Starting Late: Reflections on becoming a writer

March 2023

“I have an embarrassing little secret. Let me tell you about it.

The scene: an office at the university, me perched on the edge of a visitor’s chair. After completing a Masters in creative writing, I’m applying to study for the Doctor of Arts. One of my teachers, a terrific tutor and a published author, is advising me on what to include in my application. The office is spacious and pleasantly shabby, with the suggestive atmosphere possible inside a nineteenth-century sandstone building in gentle decay. The shelves are stuffed with books and the desktop overflows with papers, giving a writerly, scholarly feel to the space. Watery daylight filters through tall windows looking out onto a secret courtyard where no one ever ventures. Possibly there’s no door into it.”

Published March 2023 in the Bangalore Review, India.