Each month we feature an introduction to one of our members. This month we hear from Brooke Hardwick.
Brooke Hardwick: Living the Write Life
My life in literature began in 1998 as a high school English teacher in Australia. In the subsequent decades I taught and travelled the world. From Catholic schools in Glasgow to Agricultural schools in Queensland, Co-operative schools in London and Government schools in Hong Kong; my career has been colourful and varied.
Although my formal education is in teaching, my identity is that of a writer. I claim it as fiercely as I claim life. At twelve, my first book was a thinly disguised autobiography of a heroine who faces an identity crisis when her hair is steamrollered (literally). Since then, thankfully, my writing has evolved.
In 2014, after a transformative experience under a Balinese waterfall, I established my blog: TheWriteLife. The rather meta tag line best sums it up: Plundering life, writing about it, writing about writing about it. Attached to my blog is a Facebook page of the same name. Those who belong are, like me, in pursuit of a life enriched by literature. It has become wildly popular and both feeds and promotes my own writing.
Recently, I completed a work of literary fiction. It has been four years in development and was written in Parisian bookstores, Roman libraries, Philippine jungles, Chiang Mai cafes and on Greek Islands, to name a few. Its creation has been joyful and a genuine product of living the write life.
Long term, I plan to take the model of a retreat I facilitated in Bali to the world. I see myself running creative residencies in a wisteria-draped villa on the hills beyond Florence. Whatever I do, I know that it will only ever be write.
You can follow Brooke on her blog, The Write Life, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and read more of her articles here and here.
Please email us if you would like to be featured in this space in one of our upcoming newsletters.