At the beginning of February I'll be attending a consultation with Peter Bishop - creative director at Varuna - for a place in the Macquarie Group Foundation Longlines Program. I've been dreaming for years for the chance to attend a residency at Varuna the writers house, and now that I've completed my studies and have fewer demands on my time I feel like I can give it a real go.
I have to get 20 pages of my ms in to Peter by next Wednesday, so I'm frantically trying to polish it up and get it to the point where I would feel happy sharing it. It's quite terrifying actually! There's a big difference between sharing your work with your writers group and putting it up for close analysis by someone as highly respected as Peter Bishop. Part of that fear perhaps comes from that nasty inner-critic that insists on whispering in my ear that I'm really not a good enough writer. Damn that horrible little voice! It's so hard to ignore, but ignore it I shall try. After all, what is the point of being a writer if you are forever too afraid to put it out there?

UPDATE - I've sent off my 20 pages (after completely rewriting them 3 times!) and now have to wait until my consultation with Peter next week to hear what he thinks. Scary!