The Distilled Wisdom of Nick Page, by Georgie Tennant

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of gathering with other ACW writers at Scargill House – a stunning setting in the Yorkshire Dales.  If you have ever attended this particular weekend, or anything similar, you will know how quickly time, at such events, races by and how more is packed into two short days than you would think plausible.

The beautiful grounds of Scargill

It takes time, afterwards, away from the intense bustle of the weekend, to think clearly, distil the messages received and ponder how they might impact our writing lives.  Nick Page, a funny, honest speaker and prolific author, shared with us his nuggets of wisdom which he hoped would aid us on our writing adventures.  As I attempt to summarise, here, the many gems shared over the weekend, I hope they will inspire you, whether you attended the weekend or not, and give you some food for thought, wherever and whatever you are writing at the moment.

Nick Page and Adrian Plass, leading one of the sessions

Over the weekend, Nick encouraged us to:

1. Pay attention.  To everything. Stop, go slowly, observe.  Notice, listen and learn – and use these things for inspiration in our writing.

2. Have honesty and courage.  Be willing to ‘stick our heads above the parapet,’ – in doing so, we may articulate what others are thinking.

3. Have curiosity and imagination.  Ask the big questions.  Probe for answers about why we do the things we do, personally and in our churches and communities.

4. Love!  We need to love the world and people and God. 1 Corinthians 13v1 – “If I [write] in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging symbol.” A thought-provoking word-replacement!

5. Be humble.  Recognise the gift that writing is to help us understand ourselves and God.

6. Liberate ourselves from the need to exhibit.  Focus on writing for its own sake.  Every word counts and is in there, somewhere, even if we don’t end up using it in writing that goes public.

7. Pay attention to ourselves.  We write from our own experiences.  It is of great value to use our writing as a reflective practice, to examine our lives, our stories.

8. Finally, build all of our writing on a foundation of knowing we are loved and cherished by God – a place of security, from which we can’t be shaken, whatever our failures or successes.

Nick Page, preaching at the Sunday morning service in the chapel

There was so much to take away, ponder and put into practice, all delivered with great humour, honesty and sensitivity.  If you want more from Nick, he has written a huge number of books and his podcast, ‘Mid-Faith Crisis,’ is well worth looking up.

If you were at Scargill too, what were your take-aways? If you weren’t, what would you add to Nick’s list? Let’s encourage each other with our collective wisdom!

Georgie Tennant is a secondary school English teacher in a Norfolk Comprehensive.  She is married, with two sons, aged 10 and 7 who keep her exceptionally busy. She writes for the ACW ‘Christian Writer’ magazine occasionally, and is a contributor to the ACW-Published ‘New Life: Reflections for Lent,’ and ‘Merry Christmas, Everyone: A festive feast of stories, poems and reflections.’ She writes the ‘Thought for the Week’ for the local newspaper from time to time and also muses about life and loss on her blog: www.somepoemsbygeorgie.blogspot.co.uk