Hurray for Writers
I got the rare pleasure of being able to go to a session this week as a participant…and just saying…you lot don’t know how lucky you are.
As anyone who has seen me this week knows it hasn’t been my greatest week…I was proper poorly for most of it and in lots of pain…there was much complaining and unhappiness and not enough sleep. However in amongst this I got to be one of Gemma’s writers and it cheered me up so very much. By the end of the session I had a new poem – it’s on my Tumblr, the resolve to enter some poetry into a competition, the idea for a soliloquy which I’m going to write later today and what’s more I’d spent a precious 90 minutes not feeling quite so sorry for myself.
Now even by Yew Tree’s standard that’s a pretty remarkable deal. Part of it was down to my genuine love of writing and thirst for inspiration. Part of it was the excellent company to be found at writers particularly on a week when we are blessed with students returning for their Easter break but a huge amount of it was due to Gemma’s facilitation.
It occurred to me when I got back that she has a number of aspects to her work as the artist that heads up writers that suits this role perfectly. Firstly it is her humility and her transparency in terms of learning continually and consistently. This openness to taking on new ideas, developing skills and understanding makes it so easy for those in her workshops to be equally open to admitting gaps in their knowledge and uncertainties in their abilities. It avoids all that horrid defensiveness that can happen in learning environments and instead creates an atmosphere conducive to all things developmental and enjoyable and in situations like that real learning can occur. Nobody can know everything and the really intelligent people acknowledge that as they constantly work to learn more…
The other aspect is that she really cares about the individual writers in the workshops not just the writing they produce. Through the exercises she selects and the way she presents them to the group individuals are enabled to reflect on what makes up the writer within them, how to understand that part of them better and in so doing how to make the most of them.
Our work on Wednesday was based on the concept of legacy and I would argue that if it ended to morrow (which definitely won’t be happening by the way) the legacy Gemma has left through the writer’s forum is as rich as any you’re likely to find anywhere.
As anyone who has seen me this week knows it hasn’t been my greatest week…I was proper poorly for most of it and in lots of pain…there was much complaining and unhappiness and not enough sleep. However in amongst this I got to be one of Gemma’s writers and it cheered me up so very much. By the end of the session I had a new poem – it’s on my Tumblr, the resolve to enter some poetry into a competition, the idea for a soliloquy which I’m going to write later today and what’s more I’d spent a precious 90 minutes not feeling quite so sorry for myself.
Now even by Yew Tree’s standard that’s a pretty remarkable deal. Part of it was down to my genuine love of writing and thirst for inspiration. Part of it was the excellent company to be found at writers particularly on a week when we are blessed with students returning for their Easter break but a huge amount of it was due to Gemma’s facilitation.
It occurred to me when I got back that she has a number of aspects to her work as the artist that heads up writers that suits this role perfectly. Firstly it is her humility and her transparency in terms of learning continually and consistently. This openness to taking on new ideas, developing skills and understanding makes it so easy for those in her workshops to be equally open to admitting gaps in their knowledge and uncertainties in their abilities. It avoids all that horrid defensiveness that can happen in learning environments and instead creates an atmosphere conducive to all things developmental and enjoyable and in situations like that real learning can occur. Nobody can know everything and the really intelligent people acknowledge that as they constantly work to learn more…
The other aspect is that she really cares about the individual writers in the workshops not just the writing they produce. Through the exercises she selects and the way she presents them to the group individuals are enabled to reflect on what makes up the writer within them, how to understand that part of them better and in so doing how to make the most of them.
Our work on Wednesday was based on the concept of legacy and I would argue that if it ended to morrow (which definitely won’t be happening by the way) the legacy Gemma has left through the writer’s forum is as rich as any you’re likely to find anywhere.
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