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Show Your Working is a regular column exploring how some of our favourite writers get things done. This month, we take a peek into the writing routine of multi award-winning author Tony Birch, whose new short fiction collection Dark As Last Night is out now from UQP.

A large timber desk next to a large bright corner window. On the desk is a large white placemat with a vintage street map of Fitzroy printed on it, as well as an assortment of jars and other trinkets, a toy horse and rocket, a series of books with their spines out in the colours of a rainbow. Outside the window a large eucalyptus tree is visible.

Tony’s workspace. Image: Supplied

What does your workspace look like?

I write upstairs in the house. I have a corner desk looking out to a small roof garden and across to other rooftops of Fitzroy. I live only a few blocks from the Fitzroy street I grew up on, so I’m not far from home. I like my workspace a lot, although I can pretty much write anywhere without being distracted, except around mess. I am a bit OCD and couldn’t work anywhere if the space was untidy. I sometimes clean the whole house before I start to write. I often have books that I love nearby and I’m obsessive about the talismanic qualities of objects. So, my writing is guided by old milk bottles, pinecones, photographs, a model space rocket and books, books, books.

A full length timber bookshelf against a tan coloured wall. The shelves are cut into alternately-spaced squares, and are full of neatly organised journals and other books. A second, smaller set of shelves beside the main bookshelf has a woven basket and various other items on the shelves.

Image: Supplied

Are you an analog or digital writer?

I keep notebooks, but increasingly I find that nothing I write in them is worth a creative word. I go for a run most days, and sometimes a long walk, taking notes in my head. These jottings are more helpful and often solve a writing problem. Because I don’t like clutter, I never keep drafts of my work except for the one I’m working on. I would never give this advice to another writer, but I only work with the lump of clay in my hands. Once I delete a word, sentence, even entire chapters, they’re gone, gone.

My writing is guided by old milk bottles, pinecones, photographs, a model space rocket and books, books, books.

What sort of software and hardware do you use to get your work done?

I can’t begin to answer this question. I have an Apple Mac computer (I have no idea what the model is called) and it has a word program on it that types words on a screen. I don’t know any more about it than that. Maybe it’s called ‘typie-typie 2.0’?

Describe your writing practice?

I write in the morning—the earlier the better. And I don’t write more than two or three hours a day. I prefer reading and running. I also help with my grandkids, which also beats writing. Until recently I always worked full time while writing. Now that I don’t have a paid job, I should be writing more, I suppose. But I’m actually writing less, and I’m not concerned about this. I am organised and expect to write around 500 words at a sitting. Sometimes, when I’m writing a short story and its humming I will write for longer, and perhaps finish a draft.

Has your writing practice changed over the years? If so, how?

See above. Sometimes less is more. And sometimes less is a lot less.

I never keep drafts of my work except for the one I’m working on. I would never give this advice to another writer, but I only work with the lump of clay in my hands.

How do you encourage inspiration to strike?

Inspiration for me has always come from observation. Walking and watching and listening. Also, I love photography and have often found the inspiration for a story in a photograph. I’m also dedicated to popular culture. I was raised on the three-minute pop song and grew up in a house where we were not allowed to turn the television off, even when all it showed was the test pattern. (Younger readers may be mystified right now). I also love film and have watched many movies that trigger an idea for fiction. And, of course, there are books and more books. If I ever forget what a great short story looks like, I re-read Lucia Berlin’s A Manual for Cleaning Women, and think ‘fuck me, that’s it.’

A selection of empty vintage milk bottles, a jar full of pine cones, a red and blue toy rocket, a jar full of colourful pebbles and a white stone, sitting on the corner of a timber desk.

“I’m obsessive about the talismanic qualities of objects.” Image: Supplied

Dark As Last Night is available now from your local independent bookseller.

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Tony Birch is the author of four novels, five short fiction collections, and two poetry books. In 2022 his book, Dark As Last Night was awarded the Christina Stead Literary Prize and the Steele Rudd Literary Award. The book was also shortlisted for the 2022 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for fiction. His most recent book is the novel, Women and Children, (UQP 2023).

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