Apart from writing my interests include my family, travel, Esperanto and walking.
Profile visits:
301
Although I was born and completed my formal education in Britain, I have lived in Denmark for more than half my life.
As long as I can remember I have wanted to write; but until a few years’ ago I’d never really got started. Every time I sat down to write my mind went blank and I grabbed the first excuse for giving up.
In 2001 I decided to do tackle this problem by attending a creative writing course with special reference to writing memoirs.
We were a motley group: young and old, men and women, religious and irreligious, experienced and inexperienced and so on. Most of us thought we were there to get help in constructing plots, character sketches and similar topics. However our teachers had other things in mind; they wanted us to focus on aloneness and facing up to the gremlins that have influenced us.
For two solid weeks we sat there delving into the past and remembering both joyful and sorrowful events. There was so much that we would have preferred not to have remembered: the deaths of loved ones, war time experiences, unhappy marriages, incest, mental cruelty, physical abuse and guilt. We then wrote about these experiences and shared them with each other.
It was a truly harrowing experience, also for me! At times we ranted and raved, because we felt exploited and humiliated. Our teachers took it calmly and told us that if we wanted to produce something worthwhile reading, the first step was to be honest with ourselves and relate to such questions as: who we are? Where have we been? Where are we now? Where are we going? What’s important for us? What are we angry about? What do we want to tell the world?
Nine years on I accept the wisdom of their words. Nowadays when I sit down in front of my computer and start to write – my mind does not usually go blank. Only when I lose touch with the real me am I in danger of stalling.
In the last two years I have blogged regularly; in Danish, English and Esperanto.
Dear Betty, Thanks very much for introducing me to this site, so I can read more of your stories and Stanis' poems! Thanks a lot too for the 2 lovely gifts of words of wisdom--just saw it today--still trying my way around here! All the best, and look forward to reading lots more of your work! Love, Nita.
Dear Betty, Thank you very much for your rich comments about "Matilda". It is very encouraging, especially coming from a person with so much experience, like you. My warm regards, Andrea
Thanks for the add. I look forward to reading your stories. I am just starting out as a teacher and writer (at least letting other people read my writing). This site is a very interesting find.
(26)
