The Australian Association of Writing Programs

Oh dear. Once again we are no good artists draining the country of precious resources that could go to the Sciences or Business, or to mentoring the future in Australian Cricket. It took me 10 years, two months and eleven days to become a good writer, and no doubt, if I am not plunged into despair by the lack of respect, good will and general appreciation for the art in Australia, i might spend the next few decades trying to add a very to that description.

At Varuna, no one can hear you write..... well I hope so anyway. I'm off to that writing Valhalla next week, the literary equivalent of the Australian Institute of Sport, I just hope they don't make me eat Uncle Toby's Muesli...to say I am looking forward to it is an understatement, for years I have opened the front of Australian books to find the words "Thanks also to Varuna, the Writer's House, for my time there." I feel a little like I imagine Charlie did when he unwrapped that Wonka Bar to find the Golden Ticket.

I've just invested in an old fashioned journal - one of those Bruce Chatwin moleskines no self-respecting scribbler can bear to be without - and I began to write in it today - the blog seems to demand random thoughts, the occasional joke, the half thought out, casual argument - it is the stand up medium - while the journal still has weight and depth and physical presence - it has been the medium of great writers, delusional writers, anonymous writers, persecuted writers -  I'm returning to using one after a long absence - do others still use a physical journal?

My name is Yvette Walker and I am the Student Editor for February 2010. For those I did not meet at the AAWP Conference in Hamilton, I am a post-grad student at Curtin University in Western Australia entering my third year (how did that happen?) of a Doctorate of Creative Arts. I am writing a historical epistolary narrative which examines the twentieth century through the prism of three romantic relationships, three discrete sets of love letters. The ethics of representation are central to my work as four of my characters experience internment in labour or concentration camps.