We all know the things worth doing usually involve a bit of a risk taking. It’s always like that with writing – ‘what if I fail, make a fool of myself, end up doing all this work to find out I have wasted my time.’ These are the risks we take every day when we sit down to write. If wouldn’t be worth it if there wasn’t something at stake. Even if you can sense the danger you know you have to do it anyway for to back out once you have started only makes you feel worse. I took a bit of a risk recently, put myself out on a limb, decided I wanted to run a writing workshop in Cambodia when I was there at Easter visiting my godson. I’d lined it up, found a venue through a friend, did a bit of publicity, although I wasn’t on the ground there so my efforts were limited. As the time drew closer I enquired about the bookings and found out we had one definite. ‘Sorry, things have gotten busy here and there hasn’t been much time for putting leaflets and ads around.’ ‘No matter, I replied, ‘I’ll be turning up anyway – if there is only one we can still have a good mentoring session.’ (The risks of a writing tutor – feeling a bit silly when no-one shows up). In the week before in Phnom Penh I’d had a bit of a flurry on Facebook and followed up local contacts. ‘Oh why so far away in Sihanoukville’ they said ,’will you do one in Phnom Penh?” I hope to next time’ I replied, ‘tell all your friends in S’Ville.’
I headed off to Kep, a wonderful seaside hideaway and found the perfect villa to hold a future Kep Getaway. I walked around town, visited the famous crab market, took photos of the ruins of the sixties Le Corbusier bungalows that were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in the seventies. After a swim in the salt water pool at Kep Lodge I watched the sun set over the bay from the balcony of my Banana bungalow and for a few moments felt more at peace than I have for years. Is that all it takes I wondered – to say yes to something you really want to do, instead of – no I can’t really afford this trip, or no, I can’t really afford the time to write. If I hadn’t taken the risk I wouldn’t have experienced that exquisite moment of stillness and peace. I wouldn’t have met Bo from Denmark , a fellow guest at the Lodge who loves to write and who spontaneously decided to join my workshop and share the two and a half hour taxi ride there the next morning. If I hadn’t have met Bo, we wouldn’t have stopped in at the Coolabah Hotel before the workshop, where the owner Verona said ‘ 
writing workshop? What time? I’ll be there.’ So I arrived at the venue, Q&A Books, with two writers I’d picked up along the way, to find that instead of one person there where another twelve people waiting! Seven Cambodians, two Germans, four Australians and my new Danish friend made fourteen! If I hadn’t taken a little risk on my credit card and said yes instead of no, I wouldn’t have met this wonderful group of writers and made plans to come back for more.
In the afternoon my host Rob and his wife Sopheak drove me to a location out of town (thanks to Erika of Starfish Bakery S’Ville who gave excellent directions), where in 2007 Cambodian director Rithy Pahn, shot his movie Un Barrage Contre Le Pacifique, based on the novel The Sea Wall by my French writer Marguerite Duras.. In the book I am currently working on, I follow the scent of M. Duras through SE Asia exploring her influence on my Asia travels. While the house we visited is not the real house Duras lived in as a child but a replica, it somehow felt very close. The ricefields her mother struggled to build are in the S’Ville district and while in the end she was beaten by the sea that flooded in every year destroying her crop, they are known today to be some of the highest yielding rice fields in the area. I knew as soon as I set eyes on the coconut grove beyond the small bridge, to the stilt house and the white sand beach beyond(which I recognised from Pahn’s movie) that I had the end scene to my book.
If I hadn’t taken the risk – said yes instead of no to Easter in Cambodia, I wouldn’t have met the wonderful Sihanoukville writers and found my ending.
Feel like taking a risk for your writing? Join us at any of our journeys below:
Desert Writers 25 June – July 2.
Mekong Meditations 28 Nov – 4 Dec.
(For more Cambodia pix click on the right of this page)
