Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS WRITER.
She had me at ‘good coffee and good food’. I first spotted the blurb about the Gunnas Writing Masterclass with Catherine Deveney on Facebook about a month out from Christmas and straight away thought of myself as being a worthy recipient of this gift. Having just finished reading Marie Kondo’s book, KonMari, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up, and progressively working my way through de-cluttering the house, this Christmas was not about collecting more ‘things’ but rather ‘experiences’. The time was right for me to transform from being a Gunna into a Dunna! And so I here I was, even arriving at the Continental Cafe, the venue for the Masterclass, with 10 minutes to spare. That in itself was already an achievement as I realised that tardiness and procrastination would have no place in the new Dunna me. After a Christmas Day eating binge which has so far gone on for 3 days, today was the day I was going to start my ‘intermittent fasting’ plan which loosely translates to skipping breakfast, so I was hanging out for my first coffee of the day by mid-morning and ordered a Piccolo at the cafe to take into the workshop. Alas, I’d jumped the caffeine gun as the first thing Catherine had us do is fill in our coffee order form. The Continental Cafe served up a decent Giancarlo coffee although it was different to my favourite beans served up the road at Death Before Decaf, Brisbane’s only 24/7 coffee shop. We kicked off the day with introducing ourselves to the person sitting next to us and finding out a little about them. I’ve always said there’s a book inside all of us and as we went around the room listening to everyone’s reason for attending the Gunnas Masterclass, it became obvious that today there’s not just a book, but a Facebook page, a You Tube video or Twitter account as an option of telling your story as well. I was quite chuffed when Catherine said this is the first workshop where she’s had 2 sex workers in attendance as well as the only person she’s met who reads the Thesaurus for fun. (Yes I’m the Thesaurus reader!) Yet felt a little bit of literary incompetence when I heard what people were reading around the room and realised my reading consisted predominantly of Facebook posts. Our morning tea consisted of platters of caramelised Onion tart and tomato and basil Bruschetta and to be honest I think that’s where I should’ve stopped after ‘breaking my fast’. Our lunch was a delicious banquet of gourmet delights with every food group covered and threatened to put me in a food coma which was now becoming a familiar feeling after overeating. Catherine’s presentation was littered with the F-bomb and laugh out loud statements. Entertainment and education meshed together with tips on how we could make our life as writers more enjoyable and comfortable and hopefully profitable. “Write like no one is going to read it” she said and so I did. This ex-Gunna was now on her way to becoming a Dunna without a doubt. Just like Oprah, who sadly I missed seeing when she recently visited Brisbane, Catherine had her share of wisdom to impart, telling us there are no barriers, just obstacles and that motivation follows action. On a serious note, Catherine asked if you had 6 months to live, what would you do and what’s stopping you from doing it now? I didn’t have to give this too much thought as I would live out my fantasy of being a Gourmet Traveller, experiencing food and drink around the world. All I need to do is harness the power of Crowd Funding and I’d be on my way. Just when I thought it was time for another intermittent fast after lunch, out came the dessert platters with Lemon Curd Pavlova, Chocolate Ganache Tart and Brioche with Pineapple and Coconut Ice Cream. And another round of coffee and tea. You could say the day ended on a sweet note and I walked out of that workshop quietly confident that my transformation from Gunna to Dunna was taking shape. Yes, round is a shape!
AdrianneAdrianne Katmadas
Chief Taste Tester Cake Appreciation Society
www.facebook.com/cakeappreciationsociety
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