Stella Tarakson

I was completely blown away last Saturday. I was running Part 2 of my Writing for Profit workshop, and it happened to be my birthday. I’d mentioned to one of my students in a previous course that I’d be working on my birthday. A very lovely woman (and a talented emerging writer) attended both courses. She overheard … remembered … and brought along a fantastic birthday cake!

Plus candles and matches. The whole class sang Happy Birthday. I was utterly gobsmacked. How incredibly thoughtful! Thank you Bec 🙂

Another woman also knew, and brought along some biscuits for afternoon tea. Greek biscuits (I’m Greek-Australian), made by a company called Stella Cakes. Also amazingly thoughtful. Thank you Janette 🙂

As a writer, we don’t normally get this sort of thing. Office workers are accustomed to having cakes and afternoon teas on their birthdays. Writers work alone most of the time, and we often miss that contact with colleagues. That’s why I love running workshops. It puts me in the company of people who love writing as much as I do, and helps overcome the isolation that goes with the territory.

I know I’m good at motivating people and helping them see opportunities they’d never considered before. My reward (apart from getting paid, of course) is to see my students happy and glowing with motivation. But this gesture was so totally unexpected, it moved me on a whole new level. If only I’d had the presence of mind to take a photo of the moment …

Never mind. I’ll remember it!