Up-and-coming author makes Writers Festival debut

EAGLEHAWK nurse, husband, father of three, actor and emerging author Russell Holdaway made his debut at the Bendigo Writers Festival last weekend and, unlike many others, relished his opportunity to appear.

His first novel, Breakout Road, was published in November last year with a follow up currently in the works.

He said his talk in the Local Stories Lounge on Saturday morning went well.

“I’d never done anything like that before so I followed the crowd, and talking to people afterwards I received some nice feedback,” he said.

With a busy worklife and kids to ferry around, as well as regular acting gigs with Synchronicity Performing Arts, Mr Holdaway said his writing practice is “quite impulsive.”

“I’ll sit down and I’ll start working on an idea, and I don’t necessarily always know where it’s going to take me,” he said.

“It’s difficult. Saturday mornings tend to be the golden time for me, because I get up before the kids and it gives me that time to just get writing.

“I can (only) find myself two to four hours, so I have to get a lot done.

“If I’m on a roll, I might get up early again on the Sunday morning and carry on, and I might find a couple of times during the week to do some (work) as well. So, it’s kind of opportunistic.

“My preference is, if I can, to try and stay on one idea and work through it until it’s finished.

“In a perfect world, I’d love to be able to get up every day and write for a couple of hours and try and smash out the (words).”

He said it was a “nice gesture” on the part of the festival to invite him this year.

“It’s little things like that,” he said. “You’ve got to grab these moments and try and get yourself out there, try and get people talking about you and drum up a bit of a buzz.”