At the beginning of the year the committee of the Society of Women Writers Victoria began its work as usual after the Christmas break ready for the first meeting of the year in February. Then our president stepped down which left rather a gap. And I stepped up! So here I am, the Interim President until the AGM later this year. I felt a bit like a politician who takes over mid-term. But one thing I can promise, I'll do a better job than the UK Prime Minister who was in the role for a mere 44 days. To be fair she didn't set the bar very high so I'm not promising the impossible.
As well as undertaking lots of governance issues, which thankfully another committee member (also called Lindsay) understands far better than I do, we have just run a short story competition, have undertaken a member survey and are planning not only our regular monthly meetings but some additional ones too. So there's a fair bit going on as well as the admin that goes with changes of office.
Needless to say I haven't done as much writing as I'd like, but was pleased to have two acceptances to Australian anthologies, Older (Bequem Publishing) and Is This Working (Tiny Owl Workshop) to be published later this year. A small prompted piece was showcased in the most recent Furious Fiction competition - 55 hours to write up to 500 words. Mine was done in less than five hours as inevitably the timing coincided with others matters requiring attention. Yes, there have been rejections too, but there's no point dwelling too much on those.
I have been focusing on a family story. It started out as a single short story but the members of my writing group (within SWWV) suggested I expand it so the episodes keep coming. This means lots of research as it's set in the early years of the 19th century and is set in England and Australia.
I've attended some good local author events too - including Alice Pung and Kylie Orr - there's never a shortage of bookish events here in Melbourne. And of course there are plenty of great books to read.
So that's my 2024 so far. Hopefully it won't be six months before my next post.