Q: What made you want to become a writer?

A: Initially, I wrote to clear my head. That is still the case to a degree. My mind is a busy place. I hear a single word and suddenly there’s a trilogy floating around in my head. I say ‘floating’ but really, there’s not enough free space for anything to have the luxury of doing that. It’s more like ideas jockeying for position. Some thoughts can be extremely persistent, stomping their little feet demanding to be put on paper. That sounds awfully ungrateful, but I actually love the ideas, and I love the satisfaction of forming them into stories or manuscripts.

To say it’s my passion is a bit clichéd, but writing is no different to a carpenter building a beautiful cabinet, or a gardener planting seeds and ending up with a bumper crop of edibles. There’s a lot of pride and fulfilment involved.

I did try to give up writing once. Suddenly, I had no idea what to do with my time. I almost paced a hole in the carpet. After that, I realised writing is one of my best friends.

Q: You first signed up for the Literary Short Story Course with us. How did that impact on your writing?

A: I found it hard to decide on a course. There are so many available online these days. To start with, I wanted to do an extramural university paper so it would count towards a degree. In the end, I realised knowledge was more important than a piece of paper.

Something pulled me towards the NZ Writers College Literary Short Story Course, and I never regretted trusting my instincts on that one. In fact, I went on to enrol in two more courses. (I think I’m an addict! I’m looking at the NZ Writers College Screenwriters course next although life circumstances prevent me from signing up at the moment.)

The Short Story Course certainly improved my writing. I noticed it after the first couple of modules, which made me keen to tackle more assignments. I had a number of ‘aha’ moments, including things I thought I knew, but the feedback and explanations just it made everything click properly somehow.

Q: Mentoring is an integral part of the Writers College tutoring process. How did you benefit from Sonny Whitelaw’s mentorship?

A: Sonny is fabulous. She tells you how to reword something or change the focus, then she explains why and adds some very clear examples. For me, it was often the examples that often made the penny drop. I loved her no-fluff approach. It was obvious from the beginning that she knew what she was doing (she is also very humble about her rather stunning CV).

If I compare my pre-course stories with those I wrote after completing the course, well, the earlier ones need a lot of work. The fact I can see that now means I’ve learned a lot. I enjoyed her tutelage so much, I signed up for the Novel Writing course and requested her as a tutor.