Pregnant Pause

I've started working on my Going Down Swinging Performance Commission which will debut at the Melbourne Writers Festival in September. I'm not so far down the line yet - the allocated time is up to fifteen minutes, I have two minutes worth of material that I'm really happy with, and no idea which way to head next.

I can't say much about topic as I'm sworn to secrecy, but there's one fairly dramatic factor which is playing an integral part in the commissioned work: at the time of performing, I will be eight and a half months pregnant. No, you don't have to go back and read that last sentence, it read eight and a half months pregnant.

I've gone from responding to writer-pals shock and awe over this fact with: 'I'll be pregnant, not dead', to staring down at my expanding waist in no small amount of shock and wondering what the f*ck I've gotten myself into.

It'll be apples though, I swear it: the baby won't come early, it's only fifteen minutes onstage, and it will be my last chance for some time to tackle such an amazing writing task: a swan song of sorts before 'Take 2' arrives hungry for all my creative energy.

This no-getting-away-from-it goddamn-that-woman-is-about-to-drop-a-baby-right-there-on-that-stage physical state I'll be in is having a huge impact on what I'm writing though. At the start of the writing process, I decided that I could take one of two routes: use the belly-prop for comic, or even musical/audio effect, or incorporate it metaphorically, thematically or literally...

You'll have to wait for the finished work to find out how this one turns out...I've taken an oath of silence. All I'll say is: this is my biggest writing/performance challenge yet...no pun intended.

Reminder Note to Writers

La Mama Poetica

Swing by on Monday 19th April (tomorrow evening!) to Carlton's infamous La Mama Poetica theatre, where five New Flags on the Line will be getting their poetics on.

I'll be performing a mixed set - partly accompanied by the rest of People Tree (Kate on vocals, Robbie on drums), and partly solo. It's sure to be a blast.

The Bloggers Are Out Tonight

It was uni summer holidays when Y2K was supposedly going to hit. I was working full-time in the kitchen of a major New South Wales hospital. Hospital electricians were powering up generators in case the life support and other medical equipment went berserk, nurses filled up baths and sinks with water and reassured terrified patients, and down in the kitchen we had ordered enough food to plate cold meals for the next week in the absence of working ovens – and rostered on an extra ten staff for the following day in case the industrial dishwashers stopped working.

Despite being an avid blogger, to me the hysteria being generated by ‘media commentators’ regarding the e-book’s ambitious plans to change our reading habits forever is the literary equivalent of the Y2K madness.

So it’s with great pleasure that I find myself included in Miscellaneous Voices: Australian Blog Writing #1. This print publication, which collects writing from thirty bloggers from around the country, is edited by Karen Andrews of Miscellaneous Press, and will be launched at Readings bookstore, Carlton at 6pm this evening.

In a further challenge to the print-to-cyberspace trend, a number of blog writers including Alec Patric, Stu Hatton, Allison Browning and myself, will be reading aloud their inclusions in this groundbreaking new collection.

What better reason to take a break from blog surfing for the night?

Event: Launch of Australian Blog Writing #1
Date: Wednesday 14 April 2010Time: 6:00pm–8:00pm
Location: Readings Carlton, Lygon Street, Victoria

(cross-posted at Overland Literary Journal)