Northern Rivers Community College writing course proves fruitful for promising young writer.

Candace Davis always wanted to write a book. At 30-years-old, she’d spent most of her life writing short stories, feature articles and early chapters in never-to-be-completed novels before she finally decided to commit to a project.

As many of us know, deciding to do something life changing is just the beginning. We often need a lot of help and encouragement along the way. After securing crowd funding for her first 200 copies earlier this year Candace enrolled in Ballina Region Community College’s Plateau Writing Project run by Kathleen Steele.

”I was hoping to meet some other like-minded people and practice my craft,” she said.

”The experience was transformative. I made some wonderful friends; perfected my art guided by an experienced, encouraging and professional mentor; and came out feeling more prepared than ever to write my book.”

After graduating in April Candace lived in Paris for a month to pen her memoir in just 30 days. Her debut work, Love: A Collaborative Memoir, was released in September.

”I decided to work to my strengths while trying something new … the result was a new genre called a collaborative memoir,” she said.

”The book itself focuses on the realities of love in our modern society from a variety of perspectives, including a tattooist, florist, divorcee and high school sweethearts.”

Candace puts her heart on the line too, using her own love story to weave it all together.

“I tried to find a range of stories to highlight the complexities of love in our modern world,” she said.

“I hope it will encourage people to talk about love more and understand it’s a common condition that we all share.”

The Plateau Writing Project includes a series of workshops, beginning with the nuts and bolts of writing and progressing to areas such as experimental writing, researching markets, building a portfolio and genre. Australian writer and creative writing lecturer Kathleen Steele facilitates the course and mentors the writers.

Budding writers leave the course with a toolkit of writing strategies’ a sound knowledge of the expectations of publishers, strong critical reading and editing skills, and the ability to produce polished, professional work to a deadline.

Candace is launching her memoir on 4 December at Noah’s Arc Bookshop and Giftware on Magellan Street, Lismore. The launch includes an author reading and signing from 5–6 pm.

Paperback copies of Love: A Collaborative Memoir can be purchased for $19 at Noah’s Arc Bookshop and Giftware or online at www.candacewrites.com.