At times like this, when many of us are in isolation, writing for wellbeing has never been more important. But sadly, the therapeutic groups that proved a lifeline can’t now meet, so we’re finding ways of doing it virtually instead.
I’d never heard of Zoom or Houseparty before a couple of weeks ago. Now everyone’s using them to zoom in on groups who can’t get together in person.
Since the Creative Writing Group at Maggie’s Nottingham can’t meet, I’ve set up a virtual version which meets fortnightly at the same time as the workshop would have happened. We had our first session yesterday. I set it up as a Facebook group, where I post exercises and those taking part can post the pieces they write. Some people like to do the writing in real time, but the beauty of doing it this way is people can join later and still post their work. We’re also using Zoom for the read back elements of the sessions.
I’m posting the exercises here so those others can also take part.
Exercise one
I don’t know about you, but one of the things I’ve noticed among the weirdness is how nature is carrying on. I’m conscious of birdsong in the morning. Is it louder, or just more noticeable because the background hum of city traffic has receded?
With planes grounded, and most of us not travelling anywhere much, the air’s getting clearer and the waterways less polluted. Goats have come down from the Welsh mountains into the centre of Llandudno and there are reports of swans and even dolphins swimming in the Venice canals.
So here’s the first exercise for today:
A world famous blogger 😂 (whose name escape me) said recently:
“While humans hide away, the animals can play”
So take this line as a starting point – or inspiration – for your own piece. You can also use the images above or this
poem as inspiration.
You can take it in any direction you want and use any form you like – poetry, prose, fiction, memoir, stream-of-consciousness free write.
Exercise two
Write about walking through a dark tunnel and coming through into sunlight. How do you feel? What can you see, hear, smell? Who is waiting with open arms to give you a hug?
I’m going to post all the exercises we do in the fortnightly virtual group here. I’f you’d like an email alert each time I post a new blog, hit the SUBSCRIBE button on the home page
2 Responses
Isabel Andrews
Hi Clare,
I’m a friend of Dominic Wilcox, a member of your Maggie’s creative writing group. He talked enthusiatically about the week 1 post. I attend Nottingham’s Headway day centre as a member. I’m not usually a member of the creative writing group but have joined the Tuesday online sessions. Headway has had to furlough more than half of it’s staff including the staff member who was running the creative writing group. Would you mind if I shared the amazing ideas on your blog with the person now running the sessions? (I haven’t ran this past the staff members yet, I thought I’d check with you first.)
Thanks for reading this! 🙂
Isabel Andrews
admin
Hi Isabel, lovely to hear from you – yes of course, feel free to share far and wide! Maybe Headway can do something virtual like we’re doing at Maggie’s for the writing group.