Last year I won a fellowship – the Mick Dark Flagship Fellowship for environmental writing – which awarded me three weeks at Varuna, The Writers House. I was delighted to win, but mostly because it made me feel better about the project I was working on: I’d been worried it was a bit rubbish, and also that I wouldn’t finish it by the time the 
publisher wanted it. It was nice to be validated and given a little extra time to hit that deadline. But I was also a bit scared: about being away from home and my husband for three weeks (I’m not very good at that kind of thing), about spending enforced socialising time with other writers (also not very good at that kind of thing) and about bushfires.
Going to Varuna has to be one of the top five things that has happened to me. I finished my manuscript, which was a huge relief. I even felt like some of it was pretty good. I enjoyed meeting and spending time with other writer types, though yes sometimes I did feel awkward and uncomfortable and wished I could spend the evenings with someone I already knew, like my husband. It rained almost every day and never got hotter than 28 degrees, so bushfires weren’t really an issue.
But the main thing was the incredible joy of being able to write. All day, every day, all I had to do was write. Sure, I went for strolls in the bush. I did a little op-shopping. I made more than one trip to the Station Bar because they had this incredible Four Pines Saison on tap which I’ve never seen anywhere else. But mostly I wrote, or thought about writing. And I could not have been happier. I was incredibly productive. And in a way I really never have before, I felt fully myself. 
I am very lucky. I have a good job with an organisation whose values I support and a boss who doesn’t expect me to do work outside work hours. I don’t have kids (lucky? Unlucky? You decide. But it does give me more writing time). My husband values my writing and is hugely intellectually and emotionally supportive of it. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for those who have demanding families, who have to work long hours, who have friends and family who can’t see the point of being a writer.
But even with the good luck of my circumstances, there just isn’t enough time or peace (mostly peace) to really sink into writing. So thank you to Varuna – and to the other writers I met while I was there – for such a brilliant eye-opening, consciousness-awakening retreat from the world. I recommend it so highly to anyone who longs to write. Apply for a fellowship and if you don’t get one, save up and pay for a visit instead. It will do you more good than pretty much any other holiday you can imagine.
Readers, if you want to help a writer, support them to go to Varuna, or support Varuna itself – there is nothing else like it in Australia.
There are some pictures here of my time at Varuna.
nickgadd
February 15, 2015 at 1:55 pmGreat to hear you had a productive time at Varuna, Jane. I was lucky enough to spend some time there and my feelings were much the same as yours. What a beautiful place for reflection and conversation and focussing on writing without all the usual distractions. (And this isn’t writing-related, or maybe it is, but how good is the food!?)
Jane Bryony Rawson
February 15, 2015 at 2:32 pmSo good!
Paul Dalgarno
February 15, 2015 at 1:59 pmSounds lovely!
Jane Bryony Rawson
February 15, 2015 at 2:32 pmYou should go.
Lisa Hill
February 15, 2015 at 2:23 pmReblogged this on ANZ LitLovers LitBlog and commented:
Jane Rawson, who wrote the acclaimed Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists (see my review at http://anzlitlovers.com/2013/06/22/a-wrong-turn-at-the-office-of-unmade-lists-by-jane-rawson/), is just back from a three week stay at Varuna, the writers’ retreat. I’ll second what Jane says: if you want to support Australian writing, put your hand in your pocket and make a donation to Varuna. $50 will pay for an evening meal or add some Aussie books to their library. 10 people donating $5 can achieve that:) Here’s the link: http://www.varuna.com.au/varuna/index.php/supporters/gifts-bequests
Christine Sun
February 15, 2015 at 2:33 pmThe best thing that can happen to a talented writer, I reckon. 🙂
Sylvia
February 15, 2015 at 2:37 pmI just followed the link in here from ANZ LitLovers – I’m booked in to Varuna in June and I’m so looking forward to it! And now I’m off to order Unmade Lists, because that review is enticing… 🙂
Jane Bryony Rawson
February 15, 2015 at 2:46 pmYou are going to have a great time (at Varuna. I hope with the book…)
karenlee thompson
February 15, 2015 at 2:37 pmEnvious/jealous … in the nicest possible way.
Alyson
February 15, 2015 at 7:33 pmI wanna!
Jane Bryony Rawson
February 16, 2015 at 7:06 amThen you should!
lucytreloar
February 16, 2015 at 10:37 amIt is a lovely and inspirational place and this has made me so nostalgic.
elimprecht
February 16, 2015 at 10:43 amI love Varuna, I am glad you got to spend three weeks there. It is the only place I have found myself able to fully inhabit my writing and think about it constantly, without life interrupting.
Jane Bryony Rawson
February 16, 2015 at 10:45 amEleanor, that’s it exactly. To inhabit your writing. To ‘have permission’ to be a writer – to care about nothing except writing.
Nathan Hobby
February 16, 2015 at 10:53 am“And in a way I really never have before, I felt fully myself.” Yes! Too rare, but so true about what writing can be at its best.
Under the pōhutakawa | Tracy Farr
February 26, 2015 at 12:51 pm[…] Next week I’m off to Varuna for a fortnight, to take up the Varuna Second Book Residential Fellowship I was awarded last year. I hope to have as productive (and joyful) a time as Jane Rawson had there earlier this month: […]
equineocean
March 2, 2015 at 12:41 amVery inspiring Jane. Glad to hear you had such a wonderful and productive time!
The hissing swan in the manuscript drawer | Tracy Farr
April 2, 2015 at 2:49 pm[…] loved Jane Rawson’s post about her time at Varuna earlier this year, and I can’t say it better than […]
The hissing swan in the manuscript drawer – Tracy Farr
December 16, 2015 at 10:04 am[…] loved Jane Rawson’s post about her time at Varuna earlier this year, and I can’t say it better than […]
Under the pōhutakawa – Tracy Farr
December 19, 2015 at 11:51 am[…] Next week I’m off to Varuna for a fortnight, to take up the Varuna Second Book Residential Fellowship I was awarded last year. I hope to have as productive (and joyful) a time as Jane Rawson had there earlier this month: […]