March is NZ Book Month, but up until now the excitement and enjoyment that I had anticipated has largely escaped me due to—you know, the February 22nd earthquake and its aftermath. But quite some time ago I accepted an invitation from the Dan Davin Literary Foundation to travel to Queenstown and Southland, as part of NZ Book Month, to run a series of writing workshops for Year 12 and 13 high school students and also to give a public presentation while in Invercargill.

The workshops will focus on the essential elements of good writing—what my fellow author and poet, James Norcliffe, described as the “laws of fiction” in his guest post here earlier in the year, “stern injunctions” that the aspiring writer disregards at their peril—as well as some tips on professional practice. The workshop will also include a specific SFF section, with a module on world building, because I am primarily a speculative fiction author—and proud of it, too.

In the public presentation, I will talk about my personal path to international publication as well as what it means to be published overseas, and also about writing speculative fiction in NZ.

Putting together the workshop, including exercises and handouts, as well as the presentation, has been a harder than usual task given events of the past few weeks. But yesterday, as I collated everything together and packed it for the plane today, I really felt that first buzz of excitement, that moment when I really “got”, not just that it’s NZ Book Month (hurrah!) but that I’m part of it, after all.

It feels doubly nice to be leaving town for such a positive reason: I am definitely not “fleeing” my poor battered Christchurch, or even having a spot of respite yet, but doing something constructive—I hope— for NZ literature by helping grow our next generation of writers. I have done my prep, and despite the earthquake et al still feel I have a little left in the tank, so I hope my contribution will be judged a positive one. I welcome the opportunity to make it.