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No. 2 of 6 Creative Writing ‘My Bed’ Ink on A4 Paper – August 2015 by Abstract Artist Karen Robinson NB All images are protected by copyright laws.JPG
INTRODUCTION
My Creative Writing Group Sessions always leave me feeling like I have taken a little journey into a new world of endless possibilities, a world where it can be of utter truths or pure fantasies. Our sessions not only give us an opportunity to engage in creative writing exercises, but also give us the opportunity to listen to others whilst they share their precious words.
THIS CREATIVE WRITING SESSION’S TASKS
We engaged in a series of creative writing tasks during this session but I have chosen just the two to share within this weblog and are here below:-
MY CREATIVE WRITING No. 1 – The Creative Writing Facilitator asked us to write a piece within a five-minute sprint. It was to help push the editor brain into the background, in other words to write without the self editor getting in the way of the writing. I did this below but afterwards, I couldn’t help myself going over my writing piece and just add one or two words and fix some wording that didn’t sound right once I read it out aloud to myself. Very little was changed! I have to confess that I didn’t stop at five minutes as I felt the need to continue to the point where my writing piece felt finished, that it had come to a natural end for me. The choices of subject matter were (1) beds or (2) a favourite movie and I chose beds.
Title: “My Bed”
“My bed is my haven and a place where I can rest my now aching body and rejuvenate my sole! My husband and I just recently purchased two new beds. Mine is soft and roomy and makes me feel safe and at ease with the world. I feel so fortunate that I can go to bed knowing that I am safe, and that in the morning after lying in my bed, will be the birth of a new day. A new day that presents new challenges, new experiences and a day closer to my eventual end, the end of my natural life. In knowing this, I say to myself I’d better make sure, I make the best of each and every day!
From my bed I can see out my window, out into the outside world where trees rustle in the breeze, where the local native birds hop from branch to branch and drink at the newly placed bird bath. I see them having a wash, fluffing out their feathers to dry and then flying off into the bush searching for food and shelter. I sometimes hear the neighbour start-up his Ute very early in the morning and head off to work. He appears to be a good man, a good provider for his family and a neighbour that causes no issues.
Other times I just lay in bed with the radio on and with my eyes closed, just listening to the BBC news of the world in the wee hours of the morning and around 6am the ABC news of the day. Sometimes the news is dark and leaves me thinking that the world is not a very nice place to live in – as there seems to be so much evil in the world and at other times, I hear programs that lift my spirits and gives me hope for future generations.
When the morning sun rises, it tells me it’s time for me to rise as well. I turn out of my soft bed, fold the top sheet with its accompanying comfy wool blanket up to the top of the bed, and then pull the Doona up over all of this, to complete the make. This act is like a closure of the night, and the signal that the day is now ahead. It feels like a subliminal message being whispered to me saying – “it’s a new day Karen…now go do your best!”
© Karen Robinson, 1st August 2015
MY CREATIVE WRITING No. 2 – The Creative Writing Facilitator asked us to create a cluster of words around the given word ‘humour’. We were told that by creating a cluster of words it can help generate ideas and insights quickly and easily, break through internal barriers, help get our writing thoughts unstuck, and can assist in communicating and understanding others. Upon the sheet of A4 paper given to each of us to use, we went about brain storming for other words that came to mind when we thought about ‘humour’. Once we had completed our individual mind maps, we were asked to share it with the person sitting next to us and then to write a story about just one of the words on our mind map and I chose ‘false teeth’. It was one of the words that had conjured up in my mind, a very funny incident with my mother when I was just a teenager. I should say it seemed at the time very funny to me as a teenager but perhaps it was not so funny for my poor mother!
Title: “Laughing at Mother”
“I remember a particular time as a teenager when my mother was having a very serious argument with me. We were screaming at each other, it was full on verbal abuse towards one another at its worst. I cannot remember the details of this tirade of back and forth abusive communicate we were engaging in, but I can remember what brought it to an end! My mother was screaming furiously when all of a sudden her top false teeth came flying out of her mouth! At first we were both astonished and wondered what had just happened. Then when I realised that my mother’s false teeth had flown out of her mouth whilst she had been berating me – I just burst out laughing as it was the funniest thing I had ever seen. As a teenager this was a wonderful end to what had been a very serious encounter with my mother. My mother did not see the funny side of this event and collected her false teeth where they had landed but for me, as a teenager, this too just seemed to be even funnier. It was one of the very rare times where my mother seemed defeated and in some way sorrowful but my teenage humour just enjoyed the event too much. One for daughter and nil for mother – a teenager’s view of humour!”
© Karen Robinson, 1st August 2015
CREATIVE WRITING INSPIRING ART!
After each creative writing session, I personally like to use my creative writing stories to inspire an art work. These artworks are not ‘masterpieces’ but are an important part of a therapeutic process that I enjoy; and helps complete my art for therapy journey after each creative writing group session. These particular paintings/art works are produced in a quick and spontaneous manner and are unlike my other painting method which is planned and takes many, many hours to complete. I enjoy both methods!
No. 6 of 6 Creative Writing ‘My Bed’ Ink on A4 Paper – August 2015 by Abstract Artist Karen Robinson NB All images are protected by copyright laws.JPG
CONCLUSION
Once again, after our creative writing session, we headed off to the local restaurant to share a meal together and engage in good conversation – such a wonderful privilege. Thank you for joining me on this Creative Writing Group Session Journey! Please click here to view previous Creative Writing Group Sessions.
NB: For the purposes of this weblog series “Creative Writing Group”, I will not be mentioning any names or personal details of participants or even the name of the organisation that runs the sessions. Individuals have the right to privacy, so it will only be about my own experience – and broad statements about each particular session. I hope you will understand.
Whilst you are here – please check out my home page! My Art Therapy Journey – A window into the soul of an Abstract Artist through art therapy and storytelling…by Karen Robinson
ido art karen robinson 
Really enjoyed your creative writings and the lovely art that came from it. My Mom’s teeth fell out of her mouth recently while she was talking and we both had a good laugh!
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Appreciate your comments in relation to my creative writing and it’s fun to do the art work for each writing piece. I am glad you and your mum saw the humour in her teeth falling out – I think this is probably more common than I firstly thought! … warm regards Karen
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lovely post. what a surprise to see choppers fly from your mother’s mouth! I laughed from this, my soft bed, while reading.
Best wishes, Meredith
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Hi Meredith, that has made me happy that you gained a laugh from reading my story. Yes my poor mother, at the time it was very funny for me but my poor mother lost all advantage in the loss of her top teeth! Humour is such a delighful human expression to share for sure, if you are on the side of the person who is laughing and it is especially delightful when all parties find the humour within the event…thank you for commenting – much appreciated…warm regards Karen
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Still laughing, Karen! Thank you so much for sharing that story.
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Hi Judy, Thank you for taking the time to have a read – there is a little guilt in ‘laughing at mother’ but the humour seems to over ride this emotion! A very big thank you for your support, guidance and for giving me the opportunity to reach a point where I can really enjoy writing…warm regards Karen
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