On Friday afternoon I attended my first ever Creative Writing group. I don’t know about you, it for me writing has always been something quite personal and private and it’s not often that I share what I write. It’s not often that I even read back what I write . (my blog posts are usually heavily edited and written in a way that feels ok to share.)
There’s an awful lot of scribble that’s gone on over the years that is not ok for me to read, let alone anyone else. Writing gives me a sense of release like nothing else. Allowing my stream of consciousness to splurge onto a page is incredibly therapeutic, but often frightening.
Ove the last year, I have made less and less time to write, and become more and more inhibited about the words I allow my pen to put into readable ink. The workshop I attended today was a wonderful ice-breaker to submerge me back into my love of the written word, the freedom I feel by using it and the sense of oneness I get with a simple pen and paper.
Being part of a group that felt safe, honest and non-judgmental also allowed me to write with more confidence, and share what I had written with less inhibition. The creative writing workshop was run by Sarah Cooper, a writer who is working on (I think) her first novel. She was inspiring and created a space that allowed everyone to shed their fears and put pen to paper, or at least that’s what it did for me.
She spoke about how we so often hear that we should have 30 minutes of exercise a day, eat 5 fruit and veg a day, do these things for our wellbeing…but out mental health is so often neglected and feels like a luxury. She inspired me to take more time just to write, because it is known to be beneficial to mental health and allows us to process things in a way that not a lot else does.
I enjoyed all aspects of the group – from listening to Sarah’s ideas of how important it is to write if we feel that it is a valuable tool for us, to hearing what other people had written, to allowing myself a space and time to dedicate pen to paper. It was wonderful hearing everyone’s piece of stories, the variety, and the stories and discussion that came from their pieces of writing. It struck me how differently everyone interpreted their objects, as some people had similar things but wrote about them in a completely different way e.g. in a poem, as the start of a story, as an autobiographical memory. It also struck me how powerful the act of writing can me Simple objects brought forward inspiring concepts and profound memories from people.
My writing was more of a stream of consciousness. I just started writing what came into my head, and tried not to think too much. For me, when it came to reading it out loud, I felt very unsure about what I might have actually written! I’m also pretty nervous raising my voice in a group. But reading it out after the privilege of hearing everyone else’s…this felt good.
When I read it aloud, I realised I had allowed myself to just go where the pen wanted to take me. Someone said once that the pen would never allow us to write more than we can handle, or something along those lines. I think this is true. It’s a way out, a release. Without the filter of worrying what people might think, if you can get into that head space and block out all the other hubbub that surround our life, it really creates a peace of mind and a sense of being in the present.
Within our group, we each picked two objects from two different boxes. One box contained pieces of card and paper such as postcards, leaflets and letters. The other contained objects that you might find around your home. I picked out…..an odd sock, and a Chinese Takeaway menu!
In a later post, I will share with you what I wrote. It’s not particularly abuot anything, other than a sock and a leaflet. But when I read it out, the group fed back that it was witty and enjoyable to hear. So I’ll share it another time.
Since the group, I’ve also been firing out these words on my keyboard. It has started my word balls rolling. The main thing I’ve learned is – inhibition only holds you back. And it's best not to be afraid to write, and it's good to not put pressure on yourself. I am also going to use the exercise we did to get writing more often.