During September and October 2013 I spent
six weeks as writer-in-residence at Waterfall Bay, a beautiful secluded spot in
the Marlborough Sounds where I worked on a second collection Stories Bodies Tell and a third novel The Gulf Between. Shortly after arriving I fell
into a daily rhythm of writing, walking, thinking, reading, and writing again. In
the evenings I recorded in the attached notebook, a gift from a friend, my reflections
on reading for pleasure and reading for research, observations about adapting
to a bush-clad landscape and extreme weather patterns, and insights into the
benefits of abandoning regular life to focus for a while on the work of
writing. My first experience of a residency has convinced me to apply for
others. First, though, I must unpack and then revisit the words I wrote at the bay.
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