I am not sure whether this is something I’d recommend – or not. It is certainly a challenge – all part of the mammoth learning curve I have been on for about a decade. And, overall, I am thriving on it. But there are times…
You see, I am not a film-maker – I am an author. Actually, truth be told, I am a writer. A plain writer. While I do have four books on the market, I do not feel that I should be called an ‘author’. As I did not feel that any of those four books would be accepted by a traditional publisher, I bypassed them completely and had them independently published, by three different companies… one in Australia, two in the USA.
I had always wanted to write – anything. And now I do, more or less. I am addicted to it. I think that’s the only way I can describe it. Addicted. Because I am. When I was very young and living in the outback, I used to write letters to anyone I could find that would respond. And, believe me, that wasn’t easy. But I did finish up with several penfriends before I was sent off to boarding school and they all vanished. I kept wanting to write but ‘life’ got in the way for a few years and it wasn’t until my late 20s that the writing bug reared its head again. Still having no idea how to write a book – or even if I did manage to actually write one, how do you get a book published? And then distributed? All too much for me at the time, so I turned back to letter writing.
This was fine and dandy, but I found those people (family and friends) to whom I wrote did not share my passion – so – that was a failure. I eventually found some penfriend advertisements in magazines and was then able to start writing and getting responses. YES. And this continued for about 30+ years. At one stage I had around 200 penfriends, both in Australia and overseas. That kept me busy – and broke. At the time I was also mum to two young girls and I had a few other interests. I did a bit of sewing and decorating of children’s clothes, I put gift baskets together and a couple of other forgettable things. While also being involved in committees etc once the girls began school.
Fast forward to my mid-50s. My late father had been writing a book about our family and related things, which he finished penning shortly before he passed away. For the next 17 or so years, the manuscript, along with the piles of photographs and documents, passed between my brothers and me – round and round and round and round and…etc. Until one morning, when I realized that if I didn’t do something with it all (have it typed up and published, somehow) it would never be done – and the reason I was worrying so much was because of my late mother’s advancing age. She was very well as far as I knew but then she was always good at hiding health issues, except migraines. So I got onto Google. And eventually found what I wanted and, working with two consultants, Dad’s book was eventually published – exactly a week after Mum died! Just a tad disappointed – although I have been reassured many times that Mum knew something was about to happen with the book and that, apparently, made her a happy woman – or as happy as anyone can be when facing the end of life as we know it.
And that was the catalyst for my writing. After Dad’s book was out, I followed it with a very forgettable book about bullying and then – then – I was ‘hit’ by this epiphany, for want of the correct word, whatever it may be. I just woke up one morning and saw this amazing window of opportunity. I suddenly realized that I could finally combine two of my passions – writing and the outback. And so I set out to do this.
Fast forward again – I now have four books out with at least two more to go and I am also helping others to write their autobiographies, thereby keeping stories alive. AND – enter the film making business.
More next posting.
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Back in the early , making a movie for $5,000 was the stuff of legend. Nowadays, that number is practical. My first feature, The Great Intervention, was shot and edited for just that. Here s how I did it.