mindshare Creative Writing 2024 Award Winner: Pam Makin

Pam Makin is a self-taught writer. Which, of course, is not true because writers of the English language across half a dozen centuries have been her teachers. That is to say, Pam has no academic qualification in arts or literature. She has spent most of her working life in “proper jobs” or doing the unpaid work that women do.

Pam lives and works on Kaurna Yerta. Since giving up her day job in 2018, she has distinguished herself as a writer, poet and spoken word artist. Her poems and stories have been published in print and online. She has participated in open mics, competed in slams, and performed at events and in Adelaide Fringe shows. Among her recent achievements, Pam was a finalist in the 2021 SA State Poetry Slam, was Poet in Residence at Adelaide City Library in 2023, and co-produces Ellipsis Poetry.

Pam is the winner of the 2024 mindshare award for Published Established Writers with Fred is Lost which you can read here.

Image credit: Photographer Jazz Fechner-Lante

What does this win for your writing mean to you?

The win is acknowledgment. The short-listing is also acknowledgment. If you call yourself a writer, you must accept there is a degree of imposter syndrome included in the deal. You might not feel it every day, but it creeps in from time to time. This kind of recognition pushes it aside for a short while.

What inspired your winning work?

Fred is Lost is a metaphorical story of the pressures, both internal and external, that feed into our decision making and how that effects our mental health. I have been Fred. Although never either a milkman nor a chauffeur, I have sidelined my own ambitions for illogical reasons and pursued other goals that I cared little for. I have been employed in roles where I found my energy being directed towards achieving others’ ambitions, rather than my own. These kinds of roles leave one exhausted and depleted. In the end, I learned that the wisest and healthiest thing to do is to walk away. Which is, of course, what Fred does.

What drives you to write?

I write to figure things out. By writing about the things I experience and observe, mixing them up in different ways, I can see patterns and connections that I couldn’t see before. I’m explaining the world to myself.

How do you incorporate writing into the rest of your life?

After decades of trying to incorporate writing into the rest of my life, I decided to make writing my life and let everything else try to fit into and around that. My family is, and always will be, my highest priority, but writing is more than what I do, it is who I am.

Which other writers have inspired or influenced your work?

This is a very tricky question to answer. Everyone from Shakespeare to Tara June Winch and beyond. Everything a writer reads or listens to will have an influence in some way or another

There are many wonderful writers and poets in and around Adelaide that I admire and strive in some way to emulate: Rachel Mead, Amelia Walker, Heather Taylor Johnson, Caroline Reid, to name just a few. And Shaine Melrose whose first full length poetry collection is about to be launched. Also rising star Kathryn Reese. There is a rich variety of voices currently gracing open mics, zine fairs, and journals. All of them influential in their own way. Of course, I cannot leave this question without mentioning late poet and performer Alison Paradoxx who, more than once, reminded me of the importance of poetry.

But honestly, all of them.

Have you faced any barriers establishing yourself as a writer, and if yes, how have you overcome them?

The biggest barrier for me was the perception that writing was not a legitimate ambition to pursue. From my school days through to my fifties, it was perceived as a fine hobby, or side-hustle, but “you need something to fall back on.” When in 2018 my day job started to have serious negative effects on my mental and physical health, I quit and fell back on writing. At last!

What are you hoping to achieve with your writing?

I have started writing a novel. I would like to finish it.

Aside from that, I have no ambitions to change the world or anything as grand as that. But maybe a poem or story that I put out into the world will reach someone and change their day a little. That would be nice.

What advice would you give other writers who are just starting out?

Keep writing for as long as you are having fun. When it stops being fun, do something else for a while. But come back – it will be fun again. Just keep going.

You can find Pam’s work online at pammakin.com.au or follow her on Instagram and Facebook @pamthepoet.