Straight Up, I am Hooked

I came across the Mont Blanc Writing Workshop held in Chamonix, in the French Alps, by chance while surfing the web. And I just had to go. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn the craft of memoir from Cheryl Strayed author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, recently made into a movie starring Reece Witherspoon.

Finding this workshop was no great surprise to me. My life, it seems, has always been full of chance encounters and coincidences. It all started (or that’s when I first noticed it), when I travelled Africa by motorcycle. That was 20 years ago and I’ve always felt compelled to weave this phenomenon into my travel memoir, Ubuntu: a search by motorcycle through Africa. It details my motorcycle ride through Africa over 14 months during 1993-1994. It will be published by Black Inc. Books, under the imprint Nero, in April 2016—but more on that later.

The Mont Blanc workshop is part of a Master of creative writing program at Butler University in Indiana, but was opened to others, for the first time, last year. Most of the writers were from the United States with only me and another from Australia (both of us from Melbourne). The workshop brings together 12 emerging writers—some who will go on to be tomorrow’s best-selling authors. To be accepted, I was required to submit a 15,000 word writing sample.

During those ten days in Chamonix, Cheryl covered writing techniques using examples from her memoir Wild. We also ‘workshopped’ our own writing submissions providing feedback on how each piece could be improved based on these techniques. On the last day, each of us also had a one-on-one meeting with Cheryl, which provided an opportunity to discuss the finer points of our memoirs as a ‘work-in-progress’. My focus was the prologue and the first chapter of the sequel to my second book, which I aim to finish late 2016. It details my motorcycle ride back to Australia through Central Asia and China following my HIV diagnosis in London in 1995. This was at a time when death from AIDS was inevitable. I explore issues of stigma, denial and why I did this ride knowing I would soon die. I also asked Cheryl if she would consider giving her praise to my recently completed first book Ubuntu. Such praise would be an enormous help in gaining readership attention in the United States.

When I’d finished Ubuntu, I quickly moved on to the sequel. However, as one learns a new craft, one quickly realises how much one doesn’t know. The Mont Blanc writing workshop came at that very moment when I desperately needed it, but the cost was prohibitive—over $5000 including airfares, workshop, accommodation and meals. As a single mother of three children under twelve who works part-time and is paying a mortgage, I needed help. Positive Women Victoria came to my rescue with a small grant from The Rose Fund. Living Positive Victoria through marketing coordinator Daniel Brace set up a Go Fund Me campaign, which raised some extra funding through HIV sector networks. As most of the costs to attend this workshop were placed on my credit card, these extra funds were an enormous help and I am immensely grateful to PWV members and the rest of the HIV sector for this support.

While in Chamonix, I managed to live exceedingly cheaply, even by my standards. I found a home stay with a lovely French family who even took me hiking. Chamonix is wedged in a narrow valley overshadowed by the majestic snow-capped Mont Blanc. Hiking, of course, is free and requires no more than a good pair of boots and a little stamina. With time off during the weekend, I explored the trails that criss-cross the mountains rising steeply on either side of Chamonix, revelling in the sheer beauty of it all. Most evenings, I hung out with the other writers sipping red wine and nibbling cheese, or being indulged with fine French food by my generous home stay family.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m a great believer in synchronicity and on my return from France, I began submitting my Ubuntu memoir to publishers—just six at first. I did not want to burn all my bridges if they all responded with a rejection. But two weeks later, I opened my emails and sat stunned as I read the opening line from Black Inc. Books: ‘Straight up, I am hooked’

That special, generally perceived, unobtainable moment had arrived. But reaching the point of ‘soon-to-be-published’ author did not happen by magic alone. I wrote the first draft in 1996 just after my diagnosis in London as I did not want what I had experienced to die with me. I felt a strange sense of evolutionary duty to share my story. After writing this first draft over six months, I then pitched it to publishers in London but as a first draft, it was hardly ready to unleash on the world. So I packed my motorcycle for the ride home. But I did not die (I was saved in the ‘nick of time’ by the discovery of protease inhibitors). I then cowered in fear of stigma and shelved the manuscript. It is only in recent years that I have had the courage to face this stigma.

But both my memoir and my writing also needed the passage of time. There were hours of writing and re-writing, all the time getting better at this craft. First, I did a journalism degree and landed a job with News Ltd; moved into PR working as a communications/media officer for Plan, an international development organisation; and then as a freelance features writer. I joined writing groups, linked with other writers and read many memoirs. But I had never attended a writing workshop—nothing like what was offered by Cheryl Strayed in Chamonix. This was my pivotal moment and a wonderful opportunity to learn new skills, form new networks and make new friendships. And all have helped launch me into a new world as a published author.

Ubuntu: a search by motorcycle through Africa is written by Heather Ellis. For more details www.heather-ellis.com