“The trees start growing taller, and once I realise I’m no longer skirting the lake, I stop running, totally blind. There’s rainwater dripping from my eyebrows as I stand still, hearing only the trees creaking, the patter of rainfall and my own excited breaths. I smell earth, dead leaves and rot. Out here all by myself, time seems to have stopped, the forest itself a creature in slumber. I know that I could simply retrace my steps, but something holds me in stillness. I’m lost, in the dark, in a deeply unknown place, but for some reason, I am not afraid.”
I’m currently working on a travel memoir about moving to The Netherlands in the middle of a pandemic, and above is a short paragraph from one of its chapters. I enter writing competitions occasionally because they’re a great motivator and I like writing to a specific brief, and this submission ended with me winning the 2024 Creative Writer of the Year Award, from the SA Writers College. This particular story is about getting lost, something you do a lot of when you move countries – but in the losing, so much is also gained. You can read the full chapter here.
I’ve completed many of the college’s writing courses over the years and have always been a huge fan of their tutors and their material. So my other bit of exciting news is that I myself am now a tutor for the Freelance Journalism and Writing Articles for Websites course, writing forms I’m hugely passionate about, and two types of writing I’ve done extensively over the past 20 years.
As AI and other language models become ubiquitous, you’re going to need special skills to set you apart as a writer. One of these is your own style, your experiences, your opinions on the topic at hand. That utterly unique bit of humanity that makes you YOU, and makes your writing sing. I hope to continue to work on my own style, and to help others find theirs.
Here’s to more human-centred stories, ones rooted in creativity and inspiring connection.
