2010 and all is well
No it isn’t. It’s stuffed. Everything, most things, a lot of things, have gone the way of the pear.
However, that book I wrote, you may have heard about it, Boy on a Wire, sold out before Christmas and the publisher had to re-print it. Nice.
This year this writer will again visit the Big Two - Sydney and Melbourne - on book matters and a number of much smaller towns like Perth and, he hopes, Adelaide.
The big question everyone asks is: What are you writing next?
I always answer: A letter to an old friend.
Then i smile like a sheep and walk sideways.
In the meantime, I have neglected blogs to bring up to reasonable speeds.
The third answer
A good friend of mine, Mary Nixon, recently posed a number of questions in response to her reading of Boy on a Wire. She challenged me to answer them. Mary expected that I would not, when answering, move a foot back. I have tried not to.
This is the third.
3. Have you ever thought how Jack would have behaved as a boy without the rules imposed by God to help him control his fierce emotions?
You had a strong set of rules imposed on you by High Church Anglicanism - was it a straight jacket or a safety net? (pp 11,12, etc.)
If Jack had not had God watching over him, tempering him, adding to his fear, insisting on certain commandments, yes, he would have been a lot less restrained. Me too. But not only did I fear God, I was also afraid of those who constantly judged your manners.
I was brought up by two people and one of their parents to believe that “manners maketh a man”. My father sometimes sat at the head of the table with a strap to ensure that we held our knives, forks, and spoons correctly and that we sat upright, arms placed accordingly and that our speech was befitting of our class. My mother was even more severe although not as violent.
On reflection, I realise that the heavy handed rule from the top taught me basics that nurtured respect, courtesy, and, even more important, restraint. Given the fire that often burnt quick, deep and fierce within me, God and manners kept me from raging blazes that could well have had tragic consequences.
However, there is no doubt that as my life moved along its random path, the safety net proved to be a straight jacket, which is why I, like many of my baby boomer colleagues, revolted. And revolting I remain.
The first in a series of answers
A good friend of mine, Mary Nixon, has posed a number of questions which I will attempt to answer. They are in response to her reading of Boy on a Wire. Mary expects that I will not, when answering, move a foot back. I’ll try not to.
Here is the first.
1. Opposite the contents page you say that you “have cobbled a life together”. Can you expand on this?
It has become clear to me over the course of my life that there is a large group of people who are very clear about what they are doing, when they are doing it, and why they are doing it. Then there are others, more like me, who seem to do things at random because something smacks them in the mouth, they are stationary at the time, they are looking for something else to do, or the police are knocking on the door and this is a smart time to move house.
In my time so far I have worked in a bank, as a retailer, a child minder, journalist, farm worker, comedian, cool-room attendant, joke writer and at other tasks that have slipped from memory. The only bit planned was the bit I seem to be in now – writer. And maybe that’s something many writers have in common - they find an income however they can, doing almost anything, all the while making notes.
In addition, I married twice without meaning to and helped one wife get pregnant without either of us knowing what we were up to.
Add to all this the inner self-doubt I constantly grapple with and the outer extraverted attitude that reeks of overconfidence and you have a life that can only be cobbled together despite the conflicting streams, meandering interests, rampant passions and a body heavily poisoned with insecticides and heavy metals that is forever driven by its owner to run, climb, lift and surf.
The book, Boy on a Wire, is published by Fremantle Press
Jon Doust, the man, talks about Boy on a Wire
BUY Boy on a Wire
You can almost see the book
Boy on a Wire is a book by this blogger. You may seen the occasional reference.
It is ready now, almost. This first thing to do is launch it and this will be done next week, on Thursday March 19th, at Christ Church Grammar School, Claremont, West Australia, a school a bit like the school in the book. No, not any more, but once, a long time ago, it might have looked like it.
The great news is it will be launch by West Australian playwright, actor, and ex-boarding school boy, Reg Cribb.
Here is Reg’s bio:
Reg started out life as a musician and an actor. One day he came to his senses and wrote 10 plays in seven years. His plays have been performed both nationally and internationally. He is one of the most awarded and produced playwrights in the country.
Reg lives in Bassendean, Perth with his wife Kirsty. His house is directly opposite Rolf Harris’s old primary school. He hopes the magic will one day rub off on him.
His plays include: The Return: which has been produced all over Australia and internationally as far abroad as Japan and Romania, Last Cab to Darwin: Directed by Jeremy Sims for Pork Chop Productions, which toured everywhere between The Sydney Opera House and Broken Hill and is one of the most awarded Australian plays in the last 15 years, Gulpilil: A one man show about the life of Aboriginal acting legend David Gulpilil, in which the actor played himself (Adelaide International Arts Festival 2004, Brisbane International Arts Festival 2004 and Belvoir St. Theatre – Sydney), Chatroom: Nominated for numerous awards and currently touring nationally, and Ruby’s Last Dollar: Again directed by Jeremy Sims.
Last Train To Freo, the feature film adaptation of ‘The Return’ is his first feature.
He is currently working on an adaptation of his play Chatroom to be directed by Samantha Lang and produced by Sue Taylor, and Bran Nue Dae by Jimmy Chi to be directed by Rachel Perkins. His half hour film Grange was shown on ABC T.V in 2005.
Keep you eyes on your local bookshop.
Boy on a Wire will be there any minute.
And now for the back
It’s logical: every front has a back, and here it is.
Can’t read the back page?
Here it is in text:
“In the boarding house it doesn’t matter who hit you first, or if they miss-hit, you have to get them back. It’s kid against kid, dog against dog. We all have rabies. We all have pinks disease. We’re all foaming at the mouth. Tit for tat, the strong rule the weak, the weak cry. Only those who can find the mean streak in them survive. I’m a survivor. Briggsy taught me that. If you’re weak, unspeakable things happen to you. The bastards won’t get me.”
It is the 1960s in Perth, Western Australia. For Thomas Muir, cool and steady, life is a thing that goes on outside him. But for his brother, hot-headed Jack, believer in honesty and justice, life must be wrestled to be understood.
Jack Muir’s years of survival and his coming of age in a boys’ boarding school are sharply revealed in this dislocated memoir. Jack’s story is funny and raw. It will strike a nerve in those who were there and in anyone who has ever asked: how it is that one becomes a man?
Boy on a Wire
This is the front cover of Boy on a Wire, a book I wrote.
There is a bit more about under the heading above. Take a look.