Pittwater Life July 2024 Issue

Books
Author Q&A
Sandie’s focus on finding voice
Local author and Founder and Director of the
Northern Beaches Readers Festival Sandie Docker
has penned six works of Women’s Fiction about love,
loss, family and small country towns that weave
together the past and present. Her latest release The
Lyrebird Lake Ladies Choir is a deeply moving story
about belonging and the power of discovering your
voice. Interview by Lisa Offord
Q: What’s your connection to
the Northern Beaches…
I grew up in Coffs Harbour; I
first fell in love with reading
when my father introduced me
to fantasy books as a teenager.
But my love of Women’s Fiction
began when I first read Jane
Austen for the HSC. It wasn’t
until I was taking a translation
course at university that my
Mandarin lecturer suggested
I might have a knack for
writing – a seed of an idea that
sat quietly in the back of my
mind while I lived overseas and
travelled the world. I settled on
the Northern Beaches with my
husband and daughter 15 years
ago, embedded myself into the
community through school
P&Cs and my local netball club
and I feel lucky to have raised
my daughter here.
Q: What inspired you to write
your new book?
There were two initial sparks
of inspiration for The Lyrebird
Lake Ladies Choir. The first
was when I read an article
saying the fastest growing
demographic of homeless
people in Australia, are women
in their 50s. This struck a
real chord with me, and I
wanted to explore, outside
of circumstances people
would maybe understand
(like DV or addiction), how
and why this is happening.
This became Hannah’s story.
The second spark was the
mystery surrounding my own
grandmother and a daughter
she had who no-one knows
what happened to. Lyrebird is
NOT my grandmother’s story…
that is still a mystery – but
over the years I have imagined
many wild scenarios of how
and why she might have come
to Australia from England
and one of those imaginings
became Maggie and Eleanor’s
story.
Q: How did it come together?
That was the tricky part,
figuring out how to weave
those two sparks of
inspiration together. There
was a bit of trial-and-error
involved, as is often the
case with writing a novel,
and I played with different
combinations of who the
women were to each other,
and how their paths would
or wouldn’t cross, and a
few different plot paths too.
Most of the writing of the
first draft was done over
nine months from 2023,
and then we go into a few
rounds of editing that take
a few months also. All up,
it’s about a year of writing,
editing, rewriting, polishing.
Q: What are your writing
habits?
I tend to do most of my
writing in what I grandiosely
call my ‘library’, which is
actually just a study decked
out with Ikea bookshelves, a
sit-stand desk, and very comfy
chair in the corner for reading.
Though you can often find me
writing in local cafes as well.
I’m not very routine with my
approach, so I’ll snatch time
all over the place to get my
writing done, but boy when a
deadline is looming, you won’t
see me leave said library.
Q: Any interesting feedback
from readers?
Waiting on feedback is
incredibly nerve-wracking…
even after six books. It doesn’t
get easier. But thankfully,
early feedback has been very
positive.
I’ve had comments like ‘an
utterly exquisite story… I
didn’t want it to end’ from
one of Australia’s top book
podcasts, Talking Aussie
Books. That takes the edge off
the nerves a little.
*The Lyrebird Lake Ladies
Choir RRP $34.99 is out now.
Sandie will be talking about
her new release at Mona
Vale Library on Wednesday
July 24 from 6.30pm-
7.30pm. Cost $5 includes
refreshments, bookings
essential. Enquiries 8495
5028 or libraryprograms@
northernbeaches.nsw.gov.
au. The Northern Beaches
Readers’ Festival will be held
at the Avalon Recreation
Centre in September. More
info at nbrf.com.au
44 JULY 2024
The Local Voice Since 1991