Writing For Wellbeing

One of the questions authors get asked a lot in interviews is about why and how we decided to become a writer. I think for most of us, there isn't really an answer to the 'how' part of the question. Generally speaking, we have always written; it's something we seem to be pre-programmed to do. At a book event a couple of months ago, I shared the story of the plastic clock toy that always sits on my desk. It was given to me when I was three, by Phil Kelsall, the organist at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. It's a bit broken and doesn't really work, but I keep it on my desk as a reminder of my history of writing. As a child and a teenager, I always had a story on the go - as I got into my teenage years, it was usually some romantic fluff, with a dash of history thrown in. Much of what I wrote was composed in the Ballroom in between dances, as we spent most weekends in there. The clock reminds me - when I'm struggling to make the words work for me - that I do actually love what I do. It brings back happy memories from childhood, but it also reminds me of writing my first proper book, 'Unforgettable', as large sections of it were set and written in the Ballroom and the clock actually makes a cameo appearance in the book. Consequently, there are so many emotions tied up in that little toy. And this brings me onto the 'why' part of the question.

Whenever I'm asked why I write, I always give the slightly flippant response of, 'because I'm not very pleasant to live with if I don't.' However, beneath the humour this is generally delivered and received with, there is a serious point to be made. For me, writing is vital to my wellbeing. Being sat at my desk all day isn't necessarily the best for my physical health, but my mental health suffers when I don't have that outlet. To be honest, it doesn't really matter if I'm writing a blog post, or something more creative, it's the feeling of having constructed somethig that is important. That said - I much prefer the creative element of writing!

When I look back at the kinds of stories I wrote as a teenager, they are very different to the kinds of novels I write now and I think there is an important reason for this, beyond the fact that my writing has naturally evolved and improved over the years. I always felt like a bit of a misfit in my younger days and much as I saw marriage and a family in my future, I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to be with me and consequently, within the pages of my notebook, I wrote characters who lived the life I wanted for myself. There was always a Happy Ever After and whatever blips the relationship had, they were always minor and easily resolved. I've been happily married now for almost 24 years and no longer have that same level of teenage-angst about love, so I don't feel the need to write such saccharine sweet stories any more. In writing 'Unforgettable', I was saying goodbye to that awkward teenager and, I guess, giving myself permission to write something different.

Nevertheless, even as an adult, writing has come to my rescue more times than I can remember. Poetry was always my conscious outlet for emotions I struggled to express and it was rarely something I shared with others. Recently, however, I've been encouraged to put them out into the big, wide world and consequently, I spent last year writing 12 poetic responses to photographs I'd taken on my travels. By the time I'd added 12 story responses as well, I had a collection and 'Words Will Travel 2025' comes out in a few days, being launched as part of Brightlingsea Literary Festival. This is particularly fitting, as LitFest runs alongside WinterFest, which is always focused around mental heath and wellbeing. The book joins these two elements together neatly, as most of the photos were taken when I was out with my family, getting the much needed fresh air and 'downtime' that everyone knows is vital to maintaining good mental and physical wellbeing. Some of the poems and stories are just that - fictional ideas that came from the photo prompt, but there are one or two that are a little bit more personal. 'The Village' is very much a thank-you to the friends who are always there for me and 'Sanctuary' was written about my favourite place in the world and my hopes for my littlest's future, while 'Firework' is how I imagine his ADHD brain to be.

I've often talked about how influential my sister was to my writing - she was always my first reader and never failed to be encouraging about it. And the first time I took part in WinterFest was at an event in the library talking about how writing could help people cope with grief. My sister died unexpectedly at the end of 2019 and I spent the early months of 2020 writing my dissertation for my Masters. It was a dark story about the aftermath of a motorbike accident and how the family had to face the fact that the deceased was not the wonderful person they wanted everyone to believe he was. All the negative emotions I was experiencing went into that story and by the time I'd got to the end of the first 15,000 word draft, I'd written out my grief and felt more able to get on with life. Without that creative outlet, I have no doubt it would have taken much longer. After a lot of re-writing - my tutor insisted I had to change the original ending to give a sense of hope for the characters - I eventually published the story as part of 'The Silent Pool and other stories' collection and it's a piece I am particularly proud of because I know how much emotion went into writing it.

However, the writing you do doesn't have to be creative. If you are finding life tough, sometimes just opening up to yourself, can be really helpful. Keeping a diary, or art journalling, can be just as useful. I honestly believe that the process of physically getting the words out of you is a great healer - once they are out and on paper, they're not inside your head shouting at you. And this applies whether it's your own feelings, or a story that demands to be written and which has chosen you as the vessel through which it wants to be told.

I hope you have found something useful in this and if you'd like to hear more, I look forward to welcoming you to the launch of 'Words Will Travel 2025' at the British Legion, Brightlingsea on Sunday 1st Feb 3-5pm.