Creative Writing | Meet Erna Graham

By the Newsletter team

If you are interested in this topic, take a look at our Random House Struik Creative Writing course.

Writers are people from all walks of life - whether they’re published authors, aspirant novelists or just people who enjoy expressing themselves for fun. To celebrate this diversity, GetSmarter is showcasing three of its Random House Struik Creative Writing students: a published poet, an enthusiastic hobby writer with big dreams, and a stay-at-home mom who recently discovered the power of the written word.

Let’s meet Erna Graham, who found herself overflowing with inspiration when she fell pregnant with her first child – and decided to write it all down.

Name: Erna Graham
Location: Pinetown, Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Occupation: Stay at home mom of two lively toddlers.

Something unusual about you?
Everything about me oozes normality and boringness, yet I have an imagination that takes me to all the corners of the world and even creates new ones. I would say my outlook on life is unusual. I see life as a beautiful dance between people and situations. The energy that flows from this fascinates me. What others would perceive as flaws, I view as just adding to our uniqueness.

When did you start writing? Do you write regularly?
I started really writing in 2006; I was pregnant with my first child and the images just flowed like a river. Since then, I have bursts of creativity, and my preferred way to channel that creativity was writing. Waking up for feeds in the early morning hours seemed to be the time I could really write, as the whole world seemed so quiet.

What is the hardest thing about writing for you?
I find I would have the perfect sentence while driving or tending to the children, thinking I will remember it later, but I never do. Now I have writing pads and pens dotted everywhere in my house and pieces of paper dotting my study wall, waiting for just the right moment. I think finding the time in between life is the hardest for any writer. However life is what gives us the fodder for our writing.

What is the best part about writing?
To let your imagination flow freely and to have a picture of a scene in your mind is just incredible; to find the right words to describe the image in your head is like a treasure hunt. The sheer satisfaction of getting your story down on paper is worth all the lost sleep.

Which authors do you admire, and why?
At the moment I am a big fan of Stephanie Meyer and her Twilight saga. The big reason why I admire her is because she is a mother of three children who made time between changing nappies to get her story down on paper. After the writing course I looked at novels in a completely different light and was fascinated with how the author brings it all together and created tension.

What value has the RHS Creative Writing course added to your writing?
I now have a list of things to check for and can tick as I write. It has helped me to streamline and focus my efforts. I am not wasting as much time as before on a piece that is not going to materialize into either a short story or a full-length novel.

What did you enjoy most about the course?
I loved having Ron Irwin as part of the course, with his sense of humour and his complete honesty about all aspects of writing. The writers’ forum was like a community of writers and after the course we joined a group on Facebook so that those who are dedicated to writing can carry on having contact with each other. The online format was excellent, I could go about my daily chores and complete the tests and download the information at my earliest convenience. The course notes have brought a whole new level of professionalism to my writing as I now have a better understanding of how and where to go after each step I take.

What was the most valuable piece of advice you received on the course?
That a writer is not someone who has unlimited time on their hands. Writers are people like you and me with jobs, families and a home loan to pay, spouses that need tending to and suppers that need to be cooked. They simply write down their thoughts diligently and edit their work and have a thick skin to be able to handle criticism and the determination to see their work go to print.

Anything else to add?
I would recommend this course to anyone who has a need to better their writing and would like to make contact with other writers around the country.

Back to SmartyPants Newsletter - July 2010 Edition
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution license.