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INTRODUCTION

Once again Creative Writing Group Sessions for carers of loved ones experiencing mental health issues has been made available by Mind Australia and facilitated by Judy Bird.  Participants consisted of some familiar faces of people whom I had got to know during previous sessions, and others who were new to the group.  During this creative writing session, our facilitator gave us a number of creative writing tasks to carry out.  They were mainly designed to get us all re-acquainted, and to assist us in getting our creative writing brains into action!  Below I have included here, two of my writing pieces I under took during this first session.

 

CREATIVE WRITING PIECE NO. 1

We were asked to find something in the garden that no one else had noticed, and then write a piece about it. I found a wonderfully coloured umbrella!  In the photo image below of the umbrella you will notice that the sun is shining on its surface, but at the time of originally finding it, the sky was overcast, hence no sun on its surface at the time of writing this piece below!

 

Title:  Rainbow Umbrella

It’s waiting in the garden bed, waiting for its friends, the wind, rain and sun, to arrive.  It’s patient and mindful of its importance but does not demand attention from all who pass by.  Today it’s open and full of all the colours of a rainbow!  It’s waiting, waiting for you to pick it up and use it for protection from its friends, the wind, the rain and the sun.  Its name is ‘umbrella’ but its friends call it rainbow and its users call it a necessity.  Today umbrella is feeling a little neglected as there is no wind, rain or sun, and so there is no need for it.  So umbrella will just stay in the garden, resting and looking gorgeous, hoping that its friends will arrive so that it will be taken up and enjoyed!

© Karen Robinson – September 2016

 

 

 

CREATIVE WRITING PIECE NO. 2

We were asked to choose a card from a selection of cards on the creative writing-table, and then write about ‘what it brought to mind’.  The card I chose (as shown below) featured icing flowers and satin ribbons on top of a wedding cake.  It immediately reminded me of my days as a Bridal Designer – Haute Couturier and therefore became my source of inspiration for my creative writing piece ‘The Wedding Event’ found here below.

 

Title:  The Wedding Event

Over many years in my earlier life, I have been directly and indirectly involved in other people’s wedding day plans.  My part was in the making of their very special bridal gowns and sometimes the bridesmaids’ and mother of the brides’ outfits as well.  It was my job to design and make a bridal gown that a bride imagined would turn her from an ordinary everyday person into a princess for at least one day.  From my experience this is a flawed thought.  When I would first meet with a bride-to-be they were just like you and me, but over the course of time, in the planning of their wedding, something would change!  Invariably it was more like the bride-to-be became a she-devil, possessed by rage and self-interest that came dressed in white, and not the princess of fairy tales at all.  What happened to that lovely girl I met months ago, I would find myself asking?  Many times I have mopped tears away from the faces of distressed brides-to-be on their wedding day where professionally applied makeup was in danger of being ruined.  Many times I have tried to stop bridesmaids from planning the murder (not literally) of the bride-be-to!  Many times I have had to take out bridesmaids’ dresses and take in brides’ gowns, even after bridesmaids and brides-to-be have sworn they will not be losing or putting on weight.  There have also been the saddest of times, when tears have been shed due to unforeseen deaths in families but the wedding had to go on; and other times when just after the wedding day itself, the bride and groom have decided that their short-lived marriage is not working.   It is then that there is the realisation that all of the effort put towards bringing together families, the prince and princess, has dissolved into a bad experience, needing to be forgotten.  So unfortunately I have become very cynical about weddings and cannot help but feel that they should be the simplest celebration possible where the emphasis is on the union of two people who love each other and want to share this with family and friends.  Forget the rest – this is all that matters – and hopefully they will then share a lifetime of memories made of all that’s good that life has to offer.

© Karen Robinson – September 2016

 

 

CONCLUSION

It was a pleasure to be back within this Creative Writing Group.  Catching up with participants that had become friends was wonderful, and meeting new like-minded people a real privilege!  And a big thank you to our Creative Writing Facilitator, Judy Bird, for making the session such an enjoyable time. So good for one’s well-being…

 

© Karen Robinson – September 2016

POST-TRAUMATIC GROWTH:  Using Art & Creative Writing as Therapy – My Journey by Karen Robinson.  Please click here for my latest blog news!