Ms McGuigan’s random thoughts became the inspiration for her third poetry collection Blood Plums.

The 82-year-old writer who will launch her poetry collection at a special event on Saturday night at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, said the collection featured poems drawn on a lifetime of memories.

“Random thoughts jotted down and considered later on are a valuable resource,” she said.

“Buying a single bed inspired the light-hearted poem Once Upon a Mattress. In fact, the poem was largely composed in my head long before the bed was actually delivered.”

For Ms McGuigan writing thoughts down was never about knowing there would be a book at the end of it, it was simply an outcome of a lifetime of memories resurfacing.

“The exciting part of writing is when a potential poem is stirring in my mind, and I have the rush of words scribbled on paper, ready for the serious business of crafting a poem,” she said.

The title poem Blood Plums, which also appeared in The Anthology of Love Poems, was another example of an experience in her life that inspired her to write.

“Blood Plums was diffi cult to write but I felt the need to express the emotions of that desperate time,” she said. “Our plum tree became a symbol, and its strength, its ability to withstand all weather, spoke to me as my husband struggled with a terminal illness.”

THE INFO

WHAT: Lorraine McGuigan’s Blood Plums launch

WHEN: December 13, 2.30-5pm

WHERE: Art Gallery of Ballarat, Annex Gallery