Theresa Turner Wrote That ...
with honesty, empathy, relentless self-doubt, and a really short pencil.
There's a problem with this country and I feel strongly about it, of course I do. And I want to do more. And then I don't because of washing and kids and work. And because I don't know how to word things well enough. Well, screw the wording, getting it out is more [...]
The Bottom Line: Bad things happen when good people stay silent. Terrific (with reference to the archaic 'causing terror') to read, this beautifully composed, heart-wrenching story about Dr David Berger's family, with its intelligent and insightful parallels between Nazi Germany and Australian Refugee Policy, leaves me burning again inside. Bad things happen when [...]
Every so often the demands of life get so overwhelming that the most basic and necessary function of a Monday night gets overlooked. And then we’re glad we sleep in the front room because the sound of the truck "BRRRRRRRR SCREETCH BEEP-BEEP-BEEP CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH" (Thank you Steve Light, ‘Trucks Go’) wakes us [...]
Here I sit in awe of me. Words fall from my amazing brain straight onto the page in sentences that sing and leap. There is no doubt My First Draft is whole and complete. I love me. And I love my writing. I sleep in deep peace. Certain, success is mine. Tomorrow, [...]
All it took was an idea in the night, and he was able to breathe more deeply than he had in a long long while. Like being released from a spell: the fog over his brain dissolved and he relaxed in the cool clean rinse of clarity. It was easy to make [...]
Yep, it's already February. 5 days in! It's going to be a busy year. Hence the new year's resolution to plan. The first plan was made, spit-and-palm sealed, recurring alarms set: we were to go to bed by 10pm, wake at 5am, meditate until 5:30am, and then work until the kids wake up [...]
On Australia Day in 2009 I was working in Germany. I decided to send an email to my colleagues there to give them some explanation of the day. It was something of a task to write, because the day is not cut-and-dry happy: it's fraught and loaded. Here's the text of the email: [...]
Self-confidence. Self-permission. Moxie! These are the things I admire most in others. So I decided to contact someone who comes across as having all of these good good things, and ask her Why? How? Where can I find mine? Basically it's the best conversation ever. Basically it's the best conversation ever. It's a many-tentacled [...]
Well, it's 2016. Time to get planny*. What are you going to do differently this year? *opinion seems to be divided on what 'planny' actually means, but I'm using it anyway.
I'm sitting on a street bench with my baby. It's a cold, windy day. A lady approaches us ... The first thing I notice is her teeth. You can’t miss them - set at an impossible angle, they reach out towards you and are many colours, none of them white. Her posture [...]
Day 8 My brain was playing tricks. That was all a dream. He sleeps beside me still. What is an American Sentence?, and this. What is the Positive Prose Project?
The Airshow started out pretty killy, so... time to start a new collaborative story. For this story, text and illustrations should be aimed at young audiences, ages 10-13. No killings in this one please. Other rules here for writers and here for illustrators. If you would like to provide an image to [...]
Day 7 I wait in the car while my kids soundly sleep, listening to the rain. What is an American Sentence?, and this. What is the Positive Prose Project?
Day 6 "I like you." What is the Positive Prose Project?
Day 5 Arissa was gripping his hand so tightly that Fara couldn’t be sure if it was her nervous state or his that was causing them both to tremor. She tilted her head as she read and he knew that she was trying to read through the tears. He also knew that [...]
Day 4 Deep within her, through the maze beyond the wall inside the cavern, a stone rolled. Hidden beneath, in a small pocket of impossible light, that five year old part of herself crouched. A bright yellow breath of a flower waiting to be discovered and allowed to grow. She knew she [...]
Day ... um ... 3 His little blue puppy was soon joined by a small pink cat and a lime-green goat. Within days the stark wall his parents had installed to block out the world was covered in artwork and he felt like he had found his people. What is the Positive Prose [...]
Day 2 He adored the slant of her lazy eye and the way it always seemed to track the position of his left foot. What is the Positive Prose Project?
We were the picture of contented love: my hair smelled like a wet dog left standing in a mouldy basement for two days but he cradled me in his arms anyway; the strings from his nose-tampons caressing my ear and his shallow mouth-breathing warm on my neck. With all the ugly going [...]
