Writing for Life and ‘Forward-Assist'.’
Having written professionally for more than twenty years and in those years mentored and tutored hundreds of aspiring writers I am very certain now that settling down to write and writing regularly is a life-affirming, self-enhancing, self-learning, and ultimately a radiant process.
In all these years of writing and working with writers I have
started from the premise that everyone
can write. We have hundreds of thousands of words available in our heads. Writing
Is putting some of them down in an order that makes some kind of sense - at first to yourself and then later perhaps to
others. As you write down you unscramble impressions, perceptions, thoughts and
ideas into an order that makes sense to you and could very well strike a chord
with others. These ‘others’ might be counted in tens, thousands or hundreds of
thousands. The number doesn’t matter.This is how language works and how writing
can add meaning and self-worth to any individual in any community.
I have always sensed and felt that this was the case but it
came to me as a certainty when I spent several years as writer in residence in
a woman’s prison, working with talented and insightful writers, some of whom
had read little and had no idea that they could write. (You can find examples HERE )
It was Mike Kirby, ex-governor of that prison who
last week introduced Avril and me Tony Wright Director of the Charity Forward-Assist See site HERE. We just thought we were going for coffee, but things turned out differently.
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| Not killing fields |
So Tony developed his idea as the charity Forward-Assist.
‘In Forward Assist ‘peer led’ support
groups and structured diversionary activities provide a much needed service
that reduces social isolation and promotes community engagement with other veterans
on a daily or weekly basis’.
Tony also described his research in the USA and official and
unofficial support there for ‘Vets’. It was interesting to hear his description
developments in the US after what came to be seen afterwards as the shaming
treatment of Vietnam ‘Vets’.
It was impossible not to be infected by Tony’s energetic enthusiasm
as he described the wide range of projects now flourishing under the banner of Forward-Assist
– Fishing, Debating, Cooking, Gardeing, Drama, Football, Photography and Film, Their debating project ended up with a visit to the House of Commons to
experience a parliamentary debate. (See the pictures HERE.)
And quite naturally we came to the possibility that creative
writing could be developed into one ‘diversionary activity’ under the First-Assist Banner. It has already been
tried once. Tony described one great workshop he had set up with Andrew Motion, which had been a great success.
As I said earlier, I think everyone, given the right safe environment can write. And also that settling down to write and writing regularly is a life-affirming, self-enhancing, self-learning, ultimately radiant process.
So it seems natural to us that the outcome of meeting and
listening to Tony Wright is that Avril and I have offered ten weeks of
workshops for Forward-Assist ex-soldiers, starting in the summer. I know we
will all enjoy the process and that the process will, in the end produce interesting
pieces of writing on a whole range of subjects. And then – in co-operation with First-Assist - we will publish
this writing book which will be a credit to the writers and also make them visible to
the much wider world in all their diverse individuality.
We can only hope, in its own way, that our Writing for Life project is as successful
as are the football, gardening and the other Forward-Assist projects. We know that writing changes lives. See HERE
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