The literary lowdown on my stay at Varuna

The giveaway is 'Women of Good Fortune' by Sophie Wan

I’ll admit, it was slightly ambitious to schedule a newsletter for the day after I came back from two weeks in the Blue Mountains. Instead of writing this edition of Becks and the City yesterday, I had the nap to end all naps. I sure needed it, having had only three or four hours of sleep on Sunday night, but still. Oops.

Anyway, today I’m refreshed and ready to tell you about my fortnight at Varuna, aka ‘the national writers’ house’. I flew over to Sydney the day before, at a spicy-as-hell Korean tteokbokki meal that night, then took the train to the Blue Mountains on the Monday. A woman helped me wrangle my luggage while I was getting on the train and we separately figured out before disembarking that we were both going to Varuna. A nice coincidence! So, we got chatting and shared a taxi to our new digs for the fortnight.

There are usually six writers staying at Varuna each week, but on our first week there, we had only five – one guy unfortunately caught Covid just before he was due to arrive. From the start, we all got along so well. I’d been nervous on this front. I’ve never lived in a share house and I always kinda assume people won’t like me unless proven otherwise. My brain knows this is a silly thing to think, but I can’t help it. It’s just the way I’m wired.

I needn’t have worried, though. Even though we were all quite different, we gelled really well. Two of us were there to judge a writing competition – one historian/writer and the other a journalist/writer working on a mental health topic. Then there was an essayist, someone writing a slightly crime-tinged literary novel, and me, working on a funny crime novel.

The deal at Varuna is that six nights out of seven, your meals are cooked by one of the staff there to free up even more time to write (yay!). Our meals were so good – nachos, fish pie, shepherd’s pie, chicken in creamy sauce, curries, etc. Each night alternated between the other course being either soup or dessert. Breakfasts and lunches we could either make our own from the provisions in the pantry and fridge, including leftovers, or we could eat out at the various cafes and restaurants in the township.

I spent a decent chunk of my time at the Katoomba Library, which is nestled in with a café and cultural centre. It comes with spectacular views and a fab little gift shop where a bought a cute pair of artsy socks.

What did I work on while I was there? I caught up on submitting some stories and essays to journals and competitions, entered the Richell Prize, wrote 2,000 words of a short story (now almost finished, other than 400 words or so), and caught up on edits to my novel manuscript.

Three of us stayed on into my second week, and three new housemates arrived (writing historical fiction and magic realism). I was thankful that both weeks, everyone got along great. Tidying up after dinner ran so smoothly as everyone pitched in and kept chatting while we worked. I was amazed at some of the anecdotes people told. At times, I wonder if I’m too weird compared to whatever the ‘norm’ is. After talking with my housemates, I felt decidedly straightlaced. This was good!

One night, early into the second week, we were discussing what strange talents or party tricks everyone brought to the table, so I cracked out doing the splits. I feel that I established my weirdo cred with that, and all was right with the world.

Before I left, I signed the guestbook and flipped through past volumes to shamelessly bolster my self-esteem by checking out the names of writers who’d previously stayed at the house. I found Melina Marchetta, Holden Sheppard, Chris Hammer, Donna Cameron, Rebecca Starford, Shelley Burr, Laura Elvery, Kate Mildenhall, and plenty of other names I recognised.

I took the train back to Sydney with one of my housemates (a different one to on my way there) and then spent the day eating and wandering around the delightfully massive Kinokuniya bookstore before flying home that night.

That was my stay at Varuna. I loved every minute of it. I hope to go back at some stage. Thanks to everyone who made my time there possible.

xx

Becks

---

Giveaway

The giveaway this week is Sophie Wan’s Women of Good Fortune. Enter your name and email address here for a chance to win.