Sydney Writer's Festival

DAY 17
Location: Sydney
Temp: 21 C
Weather: Sunny!
Activities: Sydney Writer's Festival and meeting Paul!
Accommodation: A real house

I meant to attend the writer's festival at 9 a.m., but with having to checkout, store my bag, and get to the free shuttle to Circular Quay--which doesn't even start until 9:30 a.m., I was running to class late.

I indulged in a rather large apple cinnamon danish for breakfast to keep me going, unsure what to expect on the other side of the bus ride. I had a general idea of where I was going, but not precisely sure where the meetings would actually take place. All I could do was head for the Piers.

I wanted to attend the "Coffee and Papers with the Sydney Morning Herald" from 9 - 10 --one which I completely missed unfortunately. I would have liked to rub elbows with some Aussie journalists. By the time the bus turned up around 9:48, drove the loop, and I still had to walk to the Piers on the west side of the Harbour Bridge (a good fifteen minute walk from the stop), I'd missed it. Ah well.

The first of my four classes on the schedule was "Fantastical Tales" and started at 10. I hurried through the streets in a northwesterly direction where I knew the Piers to be and, ducking through one suspicious narrow alley, I came out on the other side to see the orange and white banners proclaiming I was in the right place. Now, where to go? I headed across the street toward the Piers and looked and asked and eventually found my way to the Philharmonia Studio where the  I think I ran in around 10:30 a.m. or so and was lucky to find a seat. The 'class' mostly consisted of three female authors sharing about their books and why fantasy is so important in the modern day as a means of escape, to enter the world of the other, or simply love of story. It was interesting and once again turned the flame of my desire to be published on high, but I also could see it was half a pitch of these authors' books. Fair enough. I was granted inspiration nonetheless.

The 'bell rang' and we were released to move onto the next venue and was the place crowded! I was elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder trying to work my way through to Pier 4/5 and stand in line for the "Research and Writing." It really did feel like being back in high school or college as all of us rushed to get to our respective classes. I spoke with a bloke from Sydney who had attended the festival the day prior and he admitted he was a bit disappointed with the workshop but hoped today would be better as he was working on a screenplay with his son. This vaulted us into a long-winded exchange about writing and travel and weather and everything you can talk about in the half hour we waited for the 11:30 class to start. Unfortunately, my new friend and I were in the 15 or so sectioned off in standing room only. (That's just how packed this place was.) And I did stand expecting to learn about research on writing. To my not-so-surprised expectation, it was another series of book pitches rather than tips and tricks on the art of interview and research to uncover details about writing books. Also, this particular venue was more geared toward Non-Fiction. Understandable, but I was still hoping to hear a bit more in the way of actually going about gathering research rather than "I interviewed X people about my story and this and that happened" anecdotes. Again, interesting, but more of a book pitch. All female writers again. While the floor opened up to questions I slipped out to get lunch as it was about 12:20 p.m. by this time.

I hurried on my way to snag lunch as when I wanted to before the research class the line was horrendous, now there was none! I had banana bread for lunch. Sweets and reads. I would need something of real sustenance later.

I stood in line for my next class "The Art an Pleasure of Reading" at 1 p.m. back at the Philharmonia Studio. I stood there a good half hour roasting in the sun and picking through the brochures I'd collected over the course of the day until they finally let us in to sit. MORE book pitches, but this venue was a bit more informal with the authors jabbing and sparring a bit with each other all in good fun as they discussed why reading was so important to them. I didn't take away too much from this one either--they unearthed philosophies and beliefs that I've thought of myself at some point. But the male author actually did a hilarious reading of Goldfinger; Ian Fleming's not as great a writer as I once thought. Huh.

Afterward, I wanted to try and find a class with practical application discussing dynamic main characters but I simply could not find where they were supposed to meet! The 2/3 Pier just seemed to open to nothing even as 2 p.m. rolled by. So, having to meet my Aussie friend Paul from way back at 4, I promptly gathered up my things and hurried back to the Museum of Contemporary Art to check out the MCA Zine fair. It was a collection of basically mini magazines printed and put together for a small fee, but having spent a great deal of coin yesterday, I wasn't disposed toward spending more on these...unusual pieces. I did get one free and went away with it. I would have checked out the DYI zine table if I'd had a bit more time, but ended up moving on to eat a proper late lunch.

It was 2:30 or so by now and I walked to the McDonalds to grab a bite only to see the lines out the door. I went to the Hungry Jacks (Burger King) across the street and stood in line a full minute before deciding I really didn't want to eat a burger at all and I walked right out of line again, peered around the corner, and spied the free 555 line loading people. I sprinted across the street for the bus. Leaping into the doors I snagged an open seat and we were off.

I wasn't quite sure where I needed to stop the bus, still being new to the city and riding the bus back in this direction for the first time, I had to pull out my tourist map and really watch the streets. But I did find the right one, snuck off, found a Subway up the street and bought a sandwich to stuff in my mouth, recall my bag from WakeUp!'s free day storage, and get back on the bus to Circular Quay to get to the Opera House (again) to meet Paul. I swear, I can't get away from the Opera House and frankly, I don't mind it. I loved being there.

So I sat in the hallowed halls of the house and waited to hear from my friend online so that we might finally meet face to face. He dropped me a line and I went outside to find him. I looked and looked and finally he decides to walk up to me with the gall to tell me I'm super tourist and 'easy to find' while I gawked up at this giant of a man. I hadn't expected Paul to be this monster guy.

We chatted a bit on the steps to the Opera House before moving on to board a train, which I stumbled with trying to feed the ticket into the machine, but eventually figured it out. As I have with most of this journey through Oz. The train came, we stopped off at Kingsgrove, disembarked about twenty minutes later. Then we took a walk through the park along this waterway and drove a long way out of Sydney, while still being in Sydney, to a suburb of Sydney where Paul lives. I got to meet his lovely family who welcomed me with open arms. Honestly, I was shocked to even be granted this immense show of generosity with Paul's wife clearing 40 weeks of pregnancy! I fully didn't expect to be extended a place to stay in so tense a time! But I was given bed and bath and food. FOOD. REAL FOOD! I'm finally eating properly and there's nothing greater than a home cooked meal. Perhaps second only to a hot shower. Wow.

I stayed up later than I meant chatting with Paul's in-laws, lovely folk, but eventually got to bed under a heap of blankets because yes, it is cold!!! But they had the foresight to give me plenty of blankets. I used every one. Fed, warm and happy, I had no trouble going to sleep. A real proper sleep what I haven't had in a long time!