More than Writers

  This coming week - 3 rd -9 th  February - is Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week in the UK.        You may be wondering why I mention this in a writing blog. After all, it’s not a pleasant topic. Maybe it’s not the sort of thing you want to read about on a Sunday morning (or whenever you come to this post) …but maybe it is.        One of the most powerful aspects of writing, in my opinion, is that it can open up conversations that would be difficult, perhaps even impossible, in person, that it can create connections that provide empathy and support for people struggling with difficult issues.        Twenty years ago, the topic of sexual abuse is not one I could have raised in person. Even if I could have overcome the shame and fear which kept me silent, I wouldn’t have known who to speak to or how to begin the conversation, but I was hungry for advice, for wisdom, for someone who might understand. ...

Did you set any New Year resolutions? Are you still keeping any? More interestingly, did you expect to? From past experience, I didn't expect to keep mine either. So far, I’ve not done too badly. I have been thinking about writing a few times in January and have attended the first ACW Trellis and local group meetings of the year. Though, how long that will last, is yet to be seen. Isn’t it odd? As writers, we’re very good at controlling the stories we tell. Authors and other fictional writers will carefully map out the progress of their story arc and character development. Poets will dig deep to find just the right word or phrase to evoke the emotion we want our readers to feel or capture the event details we want them to visualise. Even when writing factual pieces, choosing which stories to include and which to leave aside is in the writer's control. Embracing the ‘happy ever after’ trope, we often put our characters or poetic voices into scenes and scenarios that will bring a...