Today I attended Catherine Deveny’s Gunna’s Writing Masterclass. Before I get to the actual benefits to writers of attending this class, let me first mention the fringe benefits:
- The class took place in a comfortable room upstairs at La Luna Restaurant in North Carlton—great food and coffee and very friendly and helpful staff. Lunch was incredible; a large range of grazing food, wonderful variety and great tastes. This was not a Weight Watchers event.
- Catherine Deveny performed at her absolute best, shifting the mood from mad, hilarious humour, to biting satire and social commentary, to motivating us to think about and do, what we most wanted from life, to Dominatrix Teacher who made sure we knuckled under and actually wrote
- An intelligent and fascinating range of participants, one of whom I watched later that night (after doing my homework for Dev) as she read at an Erotica performance at Open Studio; I may have a new friend. Dev warned us that pregnancies, creative partnerships and friendships were among the many consequences of her workshops, in addition to outstanding writing pieces.
I found this workshop opened me up creatively and I began writing great pieces with confidence. Dev was wonderful at making people feel relaxed about being in the class and writing. She never asked us to do anything that could be publicly humiliating eg we did not read out our pieces or get pressured to publish. She was able to help me see the importance of writing most days of the week and gave me many great tips and techniques for stimulating creativity, writing from the heart and getting over procrastination, fear and lack of confidence.
A tip: don’t ever ask Dev to give you free advice on being a writer over a cup of coffee
Catherine Deveny is an inspiration, a wonderful entertainer and master teacher. I don’t know where she gets her energy. I highly recommend her Gunna’s Writing Masterclass.
Peter Forrester