Meet Gwen, our resident at The Links Seaside by Warrigal.

Recently, we interviewed Gwen, one of our residents at The Links Seaside by Warrigal in Wollongong. Keep reading to learn more about Gwen, her passion for writing, and the SeaQuills Writing Group which she is a member of. 

Can you tell us a little about yourself? 

My husband and I moved here in August 2008.

So that’s almost 18 years ago now.

I’ve always wanted to write and in school I did some writing, but then there was all those years in the corporate workforce, and it wasn’t really until my 50th birthday that I started to write in earnest.

Can you give us an overview of the books you have published? 

So my first work was I Belong to No One. It’s a memoir.

I didn’t think it was going to take me 11 years, but I finally managed to produce Louisa. It’s my debut historical novel.

And onsite here at Links Seaside, we run a monthly writing group. We call ourselves the SeaQuills.

And last year we managed to put together an anthology. There’s eight of us in this anthology of short stories and poems.

What do you like most about being a member of the SeaQuills?

Oh you know, I so enjoy being with a group of like-minded people and we’re all there to improve our writing.

Every month we have one key word, or phrase, or inspiration, and we write something short to that.

If it’s a piece of prose, up to 500 words.

We bring along enough copies for everybody. We mark up their copies with our commentary. Then we go around and we give our feedback.

This is to enhance our writing and develop our writing.

And then most of us are working on a much larger piece. For a few of them that tends to be a memoir, and then they’ll bring along a piece of that and we workshop that.

This month’s theme was ‘warped’, but next month is ‘move me’. In other words, write something that touches the reader.

What is your biggest achievement?

Just finishing a book or a manuscript, that’s a huge achievement. 

You’re one of the few that’s made it across the finishing line. 

It’s a bit like running a marathon which I’m never going to do. 

What is your favourite book?

I think The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. 

I love the premise, you know, death as the narrator. 

That was really very, very interesting. 

What do you love most about living at The Links Seaside by Warrigal?

Well, it’s hard to beat living beside the ocean on a golf course. 

For nearly everybody here, the big thing about living here is the companionship. 

Watch Gwen’s interview

At Warrigal, we treasure the stories and achievements of our residents, and love to share these stories with our wider communities. To watch the full interview with Gwen, head over to our Facebook page using the link here.