"OUT OF US ALL" - Susan Cooper (UK 1969)
I love Op Shops, not those so much that are mainly clothes and shoes and handbags, but the big ones where you can find (if you want one) a spade or a bike or a rice cooker or a bed lamp, or two books (or five DVDs) for a buck, and they have a freebie chuck-out stand at the door. We visit one of these every week. I always scab through the chuck-outs.
A couple of weeks back I found three books there. This is one of them, a once-proud volume from the shelves of the Barr-Smith Library of Adelaide University (and justifiably so) long ago. The other two I'll get to soon and report back.
This book could just as easily been titled "IN ALL OF US" because that's what Susan Cooper is saying - we all have stories in us, if you have the desire (the compulsion!) to weed them out and get them onto the page. This could just be a huge help if you're struggling to find a start.
It was compiled for Years 10 and 11 High School Lit students, but if you're serious about creative writing, you can do a helluva lot worse than read this excellent compilation of story excerpts from the pens of such worthies as Dylan Thomas (still one of the all time best ever ever ever), as well as some poetry, and arranged by subject matter - "Memories", "The Sea", "Love", "Gangs and Rebels", et al - with lists of suggested exercises at the end of each, designed to get you off your rear end and thinking and creating.
Okay, may be a bit hard to find, but there's copies out there online. You could do a lot worse.
Cheers....
T.R.E.
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