Seniors Week: Writing Your Life Story & Exercise to Try

Our Write Your Life Workshop for Seniors Week proved a big hit with 25 people keen to write their life stories.  Local writer Charlotte Calder spoke about writing and how to get started. Officeworks also supported the event supplying information about photobooks which can incorporate both pictures and text.

Charlotte brought along many personal objects to spark the creative process with china, toys and even a rusty old piece of chain jolting people’s memories.

She also gave tips about using descriptions, getting down the details to describe events, locations and memories.  Everyone was encouraged to write down their memories to preserve history for their friends and family.  Pictured with workshop presenter Charlotte Calder and Peter Douglass is local Bill Marshall, who has already penned his memoirs.

Here is a writing exercise for you to try:

Think of a word, something about you, a memory. Just write this word down.

 And here is Peter’s response:

 I chose the word tractor. 

Now think about the event around that word and write just a few lines about it. Think about the senses, how did you feel, what did you smell?

 A Renault tractor, big worn tyres, rusty and dressed in the dust and grease of it’s life.

Les brought this relic to Stabback Street and had been folded over the engine tinkering with it for days.

The noise when it finally coughed to life! Blue smoke! You would have thought it had been holding it’s breath, waiting for this moment.

For days it had been yellowed and rusty, deflated and old, now it was smoke and noise, angry and eager.

Right then I knew I had to drive it….

What memory did you think of?

 

 

Read This: Creative Reading Prize

Entries are now open for the Read This!  2012 Creative Reading Prize  being promoted through all Central West Libraries – Blayney, Canowindra, Cowra, Forbes, Manildra, Molong and Orange.

The project is a celebration of books for young adults and an opportunity for those aged between 12 and 18 years to share their love of books and reading with their peers in a creative way.

There is everything from jewellery, t-shirts to book sculpture, so there is really no limit to the imagination. You can see more examples on the competition website: readthis2012.com

Read This! is a joint initiative between the National Year of Reading, State Library of Victoria (Centre for Youth Literature), Good Reading Magazine and Madman Entertainment.

Here’s how it works. Pitch your favourite book for others to read and love.  Here’s your chance to convince them – and win! You might not only have them reading it, but you could also share in $40,000 worth of prizes.

Submit a creative idea in any format you choose, but here are some ideas to get you started:

Write a short story using the characters/setting
Make a video trailer
Write a poem or a song
Illustrate your favourite scene/character
Sew a costume
Make a model
Create an art piece

 Submit your entries online at www.readthis2012.com and entries close 31 May. Good luck!

Healthy Chemistry Display to get you thinking

Here’s something to get you thinking! Check out the Healthy Chemistry display by Prismatic Sciences who aim to present science in a meaningful way.  Find out how Chemistry relates directly to our health and learn some interesting facts. It will have you thinking about chemistry in a new way. Did you know being healthy is a matter of good chemistry?  One example is how chemistry plays a role in developing medicines for treatments.

Visit Orange City Library to see the display with information covering robots to cancer cures, silent assassins, targeting viruses to nano particles and discover how a butterfly inspired a treatment compound that is fundamental to all mums and bubs. The display is at the Library for the National Year of Reading theme month for March – which is “think”.

Rural Women's Leader Pens Romantic Novel

Meet the author of a new Australian outback romance novel – Margareta Osborn. She has published her first novel Bella’s Run about Bella and her best friend Patty who have packed their bags and taken a year off from their lives in rural Victoria, road tripping their way through the vast Australian outback.

Margareta Osborn is a fifth-generation farmer from East Gippsland who has lived and worked all her life on farms and stations from Gippsland, Victoria to outback Queensland.

She is a past winner of the prestigious Victorian Rural Woman’s Leadership Bursary and has a Diploma in Conservation and Land Management with years of experience in Landcare.

Publishing many stories and articles in newspapers and rural journals, she has a regular page in the popular country living magazine Gippsland Country Life. Bella’s Run is her first novel.

Meet Margareta at Orange City Library tonight 15 March at 6pm. Supported by Collins Bookstore.

MasterChef favourite Merle Parrish launches her book

Today a whole of baking was going on to test Merle Parrish’s recipes from her book. Merle was a MasterChef favourite on the show last year and has now produced her cookbook that is selling like well… hotcakes. There are recipes for scones, puddings, cakes and of course the famous (and her favourite) Peach Blossom Cake.

We tried out the Chocolate Ripple Cake, Date Slice, Chocolate Cake, Passionfruit Slice and Peach Blossom all meeting Merle’s seal of approval at today’s book launch held at Orange City Library and supported by the Hardback Cafe.

Merle spoke about her MasterChef experience, her recipes and her now busy schedule which includes an interview on the Today Show, an appearance on The Circle and a guest appearance at our own F.O.O.D. Week event Books on the Menu on 18 April at 5.30pm. Merle said she had been baking since she was 7 years old and is celebrating her 80th year. Members of the audience also asked for some baking tips. She loves baking and says everyone has failures but keep trying and have fun.

She is thrilled with her book and being able to share recipes passed down to her from her grandmother and mother. Her next challenge will be preparing entries for the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Good luck Merle!