Writers of North Queensland flock to Charters Towers

The Bush Curlews added an extra little twist to their Awards Presentation Ceremony for their annual literary competition.

    This change was inspired after a few of our members attended a couple of informative writing workshops earlier this year. During those workshops we met many wonderful people, learnt heaps & had lots of fun. So the Bush Curlews decided to return the favour and invite our new literary friends to Charters Towers.

     On Sunday, 26 May 2013, authors from Townsville, Home Hill and Ayr journeyed to Charters Towers for a sumptuous lunch buffet, to attend an enlightening awards ceremony and to challenge their imaginations in our writing activity session.

      In total, there were approximately 22 participants during the writing challenges with many additional guests showing their support during the presentation of the awards.

       It was another successful event. The Bush Curlews look forward to more interaction with our fellow North Queensland writers over the coming months and years.

Many Clubs, One Community by Maria Caesar

     Several years ago my evenings were spent at home watching a DVD and with little interaction other than with the characters on the television screen. Then one day I decided to step outside my comfort zone and meet new people. I enjoyed reading books. Perhaps there was a group of readers in town? I went to the local library and before long I had joined a book club. Afterwards, the book club provided connections to a writers group called the Bush Curlews. Writing stories just so happened to be another hobby of mine.

    From then on I was made aware of various other local clubs and art groups based within the town. There were several painting groups, the Pottery Club, the Towers Players, the Choristers Choir singing group, the Friends of the Theatre and the Don Roderick Gallery group, just to name a few. I soon discovered that Charters Towers has an abundance of clubs. It seems that almost every hobby and interest is catered for.

     If you like to paint, sculpt or photograph, read, write or act in a play, then there is a club that can be joined. If you prefer sports then there are numerous groups that cater for that category as well. From cricket to tennis, rugby to soccer, netball to basketball, swimming clubs, fishing clubs, dancing groups or the pistol club......the list goes on.

     Groups can meet daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly and new members are always welcome. There is never an excuse to be bored while in Charters Towers; all you need to do is ‘join’.

Writers of North Queensland work together by Maria Caesar

     Earlier this year the Bush Curlews were invited by WITS (Writers in Townsville) to participate in a new and exciting joint project. WITS are putting together an anthology. The finished product will include stories, poems and articles from members of writers groups based in Townsville, Charters Towers, Home Hill and Ayr.
      The anthology is due for official launch in October 2013 as part of the annual Queensland Writers celebrations. Each group is to provide submissions based on the theme of promoting their home towns.
     Members of the Bush Curlews worked furiously over the months of February and March towards the project. The group is looking forward to flicking through the final product.

Workshops 2013 by Maria Caesar

    A few lucky members of the Bush Curlews have had the opportunity to attend a couple of Townsville-based writing workshops this year. On Sunday, 3 February, two representatives of the Bush Curlews attended a "Manuscript Assessment Workshop". 

      The informative workshop was hosted by WITS (Writers in Townsville) and was presented by Carla of the Townsville Writers and Publishers Centre.

     It was a great opportunity to enhance our literary skills and to meet and interact with other writers from across the region.

     On Saturday, 16 March, the Queensland Writers Centre hosted a workshop titled "Unleashing your Creative Genius" during which budding authors from all over North Queensland learn't how to overcome the dreaded writers block through various and somewhat personalized techniques.

     The QWC will be hosting more workshops later in the year.

Maria's Success at the Food Tales Workshop

Maria’s Success

Food Tales Internet Blog

By

Maria Caesar

My first ever internet blog!

I wrote the first few paragraphs during a ten-minute writing activity as part of the Food Tales Workshop hosted by the Queensland Writers Centre and featuring Lorraine Elliott (of ‘Not Quite Nigella’ – Internet food blogger and restaurant reviewer). Approximately 25 people attended the workshop, only 4 dared to read aloud their work. My blog was selected for immediate publication onto the Food Tales website. The title was chosen by one of the other workshop attendees.

Like Lorraine Elliott, it took a while before I gained confidence in the kitchen. In fact, I only started cooking properly last year. No, I did not live on take-away, but I did opt for the pre-made, whack-in-the-oven packet-style food and as a result my health suffered.

After several months of learning how to cook with the aid of magazines, old recipe books and TV chefs, I decided I needed a key recipe to symbolise my newfound ability in the kitchen. The recipe that represented my transition was a Crème Caramel.

Growing up as a child, attending countless Filipino parties, I always remember how only one of the ladies in our circle of friends prepared this particular dish. My mother, one of the world’s best books in my opinion, never dared to try it and my sister, who it seems has been cooking since she was first able to switch on the stove, had tried it without success.

As the Crème Caramel was my sister’s favourite dish, I decided as a birthday gift to attempt to create it. If it worked, brilliant, but if not, I had a back-up plan of a box of chocolates and a bottle of vodka.

For the recipe and the rest of this internet blog visit the Food Tales website (see link)

Food Tales Workshop

Food Tales Workshop

Charters Towers

Thursday 7 June 2012

 

The Queensland Writers Centre and the State Library of Queensland combined their efforts to organize a free workshop in Charters Towers with Lorraine Elliott, author of the blog: “Not Quite Nigella”. 

Lorraine reviews restaurants from all over the world and has a following of around 400,000 views per month to her site. Lorraine’s first novel is nearing completion. Her book will encompass a collection of her most memorable restaurant reviews and recipes.

The workshop began with an interview-style presentation followed by a “Questions and Answers” session.

Charters Towers Foodworks were asked to cater for the event and they came up with a selection of ten recipes from Lorraine’s blog site including the infamous “Broccoli Cake”.  Attendees had the good fortune to taste these dishes, each one earning favourable remarks.

With full bellies, everyone attending participated in a ten-minute writing activity for which we had to write about one of our own recipes “blog-style”.

Our club secretary, Maria Caesar, was fortunate to have her writing selected and published onto the Food Tales website. If you would like to view Maria’s blog, titled “Maria’s Success”, visit foodtales.slq.qld.gov.au

The remainder of the workshop was dedicated to teaching how to set up our own blog sites. It was an entertaining, educational and delicious experience for all.