Catherine Deveny is dyslexic and has been a professional writer for 32 years. She is the author of 10 books, has appeared on Q&A five times, and published over 1000 columns in The Age newspaper. She’s been a regular on the ABC, performed four one-woman stand-up shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and appeared in the Emmy Award-winning Go Back To Where You Came From.
She is the founder of Gunnas Writing Collective and has had over 10,000 people attend her masterclasses, retreats and workshops since 2014. Gunnas is described as Australia’s most successful and popular one-stop motivation and inspiration ‘pull-your-finger-out-and-get-over-yourself’ centre for writers. She tells ArtsHub she is a passionate commuter cyclist, runs her own benevolent feminist dictatorship and is Coburg’s fifth most popular MILF.
She speaks to ArtsHub about the vagaries of being a writing coach.
1) How did you get started working as a writing coach?
People kept approaching me and asking for advice about writing – so I started charging for it. When hosting conferences, I was constantly asked to run breakout sessions on writing, and it lit me up. I had never felt more myself.
Then I was headhunted for a gig at Melbourne Uni’s Centre for Ideas and Writing, helping people translate their PhDs into English, which led to me creating the Gunnas Writing Masterclass. Gunnas is for people of all levels and all genres, with no sharing. It’s for people who want to write, write better, write more, write happier, write differently – or want to write that thing they are stuck on.
2) What are some of the pros and cons of your job?
Zero cons.
The pros are the experience of liberating people from procrastination, fear of others’ opinions and the belief that their work sucks. It’s phenomenal helping people recognise the negative messaging they’ve picked up along the way and then watching them simply ignore it.
When I was young, people used to say, “You’ll never be a writer because you can’t spell,” and I’d reply, “I don’t want to be a speller, I want to be a writer.”
Illuminating how writing (and access to education and literacy) has historically been used to discriminate and discredit is thrilling. My heart explodes watching people understand how capitalism and patriarchy have elevated voices that serve them and how the democratisation of information has liberated voices, stories and writers.
3) What’s an average day or week like?
I wake at the crack of 9am and FaceTime Jess, my Paris-based Gunnas partner, from bed. We chat about our Gunnas International tours in Paris and Provence in September – logistics, venues, activities and adventures.
Then I check my writing prompt card orders, print packing slips, gather merch and packaging and jump on my bike to head to the gym for an hour. After a quick shower at home, I schedule one-on-one sessions with Gunnas and email back and forth with venues, individuals and collaborators about retreats and masterclasses.
Next, I package up my parcels and bike to the post office to send off the merch. Then it’s a one-on-one coaching session with a Gunna at a café over a late breakfast, followed by a stop at the supermarket to grab dinner stuff.
Back home, I spend about 30 minutes working on my booking system or website, reply to a few emails, and knock off no later than 3pm. For the next few hours, I swing in the hammock reading a book before either a cosy night in or a ride into the CBD to catch a show. A bit of social media fits into the gaps: scrolling, messaging, making reels and reposting memes.
4) If you were advertising for your role, what would you look for in an applicant?
Female. Neurospicy. State school educated. No formal qualifications in writing, editing or publishing. Never won any awards or received any critical acclaim. Has worked as a writer across an unfeasibly broad spectrum of genres and formats. A professional writer for over 20 years.
Not only passionate about empowering people to live their happiest, most authentic, self-determined lives – but has lived experience of doing so themselves. Someone who walks the walk and talks the talk. Someone who has chosen love over fear every single time and continues to.
No ‘experts’ need apply. Instant disqualification if they have a LinkedIn profile.
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5) What are some of the most common misconceptions about what you do?
That the focus is on being published.
We don’t write to be published, paid, praised or win prizes. We write because it makes us feel better, think clearer and sleep more peacefully. We write because it makes our souls grow and our hearts glow.
