Why Enrol In A Writing Class?

I’m grappling with this question as I prepare lesson plans to start the new writing term. Putting myself in the shoes of prospective students. I know some of my past students are returning – they’ve already been in touch, checking dates and times with several looking forward to continuing their projects, meeting up with old friends, learning new techniques and returning to some structure to their week.

But why do we write?

I’ve been addicted and passionate about words and writing all my life so it’s a question I’ve often asked and been asked!

Is it a desire or need to scribble thoughts on paper, record imaginings, in a belief it is important, or fun, urgent or pleasurable – or a combination of all of these?

So many people express the desire to write and record their story ‘if they had time’ or ‘when I finish work’, ‘when the kids leave home’, or numerous other excuses. Just as many start a book and don’t finish.

And despite stating how much I love writing, I can identify with all those categories and excuses!

Maybe that’s why I love teaching writing classes – it keeps me writing, keeps me motivated and engaged, and keeps the dream of the printed word alive.

The novel may be unfinished but hundreds of stories and poems are written, shared, and published.

Emotion, Trauma, Social Justice – Strong Motivators For Writing

A life-changing experience or strong feelings often encourage people to pick up a pen or switch on a computer. The opposite, of course, can be true – many people write from boredom. They need the adrenaline rush of exercising their imagination and writing the books they love to read!

I am always fascinated by the variety of responses to a single prompt.

Students can fill a page with characters and plot, or pluck beautiful prose from their memory, write original metaphors and similes and then weave the words into remarkable settings to immerse readers and listeners in the power of story.

Or they address and simplify concepts, share life-transforming events that speak to profound truths and touch the heart…

Writing Poetry And Short Stories Can Solve Dilemmas

“A problem shared is a problem halved,” Mum used to say.

“Sleep on it” or “take a walk and mull it over” some other good advice if a burning resentment must be exorcised,  difficult decisions faced, or a dilemma solved.

Rather than real life exposes or rants, writers can put characters in a situation, give them the problem to solve, the ethical conundrum, the family feud, the injustice to fight – work it all out on paper.

It’s useful and even therapeutic to have characters take the criticism or kudos, make the mistakes, work through the issues.

Many people have a need to be creative and writing may satisfy that need. You may not have the stamina to produce a novel but exploring poetry can be exceptionally satisfying and fun.

Wordplay, riddles and even returning to childhood rhymes and fairy tales and writing new ones all valid and satisfying writing projects.

Form poetry a good starting point and everything from affairs of the heart, the devastation of war, to the meaning of life can be expressed through poetry.

Writing isn’t all about entertainment or amusement nor does it have to be obscure or difficult to understand but it does have to connect with the reader in some way.

Playful And Powerful – English Has A Word That Fits…

English… What’s That?
Mairi Neil

English is definitely a funny language –
funny peculiar and funny ha ha!
So many words with double meanings,
unusual spelling – can drive you ga ga!

Let’s take a word like mean,
an average word you understand,
unless like Scrooge you won’t share
or be a bully – and don’t care.

So many words that sound the same,
they’re annoying and confusing,
their meaning drastically different –
mistakes often highly amusing.

Some words sound how they look,
so clap for onomatopoeia and be glad,
but knowing phonetics doesn’t stop
those silent letters making you mad.

You can pinch a pinch of salt,
and we know a flea can flee,
that ship’s sail may be on sale –
but no way can a pea, pee.

The pale moon won’t fit in a pail,
but every tale can have a tail,
a little mite has a lot of might
and that rite may not be right.

A mayor can ride a mare,
he may stand on a stair to stare,
and eat local fare at a fair,
their jobs are always there.

Your genes may fade like jeans,
and I’ll shed a tear over a tear,
worry about the whole of a hole,
being the sole keeper of my soul.

Criticisms of English usage has weight,
when you can eat a date while on a date
and meet a terrible fate at a fete,
by discovering pâté on your pate!

A male can deliver the mail
and a hare without hair is rare,
but both can be weak for a week
if bones creak because of a creek.

And English has many phrases,
difficult for learners to understand,
like ‘pot calling the kettle black’
oh, the language is underhand!

Advice ‘from the horses’ mouth’,
‘without a shadow of a doubt’,
advises dreaded cliches to avoid –
but it’s hard weeding those phrases out.

English language confusing and amusing,
yet its richness can be rewarding –
once mastered, you’ll be addicted,
and it’s not banned or even restricted!

 

 

Do You Need to Write or Just Want to Set Your Imagination Free?

I’m looking forward to the start of another teaching year. Meeting new and old students coming together to write. Each one will have their own voice and style and a dream or project.

All will be united in their love of words.

Some will write fact, others fiction.

Some will struggle with the blank page. Their words dripping like a slow-leaking tap, while the ink from the pens of others gushes like Niagara Falls.

Stories that have waited a lifetime to be written will astound, others will be fictionalised to be more palatable or easier to write.

Short story fantasies or gritty realism, profound poems or funny doggerel – all shared to inspire each other.

Passions rekindled and new passions created as genres are explored.  From comfort zone to brain challenging learning. Each class new friendships will form as we become a writing community.

The price of wellbeing rarely factored in when the beancounters in government look at community education today. It is all about being job ready or being digitally and technologically savvy.

Wellbeing, not a word to use when applying for education funding apparently.

Yet, some of the most talented writers in my classes have lived 80 years or more. They still want to learn, still want to write, and are producing wonderful stories and poems. Seeking employment and digital glory, not their highest priority!

Octogenarian
wise, retired
writing, learning, producing
lifelong learner combatting isolation
Student

They create a legacy for the next generations, they focus on writing and building new friendships for a few hours a week… forget age and ability … they have aptitude and attitude!

They’ll embrace new techniques and tools but it’s about the words, emotions and engagement.

 

WHY WRITE?
Mairi Neil

A has aspirations to write a novel
B likes to play with words
C has a loveless life and seeks romance
D thinks Mills and Boon absurd
E loves family history
F reads and journals a lot
G creates settings with descriptive flair
H just loves to plot!
I preaches grammar absorbed from school
J admits to being a hopeless speller
K always suffers from writer’s block
L is an expert storyteller.
M adores purple prose
N employs similes galore
O aches to be published one day
P escapes household chores
Q uses metaphors imaginatively
R nurtures the inner child
S writes for children but libertarian
T is erotica gone wild
U is definitely a poet
V writes doggerel and verse
W fears rejection
X is tense and terse
Y dramatises everything writing  drama to entertain
and Z – well –
Z writes to understand the world – the musings society’s gain!

If You Are A Writer…

You do need to write!

So, join a class at your local community house – I’ll be at Chelsea on Mondays and Bentleigh on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

We’ll be Writing Creatively and passionately, recording Life Stories and sharing others.

Supporting each other, forever learning, observing, commenting on and enjoying life because that’s what writers do!