Posted on 19th Nov, 2017
Serious Writing
It was one of those fresh, stimulating mornings that compelled me to write. I wanted to begin working on a poignant section for my Young Adult novel where my main characters, Pipi and Mum, were fronting the man who’d shot Dad in a tragic deer-hunting accident.
To write the scene, I had to become deeply part of it, so became the distraught hunter as he explained the sequence of events leading up to the accident. I also needed to work out how to describe the sounds of a gutted, sobbing person – the ragged breathing of pain, the cracking voice of grief – and what better way than to make the sounds? Which also taught me where to take the necessary breaks in the dialogue.
So that was what I was busily doing when my partner, Steve, came in the back door for coffee.
I was unaware of his presence so he heard all the snorting, snivelling, snotting and changes of breath as I leant over my keyboard, absorbed in a world that I would never wish to enter in real life.
“Erhem,” I heard behind me.
Shedding my skin, I swung around, my face burning with embarrassment.
“Do I need a straitjacket?” Steve asked.
I tried to think of a reasonable explanation, but all I could blurt out was, “Can’t I have a little bit of space while I’m writing?”
He began to laugh. “So what was that all about?”
I explained, but knew I was now completely out of my story and not likely to get back into it straightaway, so I threw on my gummies to pick some elderflowers and a few small roses to make elderflower cordial – a recipe from my new Dish magazine – instead.
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Marion Day801 Manaroa Road, Clova Bay
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Picton 7282
P: (+64) 027 579 8444
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2025
Marion's latest book, Get Out! Go Wild!, was released in March and accepted by Scholastic Publishers for their school programme. It has also made its way onto the NZ bestseller list. The Poetry Project, a national anthology, includes her poem Climate Change. A national short story anthology due later in the year will showcase Marion’s winning short story, Plonked. Her most recent picture book, Iya, a story about a hunting dog that blends art and photography, is in its initial stages. Due March 2026. Marion is also diligently working on her debut novel, Let the Lies Begin.
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Marion is a member of:
- New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA)
- Storylines
- Rural Women New Zealand
- NZSA Top of the South
- Writers of Marlborough
- Writers in Schools Programme