Writing
Nat Zagninski Author - Writing Literary Fiction
Ah to be free to write! When I am writing I am possibly at my happiest. When I can't write I am possibly at my most miserable. Since I was old enough to tell you I would say 'I am going to write a book'. I think the desire to write has been in my blood since I was born. Strangely it is the dream that has taken the longest for me to realise. Sometimes we fear failure in the things that mean the most to us. So much so that we become paralised. Frozen. Sometimes I still am but I've started.
As a kid I would write stories just to see how I could play with words, turn them around, fit them together, make them sing in my head. As I grew older I would write to make sense of my own world, understand myself, uncover my desires, find my direction.
Why do I write now? To shine light on the many perspectives of our world in a way that makes people stop and think. To maybe help people walk a day in another's shoes. To see another point of view. To understand the world as a little less black and white and a little more grey. Coloured even.
And from there to create change.
Dust is written. This story is complete as I want to tell it and (hopefully) it will be published soon. Fire is my next endeavour and is underway. Strangely this story seems to write itself. There are two other stories in work with a plot, characters, a life and an ending... but I'll keep those as a surprise and list them here as I start writing words.
Dust
Debut Novel To Be Published Soon
Anna always knew Adam was likely to be deployed to a war zone to fight but she didn't really think it would happen. When it did her somewhat acceptable, somewhat routine world turned its head. But nothing could prepare her for life after he returned. Invisibly and severely injured she fights to understand the person who has returned and protect both their lives. This is the story of Adam, a special forces soldier deployed to Afghanistan, and his wife Anna as they navigate the scars left by the unspeakable greyness of war. The lives they knew are blown away like dust in the winds of the desert as they struggle to hold on to the threads of what remains.
For Dan and Tani
A poem for you on your wedding day
I remember the day Dan asked if I would write something for he and Tani for their wedding day. He thought it would be unique, special. I nearly died. What if I can't write anything? What if it's not good enough? What if people don't listen? I bargained with myself, trying to find reasons to not do it and then I bargained with the groom for reasons why he wouldn't want it.
And then I wrote.
And read it. At the reception. Out loud. In front of everyone. I didn't look up the entire time for fear of seeing people on their phones, looking away, bored.
When I finally looked up I saw the entire bridal table using their serviettes as hankerchiefs, wiping away tears. My heart was full.
This is the poem I wrote for them.
Fire
In work
Earth scorched by the drought, air scalded by a heatwave, relationships in this small community burnt and frazzled by a long murky past and a cauldron of rumours. Everybody in this town has a reason they behave the way they do. Scott just wants to be recognised away from the shadow of his family. Tracey needs to see justice done. Miriam wants to outrun the trauma of her past. Oddy wants to protect her husband's legacy at all costs. And Tony? He just wants to live a little. So what happens when these desires clash in a tinder box in the middle of the Autralian bush? Seemingly inconsequential events collide in a remote rural Australian town to see a history of lies and misdeeds ignite during a week of catastrophic fire conditions with devastating consequences.