Writing is supposed to be about letters on a page, but sometimes it’s about numbers. The number of words needed for a story or an article. The number of days to make the deadline. The number of writing accomplishments. The number of sleeps until the end of the year.

As 2016 gears down and the bells toll for 2017, the Eurobodalla writers will be able to look back on their achievements with happiness and pride. Cat Sheely and Marisol Dunham, committee members of the Canberra based speculative fiction convention Conflux, helped orchestrate an event that gets bigger and better each year. Anke Ziergiebel and Debbie Richardson were successful in their pitching sessions to Harper Collins at Conflux 2016 and Cat Sheely successfully pitched to literary agent Alex Adsett. Suzanne Newnham will publish an article based on her family history in the BORAL News, and she’s being interviewed for a Masters in Investigative Journalism thesis based on her psychic reading ethics. She also writes a monthly health column on chronic pain in an international e-magazine. Five of our writers – Cassandra Webb, Debbie Richardson, Stafford Ray, Rhonda Casey, Rosie Toth – held court at the Batemans Bay Writers Festival in September to a room of local and visiting readers. Stafford Ray toured libraries up and down the coast with his novels in tow and the conviction of Charles Dickens. The Moruya Library co-hosted two literary salons where our authors read from published and unpublished works to a full capacity turnout of local literary lovers. We even had a successful fiction author from New York in the audience! The members of the night group wrote, edited, designed, and published a speculative fiction short story.