Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: creative process

  • Between Pen and Paper

    When To Let Go 2

    When I start a project I have heaps of creativity and enthusiasm. After the initial rush wears off, I settle into a bit of a groove and find my focus. Towards the end I get bored and have to push myself to finish. If I don’t, there’s a feeling that I won’t ever complete it. However, if I rush through the end, there’s the risk that I will botch it or don’t do it jsuctice.

    It’s a delicate balancing act between getting the thing done and making it as good as it can be. I have a tendency to say, it’s good enough and claim it’s done. I’m wanting to push through that initial feeling of near enough is good enough and get to a new place of wow, this is brilliant!

    But keeping the enthusiasm going can be hard. After a while doubt starts to creep in. For me the real danger is letting that doubt take hold and abandoning the project. I haven’t yet quite worked out how to push through the doubt and keep working on something that I know needs that last little bit of oomph to make it shine.

    What do you struggle with in your writing or creative practice?

     

  • Grand Plans

    IP - Grand Plans 1

    I had grand plans for our family get-away to Wye River. I was going to get up early and swim in the ocean every morning. I imagined the salt water cleansing and washing away all the stress and anxiety of the past year (As if it's the ocean's responsibility to care for me.) I pictured myself sitting on the warm sand, starting out to sea, letting my gaze linger on the horizon and feeling my shoulder relax as I shed the weight of houses and people that surround me at home.

    In reality, it was cold, much colder than Melbourne, and overcast a lot of the time so I didn't feel much like swimming. And if I'm honest, after all the busy and dong of 2021, I just really wanted to sit and do nothing. So that's what I did.

    I spent a lot of time sitting on the couch in the photo and gazing at the hill covered in trees outside the window. Miss Eleven spent all her time making friends and playing survival tag on the giant air pillow. Miss Fifteen hung out in the cabin, chatting, playing guitar or listening to music on her phone.

    I did some reading, some snoozing and an awful lot of staring out the window. Oh and I ate a hell of a lot of chocolate! It was so peaceful. I miss it already!

     

  • A Walk in the Woods

    IP - A Walk in the Woods 1

    IP - A Walk in the Woods 2

    Staying at Wye River was incredible. When we came back from our day trip down the coast, we saw a kangaroo standing at the back of our cabin. The next day a three year old girl was walking on the grass outside the cabin, following a koala who was looking for a tree. The koala ended up climbing the tree opposite our cabin and letting out some grunts to claim its territory. Or maybe it was letting its friends know where it was. We also had some king parrots come on to our verandah to say hello as well as cockatoos who loved to perch on the roof and click clack their claws.

    On our last full day we went for a walk along the mountain bike path and the lovely G was nature man, spotting all sorts of creatures. His best animal spotting for the day was an echidna snuffling ants just off the track!

    If I ever had to recommend somewhere for overseas visitors to visit to see native wildlife, I would tell them – go to Wye River! It's incredible.

     

  • Wye River

    IP - Wye River 1

    I started this morning slightly foggy headed from getting up early to work before the rest of the house awoke. Serendipitously a space opened up for me to take part in the online Creative Future Eco-Poetry workshop with Rachel Burns. It's part of the Gingko Eco-Poetry Prize in conjunction with the Poetry School in London and is aimed at helping the poets who enter the competition to write better poetry. With the differences in times zones I managed to catch the last hour.

    I also managed to sell a copy of the mini book I wrote for emerging poets – Pocketry's Guide to Getting Published and received an order for five bottles of Staccato, an organic blend from my Legato perfume online shop.

    To round off my morning nicely I received an e-mail from Cordite to let me know that Elfie Shiosaki, the guest editor for issue 104:Kin, wanted to publish my poem, The Toddy Tappers. Pretty good for a morning's work hey? It feels like a lovely reward for all the years of work I have put into these various projects. And an example of the benefits of diversifying income streams. If only every morning could be this good!

    IP - Wye River 2

    I finished the day, here in Wye River, with a swim in the ocean. We were baking as we drove out of the city but I swear it was at least ten degrees cooler on the coast. I know it's all the trees, keeping things cool with their leaves and shade. It's wonderful to be here and I can't wait tp explore!

     

  • Shed Some Light

    IP -Shed Some Light 1

    It's a Christmas tradition in our house for the girls to make presents for all those lovely grandparents, uncles and aunties who buy them gifts each year for their birthdays and Christmas. Over the years they have made bookmarks, paintings, aprons and reusable bags.

    This year the decision of what to make was easy. A few months ago Miss Eleven bought a candle making kit from a supermarket and we all loved the candles she made. It helped that I already had essential oils on hand from my organic perfume making days at Legato.

    We've done a lot of candle making over the years using beeswax from my father's bee hives as well as beekeeping suppliers. There's something magical about the golden glow and rich smell of honey wafting through the room.

    But you know me, I love experimenting and playing with new materials. That thrill of discovery and feeling of newness fills my soul with gladness. It's the perfect antidote to the monotony of lockdown!

    IP -Shed Some Light 2

    The biggest difference for these candles is that they have been make using soy wax. For years I've been anti soy wax for no real good reason except a residual dislike of soy products in general. After reading about how beeswax can contain pesticides etc (which makes sense if you think about it and from now on I'm only buying organic) I was much more open to trying soy. Of course the challenge now is to find organic, non GMO soy! 

    IP -Shed Some Light 3

    For these candles I bought some glass jars at the two dollar shop and the container in the photo from the homes wares section in a department store. My favourite find was the drinking glasses on sale for a dollar each. I'm going to gift those candles and it makes me happy that the glass can be used once the candle has been burned.

    What are you making for Christmas gift giving this year?

     

  • A Good Listener

    The Crow

    My poem, A Good Listener, about climate change and suburban gardens has been accepted for publication! I am so glad that this poem found a home and that editor Joan Fenney of The Crow saw something in it worthy of publication.

    I've sent this poem off to many journals and competitions, believing there was something in it worthy of publication. It's hard to know just what it is that makes a poem one you believe in, one that you stubbornly keep sending out, rejection after rejection. Whatever it is, this poem had it. And so I kept on sending it in to journals, hoping that one day an editor would see in it what I did – words worthy of reading and being shared. 

    If you'd like to read my poem, head on over to Ginninderra Press' website and sign up for The Crow. It's well worth it!

     

  • Trust The Process

    Trust The Process 1

    Creativity is a strange beast. I always forget parts of the process until it's time for them to happen again. It's like my mind has a series of rooms that lock themselves when I exit and I don't get the key until the next time I need to enter the room.

    Actually that's a terrible analogy. But I don't know what's better or how to put it into words so let me tell you a story instead.

    I've spent most of the last 6 months pushing hard on various creative projects. My ambition definitely outstripped my energy levels and I was feeling burnt out but I was too terrified to stop and give myself the break I so desperately needed. I could feel how thinly I had stretched myself but I just couldn't seem to get off the treadmill of early mornings and doing even though I was over it.

    When I get super exhausted from all the creating, I feel like if I stop I won't ever start again. At the same time, I desperately need a break or I'll go mad. I know that I'm not working at my best or being effective but I just can't seem to stop doing or give myself permission to rest or do something else. What I should have done is read this post I wrote back in March last year on the cyclical nature of creativity and the need for rest and recuperation.

    I was feeling that way the other day and I tried to convince myself that it was okay, it would turn out fine. I reminded myself to have faith and trust in the process. I'm not sure if I believed me, but hey, at least I tried!

     

  • Reflections

    IP -Reflections 1

    It's been another epic year of uncertainty and anxiety, holding and pivoting. Living through a global pandemic in the world's most locked down city has been mundane and banal. A little like Groundhog Day and a lot like not feeling bothered to do anything.

    My teenaged daughter is heavily into dystopian fiction at the moment and we joke that the reality is way more boring and a lot less glamorous than it is in books. A global pandemic in novels involves a lot more running for a start while we have spent most of the year in one place – our house. As well as the action, there's a feeling of creating change or at least making some kind of an impact. Meanwhile, we are subject to curfews and 5km radiuses. To spending time in our house with each other.

    Don't get me wrong – I know we are lucky to be safe and well. No small thing during these strange and uncertain times. And we are lucky to be able to work and learn at home in a large house with a small garden. 

    IP -Reflections 2

    Even with all the blessings, sometimes you get so caught up in where you are and what you're doing, that you can't take the time out that you need for self-care. Even though you are feeling so strung out and exhausted that all you want to do is stick your head under your pillow and stay there for the rest of the year. You keep on going, knowing that you're being inefficient but not being able to bring yourself to stop.

    IP -Reflections 3

    I have really missed coming here to write and reflect and what's been happening in my world.

    I was too caught up in writing poetry and submitting to journals as well as creating the new Pocketry Presents podcast and putting out the fourth issue of the Pocketry Almanack to have time to sit and think. And it really had an effect on my mental health. I couldn't see where I was because I couldn't take time out look at it objectively.

    The circuit breaker? Deciding that enough was enough and deciding to book a holiday to Wye River before the end of the school term. The girls had completed their piano exams and I thought, 'Why not finish early and get in before everything explodes over summer?'

    I knew it was meant to be when all the logistics fell into place so effortlessly.

     

     

     

     

    During a g

  • Tinsel and Traditions

    IP - Tinsel and Traditions 1

    IP - Tinsel and Traditions 2

    IP - Tinsel and Traditions 3

    IP - Tinsel and Traditions 4

    One thing the pandemic and unpredictable lockdowns have taught me is to seize the moment! As soon as each lockdown ends, I make a plan to go somewhere and do something fun.

    Every year I take my girls to see the Christmas windows in the city, visit a bookshop and get some yummy chocolates from Haighs. It's nice to do the same things each year and have all those past layers adding to each new experience. Even though Christmas is still ages away, I decided now was the perfect time to go and visit the windows. After all, who knows what we'll be able to do in a month's time? 

    We usually wait until a week or two before Christmas to go and end up spending at least an hour lining up to see the windows. The bonus of going so far before Christmas was that there was no queue at all and we could walk straight up to the windows. The barricades were already set up in anticipation of the crowds who throng to see the magical scenes from stories brought to life by the very clever people who create the displays and we just whizzed along, straight up to Peter Rabbit!

    IP - Tinsel and Traditions 5

    IP - Tinsel and Traditions 6

    IP - Tinsel and Traditions 7

    IP - Tinsel and Traditions 8

    We made a day of it, visiting as many of our favourite city haunts as we could because who knows when we'll be able to make it back here again?

    The pandemic has taught me to take nothing for granted and to try and live each moment to its fullest.

     

     

  • On the radio!

    INDRANI PERERA Instagram Posts - 3CR Interview (16 September 2021)I’m going to be on the radio!

    If you're in Melbourne, tune into Spoken Word on community radio 3CR (that's 855 on the AM dial) tomorrow, Thursday 16th September, at 9am to hear me being interviewed by the wonderful Melbourne musician, photographer and poet, Brendan Bonsack.

    If you can't tune in live or live out of Melbourne, you'll be able to listen to a recoding after the interview.

    I can’t wait to chat about all things poetry!