All because of an urge to write

By CASEY NEILL
COCKATOO’S Isobel Blackthorn is keeping it short and sweet – her new book, that is.
All Because of You is a collection of eight short stories that she said intimately and honestly depicted the travails and heroic responses of women and men confronting the pith of their lives.
Ever since Ms Blackthorn moved to the hills she’s devoted herself to being a creative writer, heading straight for the computer or pen the moment she wakes.
The Mail met her last year when she released her debut novel Lovesick, which explored her time in Britain during the 1980s when riots spread throughout the country, unemployment was at nearly 3 million, and many faced a grim and hopeless future.
Twenty years later she wrote it all down using the British indie music scene as her backdrop and self-published the novelistic memoir.
Ms Blackthorn then turned her attention to short story writing.
Realising her writing career needed endorsement from the industry she began submitting her stories to publishers.
Rejection letters followed but she didn’t give up. She instead re-visited each story and found ways to improve it.
Publishers took notice and her stories came back with positive feedback and praise.
She posted her entire collection to a publisher in Adelaide and received a reply a few weeks later. Ginninderra Press offered to publish.
Ms Blackthorn first set her sights on becoming a writer almost 40 years ago.
“In 1973 I read Pastures of the Blue Crane by Hesba Fay Brinsmead, and discovered for myself how a powerful story can change a person’s worldview,” she said.
A homework task that same year – writing and illustrating a book – sealed her fate.
“I knew I wanted to be a storyteller, too,” she said.
“I wrote what I thought was a dark evocative tale that Agatha Christie would have been proud of.
“My story didn’t get top marks. My writing was scruffy, my illustrations plain.
“Forty years later, after many false starts, I have chosen to dedicate myself to the craft of writing.”
Ms Blackthorn will be reading a story from All Because of You at Emerald Library on Tuesday 21 August at 6.30pm and Belgrave Library on Thursday 25 October at 12.30pm.
Her daughter Liz Blackthorn, a Victorian College of the Arts jazz improvisation student, will accompany the readings on piano.