My name is Matthew Farmer, and I am a writer, a creator, a mentor and a Literary Alchemist.
My father is a writer, and this apple did not fall too far from the tree. I did the learning thing and got a Bachelors in Professional Writing and Communication. It proved my point; I knew the written word was my path - writing is in my DNA.
Ultimately, I would love to mentor and grow people through creative writing, however I have also found the world of professional writing to be just as creatively rewarding.
My professional writing career started back in 2011 as a freelance copywriter. From slow beginnings I soon had a stable of clients for whom I was writing newsletters, webcopy, brochures and more. I loved the variety of clients that stretched my creative muscles.
I took my experience at writing and my desire to mentor and encourage others into education, first at Swinburne and then with RMIT, building the Copywriting course and creating the Make a Presentation course. I relish those moments in class when you can see their eyes light up and a bulb appear above heads when they suddenly “get it”. I call these my ‘Michelle Pfeiffer’ moments, from her movie ‘Dangerous Minds’.
I moved on from RMIT and freelance work to client-side with The Reject Shop, and then Agency side with StudioHawk, where I was tasked with building the Content Team. I managed 2 internal writers and over 30 freelance writers for three years before I wanted to stretch my legs and creativity once more.
Personally I am a creative writer who has participated in the National Novel Writing Month since 2002. Sadly it is no more, but a group of passionate Melbourne writers still persist to create a 50 000 word story in the 30 days of November, every year.
During lockdown I created an online writing group named Written Off. Experts were telling us to connect with people online to help with the burden of loneliness, so I built a creative model, reached out to some writing friends, and anyone else who wanted to write but didn’t know how, and created the group. It is still going strong over 5 years later, with most of the original members.
This endeavour has grown into my passion project – Written Off Writing. I want to encourage and empower people who want to write but are afraid they’re not good enough, or don’t know what to write, or feel they don’t have the time. My project provides time and space outside of regular working hours, gives you random prompts and ideas to help you start writing. It is a welcoming and inclusive community that has produced some wonderful results from members, including
It feeds my desire to mentor other people and celebrate their wonderful creativity.