Last year, around the time that I returned to Melbourne after an extended stay in Darwin to complete my first teaching placement (I’m now finished all of my placements!), I was celebrating a little creative milestone. See, while I write here on this blog and am working to get my teaching degree, I’ve always seen myself as a creative writer at heart. The idea of weaving words into something that really catches your breath in your throat and makes you reconsider something… well, that’s my secret passion I suppose. Of course life is so busy that I don’t really chase publication all that much. Part of that is because, sadly, I don’t get a lot of opportunities to write creatively with work and university vying for my words. Another part is probably because I hate the idea of putting myself out there, on the page and into the world, only to be denied and turned away. In both cases, I’m working on it.
As it turns out, the creative milestone I celebrated last year – that being that I was published in my university’s student magazine Flycatcher – is repeating itself now. Yes, I’m happy to announce that I’ve been published again in the magazine, again in the ‘Build Up’ edition of the Flycatcher, which puts out three editions in a year. This time, not only did I have my words published, but my photographs as well, bridging the divide between the two creative passions that I get so much joy out of. Even cooler than having my words and images in print before my eyes, is that my article’s title also made the magazine’s front page, which I think is something worth celebrating in a magazine that I find full of interesting stories and words, both creative and otherwise.
Last time the article I submitted was A Love Letter To Cycling, a few words I had penned about my favourite bike ride along the Nightcliff foreshore in Darwin. This time I sat down at an airport on my way home from my September visit, and I realised I had words that I had to get on paper about how I felt to be returning after some time away, coming back to Darwin after effectively settling elsewhere. What resulted was my published piece Territory Girl, and while I’ll always be biased on my own work, I do rather like how it turned out. Part story, part prose, all wrapped up in the experience of living and breathing and surviving in the tropical town that, at least in part, will always be home to me. While there is a picture of the article below, you can read the text in full on the Flycatcher website.
Also, if you’re interested in reading the rest of the magazine, an online copy can be found here.
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