DG Unlimited's Innovate Create Cultivate fund has supported Gerry Cameron in developing her writing by allowing her to work collaboratively to develop a poetry, prose and performance piece. In this DGU Story, she tells us more about how ICC helped her to explore her creative practice.
Gerry Cameron is a writer, based in Wigtownshire. She is a successful author whose historical fiction has been published as e-books. In January 2018, she and fellow writers Anni Farrington and Jane Fuller applied to the ICC fund to support the development of a work called Smugglers. The proposal was to create a performance piece that drew on a rich local history of the smuggling trade in southwest Scotland, and its contemporary relevance.
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Although already an established writer, Gerry lacked the time and resources to further explore and develop her writing, and felt disconnected with Dumfries and Galloway’s creative industry and the creative community beyond her local area. The ICC funding provided the opportunity to explore her chosen subject, and also allowed the project to be much larger in vision than the writers originally imagined. It enabled Gerry to travel around the region and with time for both research and concentrated hours of peer review, and mentor support and criticism, that would not have been possible previously. Gerry notes, “Before this project took shape, before our funding, we didn’t have the time to understand and gain from our group’s collective knowledge. DGU’s support gave us precious hours of focusing together”.
With caring responsibilities at home, the funding provided Gerry with the much-needed physical and mental space to make progress with the project. The original proposed piece then developed into two separate projects, one of which is a chapbook called ‘Weed from a Drawing Wave”, co-authored with Jane Fuller. This story moves from past to present to future, includes songs and poems inspired by the landscape and history of Dumfries and Galloway’s coastline, and is accompanied by the evocative photography of Alan Pratt.
Gerry says, “In the short-term, I gained enormously from the development of the chapbook, and particularly from the support of my mentor, Sam Boyce. She encouraged us, giving focused criticism on individual stories, and helping us fund a deeper understanding of what a collaborative writing project really needs. We learned and we produced a more elevated piece of work than one without the outside eyes would have resulted in.”
For the future, Gerry feels she has made a solid connection with the region’s creative community. She says”, The networking opportunities have been incredibly reassuring as I know there are many directions where one's work might lead. Publishing privately or publicly, theatre, radio and working with other mediums like photography and art. As well as the creation of Weed from a Drawing Wave, our project has thrown up some interesting future options. The joys and lows of creative cooperation have been explored and I think any future project we would know how to avoid at least some of the lows with better boundaries and communication, and therefore expand the highs.”
Gerry’s Top Tip
“There are amazing benefits to being accountable for the standard of your work when a whole project is in view. Take the opportunity to fully embrace constructive criticism and feedback; you can only learn from it.”
(With thanks to Kim Ayres for the main photo.)
Gerry Cameron is a writer, based in Wigtownshire. She is a successful author whose historical fiction has been published as e-books. In January 2018, she and fellow writers Anni Farrington and Jane Fuller applied to the ICC fund to support the development of a work called Smugglers. The proposal was to create a performance piece that drew on a rich local history of the smuggling trade in southwest Scotland, and its contemporary relevance.
.
Although already an established writer, Gerry lacked the time and resources to further explore and develop her writing, and felt disconnected with Dumfries and Galloway’s creative industry and the creative community beyond her local area. The ICC funding provided the opportunity to explore her chosen subject, and also allowed the project to be much larger in vision than the writers originally imagined. It enabled Gerry to travel around the region and with time for both research and concentrated hours of peer review, and mentor support and criticism, that would not have been possible previously. Gerry notes, “Before this project took shape, before our funding, we didn’t have the time to understand and gain from our group’s collective knowledge. DGU’s support gave us precious hours of focusing together”.
With caring responsibilities at home, the funding provided Gerry with the much-needed physical and mental space to make progress with the project. The original proposed piece then developed into two separate projects, one of which is a chapbook called ‘Weed from a Drawing Wave”, co-authored with Jane Fuller. This story moves from past to present to future, includes songs and poems inspired by the landscape and history of Dumfries and Galloway’s coastline, and is accompanied by the evocative photography of Alan Pratt.
Gerry says, “In the short-term, I gained enormously from the development of the chapbook, and particularly from the support of my mentor, Sam Boyce. She encouraged us, giving focused criticism on individual stories, and helping us fund a deeper understanding of what a collaborative writing project really needs. We learned and we produced a more elevated piece of work than one without the outside eyes would have resulted in.”
For the future, Gerry feels she has made a solid connection with the region’s creative community. She says”, The networking opportunities have been incredibly reassuring as I know there are many directions where one's work might lead. Publishing privately or publicly, theatre, radio and working with other mediums like photography and art. As well as the creation of Weed from a Drawing Wave, our project has thrown up some interesting future options. The joys and lows of creative cooperation have been explored and I think any future project we would know how to avoid at least some of the lows with better boundaries and communication, and therefore expand the highs.”
Gerry’s Top Tip
“There are amazing benefits to being accountable for the standard of your work when a whole project is in view. Take the opportunity to fully embrace constructive criticism and feedback; you can only learn from it.”
(With thanks to Kim Ayres for the main photo.)
