A Postcard from the Katharine Susannah Pritchard Writer’s Centre Residency

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The view from the desk at ‘Aldridge’, one of the writing studios at the KSPWC, Greenmount , WA, Australia with the Perth skyline on the horizon.

I had reached a very difficult point in the writing of the first draft of my verse novel The Sorry Tale of the Mignonette and needed some dedicated time and space to put what I had written into a coherent order. What an amazing thing it is to have uninterrupted time to work on your own writing and the KSP Writer’s Centre provides this and more with its lovely setting in Greenmount in the Perth Hills. I’d look up from my manuscript and find the wandoo (white gum) in the paddock lively with the breeze or with twenty-eight parrots and feel instantly refreshed. Although I was only at the Aldridge studio for one week, I far exceeded the goals I had set myself for my work there. Then there was the unintrusive level of assistance provided by the staff at KSP from being taken shopping for some forgotten necessities to lifts to and from the Film Night.

The cabins are beautifully appointed and self-catering with toaster, kettle and microwave plus use of the kitchen in the main house.

But it was not all about my writing, one of the special aspects of the week was being able to curl up with a good book in the evenings guilt-free at the time I was allocating to this wonderful activity – after all didn’t other writer’s in the journal helpfully left for me suggest I turn off my screen by 8pm and do something else!

I really appreciated the welcome I received from the writing groups at KSP and took full advantage while I was in residence. So a shout-out to the Writer’s Circle, Writefee Women’s Writing Group and the Thursday Night Group for including me so warmly in their activities. I’m only disappointed that there were some other groups I couldn’t go to as I had missed their meetings. Oh well! next time, I hope.

 

Angela Gardner

 

Those interested in 2020 positions should head to http://www.kspwriterscentre.com/residency-program

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Established – DEADLINE 30 JUNE 2019

Emerging – DEADLINE 28 JULY 2019

​Next Gen – DEADLINE 25 AUGUST 2019

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