At the end of our Desert Writers journey this year we arrived at Simpsons Gap. Over the week we’d walked from Inarlanga Pass to the Ochre Pits, into the mouth of Ormiston Gorge, along the dry Davenport riverbed and arrived in Tjilpa Country, looking out over the great crater of Tnorala or Gosses Bluff. We rode the rock ‘n roll river road along the Finke into Palm Valley and by night lay  in our swags under oceans of stars, waking into a dawn lit by a playful paper moon. We walked, talked, wrote and dreamed our way through the West MacDonnell Ranges in a full circle arriving at Hermannsburg Community, the home of our guides,  Nicholas and Genise, artist Clarabelle and Tnorala custodians Mavis and Herman Malbunka. Time stretched out in a rolling landscape where no phones rang, no computers beeped, no screens blared their inanities at us; only crows cawed, frogs plopped, fish plumped and a lone dingo howled. On the last day by the waterhole at the Gap we knew we needed a strategy for re-entry so in pairs we set our writing goals for the next week, month, three months, six months, a year. With the waterhole and red cliffs as our witness we made our promise; to write the stories we must write, without fear, distraction or attachment to outcome. To simply write for the sake of it, write for the joy of it,  to write our way into trusting that yes, we have something to say and by hell or high water we will find a way every day to recall the lightness and brightness of the desert air as we enter into the writing zone – if only for ten minutes or even just a minute .

You don’t have to go to the desert to make this kind of promise, but it helps. Join us next year June 23-30. Booking now!

Next up  – Backstage Bali,  24-30 July

Luang Prabang Writers Lab, 20 – 27 Nov

Mekong Meditations, 27 Nov – 4 Dec