the written word

Yesterday I posted about my love of reading and its very important role in my life. I feel however that I need to dedicate a post also to writing and how it is equally a large part of my life, just as reading is.

As you know, I have recently set up a writer's group in a local village, whereby Teach and I charge £3 for two hours to sit in the quaint local library and chat, write and share, with like minded people. I can not begin to tell you how much this has changed my approach to writing. I have always been very modest both about my intellectual ability and my writing; never really confident to share my views and certainly not my prose or poetry. This group has literally forced me to recognise myself as a writer, abeit a shy beginner but a writer all the same. Over recent months I have written more than I have in my life. I might feel a certain emotion and so I open up my little pink journal and put it into words; a great therapy I am finding.

It kind of began on a train journey back from London. I sat for three hours writing the beginnings of a story, planning and forming my ideas into a semi-novel-like shape. I used stimulus from the landscape that rushed past the carriage window and used my fellow passengers for inspiration. I have, over the past few days, written many pieces of prose that come from the heart, for one reason or another and again I had an emotional stimulus for this.

It was today though, when talking to one of my lovely year 10 girls about writing that I began to think of my students. I have two classes of very able students, about 14/15 years old who are writing a creative piece for their coursework. I have been trying to convey how the writing experience actually works, that it is not about sitting down in a room full of people, writing any old thing, being too scared to cross anything out and then handing in the first version of their ideas. I have enjoyed showing them my work, slightly less intimidating when they are 15, and every lesson now I write with them on the board, deliberately crossing out words and sections to show them that writing something good and meaningful takes time. Furthermore, it has lead me to question whether writing should take place outside of the classroom? Shouldn't I take them somewhere more inspiration? Even the school field, by the lakeor simply for a walk outside to gather ideas.

After this conversation my lovely year 10 girl left the classroom this afternoon with a spring in her step, despite having several problems at home. She said she felt excited about getting home to write the rest of her story and I felt equally excited that I had managed to instill this feeling into her.

I think that it is important to equip young people with the ability to express themselves through writing, to show them how powerful a piece of writing can be, how quite often it is the written word that says it all, no spoken words are needed. I am excited about having the chance to teach young people about the joys of reading and writing. And I am excited to be a writer.