The Poem
Let's start the year with a little tragi-comedy from David Benn ... The Poem A cold overcast morning had become a sodden grey Sunday...
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sydneysoa
Dec 28, 20215 min read
Vale Sao Khemawadee Mangrai - so sorely missed
It is with great sadness that we must convey the news that a dear friend and one of the major contributors to SSOA's memoir group, Sao...
sydneysoa
Dec 24, 20213 min read
Christmas compliments and gratitude
by Rob Carrick Christmas is here, and that means it's twelve months since I found myself at a Christmas event chatting to a woman in a...
sydneysoa
Dec 24, 20211 min read
Christmas means ...
Christmas means … not what I always thought it meant. Though, given I grew up in Britain, set in the furthest reaches of northern Europe,...
sydneysoa
Dec 17, 20212 min read
The colour blue - a personal impression
It’s Sunday morning, and I’m sitting under a perfect blue sky as I look across Clovelly Bay's aquamarine waters shimmering in the summer...
sydneysoa
Dec 15, 20211 min read
Choose a colour - 10 minute creative writing exercise
The colour red I’d only just stepped out the door and that damned neighbour who wants to know everyone’s business was there. Sally...
sydneysoa
Dec 1, 20213 min read
PORK BARRELLING II
LET THEM EAT ... PORK Interest in ‘pork barrelling’ as a description of unsavoury political behaviour has been sparked recently in NSW...
sydneysoa
Nov 19, 20212 min read
Pork barrelling - using government funds for niche projects to 'buy' votes
The term ‘pork barrelling’ is common enough for people to know what it means: a government handing out taxpayers’ money inequitably in...
sydneysoa
Nov 8, 20213 min read
Waking Up with James
I felt James tap me on the shoulder and my eyelids flickered. Opposite my bed, the armchair and the clothes piled over it were a soft...
sydneysoa
Nov 3, 20212 min read
Whatever it takes ... writer's block
Erin sits at her table, pen in hand. She wonders what might flow forth, what she might channel from the ether through ink into existence,...
sydneysoa
Oct 18, 20211 min read
Creative writing exercise
Prompt: ‘The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt’ –...
sydneysoa
Oct 13, 20212 min read
NSW expected to hit 80% vaccination later this week
Congratulations to those who campaigned for a hasty rollout of vaccinations - epidemiologists, health workers, some politicians - in the...
sydneysoa
Oct 8, 20212 min read
A Garden Wall - Creative writing: dialogue exercise
'The client' by Stew Adams ‘I want a garden wall right here,’ the client said. He'd recently purchased this old property that we were...
sydneysoa
Sep 26, 20211 min read
A Walled Garden in the Pandemic
'I'm sure it will be okay. It's bound to be negative.' A Lulu Lemon-attired blonde, sporting a neat bob and a mask uselessly slung around...
sydneysoa
Sep 23, 20212 min read
Ornithology
‘I reckon they’re a flock of seagulls.’ ‘Seagulls! No way they’re seagulls. Seagulls have long red legs and webbed feet. Those birds have...
sydneysoa
Sep 10, 20213 min read
Writing of the Week 'Out of character'
When creating character, consistency is vital. It's always best to check dialogue so that a character's speech is clearly identifiable....
sydneysoa
Sep 4, 20213 min read
Hasan's bread
by Fiona D'Souza The minarets had woken the family for dawn prayers fifteen minutes earlier. Hassan rubbed the sleep out of his eyes...
sydneysoa
Aug 24, 20215 min read
Write from the POV of an inanimate object
Number 22 in the street, the sturdy dark stained house belonging to the Jones family, stood on a prominent hill surrounded by what...
sydneysoa
Aug 19, 20212 min read
The New Yorker will find you a man if you need one ...
I Am a Tinder Guy Holding a Fish and I Will Provide for You by Amy Collier Photo No. 1 Behold my mackerel. I have caught it for you and...
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