from very different backgrounds and experiences, Jan had us all working together productively and well.

Daku allowed me to have a deeply satisfying routine to my days – something I never seem to establish at home. Wake up to tropical paradise through the louvres; read a littler; walk up to the yoga platform and spend an hour stretching a centring looking out to sea; shower in outdoor funky bathroom; delicious breakfast; then writing time on my verandah followed by class from 10 till 1. And that’s only thew morning! everyday! All in the Daku resort atmosphere of informal comfort and friendliness subtly underpinned by fabulous service.

CHRIS RICHARDS : I have become a bit of a writers class “junkie” and this one had the most eclectic and skilled group of people thus far. All very imaginative, all very productive. Jan basically set the parameters, set us up and let us go. The old iron fist in a velvet glove method which I do well under. Of all the workshop leaders and facilitators I have worked under over the years, she is my favourite.

Picnic on the beach

The writers on the Manuscript Mentoring week with Rosie Scott had a great week – productive, friendly, stimulating, full of laughs and stories – and Rosie enjoyed it every bit as much as they did.

Rosie Scott:
MAGIC! I loved it. Small but fabulous group very committed, worked hard but also lots of fun, the staff were as usual wonderful – great food and kindness to us.  They put on a memorable farewell night with kava, a lovo and singing and dancing by Keni’s children (Keni and Mereone sang with them) and a rendition of Gilbert and Sullivan by one student – the extraordinary Kevin who is a professional singer among many other things. And loved the outdoor shower I had this time, not to mention the snorkelling. The group all went away in high spirits, inspired to write.

As I said in my last article on Daku, it’s a great place for people  to get to a deeper  level with their manuscripts. It really is the best teaching experience for me too- to see the way people’s work improves over the week is a joy. I believe this is partly because they become so relaxed and open in this lovely place.
I hope this is will become an annual event.

(Yes, Rosie – it will. The 2012 manuscript mentoring week is up on the website – 22- 29 September.)

Helen Grenfell
Writers can be very defensive about their work, treasuring it as one does a newborn baby and very reluctant to expose it to the discerning eye of others. But Rosie’s generous nature and the relaxed and friendly group members put an end to such fears. She is friendly, perceptive, a skilful mentor and, importantly, for this course, she is a successful novelist and teacher of creative writing, with a string of academic qualifications that bring added authority to her task of mentoring.

She made the week good fun, yet it was also rigorous, and both the workshops and exercises revealed skills in my writing that I didn’t know I possessed. I came home realising I really could write, but also with a clear understanding of the areas of the craft I need to develop. Amidst the humdrum silliness of daily life, I am still writing everyday, a sure sign that Rosie and the group members had a positive, lasting effect on me.

Rosie had a sensible timetable of activities. We had all previously read by email the work of each of us in the group. The mornings were spent in writing exercises and a thorough workshopping of a group member’s piece; in the afternoon that person had a private mentoring session with Rosie. Nobody felt unduly stressed, and happy conversations bubbled along about books, films, and life experiences. A sense of humour, a good yarn, a well-told joke are essential pieces of equipment to bring to Rosie’s classes.

It is hard to explain just how suitable Daku Resort is for such activities as writing. It is small, very beautiful, and authentically Fijian. Colours are powerful – the red and orange of flowers, the deep shiny green of foliage, the stark white of a ship out on the blue bay waters. Laughter from children on the beach or guests in the pool drift up to our verandah where we always worked, but nothing distracts us; we are far from the rush and bother of our daily lives. A guest at Daku, in a conversation about travel, reminded me that ‘there are diamonds in one’s own backyard.’ ; it’s the moral of a story of African origin. That’s very true, but I would like to have Daku Resort as my own backyard, and Rosie Scott can have a cabin for free to advise me on my writing.

Cooling off after a hard day's writing...

AnneMarie Bennett
Rosie Scott is a terrific teacher – probably the best I’ve encountered.  And I’ve studied a lot.  In fact I never felt like I was being ‘taught’, but instead, her methods helped to peel back layers.  Rosie has a wonderful personality and a knack at understanding exactly what each person in the group needs to take their writing to the next level.

Kevin McGrath
The outstanding feature of the course was its flexibility. Rosie Scott concentrated
on the individual writer, drawing out his or her talent and helping the ideas to flow freely. Simultaneously there was plenty of time to get on with personal writing. Rosie is not only an accomplished author but a professional counsellor as well – a great help in getting an author
to sort out aims and ambitions.

You would go a long way to find more good humoured and friendly staff then those at Daku. You are always greeted with big Fijian smiles. The travel arrangements worked extremely well, especially as Fiji is so easy to reach. It was a great pleasure to take the domestic flight from Nadi to Savusavu, to experience the beautiful views of  mountain and sea from the aircraft window.

Stephen Price
No, I’m not a published author, merely someone who loves to dabble in both writing and traveling.  And when I discovered the writing course at the Daku Resort, I knew that I had to be a part of it!  Our writing instructor, published author Rosie Scott, was absolutely fantastic, helpful and very inspiring.  And the group of other budding authors that I met also led to a fantastic writing holiday. Rosie, thank you for everything!  I look forward to working with you once more!

Details of the 2012 course can be found at Paradise Courses – Manuscript Mentoring.

Rosie’s webpage can be found here.

Rosie Scott writes:

I’m looking forward to the next Daku mentorship in September.
Last year’s class was a unique experience for me as a teacher. I’ve been mentoring and teaching writing for many years now but this was something quite new.

I was trying to work out the other day why it was so inspiring for all of us (including me) and why so much was achieved in such a short time.

Obviously the evocative beauty of the surroundings was something to do with it. We held our classes on the verandah of a house high on the hill overlooking the sea, misty blue mountains and tropical palms on the horizon- you half expected an old steamer to round the corner, a Graham Greene priest to alight and come walking up the hill in his soutane. Daku is not an “expensive luxury” place and is all the better for it. It is by the sea, with no shops or traffic, friendly, interesting locals live and work there, and the food is simple and delicious with lots of fresh fruit and fish. There is a large attractive dining room where we ate under a verandah by the pool in the warm nights. The bedrooms are comfortable and quiet, each with glass doors opening out into little balconies into the tropical garden.

They took us to places which really seized the imagination. For instance a village by the sea (some of these villages have been in existence for hundreds of years-) where a transcendent choir brought tears to my eyes, there was a tropical garden in the hills behind for their fruit and vegetables and the sea in front for their fish.

I also discovered a passion for snorkelling which I could do by just crossing the narrow road- floating spreadeagled in the warm blue water absolutely fascinated by all the caverns of coral and bright fish drifting below in another world.

All of these amazing experiences focussed us as well as allowing us to let go of those defenses which often strangle the urge to write. We became relaxed and trusting in one another’s company in a way that allowed for that intimacy and openness which is so conducive to the best kind of writing and learning. I think the key to the success of that week was the dynamic which happened between the six of us as a result of all this – the writers were able to talk honestly, give each other realistic appraisals of their work and also inspire one another with confidence. They all became excited about the books they were writing- some of them went away from the sessions and wrote into the night and we convened each morning with a feeling of anticipation.

It was also the first time I’d devised a timetable like that. People sent a few pages of their work to me a month before and I was able to give them feedback. I then sent it to the other members of the group so everyone became familiar with one another’s work. Each writer had their own day for their work to be workshopped, so as well as information and introductions by me on the basics of writing, people were also able to give and receive insights on their work and others- a real learning curve.

And as well as the trust that formed between us it certainly helped that there was a lot of laughter and conviviality. As we sat on the verandah eating fresh pineapples for morning tea, we all felt the joy of the moment and that we could write anything.

Rosie’s workshop Manuscript Mentoring runs from September 24 – October 1. Details of Rosie’s Course can be found here – Creative Writing Retreat »

Mark Tredinnick’s writing course – A Dream with a Pen in its Hand – produced reams of writing, including Mark’s own poem on Savusavu. It was a week in which each writer made substantial strides in their work, gaining confidence in their style, developing their voice and experimenting with form. Working up in the yoga platfom they had a tranquil area with a stunning view all to themselves, and the dreams flowed though their pens. On the final evening they read out a selection of their work. Here is part of Mark’s poem, and some of the pieces that they presented.

Mark Tredinnick
Daku Sestets

The sky here is a mile
……………………….. too big for the bay’s boots. Savusavu—
This flooded arena in which nothing much, on the surface of things, ever happens,
To the enormous delight of the cava-mellowed mob of semi-superannuated
Mountains in their green flak jackets
…………………………………………. and their greener fatigues—Savusavu
Is morality play in countless acts of cloud and itinerant weather.
It’s where the whole world’s water cycle dress rehearses.

KATE:
On Savusavu
In the early morning by the bay I hear a lone car pass. Something falls on the bure roof, something hard, a nut? I am alone in bed, far from home. There’s no company in my room except a humming fridge and the ceiling fan which turns above my head like a lazy chopper. I think of people I have known, men I have loved, friends in foreign cities. Back home the bins will be collected at this hour, and as the truck bangs and clatters outside my house I will commend myself for remembering the bins last night, or curse myself for forgetting. But here, by the bay, there’s nothing to remember or forget. My mind can rest at last in the arching palms above the bure.

JILL:
HELL’S GOING TO BE LIKE THIS, ONLY WORSE
I was dreading this meeting. The executive committee of the body corporate had elected me to the position of chair person; at the A.G.M. in September 2011. It wasn’t that I was the most suitable person; it was just that they did not want Mary.

I’d cleared the table of photographs and coloured cards, gluing- tape, scissors and pens left from making Christmas cards. I’d filled a jug with water placing it, with five glasses, on the colourful runner in the centre of my wooden table. Now to psych myself into a confident, informed, assertive, state of mind.

Confidence : I last felt full of it when I stood on a desk before a classroom full of school girls; as a newly elected house captain. That was so long ago it doesn’t count.
Informed : When I taught a well crafted Feldenkrais class; but then everyone was lying on the floor.
Assertive: Germaine Greer and The Dog Whisperer talk about being like that; it sounds easy but isn’t.

The door bell chimed. Hiding under the table pretending I wasn’t home wasn’t an option because my neighbours had a key.
I opened the door. No Mary, only the Treasurer and Robyn.

“Nice unit you have here” they commented.
As they were moving to the table the bell rang again, The Secretary and Mary.

Time to get on with it.
I opened the meeting with the usual formalities; I was as tight as a laced up corset.

On with the business: After the treasurer gave his report it was Mary’s turn to speak on her area of responsibility, Building – whatever that means; we already have a building, three in fact.
Mary went on about the need for an Engineer’s report on the water problems in the complex, which was useful. She then complained of ongoing problems in her unit . I reminded her that a special levy had been raised to help her. She denied it. I let that slide.

Mary changed direction,
“Robyn give your gardening report, she demanded.
“You might be surprised to know that you’re not running this meeting, Mary.”
Her face went white, her jaw tightened, she fell silent.

We worked on through the agenda.
Mary was not finished with me.

Three meetings later she was given the job of ringing a builder to ask him to start work on a water penetration problem in Robyn’s unit. It didn’t suit her to ring him for another six weeks. It was pouring with rain.

I sent her a questioning email; this set her off like a fire cracker. She emailed every person on the committee, abusing me for pounding the table and shouting at her during our first meeting. Adding, “I’ve put in your letter box suggested ways of conducting a meeting, especially a meeting of peers.

Jill turned into Enid (as my kids would say)
Thank you for your informative email, Mary. I have been elected as chair person so I will run the meetings as I see fit. When you or any other member of the committee holds this position you can run them as you choose. By the way, at last count on google there were eighty nine thousand different ways of running a meeting.
In the mean time I ask for your co-operation.

Hell’s going to be like this, only worse!

CD’s of Mark reading his poems can be found through riverroadpress.net
The River Road Poetry Series is an innovative venture into sound publishing. It creates an audio collection of Australian poets reading their own work. You can buy the CDs directly from this website or visit good bookshops that stock the series.

Diana Plater attended Jan Cornall’s writing retreat in March and this article appeared in The Weekend Australia on 23 April 2011.

The benefits of a creative writing course at a simple resort on the island of Vanua Levu.

by Diana Plater

TEN years is a long time for a manuscript to sit in a bottom drawer, especially when it hasn’t been completed. But that’s the situation with my latest book. I’ve done most of the research and interviews, written an outline and a couple of chapters, given it a title, attempted to turn it into a play and considered a chick-lit conversion.

But two chapters do not a novel make.

I am greatly in need of inspiration and ways to break writer’s block. As Jackie Collins once advised: ‘‘Write, don’t talk about it.’’

So when an invitation arrives to do a creative writing course in an exotic location how can I refuse? And especially when it’s titled Breakthrough Writing in Fiji.

The course, taught by playwright, novelist and performer Jan Cornall, is one of several types run each year at Daku Resort, on Fiji’s northern and less-visited island of Vanua Levu, just a kilometre or so up the road from the colourful town of Savusavu.

Cornall runs courses in Australia and overseas destinations and this is her second at Daku. Delia and John Rothnie-Jones, who own the resort, have been running courses since 2004 in subjects as diverse as literature appreciation, painting and bird watching.

This year they are also including painting, singing, beading, snorkelling and marine life and yoga workshops on the agenda.

Daku Resort offers friendly, no-frills accommodation, which in some ways makes it easier to concentrate on the craft of writing.

The lush gardens and gorgeous views through the coconut palms help play on the senses, another aspect of the course.

As I arrive earlier than the other five members of the group, Delia takes me on a boat trip across the bay where we swim and collect shells. That evening the group arrives, looking a bit worse for wear. They’ve flown from Sydney to Nadi and then Suva to Labasa followed by a hairy taxi ride across the mountains to Savusavu.

Air Pacific assures us that when its two new TwinOtter aircraft arrive in June it will resume frequent services to Savusavu and other islands from Nadi andvisitors won’t be faced with cancellations
and mountainous taxi trips (although I do enjoy the ride on the way back).

The next morning we get stuck into the first of our daily three-hour lessons conducted in an open-air room overlooking palms and sea that Delia says is the only ‘‘custom-built yoga shala in the south Pacific’’.
We are working on a variety of books on very different themes: a memoir, a historical novel, a war history-cum-memoir  and three contemporary novels, including mine.

I am pleased to see the other writers have similar problems to mine. They have their stories, characters and themes worked out, but are stuck and none has a completed manuscript. A couple have some trepidation about reading to the group, but we all find the encouragement gentle and genuine. And breaking into pairs to work on mapping plots and themes is also helpful.

Cornall’s aim is to help you focus on what’s swirling around in your mind, access it and get it down on paper in your own voice. She uses meditation and creative visualisation; yoga on a few mornings as well as swimming and snorkelling also help, giving us time to think (or not think), as does the solitude and
peace of writing in a bure.

After a daily 6pm reading session together, we have group dinners with other guests at Daku; meals are simple but substantial with all meals included in the week-long course’s cost.

I’ve had a few distractions since returning home but I’ve almost completed another chapter and I’ve made a big decision: this book is definitely not chick-lit. The course has given me the breakthrough I needed.

Jan returns to Fiji in 2012 for another week of Breakthrough Writing from 17 – 24 March, 2011.
Read more here »

Writers Get Creative Amid Palms in Fiji – News article from Yahoo!7

When you get off the plane in Fiji the first thing you notice is the way people walk. It’s the slow relaxed gait of people from a tropical clime. There’s no point in hurrying and besides it’s just too darned hot. The rush, rush of our city-folk ways seems suddenly ludicrous and as you begin slowing it down, you remember this is the pace human beings are supposed amble along at.

It is just the kind of advice writers need. We think we have to push, push, push, to get our work out there, but first we need to slow it down to below the beat of our heart. Daku Resort in Savusavu Bay on Fiji’s second island Vanua Levu, is just the place to do it. This sleepy little backwater with only one main street doesn’t know the meaning of traffic jam or deadline. It’s all ‘rubber time’ here and so it should be in a writer’s world. That doesn’t mean we slack off or don’t turn up to the morning workshop, but in a week of breakthrough writing, we let time stretch out so there’s room for everything.

If you begin the day with yoga stretching high up in the open air yoga shala, with a million dollar view over a palm frond framed, tranquil bay, somehow you know it’s going to be a good writing day. Replacing the yoga mats with a big table and a bunch of determined writers who need a little bit of help, is always rewarding for me. I’ve come armed with a bagful of tricks, devious methods for helping them get ‘doubting mind’ out of the way and let the writing do its thing. I’m taking them into sense memory via guided meditations, getting out the butchers paper and coloured pens, making them plan the cover of their book, the blurb on the back, quotes by famous people, foreword, dedication, publisher’s name and date of publication. ‘Just pretend’ I tell them when they give me the ‘but I can’t possibly do that’ look. ‘Make it up – that’s what writing is, isn’t it?’ In no time all the ‘is it worth it, can I do it, will anyone want to read this crap’ self talk dissolves into the frangipani air and we are into our first mapping exercise and ‘show and tell’ to the group. Immediately we are all taken with the potential of one another’s work, offering constructive feedback, advice, ideas and applause.

There is great power in the group process, for as every day our contribution to our fellow writers grows so does their confidence. As the days wear on the breakthroughs begin to happen. One writer after nine years finally gets her opening paragraph and a brilliant one it is too. Another (after lunch) strips a twenty thousand word prologue down to one thousand. A third finds her narrator voice, a fourth starts out with a ‘maybe short story’ and realises she has enough material for a novel. A fifth is encouraged to include an important strand another writing group disapproved of. And so it goes until by the end of the week these writers who have achieved so much marvel are feeling so relaxed all they want to do now is write.

Jan returns to Fiji in 2012 for another week of Breakthrough Writing from 17 – 24 March, 2011.
Read more here »

Writers Get Creative Amid Palms in Fiji – News article from Yahoo!7

Rosie Scott’s course Mentoring Manuscripts took place in August. Afterwards, I took the opportunity of asking her a few questions about the process of teaching a retreat like this.

When you are teaching a new group, what are the things you are looking for in your students to help you focus on what they want?

It’s a matter of communication- before every class or course I do, I always go round the class and find out what each person hopes to achieve in their writing from the group. Also at the end I always do a check of what each person has achieved. Sometimes they are quite different, as during the course people discover new ways of writing and/or new goals!
The other way is during the workshopping of their manuscript- the very process means that the writer can talk about what they want to achieve in great detail and specifically, and I can then give very direct suggestions about how to get there.
In the Daku group everyone knew exactly what they wanted, they were very clear and focused.

What do most students find the main stumbling block / the hardest thing to do?

I think for all writers, and my students are no exception, the main stumbling block is staying on track, continuing to write though you’re feeling deeply discouraged and feeling very low in self esteem. It’s regaining inspiration and confidence that can sometimes seem impossible and this is what I want my teaching to provide. This is particularly so with writing a novel which is a huge undertaking and needs so much stamina, self belief and sacrifice of time.

What’s the best aspect of teaching a group?

It’s that wonderful dynamic when we’re all deeply involved in discussing someone’s work, everyone is buzzing with ideas and inspiration and suggestions. There is a great sense of how benevolent and kind people are and also how amazingly astute, everyone is on a high. When a group has a good dynamic and my first group at Daku was like that (and for this workshopping works really well) it means courtesy, honesty, humour, astuteness and lots of commitment.

Do you have any stories of “aha!” moments experienced by students?

Not specifically- but generally speaking, I’m always thrilled when students go away from a session and can’t stop start writing, it’s as if they’ve been released and it’s all pouring out. This happened at Daku. Very exciting. I only wish it was me!

Have you ever had to deal with a truly impossible writer – and what made them impossible?

A few. Arrogance is a bore though you need a certain amount I suppose to succeed as a writer. I don’t want to be sexist here but there’s no doubt men are more self confident than women on the whole and this sometimes borders on arrogance. One university student asked me for a higher mark. I thought about it and said very politely no because I believed the mark was correct. She complained higher up and when that didn’t succeed wrote awful comments in the student survey. . But luckily comments from the other students were so good, hers was in a distinct minority of one. The other thing she did continually was give very dismissive, long, off the wall and unhelpful comments about everyone else’s work. Awful, enough to put you off teaching.

What happens if a group takes a dislike to one of its members?

I think this is where my counselling experience is a great help- someone who is impossible at first and I’ve had a few – can be drawn into the group, given self confidence and encouraged and eventually become less prickly. I think people will give the ‘outsiders ‘the benefit of the doubt- because they are mostly so perceptive they can see the bad behaviour is sometimes about lack of confidence or whatever.
The other thing is writers are not really ‘group’ people anyway so they probably understand ! I have never had any real trouble with that.

Have you ever been tempted to borrow an idea / character from a student?

No I can’t say I have!

Patti Miller’s memoir writing course happened in May – I’ve been slow in getting it up but here it is. Melissa, one of the course participants, wrote this account of the week:

A wave at breakfast

In May I participated in a Writing in Paradise workshop (Memoir Finding the Story). The course ran for six days and the presenter was Patti Miller. The workshop was enjoyable and I gained new insight into my life by joining in.

Each morning we sat in a circle and shared our written memoirs with our new friends by reading them aloud. I found this exercise to be invaluable to my writing as it gave me positive feedback about my work and also further knowledge on how to improve the skills I already had. Some of the exercises in the workshop were challenging but I felt Patti helped us work through these emotions by allowing us, her students to see our lives through our own eye’s and gave permission to tell it, as we saw it.

As the individuals members read their stories aloud about their mother’s, fathers, their favorite songs and relationships it conjured up memories that I hadn’t thought about for a long time. Memories about everyday life, like having my photo taken on my first day of school, or the roast chicken my Mum cooked up for dinner. Sad memories as well, the family dog passing away, illness of a Grandparent.

As the memoirs spilled out I started to develop feelings of compassion and joy, for what these people were saying. I may have known them for less then a week but I felt behind every person was a story, and a story that was well worth hearing.

Once we asked to draw a picture of our house and place ourselves inside the house and remember an event from the past. This assignment conjured up not only emotions but evoked our senses so we could all smell touch, see, hear and feel as well. Another exercise we were asked to write how we felt by using words that showed certain emotions. Instead of writing,’ I feel anxious’ we might write ‘my nerves were jumpy’ or ‘my skin felt prickly.’ This was difficult but we all managed to pull it off.

Patti was caring and empathetic to all our needs and recognised the emotional commitment that writing often brings and encouraged all of her students to look after one another. As a group I felt we all responded with understanding and compassion. The structure of the course was presented professionally, I found in particular the information on how to put the memoir together insightful.

Sometimes you need an extra pair of eye’s to make the connections in your body of work fit together, this is easier to do when you have support from an experienced writer.

I had a terrific time doing the memoir workshop in Fiji. It was great to get away from the hustle and bustle of life and sit back in an idealistic environment and write to my hearts content in a beautiful location such as Daku Resort.

We’ve just had the first of this year’s courses – Island Writers Lab with Jan Cornall – and what a terrific week it was. It was small – we’re seeing the effects of the economic downturn, just like everyone else in the travel business  – but enormously productive. Those writers sure did write! They’d stop for lunch, maybe have a massage or a swim, and then back to the keyboard or writing pad for another thousand words before dinner.

Jan says they were the most disobedient group she’d ever had – always doing their own stuff rather than the things she set them, going off on tangents, arriving late, arguing – but wonderful in their enthusiasm, dedication and good humour. And by the end of the week she’d whipped them into some sort of shape and we held a formal reading of the work.

At the time, we had a lot of guests at the resort who were on their way to the Tony Robbins’ Life Mastery course at nearby Namale Resort (it’s a one week course about getting your head and body and thus your life into focus, and a lot of the participants arrive a day or two early and stay around Savusavu: we had 15 staying). Eight of them sat with us for the reading, and gave us an invaluable outsiders’ reaction to what was being presented- laughing, clapping and even weeping.

In brief, we had
–    a summary of a memoir the daughter of a Czech spy who worked as a double agent for the CIA
–     a travel yarn which was a very funny account of mature age travel – a sort of On the Road with Two Game Grey Ladies
–    a short story about the lunatic edges of writing courses
–     and a totally absorbing account of a terrible car accident 25 years ago, read out from her wheelchair by the woman who was the driver.

During the week we had time for some snorkelling, some walking, some drinking, some shopping (I personally never thought there was much to find in Savusavu – until I went shopping with Hilary!), some local culture – and endless talks around the dinner table. A great week to start the year’s Paradise Courses programme .