James Knight
G’day everyone,
Just dropping you a quick line to say I’m looking forward to swapping a few yarns with you next week. As a non-fiction writer and a traveller, I’m driven by meeting people and hearing about their lives. From Hawthorn to Rwanda, Gunnedah to Ethiopia. There are six plus billion on this planet and we all have stories to tell; and from these there are so many lessons to learn. Just a warning: I’m not one to be impressed by flash cars, I-pods, or the latest plasma screen TV’s; I’d much rather share experiences with people. After all, we are the most complicated and inspiring of all machines.
To the students reading this, feel free to bring stories to my sessions. Plus, bring along some of your favourite treasures to talk about. A photo? A ball? A trophy? Oh yeh, and one other warning: be prepared to do some push-ups!
See ya soon.
James ( Knighty)
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August 6th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Life in the slow lane!!! Sounds good. See you next week!
August 6th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I watched a group of old Italian men sitting on the only bench outside the Coles Supermarket in Yarraville last night. They were talking so much and waving their arms around and laughing at something I wish I could understand. They sure had tales to tell!
August 7th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
What are the push-ups for? is his latest book really that thick?
August 10th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Every single person out there has something to share, a tale to tell, a story. Even if it only one paragraph or a 100,000 word book it is still a story Every living organism in the universe has some back round, some starting point something that has happened between their date of existence and now (i know that’s a bit extreme.)
You can never say that you have no story because that is simply impossible, to have no story means to have never existed. And even if something has never existed it can still have a story. e.g. a couple can talk about having a child and give it a name and what school he/she would go to and all sorts of things. Even a new born baby has a story; those first shed tears came from somewhere, they fell onto something, and that something that the tears fell on even has a story. It has to have come from somewhere, maybe the farmer who herded the sheep which provided the wool to make the blanket has just won an award for his contribution to world health organisations.
You may ask your self “what is the difference between myself and an writer?” The answer is of course: the writer put his/her story into a book. your story is just as good, just as detailed as theirs is, their story can never be better than yours, it can only ever be different.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Good call Andrew! It’s all in how we look at things. And it’s wonderful many of us look at things so differently. Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same?!
August 13th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
yer i totally agree!!
xo
August 18th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
yer i defs agree i really enjoyed ur thing it was ace fun
August 18th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
really liked ur workshop, lot of fun, hope u come back in 2 years
August 18th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
gteat sesh.. really inspiring…
August 18th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
James!!! remember me, i was the guy that was yelling out YEAH!!!!! on tuesday. I also got an A+ in my Eniglish oral. Remember?
anyway just wondering how you get so many great experiences travelling the world? It is one of my dreams to meet people around the world. Thanks alot for a great experiece and i enjoyed your workshop massively. Ur uber cool. Radicall!!!!!
August 21st, 2009 at 10:26 am
G’day all ( and a big g’day to Willay!……YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Thanks for all the comments, and I hope life is treating you all well. What’s in store for the weekend? Going to the footy? I’m in the midts of marathon training, so tomorrow is a three hour run ( ooh! Ouch!)..Now to answer your question Willay ( well done on the A+ for English oral by the way)……It’s easy to have great experiences travelling the world, or down to the corner store for that matter, if you allow all your senses to lead you. Remember what I said the other day: The most important tool of any writer is ‘who, what, where, why, when and how’. Arm yourselves with those questions and you can continually be curious about what’s around you….and that leads to experiences. When I travel overseas I’m always willing to chat with people because I find people really interesting. We all have our own stories. And the more people we meet, the more stories and experiences we’ll collect. Willay, always be curious and interested and remember the power of a smile. There are some pretty hard people in this world, but there are so many others who will welcome you as a friend with as little as a smile. Keep in touch guys….I’ll chat with you for however long this site is up! Have a great weekend.