#MWF14 Fun with Funemployed's Justin Heazlewood

Justin Heazlewood chatted to John Safran, Clem Bastow, Tom Doig, Angie Hart and Ben Watt last night.  Justin is the author of Funemployed: life as an artist in Australia

John Safran talked about being 'fly paper' and picking up all these little bits and pieces from around him that might be interesting to write about or talk about on radio.  A typical day means doing lots of interesting things that keep him stimulated.  John puts lots of ideas out there and not all of them turn into projects; but usually something comes through just when you need it.  John's book Murder in Mississippi is his first book.

 















Clem Bastow talked about the difficulty in being an invoice hunter - organising to get paid after producing something can be annoying and interrupts the creative flow.  She is good a lots of things but find it hard to narrow her focus sometimes. therapy helps.  She admires American positivism where entrepreneurs can give things a go and are celebrated just for trying.  Clem writes for The Age, The Saturday paper and Sydney Morning Herald.  She is also a comedian.

Tom Doig is the author of Moron to Moron : two men, two bikes, one Mongolian misadventure.  He talked about the self-deprecating nature of Australian and New Zealand artists.  He was once on New Zealand TV and felt completely out of place in the sexist, strange world of TV personalities.

Angie Hart (from Australian pop group Frente!) talked abput how hard it is to define success as a creative person.  Success can just mean writing a good that you are happy with.  Some creative people have trouble dealing with the administrative side of life and it really interrupts where their creative passion lies.

Ben Watt (from England pop band Everything but the girl) noticed the low self-esteemed in the room amongst the Australian artists.  Perhaps it's an Australian thing.  He does feel very honoured to be able to make a living from self-expression.  He knows there are lots of people out there that are stuck in restrictive employment and just live day to day.

Justin finished off singing us a little song about being an artist and having a little dance.