Christopher Bennett

Memoir Reflections

Chris Bennett

Carn The Roys

I discovered this footy scarf at my sister’s place and couldn’t resist trying it on.

Technically it’s a Brisbane Lions scarf but to an old Fitzroy boy like me it still represents the Fitzroy Lions of my childhood.

The Fitzroy footy club played in the VFL and AFL leagues and was known as the Maroons (1883-1938) and the Gorillas (1938-1957). But I always knew the team as the Lions (1958-1996).

I can still remember the roar of the crowd on a Saturday afternoon when Fitzroy played at the Brunswick Street oval, a few blocks away from where I lived.

Fitzroy won seven premiership, the last one in 1944, and I waited several decades for the next premiership but that hope was dashed when they merged with Brisbane in the 1990s. Though the Brisbane Lions won three premierships, I never considered those as I was a Fitzroy tragic.

I never merged with Brisbane Lions. The Fitzroy the team did.

There are a few of us Fitzroy tragics still around and there still is hope for another premiership in the form of the Fitzroy Reds, formerly the University Reds. It was formed in 2009, and plays in the Victorian Amateur Football Association and it almost won a premiership in the D grade competition.

I was never a fanatical supporter of the Fitzroy Lions but I still miss them.

They disappeared just like my childhood.

Footnote: Carn the Roys translates to Come on Fitzroy and was used by supporters to encourage the team.

Are We There Yet?

I’m looking forward to wrapping up the fourth draft of my memoir. I have two chapters to complete and then I’ll start the fifth draft.

Once I complete the fifth draft, which I hope to do in the next few weeks, I’ll hand over the manuscript to my editor for feedback.

I’m sure she will ‘pick the bones’ out of it so I can further polish the manuscript.

I’ve decided to devote at least four days per week writing so I can get this project completed. I started writing it ten years ago!

The other day of the week I’ve put aside to run two businesses 🙂

My aim is to get the memoir published by the end of this year, not just for my sake but for for the sake of all those people who keep asking me ‘have you finished the memoir?’

I’m not there yet but I will be.

Image courtesy of Tommy Lisbin via Unsplash

The Big Picture in Small Words

I created this board of system cards to get an over view of the memoir I’m currently writing.

Each card contains a chapter heading and subheadings for vignettes that I have written.

The cards in this picture do not show the text for privacy reasons.

I place this board on the side of my writing table, about waist high. The system cards are pinned to the cork board and show the text.

It’s refreshing to look at this board every now and again and not get bogged down into details from my journal of notes.

As I’ve worked on the memoir I’ve changed the order of a couple of cards and changed some chapter titles to get a better sense of flow for the memoir. And there probably will be further tweaking as I write the next draft.

Sometimes I just gaze at the board and new ideas pop into my head.

I’ll certainly use the board for future writing projects as it has been very helpful to get the big picture using small words.

Fitzroy Raw

‘Fitzroy Raw‘, author Tom Petsinis’ new novel, has recently been published.

I haven’t read it yet but I am looking forward to doing so as it covers my old stomping ground of Fitzroy during the 1960s.

I met Tom at a reading he gave in the Fitzroy library back in 2011. We had a chat afterwards and I told him about the memoir I was and still am writing, and we arranged to catch up for a coffee and a chat at Fitz cafe in Fitzroy, corner of Kerr Street and Brunswick Street.

Just sitting outside the cafe and looking around brought back a lot memories for me. In the 1960s, the Fitz cafe was Frank Dempsey’s butcher shop and a few doors down was where I once lived.

Fitzroy back in those days was raw but it also had a strong sense of community.

Don’t Chuck it in the Bin – Yet

Well, I’ve had some positive feedback on the fourth draft of my memoir from my editor so I won’t chuck it in the bin just yet.

She’s going to recommend some chapter titles and themes which will make it easier for me to start the fifth draft.

There are two chapters in my current draft that are each over 20,000 words long that need to be reduced into several chapters to make the memoir more readable.

Once I have the chapter titles and themes in place I can then start to craft the memoir by focusing on one chapter at a time.

This stage of writing is going to be enjoyable as just about all the research has been completed and vignettes written.

It’s been a long ten year journey to get this stage but I ‘m closer to the end of this project than the beginning.

Image courtesy of Steve Johnson via Unsplash