Shaping Ourselves

                                                      Picture credit: Geoshape by Pixy.org

“Hurry up and throw a shape into yourselves” was an expression my late Father used to say

 to my brother and I when we were kids. Naturally, we didn’t dare ask what kind of shape he wanted us to throw ourselves into, but it became a regular way of expressing himself when a sense of urgency was required.

 Shaping is one of those words which may sound benign yet can often have a profound effect particularly when used in the context of human emotional, spiritual and psychological development. Shaping is particularly important to our development as writers regardless of whatever genre, format or literary style we choose to express ourselves in. All of us regardless of economic or social status, whether for pleasure or as a hobby or doing it professionally or academically, have all found ourselves being shaped by one or more influences which have guided the choices we make as writers.

 As members of the Association of Christian Writers, the biggest influence which shapes our output is of course our Christian faith. For many, faith was an important part of our upbringing and the values it instilled in us even if like me, it was something to be rejected then gradually returned to as that thing we call life, forced a re-evaluating and a re-shaping of the values and influences which guide us.

 When my Father died in 2012 followed a month later by his younger sister, I found poetry the best medium with which to express my grief and anger not only at the suddenness of it but the time taken to finally lay both of them to rest. These two events coupled with my return to being a practicing Christian a year earlier, shaped my development as a writer of poetry which since then has led onto writing prose, essays, blogs and the academic writing required when enrolling as a mature undergraduate to study for a BA Theology degree – which I am happy to say I graduated with in October 2019. All of which is a long way from my earliest writing endeavours, filing sports reports for a local Irish newspaper while still in my teens which I wrote about last month. 

 Whenever I undertake a Chaplain’s visit I always write a summary in a journal - my Chaplain’s Log - in this way I can order my thoughts and reactions to conversations held or incidents that have taken place, which in turn shape some of my writing outputs as it did when I posted my first blog for More Than Writers back in May. When I first met my wife, Dawn, I used to tease her about the amount of notebooks, journals and diaries she kept because back then, I was not one for making notes however brief about most things. I had a small pocket diary for reminders and that was it. This past decade however the boot is firmly on the other foot as she never ceases to remind me about the copious collection of same gathering dust in boxes and shelves in the cupboard in my study. 

To me as a child of the non-digital age, there is still the comfortable familiarity of having a paper archive over one based in the ether. Even those records which I have put onto PC are backed up on a portable hard drive locked away in my desk!  

 As writers we are constantly being shaped not only by our past, but by our present and our futures. More than any other activity, it is the writer who translates the thoughts and opinions, predictions and reminiscences across the whole range of human existence wherever and however they are expressed.

 Even in this electronic age, the humble writer is still capable of shaping much that surrounds them. Let us remember that fact if no other. 

Michael Cronogue originally from London now resides in Walsall in West Midlands region of UK. Writer and blogger discussing matters of faith and theology on his website www.michaelcronogue.com He is also a regular contributor to Black Country Urban Industrial Mission (www.bcuim.co.uk) writing on workplace chaplaincy issues.  He blogs creatively at https://blackcountrylondoner.wordpress.com