18 June 2015

Spotlight On: Sam George-Allen

 

Sam George-Allen is a Brisbane writer and musician. She is a co-founding editor of Scum Magazine.

 

How old are you?
25

What state or territory do you live in?
Queensland

What kind of writing do you do?
Longform non-fiction and memoir, especially about sex, women and magic.

What are you currently reading?
Sex At Dawn, by Cacilda Jethá and Christopher Ryan. It is only ok.

How did you begin writing?
In a professional sense, I started out by writing music journalism (very badly and for free). I studied writing at university which opened other opportunities and once I recognised that what I really wanted to do was tell true stories, I focused on that. In a more general sense, I’ve been writing down nonsense ever since I could hold a pen.

How do you remain motivated?
Competition.

Where do you find inspiration for your work?
In the work of other women. Every creative woman I know is amazing and hard-working and hugely inspirational.  

Do you think where you live in Australia has influenced your writing?
Maybe not where I live right now, but where I lived in my late teens, definitely. I finished high school in Cairns and the surrounding tropical North Queensland terrain made a big impact. There is something spooky and strange about all that cane and humidity and sticky brown rivers. No wonder I ended up writing about voodoo.

What is the best and worst piece of advice you’ve been given as a writer?
The best: It’s okay to take time off, and it’s okay to not be working on something all the time.

The worst: Write what you know. How will I ever learn anything?

What piece of published writing are you most proud of? Why?
I wrote it so long ago, but I still really like this thing I wrote for Kari Gislason’s travel blog. It’s called ‘Letter From Mt Fuji’ and it’s about visiting a lake near Mount Fuji to watch the sunrise. Even though there is a lot I would change in this piece now, it’s still one of the first things I wrote where I sound like “me”.

http://aremyfeetintheway.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/letter-from-mt-fuji-by-sam-george-allen.html

What is your goal for National Young Writer’s Month?
To participate in some invigorating discussion with writers I really admire (pretty much everyone involved, tbh).

Is there anything else you would like to tell us?
I’m very chuffed to be a part of such an exciting event!

Where can we find out more about you?
My personal website is https://samgeorgeallen.wordpress.com/ but it is so rarely updated it barely merits mention. Better to find me on Twitter @samga and Instagram @jamjarmelon.

 

Photo by: Alan Weedon