Writing About Writing About Writing – My thoughts, insights & musings

I have just typed the last full stop of the first full draft of my book. After five years I can finally say that Ive written a book. Not that I’m going to write a book or that I am currently writing a book … I have written a book.

Sounds good doesn’t it?

Let me revel in some self-indulgence for a moment as there were several times when I didn’t think I’d get to this point. Writing my book, Speak the Truth, Practise Kindness, is proving to be the most challenging thing I have ever done. Of all the things I have done, this is the one I am most proud of.

Whilst I am still a long way from the book being published, it feels right to celebrate this significant milestone so feel free to join me in a happy dance.

The writing part is not completely over. I have handed the manuscript to my editor, Heather Taylor Johnson, and I am sure she will come back with suggestions where the book can be improved and this will require further reflection, questioning, collaborating and writing. Fingers crossed the editing process will only take a month or two and then it will be time to get into the publishing process. To that end I already have a friend, Dale Harrison (some of you may know him as his alter ego, Rok Poshtya, the bass player from The Herd), lined up to do the typesetting. Dale is also assisting with the cover design. For the cover I am going to use a wonderful painting by a local Loxton artist and friend, Kerry Servin, who is the creative genius behind Art by Kezz. I encourage you to check out her Facebook page and buy some of her art. We have four of her paintings at home and I’m sure that collection will grow.

I am looking forward to learning about the publishing process and am now trying to get advice from as many people as I know who have already published books, or are involved in the process, so I can learn from their experience and wisdom.

Before I get to the purpose of writing this blog, which is to give some insight into my writing process, I just need to give a few shout outs to the people who have helped me on this journey. These people have read sections, chapters and parts of the book, providing me with valuable feedback. Firstly, Glenys Badger. She is the only other person to have read the entire book. I met Glenys at the Barmera Uniting Church when I attended their Day of Mourning service back in January 2025. This was the first time I had entered a church voluntarily and wasn’t attending a funeral or wedding or checking out the architecture or history of the building. Chatting to Glenys after the service, I mentioned I was writing a book, and she kindly offered to proofread it for me. This marked the start of a wonderful friendship. She has done a great job of tidying up my work, ensuring consistency and making it read better. One day I will get my colons, semicolons and commas correct! I can’t thank Glenys enough for the time and effort she has put in, and she has done it all for love. As a small gesture of my gratitude, I am taking Glenys and her husband David out for lunch later this month.

I also need to shout out Donna Ferretti, I have known Donna since I attended university in the 1990’s, she was one of my lecturers but has become a mentor and great friend ever since. Some of Donna’s advice resulted in a total structural change to the book. Donna told me why the original structure didn’t work but didn’t tell me how to fix it, that was up to me. It took me a few months to work out the new structure and of course, the answer had been sitting right in front me the whole time, it just took me a while to see it. Donna’s constructive feedback has been invaluable and whilst we don’t catch up often, we always have an entertaining, thought-provoking and inspiring conversation. I am hoping to catch up with her in the next few weeks as well.

And then there is my niece, Charlotte Dige. She is a much better and much more qualified writer than me and her feedback has also improved the book immeasurably. Her feedback has improved how I tell my story and she pointed out areas that needed to be strengthened and clarified. She has a YouTube channel as well as a website, TaleInferno, which is a place where storytellers and story revellers can share or ignite their love for stories. Check it out.

Stephen Packer also provided feedback on some of my earliest drafts and his feedback was exactly what I needed as those first drafts did wander off into areas that didn’t add value to the story. My writing style does tend to head off and digress occasionally, but hopefully when I do so now, it adds to the storytelling and doesn’t distract from it.

Just in the last week or so Julie Ahrens has provided some valuable feedback on my chapter about education. Julie has been a teacher and principal so brings immense knowledge of all things education system and teaching. Thankfully she agreed to provide some feedback as it has made the chapter much better. The original draft didn’t quite hit the mark but hopefully it does now.

I also need to shout out the fellow members of the Quad. We used to be a Triad but now it is the Quad. The Quad includes Deb Richardson, Darren Birbeck and Taryn Sexton who are some of my greatest friends, inspirations and supporters. Deb, Darren and I met while at the Executive Leaders Program (XLP) in 2018, the best leadership program I have ever attended. It is delivered by Andrew Stevens and the team at Uncharted Leadership through Local Government Professionals SA. It was at XLP when I decided to write a book. XLP has also influenced the contents of the book, the introduction is the end result of an exercise we did at the annual catch up of XLP alumni in 2024. I digress. Anyway, Taryn was the CEO at LG Pro when XLP started, and is a great friend to all of us, so she is now a member of our group. We meet up at least a couple of times a year and even get to work together at the Aspiring Leaders Program which is held in September each year. I always look forward to this event and it’s a pleasure to work alongside these awesome people. Anyway, Deb, Darren and Taryn have provided feedback and support along the way, and we are catching up over a meal at La Trattoria next week. My favourite restaurant and some of my favourite peeps, can’t get much better than that.

And finally, thanks to Amy who has had to put up with a moody, aloof and absent writer for the last 5 years.

I guess all that paints a picture that it really takes a village to write a book. I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to get good people around you to collaborate with, to seek advice from, to be inspired by, and to draw from their wisdom and experience. Thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in my book, all of it has helped me along the way.

To do anything worthwhile needs a community of people, which is a key theme of the book. Writing is something you tend to do in solitude, and I would hate to think how many hours I have spent doing exactly what I am now; sitting alone, music in the background, as I punch away at the keyboard sharing my stories. Although I haven’t actually been alone, my companions have been Oscar the Cat who is snoring away behind me and Missy Dog, who was always sitting (or sleeping) next to me, up until May last year when she died.

This is where I’ve spent many an hour tapping away at the keyboard.

Oscar the Cat, if I ignore him, I might get a tap on the back of the head when he sits on the table behind me or he’ll jump up onto the keyboard demanding attention.

RIP Missy, she was a great companion and was always up for a pat or a walk.

One of the questions I often asked myself over the course of writing the book is, Who the hell are you anyway; why would anyone want to read your story? But I came to the realisation that everyone has a story to tell, and everyone’s stories are just as important as anyone else’s. And Speak the Truth, Practise Kindness contains my story.

Another thought that has often crossed my mind while writing the book is, I have bitten off way more than I can chew. This is due to the array and types of subjects I cover and sometimes I wish I could have just specialised on one topic. Unfortunately, that is not how I am wired, I am a generalist at heart. Generalists are often referred to as ‘a jack of all trades but a master of none’ which has meant that my research has gone far and wide, reflected by the collection of books I now have. I am extremely privileged that I am able to purchase many of the books I needed to research my own book. But I have also taken advantage of the Loxton library and borrowed the odd book as well. I believe libraries are one of the most important institutions in our communities and librarians are worth their weight in gold.

I love books and many of these are referenced in my own.

Many of the books on my shelves are from authors I have listened to at writing weeks and festivals and I have found attending these to be invaluable in learning not only about the craft of writing, but also about the topics I cover in my book. My favourite writing festival would be Ubud Writers & Readers Festival which is held around the end of October each year. I have been privileged to attend for the last three years and have already bought my ticket and booked accommodation for this year. It is an amazing experience, and I recommend it to any aspiring writer or avid reader. In fact, my title, Speak the Truth, Practise Kindness was the theme of the 2024 festival. It resonated so much with me and what I want to say in my book that I just had to use it for the title. I hope they don’t mind and I do the title justice.

I also loved attending the Adelaide Writers Week but my thoughts on this event have been tarnished due to the debacle earlier this year resulting in its cancellation. Peter Malinauskas and the Adelaide Festival Board at the time should hang their heads in shame for their despicable acts. Be that as it may, the event used to be excellent, and I had attended it six years in a row up until this year. I will probably attend again but the events of this year have left a scar that has me questioning if I will ever again. But I guess you shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, and I should overcome my distain and focus on the wonderful moments I have experienced at the Adelaide Writers Week, which encourages me to return.

Last year, thanks to Writers SA, I had the opportunity to attend the George Town Literary Festival (GTLF), which was another amazing experience. I loved it so much I am planning to attend again this year. Attending GTLF emphasised to me that events happen for a reason and sometimes the universe provides in weird and wonderful ways. This dawned on me while listening to Omar Musa at GTLF, he was talking about serendipity, whereby things happen for a reason, sometimes we meet people, or come across a piece of information, or a book, or a song, or something happens and things seem to align and come together. I believe the opportunity of attend GTLF was one of them for me, as it opened my mind to new ideas, people and perspectives that were important for me to learn and include in my book. One particular chapter in my book took me six months to complete and if it wasn’t for attending GTLF I might still be battling with that chapter today. Anyway, whatever you call it … synchronicities, coincidences, serendipity, fate, karma, universal consciousness, the alignment of the stars … it’s a fascinating thing to ponder.

But we can’t rely on these things and have to commit to our purpose or project and keep focused on working towards our aims and aspirations, these other things just fall into our lap sometimes and it’s wonderful when they do.

The research for my book included reading well over a hundred books, reading many articles and blogs, watching documentaries (many on YouTube), listening to podcasts and talking to other people about ideas. Occasionally I found myself heading down some obscure rabbit holes which didn’t always add to the book, but I enjoyed it all the same. We really are sitting on the shoulders of all those that came before us, and I am eternally grateful to all the authors, storytellers and people who I have sought wisdom and knowledge from. I hope I have done them justice when referencing them in my book.

Anyway, as a result of my research I took copious amounts of notes, handwritten in well over a dozen notebooks.

I probably have a couple of books worth of notes here.

I also commandeered the walls of our spare bedroom, covering them in big sheets of paper where I noted ideas, structures and any other thoughts that jumped into my head that I needed to jot down so it wasn’t lost. Sitting and looking at the posters helped with my thought processes and helped me visualise the book and how different ideas linked to others.

Having read so many books I needed comfortable places to read them and here are pictures of my recliner and the couch where much reading took place.

My recliner, need to put the towel on it otherwise it gets covered in Oscar’s fur.

The couch, only thing missing is Missy lying on the tiles and Oscar sitting next to me.

I also needed places to sit and contemplate ideas and reflect. Much of that was done in my backyard and this is the view that inspired much of the book.

I love the garden, spending many hours here reflecting on the book.

All those notes were organised into the sections and chapters of the book. This was a time-consuming process. However, by the time I got to the last section I had started to use digital tools a bit more, especially to transcribe my notes instead of typing them, this quickened the process, and I also used Copilot to help rewrite some parts and to shorten others. It is a useful tool to help paraphrase my notes and I deliberately used these tools when writing my chapter on artificial intelligence. There was something perversely satisfying about getting artificial intelligence to consider the issues created by artificial intelligence.

When I started writing the book artificial intelligence wasn’t on my radar at all but over the last couple of years it became apparent that I could not ignore it as a topic that needed some consideration. I appreciate the benefits that artificial intelligence can provide and believe it could be a tool that greatly improves health, science, the economy, ecosystems and peace. This will only occur if we first build trust, democratic oversight and accountable institutions to regulate it. My fear is we are enabling unscrupulous people to create their version of God.

As mentioned before, the decision to write a book only came to me a few years ago in 2018. Writing a book had never been an aspiration of mine until then and I wasn’t an avid reader until not long after that. But writing is now all I really want to do. The invention of writing has had a massive impact on us. Once we started to write things down almost an unlimited amount of information and wisdom could be shared, not only from generation to generation, but from country to country, across oceans and the world. Knowledge became accessible, widespread and permanent.

However, we must never forget that for much of our existence, our knowledge and history has been passed down through the oral tradition of storytelling and song. While writing is an amazing invention, it means we have outsourced our memory, and this is further exacerbated by the Internet. But no matter the means of passing them down, storytelling is the key to passing on knowledge and wisdom in all cultures.

My only hope is for my writing to add to our collective knowledge and wisdom, by sharing food for thought on ways we can create a better world. I hope the book inspires others which means that a better world will be all the more possible and easier to achieve. But if no one reads it, I will be content, albeit disappointed, but content with the thought that at least I enjoy reading my book, and it inspires me to do good. It has at least changed one person in the world for the better.

I can’t wait until Speak the Truth, Practise Kindness is published and I get to share it with the world. But I must say, writing and publishing a book is a scary thing to do, especially when I share so much of myself in it. I am a private person by nature, but I am learning that the best things in life are on the other side of fear. As Ryan Holiday wrote, …There is nothing worth doing that is not scary. There is no one who has achieved greatness without wrestling with their own doubts, anxieties, limitations, and demons.[1]

I am not saying I have achieved greatness with my book, far from it, but it has coincided with wrestling with my own doubts, anxieties and demons. The process has also coincided with wrestling with my own ideas of spirituality and faith. I am thankful to Glenys who kept prodding at my faith, not by imposing her faith on me, but by sharing hers which led to me thinking about my own. I also read Stan Grant’s murriyang songs of time last year, this book had a profound impact on me and also led to me contemplating my own faith. I write about this in the book, but long story short, my faith is we are all made in the image of God and God is love. Love is God. I see this in the universe, and I see it in you.

I share this as it forms the fundamental basis for why I have written the book. It is time for us to let our hearts lead the way as it is the only way to create a world that reflects the fabric of humanity: love, compassion, cooperation and community.

Hopefully this blog has provided some insight into my writing process and why I have devoted the last few years to writing my book, and who knows, maybe it has even encouraged you to purchase a copy of it once it’s published. If so, please do so, it would mean the world to me.

I must confess I had an ulterior motive for writing this blog, I am presenting a session on the 29^thof September at the Loxton Retirement Village as part of the Seasons of Creativity program here in Loxton. Seasons of Creativity is a celebration of arts, culture and connection for Riverland residents aged over 55. It started this month, running from July to September, providing a program of free events that is funded through an Ageing Well SA – Ageing Friendly grant and is being delivered through the Loxton Waikerie Council.

There are an array of workshops and sessions covering ballroom dancing, ballet, classical indian dancing, painting, aerosol art and murals, music and photography. Tomorrow there is a session facilitated by Bernadette Eden about getting your writing done which I am looking forward to. The topic I will be talking about is my publishing journey which includes how I went about writing my book. Writing this blog has helped me distill some of what I want to say, and I hope my session builds on Bernadette’s workshop tomorrow.

So, there you go, whether it’s a book or something else that you wish to create or learn, my final bits of advice are; it’s never too late to start, and there is no better time to start than now.

The world needs creatives, artists and everyday people who want to create a better world. We all have a gift, idea or something within us to bring to the world. What matters most is not how much we give, but whether we become a blessing to others in whatever way we can. As Ryan Holiday wrote, … If you’ve been blessed be a blessing.[2]

To finish this blog here is a small extract from the book which I hope motivates you to bring your own gift to the world …

… Don’t be fueled by guilt or shame, let enthusiasm and a love of life drive you instead. Be ambitious, not perfect. We all have flaws and failings and at some point, we need to realise we are enough as we are … Our behaviour and attitude are contagious, so a better world does indeed begin with us. It is the everyday person, that’s you and me, that will bring about the change we need in the world.[3]

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones that we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.[4]

Barack Obama

I am looking forward to sharing my writing and publishing journey as part of the Seasons of Creativity program.

I am also looking forward to publishing my book, and to that end, I still have some work to do. But with the calibre of people around me, I am sure I can do it successfully.

Thank you for listening.

All the best.

Tim

There is a playlist that accompanies the book, here is a link if you’d like to have listen:

The Book – Speak the Truth, Practise Kindness – playlist by Tolism

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