Lorraine Jones won first place for her short story ‘Tom’ in the Brimbank Writers Awards last month. 88374 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By VANESSA VALENZUELA
A KURUNJANG mother with a love for telling stories has taken out top prize at the 2012 Brimbank Writers Awards.
Lorraine Jones took home first place at the literary awards ceremony last month for her short story ‘Tom’ which follows the life of a farmer who becomes the victim of a terrible accident.
“It was really exciting and wonderful to find someone that likes what you’ve written,” Ms Jones said.
Ms Jones moved to Australia from New Zealand eight years ago after working in a number of different professional roles including university lecturer, business trainer, counsellor and consultant.
“I’ve done a lot of business writing and people have always said I write well but you don’t really think about it when you’re churning out reports and documents,” Ms Jones said.
The aspiring author discovered a flair for writing in 2009 when an idea she scribbled down on a napkin during her tea break became the first draft of a manuscript that is currently awaiting revision.
With her new found hobby, Ms Jones decided to join Writers Victoria where she applied for one of their mentorship programs and was offered a six hour writing lesson with established author Clare Allan-Kamil.
Ms Jones has also completed a series of writing courses and is currently a member of writing group Wordsmiths of Melton.
“I actually found that I was enjoying it so much and because the ideas kept coming, I decided to take it more seriously,” she said.
Ms Jones decided to take a break from work earlier this year and has spent most of her free time focusing on improving her writing skills.
She is currently working on a memoir that covers a short but extremely eventful time during her life and is now in the habit of writing every day.
To read this year’s winning short stories and poems submitted in the Brimbank Writers Awards visit www.brimbank.vic.gov.au
