In Conversation with
Maura Pierlot
Tell us about your most recent publication.
Background: In 2016 I was awarded a small grant from the Capital Arts Patrons’ Organisation to write the script for Fragments. At the time, mental health issues weren’t being talked about openly, especially the issues facing young people. Angst was just part of growing up, or so it seemed. Anxiety and depression are on the rise as people struggle to cope with isolation and uncertainty in the face of COVID-19. There’s still a great deal of stigma and reluctance among some people to seek help but, thankfully, the conversation about mental health issues is becoming more open and pervasive.
Book Orders:
Several bookish events are planned for October (Mental Health Month) including a book launch at The Book Cow in Canberra on Friday 29th October at 5pm. Please come along if you’re in or near the ACT:
BOOK HERE
For anyone interested in learning more about Fragments, visit HERE
My writing drifts towards complex issues, often the ones no one wants to talk about, at least publicly. As a result, I tend to live in my head for extended periods, which is both a blessing and a burden. A blessing because life is typically so chaotic that it’s good to retreat to the confines of one’s mind for a bit. A burden because my mind is nearly always abuzz with questions and worries (usually about unlikely scenarios) sprinkled with ‘to do’ lists, reminders and musings, so it’s getting a bit crowded in there. My writing process is high intensity, arguably grounded in a compulsion of sorts, which nearly always leads to some sort of clarity and understanding. Meanwhile, I’m constantly wrestling with ideas – a tap that I can’t easily turn off.
Yes, definitely. Writing has always been my way of making sense of the world. I was an early reader and writer, dutifully recording thoughts and experiences in my diary. I’ve written all my life, usually as part of education or employment (freelance writer, academic, video writer/producer, ethicist etc). When I turned to creative writing about seven years ago, I wrote about the things that mattered in my life. My debut picture book, The Trouble in Tune Town, was inspired by our three children who, at the time, could not have been less enthused about regularly practising their musical instruments. Meanwhile, my mother was hospitalised with a mystery illness complicated by dementia – the harbinger of a long, tumultuous journey that reignited family conflicts and exposed hard truths about mental health issues. The complex emotions I was struggling with poured onto the page as my first play (soon selected for a brief run in Melbourne), which opened a door that led to another door that led to Fragments.
In 2017 when I returned from the trip to emotional hell (navigating my mother’s transition to assisted living in the U.S.), my husband became gravely ill. His nearly two-year recovery dovetailed with my own health challenges, the bushfires and, in mid-2019, my mother’s death. When I came back from her funeral, production started for the debut season of Fragments at The Street. Then the pandemic struck, shutting the door on life as we knew it. All of this happened in the space of a few years. Writing, in a sense, saved me, bringing a sense of clarity, acceptance and perhaps even purpose.
1. Work out who you’re writing for and why.
2. Believe in yourself.
3. Believe in your work.
4. Seek feedback (but go with your gut).
5. Read widely, and often, across genres.
6. Be a keen observer.
7. Be open to changing directions.
8. Find your natural (writing) fit.
9. Don’t sell your soul – in the industry, on social media. Anywhere.
10. Never give up. 
For anyone interested in learning more about Fragments, visit HERE
What do you enjoy most about writing?
For me, writing has always been about clarity, curiosity and connecting – in a sense, it’s a form of communion with myself and the wider world. I enjoy the freedom of thought and expression that comes from writing. I enjoy that (usually) I can write when and where I please. I enjoy that I get to search within while looking outwards – creating, and inhabiting new worlds through imagination, insights, and inquisitiveness. I enjoy the drama. (Everything in life is essentially a story.) I enjoy when my writing, often about intensely personal experiences, resonates with others.What is the hardest aspect of being a writer?
Writers are sometimes influenced by things that happen in their own lives. Are you?.
In 2017 when I returned from the trip to emotional hell (navigating my mother’s transition to assisted living in the U.S.), my husband became gravely ill. His nearly two-year recovery dovetailed with my own health challenges, the bushfires and, in mid-2019, my mother’s death. When I came back from her funeral, production started for the debut season of Fragments at The Street. Then the pandemic struck, shutting the door on life as we knew it. All of this happened in the space of a few years. Writing, in a sense, saved me, bringing a sense of clarity, acceptance and perhaps even purpose.
Have you ever had a fan moment and met somebody famous? Tell us about it.
I met quite a few celebs one evening in the ‘80s, starting with a drink with Julian Lennon. I was waiting for a friend at the Jockey Club at the Ritz Carlton, where I had been staying while finishing up a consulting gig. I sat next to Julian at the bar because he was the only other person there, and I had this strange feeling that I knew him from somewhere. Really nice guy – quiet, dry sense of humour. When I saw his profile (spitting image of his dad), it clicked. Then Bono (and U2 bandmates) wandered in. I asked Bono for an autograph for my younger brother, a big fan (and musician). He was lovely, very obliging, and my brother still has the cocktail napkin with his scrawl. On the way back to my room, I met Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) and Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys). It finally dawned on me that the Grammys were that night. A few years later at Watergate in Washington, DC I shared an elevator with Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) and, the next day, with Ella Fitzgerald. She smiled and offered a gentle nod, probably because I couldn’t speak. That was one of the few times I remember being truly awestruck.
Top tips for writers?
Here are my top ten tips … in no particular order:1. Work out who you’re writing for and why.
2. Believe in yourself.
3. Believe in your work.
4. Seek feedback (but go with your gut).
5. Read widely, and often, across genres.
6. Be a keen observer.
7. Be open to changing directions.
8. Find your natural (writing) fit.
9. Don’t sell your soul – in the industry, on social media. Anywhere.
10. Never give up.
What is the craziest thing you have done?
When I was an undergraduate at Duke, I pushed a pram as part of a small relay team to Washington, DC – just over 400 kilometres – to raise funds for a little-known US Presidential candidate. Worst case of shin splints ever! In ’87 my best friend and I landed in Fiji in the middle of a military coup. We had just shot an AIDS documentary in Australia and arrived with the footage, which was immediately confiscated (but eventually returned via the US State Department). The authorities had thought we were journalists and placed us under house arrest. We weren’t supposed to leave our bure but, of course, we did, visiting a ‘witch doctor’ we had recently befriended. That’s when the trouble started …How can we learn more about you?
Thank you for joining In Conversation this week. Remember to always
Dream Big ... Read Often.
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