'Dare to dream' was the title of the session where Jackie French, Holly Throsby and Karen Viggers, moderated by Deb Stevens spoke during the third biennial writers festival at Jugiong held last weekend.
Of course the theme might just as easily have been applied to the committee of dedicated readers in the Jugiong area who have been behind the concept since it's inception, but there will be many readers to whom it could equally apply as it does to those who were on the various panels.
Along with Peter Rees, Gabrielle Chan, Charlie Massy, Trisha Dixon, Sulari Gentill and Chris Hammer, the above trio talked about the various difficulties each has in putting words on paper in the hope those words will resonate with the reader.
Jackie French is an award-winning author but still finds inspiration difficult to find at times.
"The skill is something you acquire and the skill is something you work at," Ms French said as she explained that writing is work and as you do more of it the better you become.
"But there is a feeling that the stories are not necessarily something that comes from your consciousness."
The author, popular with children and adults alike was quick to admit that the re-writing and re-writing of the original manuscript is a conscious decision; but there is still something else which she said drives the initial inspiration.
"Whatever the genre, it comes from the inner subconscious that you cannot entirely control and is in fact controlling you."
Karen Viggers, whose latest novel The Orchardist's Daughter has just been released agreed with Ms French but added it does take a lot of work to get the point where you are looking for the moment in your story where suddenly 'something else is doing the writing'.
Ms Viggers said it is not a conscious moment but it is a direction not previously considered and she was prepared to follow the new line and see how it evolved.
"In the journey of following my characters and what they experience I can explore things which are a bit frightening for me or which I think are important that society is stepping around and not confronting," she said.
"That is when writing some of those hard scenes can actually be the most powerful writing that you ever do because once you approach that moment it takes so much emotional energy to get there something beautiful and unexpected can happen with your writing."
Better known as a singer-songwriter, Holly Throsby has also published two novels and is excited by her new direction when she spoke about the thrill of writing.
"I think there is a certain tension around switching mediums," she said.
"It was lyricists that drew my ear towards language ... people like Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell or Paul Simon.
"It was their easy lyricism that I really wanted to emulate in some way."
With six solo albums supporting her creative urge besides the two novels, Ms Throsby said she relies on her instinct to further her creative life.
"The best lines in a song or the best bits in a book are things you already knew but they reinforce and tell it to you in a way you have never quite heard it before," she said.
"The truth is already in you and it is that realization which is so powerful."
